------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Note:
○ This book contains a very large number of Norse letters, special
characters and some Runes that may not be viewable on every ebook
reader.
○ There are additional Transcriber’s notes at the end of the book.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN ACCOUNT
OF THE
DANES AND NORWEGIANS
IN
ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN ACCOUNT
OF THE
DANES AND NORWEGIANS
IN
ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND.
BY J. J. A. WORSAAE, FOR. F.S.A. LONDON:
A ROYAL COMMISSIONER FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE NATIONAL MONUMENTS
OF DENMARK; AUTHOR OF “PRIMÆVAL ANTIQUITIES OF DENMARK,” &C., &C.
WITH NUMEROUS WOODCUTS.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1852.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LONDON:
GEORGE WOODFALL AND SON,
ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREFACE.
-------
Mr. Worsaae informs us in his Introduction that the following pages were
not written solely for the learned. They were designed as a popular
contribution to a branch of historical and antiquarian knowledge, which,
though highly interesting both to Scandinavians and Englishmen, has been
hitherto very imperfectly investigated. The English reader will find in
Mr. Worsaae’s work not only many facts concerning the early history of
this country that are either entirely new to him, or placed at least in
a wholly novel light, but he will also meet with many _names_ whose form
may appear foreign and unfamiliar. It may, therefore, be desirable that
on the English reader’s introduction to a more intimate acquaintance
with that Scandinavian race which has more claims than he had, perhaps,
imagined, not only to be regarded as the founders of some of his native
customs and institutions, but even to be reckoned among his forefathers,
he should be enabled to pronounce their principal names correctly. With
this view the following brief remarks are subjoined;—
The double _a_ (_aa_), frequently occurring in proper names, must be
sounded like the English diphthong _aw_, as in Blaatand, Haarfager.
The _ö_, or _oe_, is pronounced like the French diphthong _eu_.
The _u_, as in German and Italian, is equivalent to _oo_ in the English
words _cool_, _troop_, &c.; as in Ulf, Huskarl, &c.
_C_ has invariably the sound of _k_ (with which, indeed, it is
frequently interchanged). The names of Cetel, Oscytel, &c., are to be
pronounced Ketel, Oskytel. Where _c_ or _k_ precedes another consonant,
it retains, as in German, its distinct and proper power. In order to
represent this power, Latin and English writers have sometimes
substituted the syllable _ca_ for the initial _c_ or _k_; as, for
instance, in the name of Canute (_Dan._, Cnut or Knud). This has led to
the very common error of pronouncing the name as if it consisted of two
syllables, with an accent upon the first; as Cán-ute, instead of Cănúte.
_J_ has the sound of the English _y_; as in Jarl (_Yarl_, earl), Jorvik
(_Yor-vik_, York).
The consonants _th_ (the Icelandic Þ[1]) are pronounced like a single
_t_. The word _Thing_ (assizes, &c.), which the reader will so
frequently meet, is sounded like _Ting_. The proper pronunciation is
preserved in the word _Hus-ting_, but by altering the spelling. Thus,
Thor, Thorkil, &c., must be pronounced _Tor_, _Torkil_.
Footnote 1:
The letter ð has the power of _dh_, or _dth_.
Lastly, the Vikings (_Isl._, Vikingr, a sea-rover, pirate), who played
so great a part during the Danish conquests, were not Ví-kings, but
Vik-ings (Veék-ings); so called either from the Icelandic _Vik_ (_Dan._,
Vig), a bay of the sea, or from _Vig_, battle, slaughter.
London, Dec. 15th, 1851.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AUTHOR’S PREFACE.
In the spring of 1846, his late Majesty Christian VIII. of Denmark
determined that an inquiry should be made respecting the monuments and
memorials of the Danes and Norwegians which might be still extant in
Scotland and the British Islands. His Majesty was the more confirmed in
this design as two distinguished British noblemen, his Grace the Duke of
Sutherland, and his brother Lord Francis Egerton (now Earl of
Ellesmere), had repeatedly stated in their letters to the Royal Society
of Northern Antiquaries that, if a Danish archæologist visited Scotland,
he should receive all possible assistance, especially in Sutherland, a
district so rich in Scandinavian antiquities.
His Majesty did me the honour to intrust this task to me: and the
President of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, and of the Royal
Committee for the preservation of the national monuments—our present
most gracious sovereign Frederick VII.—having, with a lively zeal for
the promotion of the inquiry, furnished me with several letters of
introduction, I travelled during a twelvemonth (1846-1847) in Scotland,
Ireland, and England; where, partly through the personal kindness of the
Duke of Sutherland and of the Earl of Ellesmere, and partly by means of
their influential names, I invariably met with the best reception and
the most valuable assistance in my researches.
The present work contains part of the results of that journey. My aim in
it has been to convey a juster and less prejudiced notion than prevails
at present respecting the Danish and Norwegian conquests; which, though
of such special importance to England, Scotland, and Ireland, have
hitherto been constantly viewed in an utterly false and partial light.
Whilst writing the work in Denmark, I have but too frequently felt the
want of constant access to the well-stored libraries of England;
although those literary gentlemen in Great Britain to whom I have
written for information, have received my applications with their usual
readiness and friendship[2].
Footnote 2:
Amongst the many gentlemen to whom I owe my thanks, I must
particularly name: Sir H. Dryden, Bart., of Canons Ashby; C. Roach
Smith, Esq., F.S.A., London; E. Hawkins, Esq., British Museum; J. M.
Kemble, Esq.; Professor Cosmo Innes, Edinburgh; Dr. Traill, _ibid._;
C. Neaves, Esq., _ibid._; R. Chalmers, Esq., of Auldbar Castle; Rev.
J. H. Todd, D.D., Trinity College, Dublin; Professor C. Graves; and
Dr. G. Petrie, likewise of Dublin.
However, as my work contains the first fully detailed examination of the
subject _from the Danish side_, I hope that, notwithstanding all its
deficiencies and faults, it may prove of some interest in England, and
serve to excite further investigation, which would doubtless throw a
clearer light upon a very remote, but not on that account less
remarkable, period in the history of England and the North.
J. J. A. WORSAAE.
Copenhagen, April, 1851.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS.
-------
INTRODUCTION.
SECTION I.
Scandinavia’s greatest Memorials.—Those of Denmark and Norway at Sea.—Of
Sweden on Land.—The Influence of Climate
SECTION II.
The Great Memorials of Sweden in their Relation to those of Denmark and
Norway.—Danish-Norwegian Memorials in the British Isles
----------
THE DANES IN ENGLAND.
SECTION I.
Nature of the Country.—Earlier Inhabitants: Britons, Romans, and
Anglo-Saxons
SECTION II.
The Danish Expeditions.—The Danish Conquest
SECTION III.
The Thames.—London
SECTION IV.
Watlinga-Stræt.—South England.—Legends about the Danes.—The Graves of
Canute the Great and Hardicanute
SECTION V.
The Wash.—The Five Burghs.—The Humber.—York.—Northumberland.—Stamford
Bridge
SECTION VI.
Danish-Norwegian Memorials in the North of England.—Coins.—The
Raven.—The Danish Flag
SECTION VII.
Danish-Norwegian Names of Places
SECTION VIII.
Resemblance of the People to the Danes and Norwegians.—Proper
Names.—Popular Language.—Songs and Legends
SECTION IX.
The Outrages of the Danes.—The Danes and Normans.—Influence of the Danes
in England
SECTION X.
Commerce and Navigation
SECTION XI.
Art and Literature
SECTION XII.
Ecclesiastical and Secular Aristocracy
SECTION XIII.
The Danelag.—Holmgang, or Duel.—Jury.—The Feeling of Freedom
SECTION XIV.
General View.—Anglo-Saxon and Danish-Norman England.—Sympathies for
Denmark.—The Dane in England
----------
THE NORWEGIANS IN SCOTLAND.
SECTION I.
Nature of Scotland.—The Highlands and Lowlands.—Population.—Original
Inhabitants
SECTION II.
The Anglo-Saxons.—The Danes and Norwegians.—Effects of their Expeditions
SECTION III.
The Lowlands.—Population.—Language.—Norwegian-Danish Names of Places
SECTION IV.
Traditions concerning “the Danes.”—The Southern and Northern
Lowlands.—Danish Memorials.—Burghead
SECTION V.
The Orkneys and Shetland Isles.—Natural Features.—Population.—Oppression
SECTION VI.
Shetland.—The People.—Songs.—Sword-Dance.—Language.—Names of
Places.—Tingwall.—Burg of Mousa.—Tumuli.—Bauta Stones
SECTION VII.
The Orkneys.—“Þingavöllr.”—Monuments of the Olden Time.—Kirkwall.—St.
Magnus Church
SECTION VIII.
Pentland Firth.—The Highlands.—Caithness.—Sutherland.—Dingwall.—Fear of
the Danes
SECTION IX.
The Hebrides.—The Northern Isles.—Lewis and Harris (Næs).—Skye.—Ossian’s
Songs.—Iona
SECTION X.
The Sudreyjar, or Southern Isles.—Cantire.—Islay.—Man.—Names of
Places.—Runic Stones.—Kings.—Battle of Largs.—“Lords of the
Isles.”—Tynwald in Man
----------
THE NORWEGIANS IN IRELAND.
SECTION I.
Nature and Population of Ireland.—The “Danish” Conquests.—Traditions
about the “Danes.”—Political Movements
SECTION II.
Irish and Scandinavian Records.—Finn Lochlannoch.—Dubh-Lochlannoch.—The
Names of the Provinces
SECTION III.
Norwegian Kings.—Limerick.—Cork.—Waterford.—Reginald’s
Tower.—Dublin.—Thengmotha.—Oxmantown
SECTION IV.
Norwegian Names of Places.—Near Dublin.—Norwegian
Burial—Places.—Norwegian Weapons and Ornaments
SECTION V.
Ancient Irish Christianity and Civilization.—Trade.—No Irish, but
Norwegian Coins.—Sigtryg Silkeskjæg.—Norwegian Coiners
SECTION VI.
The Battle of Clontarf.—Power of the Ostmen after the Battle.—Their
Churches and Bishops.—Their Land and Sea Forces.—The English
Conquest.—Remains of the Ostmen.—Their Importance for Ireland
SECTION VII.
Conclusion.—Warlike and Peaceful Colonizations Resemblances and
Differences.—Before and Now
----------
APPENDIX I. Document of Edward I.
APPENDIX II. Coinage of the Norwegians in Dublin
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION.
----------
SECTION I.
Scandinavia’s greatest Memorials.—Those of Denmark and Norway at Sea.—Of
Sweden on Land.—The Influence of Climate.
The greatest, and for general history the most important, memorials of
the Scandinavian people are connected, as is well known, with the
expeditions of the Normans, and with the Thirty Years’ War.
In the Norman expeditions the North, mighty in its heathenism, poured
forth towards the east, the west, and the south, its numerous warriors
and shrewd men, who subverted old kingdoms, and founded new and powerful
ones in their place. It was by Danish and Norwegian fleets that Normandy
and England were then conquered, and kingdoms won in Scotland, Ireland,
and North Holland; whilst Norwegians settled on the Faroe Islands
(_Dan._, Faröerne), and discovered and colonized Iceland. Hence their
descendants, having afterwards passed over to Greenland, discovered
America, and were in the habit of navigating the Atlantic Ocean
centuries before other European nations.
In all these voyages proportionally few Swedes took part. Inscriptions
on runic stones in Sweden sometimes speak, indeed, of men who had
settled or met their death in the west over in England (Anklant or
Inklant). But on the whole the views of the Swedes were at that time, as
well as at a later period, mostly directed towards the east. Swedish
Vikings, or pirates, harried and established themselves upon the coasts
of Finland and of the countries now belonging to Russia; and a tribe of
them, the Varæger, even made themselves there the reigning people.
Partly in consequence of this, Sweden—and particularly the Island of
Gothland, or Gulland—became the centre of the active trade which in
ancient times (that is, from the eighth to the twelfth century,) was
carried on, through Russia, between Scandinavia and the countries around
the Black and Caspian Seas, as well as Arabia.
The Swedes, however, do not appear very prominently either in ancient
times or in the early part of the middle ages. They were prevented from
playing any considerable part in the distant lands towards the West by
the sanguinary intestine disputes which took place between them and the
Goths; and it was not till the fifteenth century, and after these
disputes were adjusted, that they could appear upon the theatre of the
world as a nation. The Swedish Charleses and Gustavuses, by means of the
sword, subsequently caused the Swedish name to be feared and honoured;
not, however, at sea, but on land, on the plains of Russia, Poland, and
Germany. Gustavus Adolphus, in the Thirty Years’ War, after the disaster
of the Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV., powerfully contributed to
uphold Lutheranism, and by that means to establish liberty of conscience
for Germany and the rest of Europe.
_It was, then, principally at sea that the Danes and Norwegians formerly
won a name in the history of the world, whilst the Swedes obtained
theirs on land._ Indeed, the peculiar nature and situation of the
different Scandinavian countries must have necessarily caused the
strength and courage which were the common attributes of the
Scandinavian race, to be exerted from the first in different directions.
Sweden, which towards the west is separated from Denmark only by the
Sound and Cattegat, is in like manner towards the east separated from
the vast plains of northern Europe by a confined and narrow sea. When,
therefore, the thirst of glory and conquest urged the Swedish warriors
from their homes, it was only necessary for them to cross over to the
opposite shores, or at most to sail along the coasts of the Baltic. In
Sweden, forests, valleys, and rivers, are the most prominent natural
features, whilst the sea is but a subordinate one. It is scarcely to be
expected that such a country should produce good seamen. But in Denmark
and Norway the case is altogether different.
Denmark is surrounded on all sides by the sea, which has indented the
land with numberless bays and firths, and cut it up into small portions.
Nor is it washed only by a confined sea like the Baltic, but also by the
more open German Ocean. From the earliest times, therefore, necessity
obliged the Dane to put to sea in order to keep up his connections with
his friends on the surrounding coasts and islands. Subsequently—when
commerce, and more especially when military honour, required it—he was
compelled to learn how to navigate the open sea, to struggle with the
foaming waves and rapid currents, and to defy the surf—which is still
the constant terror of seamen—on the coasts of north and west Jutland.
Thus the Dane early became a bold and daring Viking, and the Norwegian
distinguished himself in the same manner. Norway turns her broad and
rocky bosom towards the ocean. Her wild and broken coasts, split into
deep fiords, or gulfs, bear witness to the never-ceasing and violent
attacks of the Atlantic. Towards the east, Norway is separated from
Sweden by rocks, forests, and large desert plains. The interior of the
country is partly filled with mountains and immense forests, which
anciently were still more extensive. The valleys alone, along the banks
of rivers, are productive, and capable of cultivation. The greater part
of the inhabitants settled therefore originally on the fiords, or in the
neighbourhood of the sea, where the pasture land was neither so over
grown with wood, nor so sequestered as in the interior, and where also
the sea air rendered the climate considerably milder. The weather,
however, was variable enough, and the products of the earth being,
partly on that account, but scanty, fishing and the chase became
important sources of maintenance for the continually-increasing
population. The forests supplied them with abundance of timber, the soil
was rich in iron; nor were the people wanting in a daring and
enterprising spirit. Ships were soon built, capable not only of
navigating the fiords, but of venturing beyond their mouths. The first
voyages were coasting ones, but subsequently they were extended from the
southern part of Norway to the Danish and Swedish shores.
The Norwegian, who had now become skilled in navigating his ship through
the mountain waves of the Atlantic and the far more dangerous surfs on
the rocks of Norway, no longer dreaded the open sea. When the population
had increased to such an extent that the Norwegian rocks could barely
afford it a sufficient maintenance; when the reports concerning the rich
lands beyond the sea, and their defenceless condition, promised at once
renown and booty; and when, lastly, Harald Haarfager’s conquests
threatened the Norwegians with the loss of their freedom—then thousands
of vessels shot out from the fiords of Norway, and steered dauntlessly
for the neighbouring western islands. A northern life, and the severe
winter’s cold, had not only braced the body of the Viking to endure all
kinds of hardships, and given him strength to wield the sword with
effect; it had also steeled his courage, and taught him fearlessly to
face all manner of danger. The clear starry firmament of the North
enabled him to observe the course and relative situation of the stars,
which were then the only compass by which he steered his ship towards
foreign and unknown shores.
Norway must naturally be better calculated to form hardy persevering
sailors than Denmark. With the exception of the west coast of Jutland,
where there is not a good harbour to be found, and where, consequently,
navigation must, in ancient times, have been very limited, Denmark is
washed by an enclosed sea with flat coasts. The ocean, on the contrary,
washes almost the whole of Norway’s rocky shores; where the numerous and
deeply-indented fiords resemble so many harbours. There are sufficient
indications that anciently the Danes were accustomed to visit only the
comparatively neighbouring countries of England, Holland, and France;
whilst the Norwegians sailed also towards the north on the wide
Atlantic, whose storms and dangers did not prevent them from constantly
visiting the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and even America. The
discovery and first colonization of these countries are, with just
reason, the pride of the Norwegians and of their descendants the
Icelanders.
A comparison with other European nations will more clearly show how
great an influence the climate of the North, and especially the Northern
Sea, must have had on the development of navigation among the Danes and
Norwegians, and on their whole maritime life. With the exception of
England, which, in a still higher degree than Scandinavia, swims in the
open sea, and of Holland, which lies as it were half under water, no
country in Europe has produced a seafaring people which can be at all
compared to the Northmen; and this notwithstanding that Germany, France,
and the Spanish Peninsula, have all a very considerable extent of coast.
The reason undoubtedly is, that the coasts of those countries are washed
by enclosed seas, which naturally cannot be compared with the ocean;
whilst the countries themselves, especially Germany and France—and the
latter even in spite of its extent of coast towards the Atlantic—have an
unmistakeable continental character. It is clear, moreover, that the
ocean, as well as the smaller and enclosed seas, have, according to the
difference of latitude, an entirely different influence on the people
who inhabit their shores. The Mediterranean, surrounded by rich and
fruitful, but enervating, countries, has not shown itself capable of
producing such seamen as the Baltic, where the climate is more severe,
and the gifts of Nature incomparably more sparing. Spain and Portugal,
it is true, have a great extent of coast towards the Atlantic, which may
almost be compared with the west coast of Norway. But both those
countries possess a fruitful soil and a glorious southern climate. Their
inhabitants were not, like the Northmen of old, forced to visit foreign
shores in order to procure subsistence, and to struggle continually with
a raw and severe climate. They preferred to stay at home and enjoy the
blessings of their own country; and thus the calm energy and the proud
self-reliance which are engendered by a ceaseless struggle with an
ungrateful soil and climate, and which are indispensable to a hardy
seaman, were not developed in them as in the Norwegians and other
inhabitants of the North. This may have been one of the causes why the
Spaniards and Portuguese were unable to retain, in later times, their
mastery over the new world. They were displaced by the English, a
northern seafaring people, who were more at home on the sea.
It was the same quiet energy which, even amid the excitement of passion,
so strongly distinguished the northern from the southern races. The
inhabitant of the South was more governed, as he now is, by his
passions. A torrent of words, an animated play of the features, or even
perhaps a violent assault, betrayed the fire that raged within him. The
northern man, on the contrary, was of few words. His anger was under the
dominion of his cooler reason, and he was capable of concealing the
emotions of his soul. But he had a good memory. Years would pass before
he revenged himself; and he felt a sort of pleasure in making his
preparations, and waiting for the proper opportunity. The revenge of
blood, therefore, took place in the cold North, as well as in the fiery
South: but in the totally different manner in which it manifested itself
we can hardly fail to recognise the influence of Nature.
It must, however, be borne in mind that in every nation, except those
situated at the Poles or under the Line, where Nature exerts an almost
irresistible and overwhelming force, this influence manifests itself
very differently, according to their different degrees of development.
In the infancy of a people, and so long as their immediate wants render
them entirely dependent on Nature, whose unexplained phenomena appear to
them as those of some foreign and unknown power, her influence on their
life is naturally strongest. The effect is the same as that which
education and the companions with whom he associates produce on an
individual. But as nations gradually become more enlightened and
refined, they obtain a mastery over Nature, whose influence thus grows
weaker and weaker, and at last almost vanishes. It is, indeed, one of
the most marked steps in the progress of human development, when man
becomes Nature’s master, and makes her obedient to his power. Thus when
Englishmen, Frenchmen, and others who belong to a people of defined
character and perfectly-developed nationality, settle in foreign parts,
the influence of Nature, even at the Poles, or under the Line, is
scarcely strong enough to produce any great change in their character.
And upon the whole, to whatever degree civilization may be carried, most
nations will never entirely lose that character which Nature has
impressed upon them in the lands which gave them birth.
The influence of Nature upon the Scandinavian people may be traced
throughout their history, even down to the present times. In their
sanguinary internal wars, the Danes and Norwegians generally gained the
victory over the Swedes at sea. Under able leaders they have sometimes
been victorious on land also; but here the Swedes have in general been
superior. Christian IV. made no progress in the Thirty Years’ War. On
that occasion he proved himself inferior to Gustavus Adolphus, who, when
fighting on land, was in his true element. At sea, on the other hand,
Christian IV. signally defeated the Swedish fleet. The chief heroes of
the Swedish nation, and those who live most in the memory of the people,
are, Gustavus Adolphus, Charles X., and particularly Charles XII.;
although that monarch, by his rash wars in Russia, Poland, and Germany,
inflicted deep wounds upon Sweden, which took a long time to heal. But
the favourite heroes of the Danes and Norwegians are seamen; as
Christian IV., Niels Juel, Hvitfeld, and especially Tordenskjold, who,
singularly enough, was contemporary with Charles XII. The difference
between the people is clearly expressed in the opening lines of two of
the most favourite national songs. The Danish—formerly the Norwegian
also—runs thus:
“Kong Christian stod ved höien Mast
I Rög og Damp,”
(“King Christian stood by the high mast, enveloped in mist and smoke”),
where there is an allusion to a fight at sea. But the Swedish lines,
“Kung Karl den unge hjelte
Han stod i rök och dam,”
(“King Charles the young hero, stood in smoke and dust”), allude to
battle and victory on land. Even to the present day it may with good
reason be asserted that the Danes and Norwegians feel more inclination
than the Swedes for a seafaring life. But as the battle in Copenhagen
Roads (April 2, 1801) maintained the ancient reputation of the Danes at
sea, so also recent events have shown, that both the Danes and
Norwegians of the present day can fight on land with distinguished
bravery.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION II.
The Great Memorials of Sweden in their Relation to those of Denmark
and Norway.—Danish-Norwegian Memorials in the British Isles.
Russia, Poland, and particularly Germany, were, as we have seen, the
theatre of the greatest victories of Sweden. The glory of Denmark and
Norway, on the contrary, was founded in the West, over the sea, in
America, Iceland, the British Isles, and France. Denmark’s conquests of
the southern and eastern coasts of the Baltic in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, under the Waldemars, terminate, however, the times
of the Vikings. The victories of Sweden are of a modern date, and since
the last two centuries; but those of Denmark are of the ninth, tenth,
eleventh, and twelfth centuries. The remembrance of the Swedish
sabre-cut yet remains fresh among the Russians, Poles, and Germans; nay,
in some places, the Swedish name is still a terror to the common people.
It is often made a subject of complaint against the great achievements
of Denmark and Norway that they are of such remote antiquity; and that,
instead of promoting the freedom and spiritual advancement of mankind,
like Sweden’s struggles in the Thirty Years’ War, they rather caused an
immense retrograde step in civilization, since the heathen Vikings acted
with unbridled ferocity, burnt and destroyed churches and convents, and
rudely trampled upon everything that bore the mark of a higher
intellectual development. Thus foreigners, and particularly the German
historians, usually assert, for instance, that the Danish and Norwegian
Vikings brought nothing but misfortune upon the British Isles; whilst,
on the contrary, everything great and good in England is mainly
attributable to the Saxons, or Germans. This, however, is not to be
wondered at, since these critics were obliged to judge of situations for
whose right estimation they were entirely without the necessary
knowledge, namely, that of the more ancient history of the North.
It would certainly not be gratifying to the national feelings of the
Danes and Norwegians if the progress and settlements of the Vikings in
foreign lands were marked only by acts of violence, murder, and
incendiarism. Nor would it be a whit more pleasing or refreshing if it
were necessary to dig up as it were out of the earth the memorials of
those deeds, after they had lain for centuries in oblivion, or if we
were obliged carefully to revive them and procure their acknowledgment
in the countries which were once compelled to bow before the power of
the northern warriors.
But what if the Danish name, and the remembrance of the exploits of the
Danes and Norwegians, in spite of the many centuries that have passed
since they were performed, still live as fresh in the memory of the
people of the western lands as the Swedish name in Germany, nay, perhaps
even fresher? What if we found that, by means of monuments, the popular
character, public institutions, and other traits, a constant powerful
and beneficial influence could be traced from the expeditions of the
Vikings or Northmen, so that the natives of the lands which they subdued
accounted it an honour to descend from the bold natives of the North?
Would not the Northman in that case have a double right to be proud of
his forefathers? Or would he, upon the whole, any longer have reason to
complain?
It is the object of the following pages to convey, partly in the form of
travelling impressions, a picture of the memorials of the Danes and
Norwegians, as they exist in the monuments and among the people of those
countries which in former times most frequently witnessed the victories
of the Danes and Normans—namely, the British Islands. It is, however, by
no means the exclusive, or even special, design of them, to present to
scholars and persons of science detailed and critical observations on
every individual ancient monument in those islands, which may be said to
be of Danish or Norwegian origin. Their aim rather is to describe the
more general, and consequently more appreciable, features of actually
existing Scandinavian monuments; in doing which a distinction will, as
far as possible, be drawn between the Danish and the Norwegian
memorials; and in general between the influence of the Danes in England,
and of the Norwegians in Scotland and Ireland.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
DANES IN ENGLAND.
----------
SECTION I.
Nature of the Country.—Earlier Inhabitants: Britons, Romans, and
Anglo-Saxons.
The greater part of England consists of flat and fertile lowland,
particularly towards the southern and eastern coasts, where large open
plains extend themselves. Smiling landscapes, with well-cultivated
fields, beautiful ranges of forest, and small clear lakes everywhere
meet the eye. One would often be led to fancy oneself in some Danish
province, if the splendid country seats, with their extensive parks, the
numerous towns, the smoking factories, and the locomotive engines, with
their trains darting continually to and fro, did not remind one of being
in that land, which, with regard to riches and commerce, stands first in
Europe. The plains are watered by noble and smooth-flowing rivers, which
receive in their protecting embraces the thousands of ships which from
all quarters seek the coasts of England. The winter is considerably
milder than in our northern regions; and the sea air, not permitting the
snow to lie for any length of time, renders the climate, on the whole,
warmer. In summer the fields are clothed with the most luxuriant
verdure. The leafy woods, with their numerous oaks, are filled with
singing birds. The charm that is extended over English scenery, united
with that freshness of life that stirs itself on all sides, cannot fail
to make a deep impression on every foreigner. One feels in its full
extent that the nature of the country presents all the requisites for
greatness to a powerful and undegenerate people; and one no longer
requires an explanation why it was not till after a desperate struggle
that the ancient Britons relinquished it, or why, in after times,
various nations strove with their utmost efforts for the possession of
such a land.
The farther one travels towards the north or west of England, the
mountains become higher, the valleys narrower, and the streams more
rapid. In the north, however, the mountains rather resemble high hills.
They do not tower in broken masses like the granite cliffs of
Scandinavia. Their forms are softer and more undulating, and they are,
too, clothed with a rich vegetation, and frequently overgrown with wood.
In Cumberland and Westmorland are inwreathed those charming lakes whose
beauties constantly attract a number of tourists. Even the ridge of the
Cheviot Hills is not much more than about two thousand feet above the
level of the sea: but stretching from east-north-east to
west-south-west, with the river Tweed on one side, and the Solway firth
on the other, they form a natural boundary between England and Scotland.
Farthest towards the west rise the mountains of Wales, England’s real
highland. The valleys here are short and narrow, yet the country has not
the wildness of mountain tracts. Although it contains England’s highest
mountain, Snowdon, whose summit is nearly three thousand five hundred
feet above the sea, still it unites the charms of plain and mountain.
The whole of Wales may be regarded as a knot of mountains opposed by
nature to the enormous waves of the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea. The
middle is the highest part, whence rivers flow towards the east and
west; the latter of which, after a short and foaming course, discharge
themselves into the sea. The extent of the country, both in length and
breadth, is, on the whole, inconsiderable.
This little mountain tract, which, in comparison with England, is poor
as regards fertility, but all the richer in natural beauties, contains
the last remains of the former masters of England, the Celtic Britons.
By its remote situation, its rocks and narrow mountain passes, the
characteristics of its former inhabitants have been preserved to our
times. The people speak the ancient Welsh language, a branch of the
Celtic stock; and have also inherited no small share of that burning
hatred which their forefathers nourished against the English, who gained
possession of their original fatherland by force.
Wales was united to England as early as the close of the thirteenth
century; yet for ages later the Britons knew how to keep their country
almost closed against the intrusion of strangers; whilst the harpers, by
their ancient songs, kept alive the remembrance of past exploits and
past disasters, and thus, as it were, still more hedged in and protected
the language and nationality of the people. It was not till later times,
when high roads, and at present railroads, began to open a more frequent
intercourse between Wales and England, that the tones of the harp became
almost entirely mute. The Welsh language gave way more and more to the
English, and the time can hardly be far distant when the Celtic will
become entirely extinct in Wales, as it has long been in Cornwall.
The people, whose scanty remnant thus spend the last days of their old
age among the Welsh mountains, formerly belonged, both by possessions
and kinship, to the most powerful in Europe. Not only were the Scotch
and the Irish of the same origin with them, but on the other side of the
channel, throughout Gaul, or France, Spain, and the middle and south of
Europe, dwelt tribes of the Celtic race. Until about the time of the
birth of Christ there was no people north of the Alps, which, with
regard to power, agriculture, commerce, skill in the arts, and
civilization in general, could equal, much less surpass, the Celts. Yet
they were not strong enough to clip the wings of the Roman eagle, when
it began to extend them over the Alps. The superior military skill and
higher civilization of the Romans, triumphed over the various Celtic
tribes, which were torn by internal dissensions, and could not once,
even under the danger which menaced them, faithfully unite together.
Shortly after the birth of Christ, therefore, the Roman hosts had
already gained a footing in Britain, and, notwithstanding the violent
and repeated attacks of the natives, soon made themselves masters of the
country. They even fought their way to Scotland; where, however, the
wild highlands, and their brave inhabitants, the Caledonians, arrested
their victorious march. The Romans were now obliged to erect walls,
ramparts, and towers, in order to prevent the highland Scots from
uniting with the Britons, and to avert the speedy loss of the land which
they had already won. Throughout Britain they laid the foundations of a
civilization till then unknown there. They promoted agriculture,
commerce, and trade; they made roads, and built towns and castles; and,
as they had not immigrated in any great multitudes, they left the
inhabitants in tolerably quiet possession of the soil of their
forefathers.
But the Roman power fell in turn. It was natural that their dominion in
so distant and sequestered a land as Britain should decay sooner and
more easily than elsewhere, especially as the British chiefs did not
fail immediately to revive the old disputes. Their rude neighbours in
Scotland, the Picts and Scots, no longer restrained by fear of the
Romans, made serious and devastating inroads upon the northern provinces
of England, where no slight degree of riches and splendour already
prevailed. The Britons, moreover, under the dominion of the Romans, had,
like their kinsmen across the channel, already begun to grow cowardly
and effeminate. Long oppression had given the power of the Celts a
death-blow: and they were consequently unable to withstand the powerful
and undegenerate tribes of Germany, which now, in the great tide of
emigration from the east and north of Europe, rushed into the old Celtic
countries, and made themselves new abodes, either, for the most part,
putting the ancient inhabitants to death, or reducing them to a state of
thraldom.
In the fifth century Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, from North Germany and
the peninsula of Jutland, invaded Britain. The unfortunate Britons, when
they would not submit to their conquerors, were persecuted with fire and
sword, and were at last driven to the remote mountain districts in the
West of England, particularly Cumberland (the land of the Cymbri or
Celts), Wales, and Cornwall. After a sanguinary war, which lasted more
than a hundred and fifty years, all their fine fruitful plains fell into
the hands of their foreign conquerors, who continually brought more and
more of their countrymen over, to build up again and inhabit the burnt
or destroyed towns and houses, and to cultivate the neglected fields.
The Angles settled principally in the north of England, the Saxons in
the south and south-west, and mingled amongst both dwelt the Jutes, who
do not appear to have been numerous enough to occupy large districts of
their own. Under the common name of “Anglo-Saxons,” the descendants of
these nations continued for several centuries to be the reigning people,
although the Britons did not cease to make harassing invasions on the
frontiers of their hereditary enemies. For the rest, the Saxons
successfully continued what the Romans had begun, with regard to the
improvement of the land, and the promotion of civilization among the
people. They were, it is true, divided into several tribes and smaller
kingdoms, which not unfrequently warred against each other. But
Christianity soon began to extend itself, and about the time of its
introduction the separate kingdoms were united into one. Churches and
convents rose with surprising rapidity throughout the country, and the
pursuits of peace, science, and art, throve luxuriantly. Every plant,
though foreign, flourished vigorously in the English soil.
In the first ages, however, Christianity produced among the people,
as was the case in other countries besides England, a sort of
degeneracy and weakness. Instead of the din of battle of the
heathens there were now heard songs and prayers, which, joined with
the constantly-increasing refinement, made the people dull and
effeminate, so that they willingly bent under the yoke of their
masters, both spiritual and temporal. In the ninth, tenth, and
eleventh centuries the Anglo-Saxons had greatly degenerated from
their forefathers. Relatives sold one another into thraldom;
lewdness and ungodliness were become habitual; and cowardice had
increased to such a degree, that, according to the old chroniclers,
one Dane would often put ten Anglo-Saxons to flight. Before such a
people could be conducted to true freedom and greatness it was
necessary that an entirely new vigour should be infused into the
decayed stock.
This vigour was derived from the Scandinavian north, where neither
Romans nor any other conquerors had domineered over the people, and
where heathenism with all its roughness, and all its love of freedom and
bravery, still held absolute sway.
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