[Illustration:
VIKING SHIP, USED FOR BURIAL (GOKSTAD, NORWAY).
(Length of keel, 60 feet; total length, 75 feet; broadest part, 15½
feet; depth from the upper part of bulwark to bottom of keel, 3½
feet.)
Judging from the number of holes seen, which were about 18 inches
below the gunwale, it carried sixteen oars, and was consequently a
sixteen-seater. Its preservation is due to the blue clay in which it
was partly embedded, the upper part being eaten away owing to the
clay being mixed with sand, thus allowing the rain and air to
penetrate. It is entirely of oak, clinker built, calked with cows’
hair spun in a sort of cord.
]
THE VIKING AGE
THE EARLY HISTORY MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE
ENGLISH-SPEAKING NATIONS
ILLUSTRATED FROM
_THE ANTIQUITIES DISCOVERED IN MOUNDS, CAIRNS, AND BOGS AS WELL AS FROM
THE ANCIENT SAGAS AND EDDAS_
BY
PAUL B. DU CHAILLU
AUTHOR OF “EXPLORATIONS IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA,” “LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT
SUN,” ETC.
WITH 1366 ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAP
IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. I
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS.
1889.
COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY
PAUL B. DU CHAILLU.
Press of J. J. Little & Co.,
Astor Place, New York.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TO
GEORGE C. TAYLOR, Esq.,
OF NEW YORK.
_To you, my dear Taylor, who, like myself, have travelled over many
lands, and led the same adventurous life in days gone by, I dedicate
“The Viking Age,” in remembrance of years of friendship, of the many
pleasant days we have spent together, and especially of our wanderings
in the Land of the Midnight Sun, in the home of the old Vikings, while I
was engaged on the present work._
_P. B. DU CHAILLU._
_NEW YORK, September, 1889_.
PREFACE.
While studying the progress made in the colonisation of different parts
of the world by European nations, I have often asked myself the
following questions:—
How is it that over every region of the globe the spread of the
English-speaking people and of their language far exceeds that of all
the other European nations combined?
Why is it that, wherever the English-speaking people have settled, or
are at this day found, even in small numbers, they are far more
energetic, daring, adventurous, and prosperous, and understand the art
of self-government and of ruling alien peoples far better than other
colonising nations?
Whence do the English-speaking communities derive the remarkable energy
they possess; for the people of Britain when invaded by the Romans did
not show any such quality?
What are the causes which have made the English such a pre-eminently
seafaring people? for without such a characteristic they could not have
been the founders of so many states and colonies speaking the English
tongue!
In studying the history of the world we find that all the nations which
have risen to high power and widespread dominion have been founded by
men endowed with great, I may say terrible, energy; extreme bravery and
the love of conquest being the most prominent traits of their character.
The mighty sword with all its evils has thus far always proved a great
engine of civilisation.
To get a satisfactory answer to the above questions we must go far back,
and study the history of the race who settled in Britain during and
after the Roman occupation. We shall thus find why their descendants are
to-day so brave, successful, energetic and prosperous in the lands which
they have colonised; and why they are so pre-eminently skilled in the
art of self-government.
We find that a long stretch of coast is not sufficient, though
necessary, to make the population of a country a seafaring nation. When
the Romans invaded Britain, the Brits had no fleet to oppose them. We do
not until a later period meet with that love of the sea which is so
characteristically English:—not before the gradual absorption of the
earlier inhabitants by a blue-eyed and yellow-haired seafaring people
who succeeded in planting themselves and their language in the country.
To the numerous warlike and ocean-loving tribes of the North, the
ancestors of the English-speaking people, we must look for the
transformation that took place in Britain. In their descendants we
recognise to this day many of the very same traits of character which
these old Northmen possessed, as will be seen on the perusal of this
work.
Britain, after a continuous immigration which lasted several hundred
years, became the most powerful colony of the Northern tribes, several
of the chiefs of the latter claiming to own a great part of England in
the seventh and eighth centuries. At last the time came when the land of
the emigrants waxed more powerful, more populous than the
mother-country, and asserted her independence; and to-day the people of
England, as they look over the broad Atlantic, may discern a similar
process which is taking place in the New World.
The impartial mind which rises above the prejudice of nationality must
acknowledge that no country will leave a more glorious impress upon the
history of the world than England. Her work cannot be undone; should she
to-day sink beneath the seas which bathe her shores, her record will for
ever stand brilliantly illuminated on the page of history. The great
states which she has founded, which have inherited her tongue, and which
are destined to play a most important part in the future of
civilisation, will be witnesses of the mighty work she has accomplished.
They will look back with pride to the progenitors of their race who
lived in the glorious and never-to-be-forgotten countries of the North,
the birthplace of a new epoch in the history of mankind.
As ages roll on, England, the mother of nations, cannot escape the fate
that awaits all; for on the scroll of time this everlasting truth is
written—birth, growth, maturity, decay;—and how difficult for us to
realise the fact when in the fulness of power, strength, and pride!
Where is or where has been the nation that can or could exclaim, “This
saying does not apply to me; I was born great from the beginning; I am
so now, and will continue to be powerful to the end of time.” The ruined
and deserted cities; the scanty records of history, which tell us of
dead civilisations, the fragmentary traditions of religious beliefs, the
wrecks of empires, and the forgotten graves, are the pathetic and silent
witnesses of the great past, and a sad suggestion of the inevitable fate
in store for all.
The materials used in these volumes, in describing the cosmogony and
mythology, the life, religion, laws and customs of the ancestors of the
English-speaking nations of to-day, are mainly derived from records
found in Iceland. These parchments, upon which the history of the North
is written, and which are begrimed by the smoke of the Icelandic cabin,
and worn by the centuries which have passed over them, recount to us the
history and the glorious deeds of the race.
No land has bequeathed to us a literature, giving so minute and
comprehensive an account of the life of a people. These _Sagas_ (or
“say”) record the leading events of a man’s life, or family history, and
date from a period even anterior to the first settlement of Iceland
(about 870 A.D.).
Some Sagas bear evident traces of having been derived, or even copied,
from earlier documents now lost: in some cases definite quotations are
given; others are evidently of a fabulous character, and have to be
treated with great caution; but even these may be used as illustrating
the customs of the times at which they were written. Occasionally great
confusion is caused by the blending of the similar names of persons
living at different periods.
My method of putting together the series of descriptions which will be
found in the ‘Viking Age’ has been as follows:—
By reading carefully every Saga—and there are hundreds of them—dealing
with the events of a man’s life from his birth to his death, I was able
to select the passages bearing on the various customs. When in one Saga
the bare fact of a birth, or a marriage, or a burial, or a feast, etc.,
etc., was mentioned, in others full details of the ceremonies connected
with them were found. After thus collecting my material, which was of
the most superabundant character, I went over it and selected what
seemed to me to be the best accounts of the various customs with which I
deal in these volumes. I have not been content with the translations of
other persons, but have in every case gone to the original documents and
adopted my own rendering of them.
Some extracts from the Frankish Chronicles are given in the Appendix, as
showing the power of the Northmen, and bearing strong testimony to the
truthfulness of the Sagas. If I had not been afraid of being tedious, I
could also have given extracts from Arabic, Russian, and other annals to
the same effect.
The testimony of archæology as corroborating the Sagas forms one of the
most important links in the chain of my argument; parchments and written
records form but a portion of the material from which I have derived my
account of the ‘Viking Age.’ During the last fifty years the History of
the Northmen has been unearthed as it were—like that of the Egyptians,
Assyrians, and Romans—by the discovery of almost every kind of
implement, weapon, and ornament produced by that accomplished race.
The Museums of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, France, Germany,
Russia, are as richly stored with such objects as are the British
Museum, the Louvre, the Museums of Naples and Boulak with the treasures
of Egypt and Pompeii.
I have myself seen nearly all the objects or graves illustrated in this
book, with the exception of a few Runic stones which have now
disappeared, but are given in an old work of Jorgensen.
As my materials expanded themselves before me I felt like one of those
mariners of old on a voyage of discovery. To them new lands were
continuously coming into view; to me new materials, new fields of
literary and archæological wealth unfolded themselves incessantly. Thus
carried away by enthusiasm and the love of the task I had undertaken, I
have been able to labour for eight years and a half on the present work,
with some interruptions from exhaustion and impaired health. May I,
then, ask the indulgence of a public, which has always been kind to me,
for all the shortcomings of my work?
I have received valuable assistance from many friends, but I desire
especially to express my thanks to Mr. Bruun, the Chief Librarian of the
Royal Library of Denmark, for his great kindness in allowing me so many
privileges during the years I have worked in Copenhagen; to Mr. Birket
Smith, of the University Library of Copenhagen; and Mr. Kaalund, Keeper
of the Arna Magnæan Collection of Manuscripts, for the uniform courtesy
they have shown me; among antiquarians, to my friend Professor George
Stephens, author of the magnificent work, ‘Northern Runic Monuments,’
for his readiness in giving me all the information and help I needed,
which sometimes occupied much of his valuable time (several
illustrations of the runic stones, etc., in these volumes are taken from
his work); to Mr. Vedel, Vice-President of the Royal Society of
Antiquarians; to Messrs. Herbst, Sophus Müller, and Petersen, of the
Royal Museum of Northern Antiquities, for their great courtesy; I am
also indebted to the works of the following distinguished antiquarians
which have been invaluable to me in my researches and which have
furnished me with many of the illustrations for my book: Ole Rygh,
Bugge, Engelhart, Nicolaysen, Sehested, Steenstrup, Madsen, Säve,
Montelius, Holmberg, Jorgensen, Baltzer, and Lorange; also to the works
of the historians, Keyser, Geijer, Munch, Rafn, Vigfusson. My sincere
thanks are also due to my young friend Jon Stefánsson, an Icelandic
student, for his constant help in rendering the translations of the
Sagas as accurate and literal as possible; and to my old friend Mr.
Rasmus B. Anderson, late American Minister to Denmark, and translator of
the ‘Later Edda,’ etc.; in England, to Messrs. A. S. Murray, Franks, and
Read, of the British Museum; to Dr. Warre, the head master of Eton, and
to General Pitt Rivers, author of a valuable work on the excavations in
Cranborne Chase, which contains objects strikingly similar to those of
Scandinavia; also to my friends Mr. J. S. Keltie and Mr. Arthur L.
Roberts; to my old friends Messrs. Clowes, who have taken great pains in
carrying out what has proved to be a very difficult task for the
printer, and who have had the work over two-and-a-half years in type.
I must thank, above all, my esteemed and venerable publisher, John
Murray, for the great interest he has taken in the present work, which
has tried his patience and liberality many a time, and also for the many
years of uninterrupted friendship and the pleasant business relations
(unhampered by any written agreement whatever), which have existed
between us from the time when I came to him almost a lad, and he first
undertook the publication of ‘Explorations in Equatorial Africa,’ in
1861, not forgetting my dear friends, his sons, John and Hallam, the
former of whom has assisted me materially in seeing the work through the
press, and my old companion Robert Cooke.
I cannot close this preface without thanking my old and ever true friend
Robert Winthrop, of New York, descendant of the celebrated Colonial
Governor of Massachusetts, to whom I dedicated “The Land of the Midnight
Sun,” for his unfailing kindness and sympathy during the years I have
been engaged in the present work.
PAUL B. DU CHAILLU.
_NEW YORK, September, 1889._
CONTENTS OF VOL. I
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
CIVILISATION AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE NORTH 1
CHAPTER II.
ROMAN AND GREEK ACCOUNTS OF THE NORTHMEN 7
CHAPTER III.
THE SETTLEMENT OF BRITAIN BY NORTHMEN 17
CHAPTER IV.
THE MYTHOLOGY AND COSMOGONY OF THE NORSEMEN 27
CHAPTER V.
MYTHOLOGY AND COSMOGONY (_continued_) 44
CHAPTER VI.
ODIN OF THE NORTH 51
CHAPTER VII.
THE SUCCESSORS OF ODIN OF THE NORTH 62
CHAPTER VIII.
THE STONE AGE 69
CHAPTER IX.
THE BRONZE AGE 84
CHAPTER X.
THE IRON AGE 125
CHAPTER XI.
RUNES 154
CHAPTER XII.
NORTHERN RELICS—BOG FINDS 193
CHAPTER XIII.
NORTHERN RELICS—GROUND FINDS 235
CHAPTER XIV.
DESCRIPTION OF SOME REMARKABLE GRAVES AND THEIR CONTENTS 247
CHAPTER XV.
GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES IN THE NORTH 259
CHAPTER XVI.
GLASS 276
CHAPTER XVII.
HORSES—WAGGONS 285
CHAPTER XVIII.
VARIOUS FORMS OF GRAVES 299
CHAPTER XIX.
BURIALS 320
CHAPTER XX.
RELIGION.—WORSHIP, SACRIFICES, ETC. 343
CHAPTER XXI.
RELIGION.—ALTARS, TEMPLES, HIGH-SEAT PILLARS, ETC. 356
CHAPTER XXII.
RELIGION.—HUMAN SACRIFICES 364
CHAPTER XXIII.
RELIGION.—IDOLS AND WORSHIP OF MEN AND ANIMALS, ETC. 375
CHAPTER XXIV.
RELIGION.—THE NORNIR AND VALKYRIAS 385
CHAPTER XXV.
RELIGION.—THE VOLVAS 394
CHAPTER XXVI.
RELIGION.—ÆGIR AND RAN 403
CHAPTER XXVII.
RELIGION.—SACRIFICES TO THE ALFAR, DISIR, FYLGJA, HAMINGJA, AND
LANDVŒTTIR 409
CHAPTER XXVIII.
VALHÖLL-VALHALLA 420
CHAPTER XXIX.
SUPERSTITIONS.—SHAPE-CHANGING 430
CHAPTER XXX.
SUPERSTITIONS.—WITCHCRAFT 439
CHAPTER XXXI.
SUPERSTITIONS.—OMENS 450
CHAPTER XXXII.
SUPERSTITIONS.—DREAMS 456
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY 464
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE LAND 478
CHAPTER XXXV.
DIVISIONS OF PEOPLE INTO CLASSES 486
CHAPTER XXXVI.
SLAVERY—THRALDOM 502
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE THING 515
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE GODI AND THE GODISHIP 525
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE LAWS OF THE EARLIER ENGLISH TRIBES 532
CHAPTER XL.
INDEMNITY, WEREGILD 544
CHAPTER XLI.
THE OATH AND ORDEAL 553
CHAPTER XLII.
DUELLING 563
CHAPTER XLIII.
OUTLAWRY 578
CHAPTER XLIV.
REVENGE 584
A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL SAGAS
QUOTED IN
THE VIKING AGE,
INCLUDING THE PERIODS WITH WHICH THEY DEAL.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────
Name of Saga. │ Century with which
│ they deal.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────
│These are Mythical,
The Earlier Edda │ and no accurate
│ date can be affixed
│ to them.
│ ”
The Later Edda │ ”
│
Fórnaldarsögur contains:— │
Völsunga │Partly Mythical.
Hervara │ ”
Thorstein Vikingsson’s (father of Fridthjof)│ ”
Ketil Hæng’s sons │ ”
Grim Lodinkinnis’ │ ”
Fridthjof’s │ ”
│
Hrolf Kraki’s │VI.(?)
Half’s │VI.(?)
Sögubrot │VI.-VII.(?)
Ragnar Lodbrok’s │VIII.(?)
Ragnar Lodbrok’s Sons’ │VIII.(?)
│
Norna Gest’s │No date can be
Gautrek’s │ assigned to these.
Orvar Odd’s │ ”
Herraud and Bosi’s │ ”
Egil and Asmund’s │ ”
Hjalmter and Ölver’s │ ”
Göngu Hrelf’s │ ”
An Bosveigi’s │ ”
⁂ The above dates are all more or less conjectural, and the Sagas are
chiefly valuable as illustrating manners and customs.
Egil’s │Middle of IX. to end
│ of X.
Njala’s │End of X. to
│ beginning of XI.
Laxdæla │IX.-XI. (886–1030).
Eyrbyggja │IX.-XI. (890–1031).
│
Islandinga Sögur contains:— │
I. Hord’s Saga │X. (950–990).
II. Hœnsa Thoris’ Saga │X.-XI.(990–1010).
III. Gunnlaug Ormstunga’s Saga │X.-XI.
IV. Viga Styr’s Saga │X.-XI.
V. Kjalnesinga Saga │IX.-XI.
VI. Gisli Súrsson │X.
│
Droplaugarsona Saga │X.
│
Hrafnkel Freysgodi │X.
│
Bjorn Hitdæla Kappi │First half of XI.
│
Kormak’s │X.
│
Fornsögur contains:— │
I. Vatnsdæla Saga │IX.-XI. (c.
│ 870–1000).
II. Floamanna Saga │X. (c. 985–990).
III. Hallfred’s Saga │End of X.
│
Gretti’s Saga │X.-XI. (Grettir died
│ 1031).
│
Viga Glum │X.
│
Vallaljots │Beginning of XI.
│
Vapnfirdinga │IX.-X.
│
Thorskfirdinga, or Gullthóri’s │X. (c. 900–930).
│
Heidar Viga (continuation of Viga Styr’s) │First half of XI.
│
Fœreyinga │X.-XI. (c. 960–1040).
│
Finnbogi Rami’s │X.
│
Eirek the Red │
│
Thátt of Styrbjörn (nephew of Eirek the │
Victorious, who fell at the battle of │X.
Fyrisvellir, 983) │
│
│IX.-X. (the
Landnama │ colonisation of
│ Iceland).
│
Islendinga bok │IX.-XI. (c.
│ 874–1118).
Ljosvetninga │990–1050.
Vemund’s Saga │End of X. century.
Svarfdœla │First half of X.
│ century.
│
Biskupa Sögur contains:— │
Kristni Saga │X.-XII. (c.
│ 980–1120).
Sturlunga │XII.-XIII. (c.
│ 1120–1284).
│
Fornmanna Sögur contains:— │
I. Sagas of Kings of Norway │
II. Jomsvikinga Saga │X.
III. Knytlinga Saga │XI.-XII.
IV. Fagrskinna (short history of Kings of Norway│IX.-XII.
from Halfdan the Black to Sverrir) │
│
│Written in first half
│ of XIII. cent.,
Heimskringla Saga contains the Ynglinga Saga, the│ giving history of
great work of Snorri Sturluson │ the Kings of Norway
│ and Sweden from
│ Odin down to 1177.
│
Flateyjarbok contains lives of Kings of Norway, │
etc. │
│
Fostbrædra Saga │XI. (c. 1015–30).
│
Konung’s Skuggsja │XIII.
│
Rimbegla │XIV.
│
Orkneyinga │IX.-XIII. (c.
│ 870–1206).
─────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────
A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL KINGS OF DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN,
SOME OF WHOM HAVE SAGAS OF THEIR OWN.
KINGS OF DENMARK.
│ A.D.
Gorm │ 900–940
Harald Bluetooth │ 945–985
Svein Tjuguskegg │ 985–1014
Harald │ 1014–1018
Knut the Great │ 1018–1035
Hörda Knut │ 1035–1042
Magnus the Good, ruled over Denmark and Norway │ 1042–1047
Svein Ulfsson │ 1047–1075
KINGS OF NORWAY.
(Mostly petty Kings.)
│ A.D.
Halfdan the Black, died │ 860
Harald Fairhair, reigned│ 860–930
Eirik Bloodaxe ” │ 930–934
Hakon the Good ” │ 934–960
Harald Grafeld (greyskin) ” │ 960–965
Hakon Jarl the Great, the hero of the battle of ” │
Gomsviking, │ 965–995
Olaf Tryggvason ” │ 995–1000
Eirik Jarl ” │ 1000–1015
St Olaf ” │ 1015–1028
Knut the Great ” │ 1028–1035
Magnus the Good ” │ 1035–1047
Harald Hardradi ” │ 1047–1066
Olaf the Quiet ” │ 1066–1093
Magnus Barefoot ” │ 1093–1103
Three sons:—Eystein, Olaf, Sigurd Jórsalafari │ 1103–1130
Civil war—Harald Gilli, Magnus the Blind, and others │ 1130–1162
Magnus Erlingsson │ 1162–1184
Sverrir (Sigurdson) │ 1184–1202
KINGS OF SWEDEN.
(Not mentioned in the Odinic Genealogies, vol. i. p. 67.)
│ A.D.
Ivar Vidfadmi │ Kings of
Harald Hilditönn │ Sweden and
Sigurd Hring │ Denmark.
Ragnar Lodbrók │ ”
│
Björn Ironside │
Eirik and Refil │
Eymund and Björn │ 800–830
Olaf and Eymund │ c. 850
Eyrik Eymundsson died │ c. 882
Björn Eiriksson and Hring │ 900–950
Eirik the Victorious │ c. 950–994
Olaf Skaut-konung │ c. 994–1022
Önund Jakob │ c. 1022–1050
Eymund the Old │ c. 1050–1060
Steinkel Rögnvaldson │ c. 1060–1066
[Illustration:
GEOGRAPHY AND NOMENCLATURE OF THE VIKING AGE
]
THE VIKING AGE.
CHAPTER I.
CIVILISATION AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE NORTH.
Early antiquities of the North—Literature: English and Frankish
chronicles—Early civilisation—Beauty of ornaments, weapons, &c.
A study of the ancient literature and abundant archæology of the North
gives us a true picture of the character and life of the Norse ancestors
of the English-speaking peoples.
We can form a satisfactory idea of their religious, social, political,
and warlike life. We can follow them from their birth to their grave. We
see the infant exposed to die, or _water sprinkled_,[1] and a name
bestowed upon it; follow the child in his education, in his sports; the
young man in his practice of arms; the maiden in her domestic duties and
embroidery; the adult in his warlike expeditions; hear the clash of
swords and the songs of the _Scald_, looking on and inciting the
warriors to greater deeds of daring, or it may be recounting afterwards
the glorious death of the hero. We listen to the old man giving his
advice at the _Thing_.[2] We learn about their dress, ornaments,
implements, weapons; their expressive names and complicated
relationships; their dwellings and convivial halls, with their primitive
or magnificent furniture; their temples, sacrifices, gods, and sacred
ceremonies; their personal appearance, even to the hair, eyes, face and
limbs. Their festivals, betrothal and marriage feasts are open to us. We
are present at their athletic games preparatory to the stern realities
of the life of that period, where honour and renown were won on the
battle-field; at the revel and drunken bout; behold the dead warrior on
his burning ship or on the pyre, and surrounded by his weapons, horses,
slaves, or fallen companions who are to enter with him into
_Valhalla_;[3] look into the death chamber, see the mounding and the
_Arvel_, or inheritance feast.
These Norsemen had carriages or chariots, as well as horses, and the
numerous skeletons of this animal in graves or bogs prove it to have
been in common use at a very early period. Their dress, and the
splendour of their riding equipment for war, the richness of the
ornamentation of their weapons of offence and defence are often
carefully described. Everywhere we see that gold was in the greatest
abundance. The descriptions of such wealth might seem to be very much
exaggerated; but, as will be seen in the course of this work, the
antiquities treasured in the museums of the North bear witness to the
truthfulness of the records. The spade has developed the history of
Scandinavia, as it has done that of Assyria and Etruria, but in addition
the Northmen had the Saga and Edda literature to perpetuate their deeds.
We are the more astonished as we peruse the Eddas and Sagas giving the
history of the North, and examine the antiquities found in the country,
for we hear hardly anything about the customs of the people from the
Roman writers, and our ideas regarding them have been thoroughly
vitiated by the earlier Frankish and English chronicles and other
monkish writings, or by the historians who have taken these records as a
trustworthy authority.
Some writers, in order to give more weight to these chronicles, and to
show the great difference that existed between the invaders and invaded,
and how superior the latter were to the former, paint in a graphic
manner, without a shadow of authority, the contrast between the two
peoples. England is described as being at that time a most beautiful
country, a panegyric which does not apply to fifteen or twenty centuries
ago; while the country of the aggressor is depicted as one of swamp and
forest inhabited by wild and savage men. It is forgotten that after a
while the people of the country attacked were the same people as those
of the North or their descendants, who in intelligence, civilisation,
and manly virtues were far superior to the original and effete
inhabitants of the shores they invaded.
The men of the North who settled and conquered part of Gaul and Britain,
whose might the power of Rome could not destroy, and whose depredations
it could not prevent, were not savages; the Romans did not dare attack
these men at home with their fleet or with their armies. Nay, they even
had allowed these Northmen to settle peacefully in their provinces of
Gaul and Britain.
No, the people who were then spread over a great part of the present
Russia, who overran Germania, who knew the art of writing, who led their
conquering hosts to Spain, into the Mediterranean, to Italy, Sicily,
Greece, the Black Sea, Palestine, Africa, and even crossed the broad
Atlantic to America, who were undisputed masters of the sea for more
than twelve centuries, were not barbarians. Let those who uphold the
contrary view produce evidence from archæology of an indigenous British
or Gallic civilisation which surpasses that of the North.
The antiquities of the North even without its literature would throw an
indirect but valuable light on the history of the earlier Norse tribes,
the so-called barbarians, fiends, devils, sons of Pluto, &c., of the
Frankish and English chronicles. To the latter we can refer for stories
of terrible acts of cruelty committed by the countrymen of the writers
who recount them with complacency; maiming prisoners or antagonists and
sending multitudes into slavery far away from their homes. But the
greatest of all outrages in the eyes of these monkish scribes was that
the Northmen burned a church or used it for sheltering their men or
stabling their horses.
The writers of the English and Frankish chronicles were the worst
enemies of the Northmen, ignorant and bigoted men when judged by the
standard of our time; through their writings we hardly know anything of
the customs of their own people. They could see nothing good in a man
who had not a religion identical with their own.
Still allowance must be made for the chroniclers; they wrote the history
of their own period with the bigotry, passions, and hatreds, of their
times.
The striking fact brought vividly before our mind is that the people of
the North, even before the time when they carried their warfare into
Gaul and Britain, possessed a degree of civilisation which would be
difficult for us to realise were it not that the antiquities help us in
a most remarkable manner, and in many essential points, to corroborate
the truthfulness of the Eddas and Sagas.
The indisputable fact remains that both the Gauls and the Britons were
conquered by the Romans and afterwards by the Northern tribes.
This Northern civilisation was peculiar to itself, having nothing in
common with the Roman world. Rome knew nothing of these people till they
began to frequent the coasts of her North Sea provinces, in the days of
Tacitus, and after his time the Mediterranean. The North was separated
from Rome by the swamps and forests of Germania—a vague term given to a
country north and north-east of Italy, a land without boundaries, and
inhabited by a great number of warlike, wild, uncivilised tribes.
According to the accounts of Roman writers, these people were very
unlike those of the North, and we must take the description given of
them to be correct, as there is no archæological discovery to prove the
contrary. They were distinct; one was comparatively civilised, the other
was not.
The manly civilisation the Northmen possessed was their own; from their
records, corroborated by finds in Southern Russia, it seems to have
advanced north from about the shores of the Black Sea, and we shall be
able to see in the perusal of these pages how many Northern customs were
like those of the ancient Greeks.
A view of the past history of the world will show us that the growth of
nations which have become powerful has been remarkably steady, and has
depended upon the superior intelligence of the conquering people over
their neighbours; just as to-day the nations who have taken possession
of far-off lands and extended their domain, are superior to the
conquered.
The museums of Copenhagen, Stockholm, Christiania, Bergen, Lünd,
Göteborg, and many smaller ones in the provincial towns of the three
Scandinavian kingdoms, show a most wonderful collection of antiquities
which stand unrivalled in Central and Northern Europe for their wealth
of weapons and costly objects of gold and silver, belonging to the
bronze and iron age, and every year additions are made.
The weapons found with their peculiar northern ornamentation, and the
superb ring coats-of-mail, show the skill of the people in working iron.
A great number of their early swords and other weapons are damascened
even so far back as the beginning of the Christian era, and show either
that this art was practised in the North long before its introduction
into the rest of Europe from Damascus by the Crusaders, or that the
Norsemen were so far advanced as to be able to appreciate the artistic
manufactures of Southern nations.
The remnants of articles of clothing with graceful patterns, interwoven
with threads of gold and silver, which have fortunately escaped entire
destruction, show the existence of great skill in weaving. Entire suits
of wearing apparel remain to tell us how some of the people dressed in
the beginning of our era.
Beautiful vessels of silver and gold also testify to the taste and
luxury of those early times. The knowledge of the art of writing and of
gilding is clearly demonstrated. In some cases, nearly twenty centuries
have not been able to tarnish or obliterate the splendour of the gilt
jewels of the Northmen. We find among their remains—either of their own
manufacture or imported, perhaps as spoils of war—_repoussé_ work of
gold or silver, bronze, silver, and wood work covered with the thinnest
sheets of gold; the filigree work displays great skill, and some of it
could not be surpassed now. Many objects are ornamented with _niello_,
and of so thorough a northern pattern, that they are incontestably of
home manufacture. The art of enamelling seems also to have been known to
the artificers of the period.
Objects, many of which show much refined taste, such as superb specimens
of glass vessels with exquisite painted subjects—unrivalled for their
beauty of pattern, even in the museums of Italy and Russia—objects of
bronze, &c., make us pause with astonishment, and musingly ask ourselves
from what country these came. The names of Etruria, of ancient Greece,
and of Rome, naturally occur to our minds.
Other objects of unquestionable Roman and Greek manufacture, and
hundreds and thousands of coins, of the first, second, third and fourth
centuries of the Christian era, show the early intercourse the people of
the North had with the western and eastern Roman empire, and with
Frisia, Gaul, and Britain.
A careful perusal of the Eddas and Sagas will enable us, with the help
of the ancient Greek and Latin writers, and without any serious break in
the chain of events, to make out a fairly continuous history which
throws considerable light on the progenitors of the English-speaking
people, their migrations northward from their old home on the shores of
the Black Sea, their religion, and the settlement of Scandinavia, of
England, and other countries.