NORTHERN CULTURE IN THE DAYS OF CANUTE
To present an adequate discussion of the state of culture among Canute's
subjects in the space of a single chapter would be impossible. So far as
the western realm is concerned it would also be unnecessary, as the
subject of Anglo-Saxon culture is an old study and discussions in
English are readily accessible. This chapter will therefore be chiefly
concerned with the civilisation of the Northern lands, and especially
with the great transformations that came with the viking age and were
becoming most evident toward its close.
The two controlling types of civilisation in the Anglo-Scandinavian
Empire, the English and the Norse, were both fundamentally Germanic; but
English culture had for centuries been permeated with Christian thought,
while in the North the ideals of heathendom were still a force to be
taken into account. It is difficult to characterise Northern society in
the earlier decades of the eleventh century: all the various regions
were not in the same stage of development; all were not subject to the
same modifying influences. But it was a growing organism, showing
change in almost every fibre. Scandinavian civilisation was gradually
approaching the European type. There is danger that we may place the
Northman on a too high plane of culture; but the error is more
frequently on the other side.[407] Measured by the standards of his own
age, the Northman was not a barbarian. He had great energy of mind and
much intellectual curiosity. He sailed everywhere and frequently
included European ideas in his plunder or merchandise.
The population throughout Scandinavia was overwhelmingly rural; cities
were few and insignificant, when we consider the number of houses and
inhabitants, though it appears that the urban element was rapidly
developing in the eleventh century. As early as the ninth century we
find mention of Birca, an island city in Lake Maelar in eastern Sweden;
of Heathby near the modern city of Sleswick on the southern border of
Denmark; and of Skiringshall in southern Norway.[408] These and other
cities evidently originated in the need of definite market places. Roads
were poor in the middle ages and the sea was often a dangerous highway;
commerce was therefore largely limited to the more favourable seasons of
the year, and hence the importance of periodic markets. These were
often held in connection with the great sacrificial festivals and it is
therefore not strange that the earlier cities grew up on or near the
sites of the ancient sanctuaries.[409]
In such localities grew up Odense on the island of Funen, Wisby on the
island of Gotland, and Skiringshall on the great Bay.[410] Nidaros
(Throndhjem) is said to have been founded by the first King Olaf, but
its great importance dates from the canonisation of Saint Olaf whose
bones were buried there. Kingscrag (Konungahelle) at the mouth of the
Gaut River, and Tunsberg on the western shore of Folden Bay seem to have
had their origin as landing places for merchants and vikings. On the
other hand, Sarpsborg across the inlet from Tunsberg evidently grew up
around a stronghold established in the days of Saint Olaf. Urban
developments can also be traced in the western colonies: old cities in
England, especially in the Danelaw, passed into the control of the
Northmen; new cities rose on the shores of the Irish Sea.
This commercial movement began to gather strength during the quiet
decades of the tenth century but it must have progressed rapidly during
the peaceful reign of Canute. From Novgorod in Russia to Bristol and
Limerick in the British Isles the ships of the North sailed every
summer laden with the products of all Northern Europe: furs from Norway
and Russia; the teeth of the walrus from the Arctic waters; cured fish
from the Scandinavian seas; honey from the Baltic shores; Norwegian
hawks for the English sportsmen; and numerous other products. In return
for these the Northmen received the luxuries of the South, especially
wine, wheat, and silk; but numerous thralls were also imported,
particularly from the Celtic lands.[411]
These foreign products were chiefly consumed in the homes of the
Scandinavian aristocracy. In material comforts the Northmen were
probably not far behind the corresponding classes elsewhere in Europe.
When the god Righ came to the chieftain's house,
Then the housewife thought of her arms,
Smoothened her linen, pleated her sleeves.
Broad was her headgear, a brooch on her breast;
She wore trailing sashes and a blue-dyed sark.
When her son was born, "she swaddled him in silk"; and when her
daughter-in-law came to the hall as a bride, "she walked under the veil
of fine linen."[412] The sudden consciousness of rare finery was not
limited to the women; rich and highly coloured clothing also delighted
the men.
The influence of alien culture was also shown in the entertainment
provided for the visiting god:
Then took Mother a markèd[413] cover
Of bleached linen and laid upon the board.
Next she laid out the thinnest loaves
Of wheaten flour on the white cover.
She set the table with silver-mounted dishes
Heaped with roasted birds and ham.
The wine brightened the mounted beakers.
They drank and talked till the day was done.[414]
"The Lay of Righ" was composed, it is believed, in the days of Canute's
grandfather; but the civilisation that it describes was not new; even a
century earlier the ruling classes in the North had reached a high stage
of culture, as we know from the large number of articles indicating a
refined and cultivated taste that were found when the Oseberg ship was
discovered and excavated a few years ago.[415]
As in early Saxon times before the clergy had monopolised learning, the
higher forms of cultured life saw their finest fruitage in the halls of
kings and chiefs. The old Scandinavian house was a wooden structure of
rectangular shape, its length being considerably greater than the width.
In its general lines it doubtless bore close resemblance to the
Anglo-Saxon dwelling of the same period. In the number and arrangement
of the rooms the individual houses showed some, though not great,
variety; but a large living-room seems to have been characteristic of
all. In the middle of this room a long trough lined with stones was sunk
into the floor; this served as fireplace, the smoke finding its way out
through an opening in the roof. On either side of this long fireplace
ran a row of pillars that served to support the roof; these also gave
opportunities for the carver's art. Between the pillars and the wall
stood the benches where the feasters sat with portable tables before
them. The walls were ornamented with shields and weapons and with the
trophies of the chase. At the middle of the long north wall, facing the
entrance door on the opposite side, stood the high-seat of the lord of
the hall. The size and splendour of the room would depend on the wealth
and importance of the owner: some of the larger halls were planned for
the entertainment of several hundred guests and henchmen.[416]
There were many other buildings besides the hall, the number depending
on the needs of the estate. The king's garth probably differed very
little from those of the wealthier chiefs. In England, too, even as late
as the year 1000, the palace architecture must have been of the same
modest type. In his homily on Saint Thomas, Alfric (who wrote his
sermons in the decade of Canute's birth) tells the story of how the
Apostle went to India to build a palace for a king, and, by the way,
used the money for building churches:
Then he examined the grounds where it was to be builded.
And Thomas went about measuring the place with a yardstick,
And said that he would build the hall first of all
At the east end of the grounds, and the other buildings
Behind the hall: bath house and kitchen
And winterhouse and summerhouse and winsome bowers,--
Twelve houses altogether with good arches--
But such it is not customary to build in England
And therefore we do not mention them particularly.[417]
[Illustration: SCANDINAVIAN (ICELANDIC) HALL IN THE VIKING AGE]
During the reign of Canute, however, there must have been material
advancement in the direction of greater magnificence in the royal garth.
The sagas testify to a splendour at Winchester that was greater than
what was to be seen anywhere else.[418]
The men of the viking age usually associated the royal hall with the
thought of elaborate festivities. The greatest moment in such an
occasion was when the scald rose to sing the praises and recite the
exploits of his host. It has been thought that the activities of the
court poet show Celtic influence,[419] and it may be that the scald had
learned freely from the bard; but the institution itself is most
probably of native origin. Like the Irish singer his chief theme was
praise; but we need not suppose that the scald confined himself wholly
to contemporary themes: the gleeman in Beowulf sang of the great hero
that sat beside the King; but he also told the tales of the Volsungs and
the still older story of creation; before the onslaught at Stiklestead
one of Saint Olaf's scalds recited the ancient Bjarkamál, the Old Norse
version of Beowulf's last fight. The holy King seems to have enjoyed the
inspiriting strains of heathen heroism; he thanked the poet, as did all
the host.
Old Norse poetry had its beginnings in the ninth century; but its
greater bulk belongs to the tenth and eleventh. It begins with a
wonderful series of mythical poems, most of them belonging to the period
of lull in the viking activities (900-980). The series culminates in the
Sibyl's Prophecy (Voluspá), one of the grandest monuments of mediæval
literary art and thought. It tells the story of the creation, the
destruction, the regeneration of the world in heathen terms with heathen
gods, giants, and demons as the actors. But it contains unmistakable
Christian elements and the poet must have had some acquaintance with the
faith that ruled in the Western Islands. The poem seems to have been
composed a generation or two before the days of Canute; but it was
doubtless widely current during the years of his kingship. That the
later scalds knew and appreciated the poem is evident from the fact that
it was quoted by Christian poets in the following century.[420] No doubt
it was an important number in their repertoire of song and story, and
perhaps we may believe that it was gladly heard by Canute and his
henchmen in the royal hall at Winchester.
[Illustration: THE VIK STONE (Illustrates the transition from heathendom
to Christianity; shows a mixture of elements, the serpent and the
cross.)]
[Illustration: THE RAMSUND ROCK (Representations of scenes from the
Sigfried Saga.)]
The four decades that the Norns allotted to Canute (995?-1035) are a
notable period in the history of Northern literature: it was the grand
age of Old Norse poetry. The advance of Christianity had made the myths
impossible as poetic materials, but new themes were found in the deeds
and virtues of the old Teutonic heroes and of the mighty war lords of
the viking age. The saga materials of the heroic age, the stories of
Helgi and Sigrun, of Sigurd and Brunhild, of Gudrun's grief and Attila's
fury, had long been treasured by the Northern peoples. Just when each
individual tale was cast into the form that has come down to us is
impossible to say; the probabilities are, however, that a considerable
number of the heroic lays were composed in the age of Canute.
When we come to the court poetry we are on firmer ground: unlike the
other poems, the dirges and praise-lays are not anonymous and their
dates can be determined with some definiteness. The scald found the age
great with possibilities. Those were the days of Hakon and Erik, of
Sweyn and Canute, of Erling and Thurkil,--men who typified in their
warlike activities the deified valour of the old faith. It was also a
period of famous battles: Swald, Ringmere, Clontarf, Ashington, and
Stiklestead, to mention only the more prominent. About twenty scalds are
known to have sung at the courts of the viking princes, but the
compositions of some of them have been wholly lost or exist in mere
fragments only. In the reign of Canute three poets stood especially high
in the royal favour: Thorarin Praise-tongue, Ottar the Swart, and
Sighvat the Scald.
The three were all Icelanders and were of a roving disposition as the
scalds usually were. They all visited Canute's court, presumably at
Winchester. Sighvat came to England on the return from a trading journey
to Rouen in 1027, it seems, just after the King's return from his Roman
pilgrimage, which the poet alludes to in his Stretch Song. Ottar seems
to have visited Winchester the same year: his poem, the Canute's Praise,
closes with a reference to the Holy River campaign in 1026. Thorarin
Praise-tongue had his opportunity to flatter the King a year or two
later, most likely in 1029: his Stretch Song deals with the conquest of
Norway in 1028.
Canute appears to have attached considerable importance to the literary
activities of these Icelanders. When he learned that Thorarin had
composed a short poem on himself, he became very angry and ordered him
to have a complete lay ready for the following day; otherwise he should
hang for his presumption in composing a short poem on King Canute.
Thorarin added a refrain and eked the poem out with a few additional
stanzas. The refrain, "Canute guards the land as the lord of Greekland
[God] the kingdom of heaven," evidently pleased the King. The poet was
forgiven and the poem rewarded with fifty marks of silver. Thorarin's
poem came to be known as the Head Ransom.[421]
It is said that when Ottar came to the King's hall he asked permission
to recite a poem, which the King granted.
And the poem was delivered to a great gathering at the next day's
moot, and the King praised it, and took a Russian cap off his head,
broidered with gold and with gold knobs to it, and bade the
chamberlain fill it with silver and give it to the poet. He did so
and reached it over men's shoulders, for there was a crowd, and the
heaped-up silver tumbled out of the hood on the moot-stage. He was
going to pick it up, but the King told him to let it be. "The poor
shall have it, thou shaft not lose by it."[422]
Of the court poets of the time Sighvat was easily the chief. Canute
recognised his importance and was anxious to enroll him among his
henchmen. But Sighvat, who had already sworn fidelity to King Olaf,
excused himself with the remark that one lord at a time was sufficient.
Canute did not press the matter but permitted the poet to depart with a
golden arm-ring as the reward for his poem, the Stretch Song, whose
ringing refrain, "Canute is the mightiest King under heaven," is high
praise from one who had travelled so widely and had probably visited all
the more important courts in northern and western Europe.
Did Canute also patronise Anglo-Saxon literature? We do not know, but
the chances are that he did not, as during his reign very little was
produced in the Old English idiom that could possibly appeal to him. The
Anglo-Saxon spirit was crushed; and out of the consciousness of failure
and humiliation can come no inspiration for literary effort. Even that
fierce patriot, Archbishop Wulfstan, accepted the conquest and came down
from York to assist at the dedication of the church at Ashington where
Saxon rule had perished. After the appearance of the splendid poem that
tells the story of Byrhtnoth's death at Maldon in 991, the voice of
Anglo-Saxon poetry is almost silent for nearly two centuries. Early in
the eleventh century Saxon prose, too, entered upon its decline.
Alfric's best work was done before the close of the tenth century; he
seems to have written his last important work, a pastoral letter, just
before the accession of Canute to the English throne.[423] In the
English cloisters the monks were still at work and valuable manuscripts
were produced; but Canute can hardly have taken much interest in
grammars, glossaries, Biblical paraphrases, and pastoral letters. It
seems evident that he did nothing to encourage the monastic annalist:
the entries for Canute's reign in the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ are
extremely meagre and disappointing; it seems probable that they were not
written till after the King's death. The disappearance of Old English
literature, both prose and poetic, dates from a time more than half a
century earlier than the Norman conquest,--from the time when the Danish
hosts filled the homes of Wessex with gloom and horror. The coming of
the Normans did not put an end to literary production in the speech of
the conquered English: it prevented its revival.
It is not to be inferred, however, from this lack of literary
originality and productiveness, that the age had lost all appreciation
of the poet's art. Two of the greatest monuments of Old English culture,
the so-called Vercelli Book and the Exeter Codex, were apparently
produced during the earlier decades of the eleventh century, possibly as
late as the accession of Canute. In these manuscripts the Anglo-Saxon
scribes have preserved to us some of the earliest literary productions
of the English race. The Vercelli Book takes us back in the writings of
Cynewulf to the eighth century; the Exeter manuscript looks back even
farther and introduces us to the singers of heathen or semi-heathen
times. Canute may not have shared the enthusiasm of the scribes for the
Old English past; but he seems to have appreciated the work of a skilled
copyist. In those days the exchange of presents was an essential part of
diplomatic negotiations; and good manuscripts made very acceptable
presents. Mention has already been made of the beautiful codex, written
with golden letters, that made a part of the gift that Canute is said to
have sent to Duke William of Aquitaine. As the Duke was renowned as a
patron of the literary art, there can be no doubt that the present was
properly appreciated. It will be remembered that Canute's gift to the
church at Cologne was also in the form of manuscripts.
One of the most important contributions of the West to Northern
civilisation was the written book. Writing was not a new art in the
Scandinavian lands; but neither the symbols nor the materials in use
were such as did service in the Christian lands. The men of the North
wrote on wood and stone; they used characters that had to be chiseled
into the tablet to be inscribed. These symbols were called runes; and
graven into granite the runic inscriptions have defied the gnawing tooth
of time. The large number of runic monuments that have come down to us
would indicate that the art of writing was widely known, though it also
seems likely that it was the peculiar possession of the "rune-masters,"
men of some education who knew the runes and were skilled in the art of
inscribing.
The runes were of divine origin and were taught mankind by Woden
himself. The term "run," which probably means "secret," reveals the
attitude of the Germanic mind toward this ancient alphabet: thoughts
were hidden in the graven lines, but that was not all: the characters
were invested with magical properties. Graven on the sword hilt they
were runes of victory; on the back of the hand, runes of love; on the
palm, runes of help; the sailor cut sea runes into the rudder blade; the
leech traced runes on "the bark and on the stock of a tree whose
branches lean eastward."[424] There were also ale runes, speech runes,
and mind runes, which "thou shalt know if thou wilt be wiser than all
other men."[425]
The runic alphabet was originally a common Germanic possession; but
among the Scandinavian peoples alone did its use become extensive and
long-continued. Some of the Northern inscriptions are of a very early
date, the earliest going back, perhaps, to the fourth century or
possibly to the third.[426] They are of necessity terse and brief; but
to the student of culture and civilisation they give some valuable
information. These runes reveal a time when all the Northern tribes
spoke the same language and were one people, though clearly not
organised into a single state.[427] The inscriptions also show the rise
of dialects and the development of these into idioms, though this is a
growth of the later centuries. Doubtless the changes in language bear
some relation to a parallel political development, a grouping of tribes
into states, until in the tenth century three dynasties claimed kingship
in the North. In that century the monuments begin to have great value
for narrative history. Members of the Knytling dynasty are mentioned on
several important stones, as earlier pages of this volume have shown.
The runes that were in use in the tenth and eleventh centuries are the
younger series, an alphabet of sixteen characters selected and developed
from the older series of twenty-four. As the number of elementary sounds
in the language was greater than the number of letters, several of the
runes were used to represent more than one sound, a fact that has made
reading and interpretation somewhat difficult. The runes were used
especially for monumental purposes: a large number of the many hundred
extant mediæval inscriptions (Sweden alone has more than fifteen
hundred)[428] are epitaphs recording the death of some friend or
kinsman. But the runes were also found useful for other purposes. They
were used in making calendars; articles of value very often bore the
owner's name in runic characters; in early Christian times we find runic
characters traced on church bells and baptismal fonts; in later
centuries attempts were even made to write books in the runic alphabet.
Wherever Northmen settled in the middle ages, inscriptions of this
type are still to be found; some of the most interesting Scandinavian
monuments were raised on the British Isles; even classic Piræus once had
its runic inscription.
[Illustration: PAINTED GABLE FROM URNES CHURCH (Norse-Irish
ornamentation)--CARVED PILLAR FROM URNES CHURCH (Norse-Irish
ornamentation)]
Sometimes the scribe did more than chisel the letters. Like the
Christian monk who illumined his manuscript with elaborate initials and
more or less successful miniatures, the rune-master would also try his
hand at ornamentation. In the earlier middle ages, Northern art, if the
term may be used, was usually a barbaric representation of animal forms,
real and imaginary, the serpent and the dragon being favourite subjects.
But in the western colonies the vikings were introduced to a new form of
ornamentation, the Celtic style, which was based on the curving line or
a combination of curved interlocking lines that seemed not to have been
drawn in accordance with any law of regularity or symmetry, but traced
sinuously in and out as the fancy of the artist might direct.[429] This
form was adopted by the Norse colonists and soon found its way to the
mother lands. In the North it suffered an important modification: the
Norse artists added an element of their own; the old motives were not
entirely abandoned for the winding body of the serpent or the dragon
readily fitted into the new combinations. It was this modified form of
Irish ornamentation that ruled among the Northmen in the days of Canute
and later. It appears wherever decoration was desired: on runic
monuments, on articles of personal adornment, and even on the painted
walls of the early Scandinavian churches.
While these early efforts at pictorial representation are frequently
associated with runic inscriptions and incidental to them, such is not
always the case. The Northern countries possess a number of "pictured
rocks," on which the picture is the chief and often the only matter of
importance. As many of these belong to the heathen period, the themes
are often mythological or suggestive of warfare: the coming of the
fallen warrior to Walhalla on the Tjängvide Stone[430]; viking ships on
the Stenkyrka Stone. The comparatively new sport of hawking is
represented on a stone at Alstad in Southern Norway.[431] Themes from
the heroic age seem to have attained an early popularity: especially do
we find frequent pictorial allusions to the story of Wayland Smith and
the adventures of the wonderful Sigfried. With Christianity came a
wealth of new subjects that could be used in artistic efforts. One of
Canute's contemporaries, the Norwegian woman Gunvor, raised (about 1050)
a memorial rock bearing a series of pictures from the story of Christ's
nativity.[432] The work rarely shows much originality on the part of
the artist, though frequently a surprising skill is
displayed--surprising when the time and materials are taken into
consideration. Many of the pictures are clearly copied from Western,
perhaps Anglo-Saxon originals; in some instances the workman was
evidently reproducing the embroidered figures on imported tapestries.
The Sigfried pictures on the Ramsund rock in Southern Sweden seem to be
of this type.[433] But even though the art of the viking age does not
testify to much creative imagination, it serves to prove that the men
whom we think of as mere pirates were not wholly wanting æsthetic
sense.
[Illustration: THE HUNNESTAD STONE--THE ALSTAD STONE]
Evidence of a cultivated taste is also seen in the large number of rich
and elegant articles of personal adornment in the form of rings,
necklaces, brooches, and the like that have come to light from time to
time. It was long thought that these all represented plunder or purchase
from other lands; but recent opinion seems inclined to regard the larger
part of them as articles of native manufacture.[434] If this be correct,
they reveal considerable skill in the finer industrial arts and also
suggest that certain forms of industry must have formed an important
factor in the economic life of the people.
The archæologist has unearthed many varieties of jewelry, but the
written sources tell chiefly of rings, doubtless because of their
ancient use for monetary purposes. Even in the days of Canute, the ring,
especially the large arm-ring, was commonly used in rewarding the
kingsmen. Saint Olaf once stroked the arm of a henchman above the elbow
to determine whether Canute had bribed him.[435] Canute's officials
procured the allegiance of Björn, Saint Olaf's spokesman, for English
silver and two heavy gold rings.[436] Canute's ring gift to Sighvat has
been noted elsewhere; Bersi, the poet's companion, received "a mark or
more and a keen sword."[437]
Northern industrial art of the later heathen age found its best and
highest expression in the shipbuilder's trade. Merchant ships as well as
ships for warfare were built, but the builder's pride was the ship that
the King sailed when he sought the enemy. The ships that bore Canute's
warriors to England were no doubt mainly of the so-called long ship
type, a form that was developed during the second half of the tenth
century. The long ship was built on the same general plan as the dragon
ship of the century before, of which type we have a remarkably
well-preserved example in the ship that was found in a burial-mound at
Gokstad near Sandefjord in Southern Norway. The Gokstad ship is nearly
eighty feet long from stem to stern, and a little less than one fourth
as wide. The builders of the long ship increased the length of the
dragon, but did not increase the width proportionally. Oak timbers and
iron rivets were the materials used. It is likely that by the close of
the viking age the shipbuilder's art was as highly developed in the
North as anywhere else in Christian Europe.
The long ship was built with pointed prow and stern. The gunwales
generally ran parallel to the water line, but in the prow the timbers
curved sharply upward to join the stern, which projected above the body
of the ship and frequently terminated in some carved image like those
described by the Encomiast.[438] The stern was built in much the same
fashion. The ribs were supported and held in place by strong
cross-beams, which also served as supports for the deck. In the fore-end
the deck was high; here stood the stem-men, the best warriors on board.
From a similarly raised deck in the stern, the chief directed the
movements of the ship and the men when battle was joined. But in the
middle portion of the ship the deck was low; here the oarsmen sat, each
on a chest containing his clothes and other belongings. The number of
pairs of oars would usually indicate the size of the ship; fifteen or
twenty pairs were the rule; but larger ships were sometimes built: the
_Long Serpent_ had thirty-four pairs. A rudder or "steering board" was
fastened to the after-part of the vessel, on the side that has since
been known as starboard.
The long ship was also equipped with a mast and a sail. The mast was
planted amidships, but in such a way that it could be lowered when not
in use. The sails were generally made of coarse woollen stuff; they
often bore stripes, blue, red, or green, and such striped sails were
counted highly ornamental. The ship was painted and the gunwales
frequently hung with shields, alternately yellow and red. An awning was
provided to protect the vessel from rain and sunshine.[439] The average
long ship had, perhaps, eighty or ninety men on board, the oarsmen
included. The number varied, of course, with the size of the ship: The
_Long Serpent_ is said to have had a crew of three hundred men.[440]
[Illustration: ANGLO-SAXON TABLE SCENE (From a manuscript in the British
Museum reproduced in _Norges Historie_, i., ii.)--MODEL OF THE
GOKSTAD SHIP]
In culture the later viking age was emphatically one of transition. The
movement that transformed Northern into European civilisation culminated
in the reign of Canute and was no doubt given great impetus by the fact
of his imperial authority in the Christian West. The seeds of the new
culture had been gathered long before and in many lands: the German, the
Frank, the Celt, and the Saxon had all contributed to the new fruit-age.
But in the North as elsewhere in the middle ages, the mightiest of all
the transforming forces was the mediæval Church. In one sense the poetic
activities of the tenth century had made the transition to Christian
worship easier than in other lands: the author of the Sibyl's Prophecy
had, unintentionally, no doubt, bridged the gap between the contending
faiths. The intelligent Northmen found in the teachings of Christianity
conceptions very similar to those in the great poem, only in a different
historical setting. In the outward symbolism, too, the Northman found
similarities that made the step easier: he had already learned to pour
water over the new-born infant; in the cross of Christ he may have seen
a modification of Thor's hammer; the Christian tree of life reminded him
of the ash Yggdrasil that symbolised the unity of the worlds; the Yule
festival of midwinter tide was readily identified with the Christian
celebration of the Nativity on December 25th. Too much importance must
not be assigned to these considerations, but they doubtless had their
effect.
But even the Church was not able to make its conquest of the North
complete. The Scandinavian peoples never entirely severed their
connection with the historic past. The bridge that was built by the
Sibyl's Prophecy was never demolished. The poet purged the old
mythology of much that was revolting and absurd and thus made the old
divinities and the old cosmic ideas attractive and more easily
acceptable. Even when the new cult became compulsory and even
fashionable, it was hard for the Northman to desert his gods. Hallfred
Troublousscald, who flourished in the years of Canute's childhood, gives
expression to this feeling in one of his poems:
'Tis heavy to cherish hatred
For Frigg's divine husband
Now that Christ has our worship,
For the scald delighted in Woden.
But Olaf Trygvesson has commanded that the old faith be renounced and
men have obeyed, though unwillingly:
Cast to the winds all men have
The kindred of mighty Woden;
Forced to renounce Njord's children
I kneel to Christ in worship.
After several verses of regretful and half-hearted renunciation the
scald continues:
I will call upon Christ with love words
(I can bear the Son's wrath no longer;
He rules the earth in glory)
And God the Father in prayer.[441]
[Illustration: THE LUNDAGÅRD STONE (Shows types of ornamentation in
Canute's day.)]
The gods continued to live in the popular imagination as great heroic
figures that had flourished in the earlier ages of the race. Much
that belonged to the worship of the Anses was carried over into the
Christian life. The Scandinavian Christians on the Isle of Man evidently
found nothing incongruous in placing heathen ornamentations on the cross
of Christ. Sometimes the attributes of the ancestral divinities were
transferred to the Christian saints. The red beard with which Christian
artists soon provided the strong and virile Saint Olaf was probably
suggested by the flaming beard of the hammering Thor.
[RUNIC ALPHABET: f u th o r k h n i a s t b l m -r]
FOOTNOTES:
[407] See Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 251-252.
[408] Birca is mentioned in an early life of Saint Ansgar (_ca._ 850);
Langebek, _Script. Rer. Danic._, i., 444. Heathby and Skiringshall are
alluded to in King Alfred's _Orosius_ (Journeys of Ottar and Wulfstan).
[409] Bugge, _Studier over de norske Byers Selvstyre og Handel_, 4-5.
[410] _Ibid._ The great Bay (Folden Bay) is the modern Christiania
Firth.
[411] On the commerce of the viking age see Montelius. _Kulturgeschichte
Schwedens_, 266 ff.; Olrik, _Nordisk Aandsliv_, 52-53; _Norges
Historie_, I., ii., 223 ff. (Bugge).
[412] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, i., 239-241: "The Lay of Righ."
[413] Embroidered with colours.
[414] "The Lay of Righ," II., 114-122.
[415] _Norges Historie_, I., ii., 56-60.
[416] For brief descriptions of the Northern halls in the viking age see
Bugge, _Vikingerne_, ii., 156-157; Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte
Schwedens_, 282-283; Olrik, _Nordisk Aandsliv_, 15-16.
[417] Alfric's _Lives_, ii., 404.
[418] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 130.
[419] Bugge, _Vesterlandenes Indflydelse paa Nordboernes Kultur_, 65.
[420] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, i., 193.
[421] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 172.
[422] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, ii., 151.
[423] _Cambridge History of English Literature_, i., 127.
[424] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, i., 40-41.
[425] _Ibid._, 41.
[426] von Friesen, _Om runskriftens härkomst_, 10-12.
[427] Bugge, _Vikingerne_, i., 8.
[428] Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 355.
[429] Olrik, _Nordisk Aandsliv_, 58.
[430] The Tjängvide Stone probably dates from about the year 900. The
warrior represented may be Woden on his eight-footed horse. Bugge,
_Vesterlandenes Indflydelse_, 323.
[431] Bugge, _Vikingerne_, ii., 234.
[432] _Norges Historie_, I., ii., 322, 323.
[433] Schück, _Studier i nordisk Litteratur- och Religions-historia_,
i., 203 ff.
[434] Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 296.
[435] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 165.
[436] _Ibid._, c. 185.
[437] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, ii., 133.
[438] _Encomium Emmæ_, i., c. 4.
[439] For brief descriptions of Northern ships of the viking age, see
_Danmarks Riges Historie_, i., 256-257, 318-322; Montelius,
_Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 260-264.
[440] English writers seem inclined to estimate a ship's crew at not
more than 50 or 60 on the authority of Heremannus, who wrote the
"Miracles of Saint Edmund" toward the close of the eleventh century
(_Memorials of Saint Edmund's Abbey_, i., 72, 92). But on the question
of viking ships and crews his statements cannot be used as evidence: his
ships are merchant ships, not viking ships, and they are not
Scandinavian. It should also be noted that one of the ships (c. 50) in
addition to "nearly 60" passengers carried 36 beasts (heads of cattle?)
and 16 horses heavily laden with merchandise.
[441] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, ii., 96-97.