Last Chance for World’s Largest Online Viking Festival

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Valur Gunnarsson

Everyone knows that a Thing was the old Norse name for a meeting place where disputes were settled, trade concluded and weddings arranged. The name is reflected in modern Icelandic in Alþingi, or the Parliament. Thing in English also means (apart from that Marvel superhero) some “thing.” Having fun with the name is the That Jorvik Viking Thing, held annually in old Jorvik, present day York in England.

This year, the event has moved online, running from February 15th to 20th, with some events available for longer. Among the highlights is a performance by Einar Selvik from the band Wardruna, who plays on representations of old Viking instruments.

There is also crafting, mead making and the annual Poo Day, which explains why archaeologists have such a love for old poo which can act as a window to the past. You can even make your own poo but purists be warned, the ingredients are representations and not the real thing.

Some Eastern Vikings did make it to the market in Jorvik, one of the more notable being Egill Skallagrímsson who raided in the east and traded in the west, although he also managed to do some fighting in the latter.

For information and tickets, click: What’s on – That Jorvik Viking Thing (jorvikthing.com)

Realism in Viking Movies

Posted on February 13, 2021 by Valur Gunnarsson

Our very own Neil Price, archaeologist and Viking expert, went through some of the biggest Viking films of all time. As was to be expected, he found much inaccuracy in the details but nevertheless felt that most of them captured something of the feel of Vikings, which is no small praise coming from someone who is one of the world’s leading authorities on the Viking mind (and author of a book of the same name).

For our purposes, perhaps most interesting is The 13th Warrior from 1999, starring Antonio Banders as Ibn Fadlan, the famous Arabic chronicler of the Vikings. The film is admittedly very loosely based on his accounts, and Neil does point out some of the flaws. Nevertheless, he says that it captures some of the cultural exchange that did take place along the Volga 1100 years ago, with various cultures conversing through interpreters. The Arabs, being the main protagonists, here speak English as cinema Vikings are wont to do. In this case, however, the Norwegians speak modern Norwegian. Shouldn’t they have gone for Icelandic instead?

Neil even has a kind word to say for the Marvel Universe Thor films, pointing out that it’s fascinating that people are still interested in stories first told around 1500 years ago, however much has changed in the retelling.

But the best and the worst is reserved for one of the first big-budget Viking films in Technicolour, the aptly titled The Vikings from 1958. While he says that the Vikings are dressed unhistorically as cavemen, he is impressed that the hero is shown jumping between oars to show is prowess, a feat attributed in the Sagas to Olaf I. of Norway and here shown for the only time in cinema.

The story is not about the famous Olaf, however, enthusiasts of whom should be directed to the Icelandic film White Viking from 1991. The Vikings recounts the story of Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons, lately seen in the TV series of the same name. The aging Ragnar is played by Ernst Borgnine but the leading role goes to one of his sons, played by Kirk Douglas. Kirk himself is a Rus of sorts, being born Issur Danielovitch to Belarusian parents in New York. Everything always leads back to the Rus.

For the 13 minute video, click here:

Viking Expert Breaks Down Famous Viking Movies & TV Shows – YouTube

Icelandic Viking Conference Announced

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Valur Gunnarsson

The Sigfús Blöndal Memorial Conference on Varangian Studies is scheduled to be held on 21-22 October of 2021 as a part of the research project Legends of the Eastern Vikings at the University of Iceland.

It will take place at the university compound at lovely Laugarvatn (around 80 km distance from the capital Reykjavík). The participants will be able to stay at the university residences at this location during the conference. Busses will transport participants from Reykjavík and back again.

Laugarvatn is a popular resort town, known for its geothermal steam baths, and they also use the hot earth to boil (yes, boil) bread. It is also known for its boarding school, whose main building is a nice example of Icelandic interwar architecture.

The participants at the conference will be the research team for the project, including all MA students who have finished theses related to the project. In addition, three affiliated scholars and three invited guests will take part in the proceedings.

Laugavatn HÍ og KHÍ_05.jpg

A Treasure Trove of Viking Stuff Discovered

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Valur Gunnarsson

Climate change is terrible news for just about everyone but one upshoot is that it’s doing wonders for archaeology. The Lendbreen glacier in Norway’s Breheimen national park has been melting at a terrifying rate and now measures just 30 percent of what it was 30 years ago. A decade ago, the area caused a sensation among archaeologists when a 4th century wool tunic was discovered, largely intact. This may have been removed by some poor soul at the moment of freezing to death, when paradoxically the body feels very warm.

Since then, a treasure trove of finds have been made. These span the period from the 3rd century to the end of the Middle Ages, peaking at around the year 1000 at the height of the Viking Age. The artefacts are assumed to be from a mountain pass which connected various parts of Norway and perhaps places further afield. The Cambridge Review of World Archaeology says:

“That the dates cluster in the Viking Age, particularly around AD 1000, is unlikely to be coincidental as it was a time of high mobility, emerging urbanism and increasing political centralisation in Scandinavia, and a period in which markets around the Irish, North and Baltic Seas were growing.”

Perhaps an ancient trade route of the Eastern Vikings has been discovered? In any case, archaeologist Lars Pilø has recently discussed the six most interesting items in Artnet News. Among these are a Viking Age tinderbox, a horse snowshoe and a strange kitchen item which may also have been used as a tent peg. The route was abandoned in the late Middle Ages, perhaps as a cause of worsening climate or the Black Death. Covid-19 has made it difficult to travel to the site lately, so it can be said that climate change and pandemics connect our times with those of the finds in more ways than one.

The top six items:

A Viking Archaeologist Shares 6 of the Most Fascinating Finds From a Slew of Recent Discoveries Made in Melting Ice (artnet.com)

The full story from Cambridge:

Crossing the ice: an Iron Age to medieval mountain pass at Lendbreen, Norway | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Saga Heroes in Byzantium

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Valur Gunnarsson

Professor Sverrir Jakobsson is interviewed in Morgunblaðið this week about his new book The Varangians: In God’s Holy Fire. He also talks about the Legends of the Eastern Vikings project and says that the Icelandic Sagas, including the Varangians, has been his main interest for the past 30 years, or more or less since he started university. Already in secondary school, Sverrir was known in Iceland for participating on his school team in the annual quiz show Gettu Betur alongside his twin brother Ármann, himself a now professor of Icelandic literature. The competition was broadcast on TV and needless to say, they won.

In the interview, Sverrir talks about the connections between the Icelandic Sagas and the Varangians. Among famous Saga personalities that served at the court of the Eastern Emperor are Kolskeggur (which translates as Blackbeard), who was the brother of the main hero Gunnar in Njáls’ Saga, and Bolli, one of the main protagonists of Laxdæla Saga, was a renowned Varangian too.

Interestingly, while the Byzantine Emperor’s Nordic troops are called “Varjagi” in Slavic chronicles, the term is not used in the oldest Icelandic sources from the 12th century, although veterans from Constantinople are mentioned. The moniker “Væringjar” first seems to come into use in the 13th century in Iceland, at a time when the Varangians, or at least their Nordic element, was in decline in Constantinople and the cohort was increasingly being constituted of Englishmen. The term “Varjagi” can be found in later Arabic sources, but comes later into the old Norse being used in Iceland at the time.

Morgunblaðið newspaper is of a rather later vintage but is Iceland’s oldest functioning newspaper and was founded in 1913. The full interview can be found (in modern Icelandic) on mbl.is.

“Áhugamál mitt í næstum þrjátíu ár.” Þriðjudagur, 19. janúar 2021.

The Return of The Vikings

Posted on December 30, 2020 by Valur Gunnarsson

2020 is about to leave us and no one will be sad to see it go. Of course, it’s been 10 days since the solstice and so technically a new year has already begun. The day grows longer by a few minutes each day and soon it will be time to plant the crops again. But for the Vikings (probably) the equinox was the first day of a 12 day feast and when the party’s over, a new year begins. And so it is to this day, more or less.

More importantly, today marks the premiere of the final series of The Vikings, the History Channel series that has been running since 2013. Although increasingly anachronistic, this is as close to history as the History Channel gets these days.

The series begins with the raid on Lindisfarne in 793. This is led by the probably mythological Ragnar Lothbrok, though even the myths don’t credit him with the raid, as he is said to have lived somewhat later. By the present and 6th series Ragnar is dead but his sons have come into conflict with Oleg of Novgorod, thought to have reigned from 879 to 912, although inevitably scholars dispute the chronology and some put him a few decades later. In any case, both Ragnar and his sons seem to have reached Old Testament ages, according to the show.

The first part of the 6th season ended with Oleg invading Scandinavia, which is not only historically but also geographically inaccurate. A Rus invasion of the Nordic countries would probably have been as unthinkable militarily as it was politically, although longships certainly did sail back and forth. The Slavic steampunk look with hot air balloons and all does little for authenticity.

Still, Eastern Vikings scholars can have some fun spotting other famous Rus figures, such as Igor and Askold, but the greatest fun to be had is in pointing out the inaccuracies to non-specialists. If they will have as much fun is another matter, but if not, they are advising us to spend New Year’s Eve alone anyway.

Happy New Year.

Vikings Season 6B | Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube

A Very Varangian Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2020 by Valur Gunnarsson

A very happy Christmas from the Eastern Vikings. Enjoy the holidays and don’t forget to clash your weapons loudly in honour of your Emperor-King, for it is written:

“In describing the imperial banquet at Christmas and its attendant ceremonies, the author tells us that before the actual dinner the officials in their several sorts and ranks came to the dining hall to chant their polychronion to the emperor,
that is, they prayed in ceremonial forni that the emperor might live many years.

To each party the appropriate official replied : ‘ Our Lord the Emperor bids you many
years.’ First came the officials of the palace, each class distinguished by special robes
then in order, the Genoese of Galata, more functionaries, the Pisan colony, then the
Venetians, and after these distinguished foreigners came the Varangians. They gave
their greeting in their own language, and this was English-clashing their weapons with a loud noise.

But whether the language was really English, or whether it was Norse, and Codinus says English because there were so many English Varangians, must be left uncertain. To the Greeks all barbarous languages were much the same; and Freeman judiciously says: ‘We must remember that any distinction between English and Danish would disappear in the latitude of Constantinople.’ An acclamation was made by another set of men in the Persian language, a choir sang the Christmas canticle of Romanos, and then the banquet was served.

(from Dawkins, The Later History of the Varangian Guard.)

The Later History of the Varangian Guard: Some Notes on JSTOR

What Happened to the Heruls?

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Valur Gunnarsson

The Heruls were a tribe from southern Scandinavia, known to be capable seamen and raided in Spain and France. A group migrated to present-day Ukraine in the 3rd century and from there raided around the Black Sea and Eastern Med. The ones that remained in Scandinavia were conquered by the Danes in the 6th century and disappeared from history. (John Haywood, Northmen, p. 28. Head of Zeus, London, 2016)

Until, that is, they were resurrected by head of the Icelandic National Library Barði Guðmundsson in his 1959 book Uppruni Íslendinga (the Origin of the Icelanders). Here, he claims that the Heruls, after having moved to Norway where they stayed for four centuries, ultimately colonised Iceland. His evidence was largely that the Icelanders wrote the Sagas instead of the Norwegians, and hence must have been of different stock.

The theory has been noted from time to time, most amusingly in 1999 when an Icelandic supreme court lawyer wrote an article where he tried to show that since the Icelanders were not descendants of the Norwegians, the Norwegians could make no claim to having discovered America at the 1000 year anniversary of that event (links can be found here: Herúlar. (svavarsson.is).

While it has never been firmly established why the Icelanders proved to be more adept writers than the Norwegians, the disappearance of the Heruls is not much of a mystery. As UCLA professor Patrick J. Geary has shown in The Myth of Nations, tribes disappearing into one another during the migration era, being conquered or willingly merging, was rather the norm.

New DNA research which has shown that Icelanders were rather regular Norwegians (if with a large infusion of Celtic blood) should finally put the Herul theory to bed. And yet they seem to have resurfaced again, now in Lithuania, where some claim them as distant ancestors. Where are the Herul? Here are the Herul! herulii | Huns | Ancient Germanic Peoples (scribd.com)

Why Belarus Protesters Dress Like Santa Claus

Posted on December 12, 2020 by Valur Gunnarsson

Protests in Belarus continue, though largely absent from the international media. 300 people were detained last Sunday and more protests are expected tomorrow. Instead of taking place in the central square, they are now dispersed all over the city to make the detaining more difficult. The protesters are now sometimes seen in Santa Claus costumes, asking Lukashenko to give the people the present of going away.

Red and white has in fact been the colour of the protests since the beginning. Last August, people were wearing red and white, getting married in red and white wedding dresses, putting red and white underwear next to each other on the clothes line, white dogs wore red ribbons and white-clad women sported red umbrellas.

This is a reference to the old Belarusian state flag, first used in 1918-19 and again from 1991-95 before being substituted for the present green and red flag by Lukashenko after a referendum. It is even illegal to wave the old flag, and “Lukashenko’s ninjas,” police special forces, have been known to escalate buildings to take down the banned flags.

The origins of the flag are traced back as far as the 13th century, as battle flag for what now might be considered Belarusians who fought for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. As the Rus principality of Polotsk, in what is present day Belarus, was incorporated into the Grand Duchy, it could almost be said that the Belarusian opposition is still flying the flag of the ancient Rus.

Flying The Flag: Belarusians Show Their True Colors In Solidarity With Protests (rferl.org)

Here’s why are protesters in Belarus are flying a white-and-red flag — Meduza

Hundreds arrested in fresh Belarus protests against Lukashenko (france24.com)

Burning the Goat: A Nordic Tradition

Posted on December 11, 2020 by Valur Gunnarsson

In Finland, they traditionally use the Christmas goat to scare children but in Iceland we take the fight to the goat. Ever since 2009, it was been a tradition for vandals (the modern kind) to burn down the Gävle goat in front of the IKEA store in greater Reykjavik. Sometimes the culprits have been apprehended, but occasionally the weather gods have got the goat before the vandals did. Twice it has blown down by the wind, whereas once it spontaneously combusted due to the electric lights.

In fact, the tradition goes back to the town of Gävle, Sweden, where a Christmas goat made of straw has been erected ever since 1966 and been burnt down most years. 37 arson attacks have taken place in the years since. In 2001, a man from Cleveland did the damage, assuming he was taking part in an old and legal tradition. By now, there is a three month prison sentence for goat burning in Gävle.

But this is a year without many traditions, and due to Covid IKEA Iceland only reopened last Thursday. And speaking of Thor, torturing goats seems to be something of a Norse tradition. The God of Thunder, whose carriage was pulled by rams, would kill and eat them, only for them to come back the next day to be eaten again at the earliest convenience.

The goat is actually an old fertility symbol, and the Hall of the Gods has its own goat, called Heiðrún. This one conveniently milks mead rather than the more traditional goatmilk and there is always enough for everyone. Appropriately, there is a liquor store named Heiðrún in Reykjavík.

So if we see goats as giving, we have other ways to terrify children. One of these is the Christmas Cat, who is said to eat children who do not wear new clothes for Christmas. Who says it’s a consumerist holiday?