The Viking Heart: Norse History, Culture, and Mythology
Greetings Rotarians,
I hope you have all been well. These next few blog pasts will be documenting my summer travels and journeys. If you know me, then you know I am often at the library or collected little trinkets that I think are interesting. This post is about a past time hobby of mine: exploring Norse history and culture. Part of my fascination with Sweden comes from my love of history and cultures. In this blog, I want to share this aspect of Sweden's culture with you to stimulate your imagination in Arkansas. Now let us explore the Norse!
**Note: This blog will be updated after I visit the Runestones in Uppsala and Uppland this fall.
Who were the Norse?
Norse is short for Norseman, which roughly translated is "North-man" or "men from the North". Norse culture is the ancient and medieval inhabitants of Scandinavia and the Nordic regions. It is most often associated with Norse Mythology (think the Norse Gods: Odin, Thor, Freya, Loki, etc), but it also is a whole culture with its own customs, world-view, and explorations. Norse is sometimes used interchangeably with Viking, but that is not always accurate. The majority of Norse people were not Vikings, but were simple farmers and tradesman. Yet, in this map you can see the full spread of Norse culture/influence. It was simply massive!
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As an avid history and mythology fan, I carried with me a really good book called 'The Viking Heart' by Arthur Herman and recently acquired a book on Nordic Myths and Legends. Highly recommend these books if you are wanting something to read in the fall. The Viking Heart inspired me to apply to my studies at Lund University. I read it for Christmas in December 2023 when I returned to visit family after living in Japan. I was captivated by the stories and travels of the Vikings and Norse. So much so, that I decided to seriously consider Sweden as a place I would want to live. Fast forward almost two years, and here we are --- yet again inspired by a book.
A Norse Myth Book and stylized tin cup
The Ancient Norse Stone Formations
My first journey is about finding stone formations and rune stones across Sweden. Maybe when you visit, you can find some of them and see why they are so fascinating....dare I say, even better than Stonehenge.
If you visit Skåne and take a two hour train from Lund heading east along the southern coast, you will come across ancient Iron age stones overlooking the cold Baltic sea. If you were a sailor or a Viking, you could see 59 stones from your ship along a sea of red poppy flowers. Ales Stenar mean "Ale's Stones" and no one knows how old they are, but there are dated to be 1400 years old and are in the shape of a longship. Most likely it is a burial site and a place of ritual. You can find many of these stone formations and sites all around Sweden --- quite a few in Lund and Uppsala as well.
Through the kindness of others, I was able to see those stones and feel the rough texture under my hand. It is one of my favorite memories from the summer as we trekked along the coast.
The Norse Runestones
There are many purposes to these stones. Runestones commemorate the deceased and tell stories about from the Viking Age. They tell stories of their triumphs, exploits, journeys, clashes, and fate. Moreover, they are written in Old Norse which is a series of runes with sounds that of northern Germanic dialect. While Old Norse is now a dead language, people from Iceland and the Faroe Islands have the closest language to it. However, the runes recall something of the past as the Vikings left from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden to travel across distant lands. Many of these stones commemorate those who sailed to distant lands and did not return from their journeys.
Runestone in Lund
The Inspired Adventurers:
Viking Journeys and the Normans
The Vikings had a remarkable ability to sail ships across many terrains and were said to have made their way to Constantinople (modern Istanbul), Sicily, the British Isles, Iceland, Greenland, and eventually North America. Nor were they always so brutal! I mean, yes, brutality was a part of it as raiders and warriors, but the average 'Viking' was a farmer or tradesman. Those privileged enough to sail to distant lands were the exception; not the norm.
They often exported furs, walrus tusks, amber, honey, and wheat; while they imported silk, gold, silver, glass, and pottery. The trade routes that came into Scandinavia extended as far as the middle east and the Caspian Sea. Of note in what archeological find was copper and bronze Buddha statues from Northern India. So, you imagine the host of peoples the Vikings indirectly came across through their travels.Another instance is the Vikings becoming the personal bodyguards regiment of the Byzantine Emperor (mainly as a way to stop them from raiding Constantinople again and again). So there is still some truth to their legacy as brutal warriors. The Swedish Norseman would also settle parts of Western Russia and termed themselves "The Rus", where the modern term Russia comes from.
However, there is also a great mystery to some of the Norse settlements and expansion. This is especially the case for Newfoundland and Greenland. The Norse settlement in Greenland lasted over 500 years between 985 and 1450 CE, with thousands of settlers, but would collapse due to numerous environmental and climatic pressures. That is nearly twice as long as the United States history! But it makes one wonder how they were able to live in such varied climates and biomes. Probably a mixture of pride and stubbornness, especially in their relations with the native Inuit. Yet, the adventure does not end there...
Fast forward to the 900s, and one group of Norseman would live in Normandy, France. They would also invade the British Isles. They were the Normans (no pun intended, my last name is Norman and I grew up on these stories).
(The Normans, indeed, did come to Scandinavia again. In July, I was visited by some Arkansan and Virginians Normans in Lund and Stockholm. But that will be for a separate blog!)
The Normans became the rulers of England and the Kingdom of Sicily. Many of the English Monarchy were Anglo-Normans. In the middle ages, they would travel far to Constantinople, North Africa, Jerusalem and Antioch in the Levant. The Normans carried on the martial traditions of the Vikings as their descendants, but also built numerous Catholic Cathedrals and churches. I remember seeing some as a child living up in the United Kingdom. More over, if you go to Sicily today, you can still find the Norman churches in Palermo. I visited them with my dad when I was 18. Today, in Sicily, persons with light hair and blue/green eye color are called "Normannes", reminiscent of the Norse descendants.
Ironically, from a family history perspective, the stories of the Normans lived on in my own life. The Normans went to the British Isles, Sicily, and have their origins in Scandinavia. I was born in Sicily, lived in the UK, and now live in Sweden. So the parallels are odd and amusing, so I like to pretend I am retracing their steps. Some of the Norman side of my family is from Sweden originally. So, in a way, this is a return to some distant origins. Another element of my time in Sweden that I find fascinating. In another way, I have become fascinated by Norse myths and legends, as they have left a huge impression on me growing up.
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The Norse Cultural Legacy
Norse stories have inspired our imagination and left a massive cultural legacy. I am a obsessed with fantasy, especially the Lord of the Rings. They are stories that I grew up with. Did you know that many parts of the Lord of the Rings story is inspired by a Norse legend?
J. R. R. Tolkien was inspired by Norse legends, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Vikings to craft his world and its lore. At Cambridge University, he started the Viking Club to study Germanic languages and cultures. He was also a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University.
(Anglo-Saxon is the generation of Scandinavians before the Vikings. They fought the Romans in the British Isles, settled them, and eventually had to fight the Vikings later ---- complicated family history).
Let us take the main story of the Lord of the Rings as an example. Frodo must destroy an evil golden ring that corrupts the hearts of men, elves, and wizards. The Norse myth of Andvari's cursed ring and the Volsunga saga depicts a highly coveted golden ring made by the dwarves that corrupted it's wearer and led to a series of blood feuds and murders. The golden ring inspired greed, power, and delusions --- and often led to their deaths.
Beyond the plot, Tolkien was also inspired by Norse mythology to create his world. In the Norse cosmology, the divine world tree Yddrassil contains the realms of Midgard (the realms of Men), Alfheim, Jotunheim (the lands of Giants), and Asgard (the Land of the Norse Gods). In the Lord of the Rings "Middle earth" is another name for Midgard, the realm of men wedged between two worlds.
Moreover, the elves, dwarves, dragons, and creatures of the Lord of the Rings are influenced by their realms and depiction in Norse cosmology. The dragon Smaug was inspired by the dragon Fafnir in the legend of Sigurd. The demon fire Balrog of Moria was influenced by the legend of the fire giant Surtr. Surtyr will destroy the ancient world of men and gods by fire at the end of Ragnarok --- the Norse cataclysmic end of times, but also its eventual rebirth in a new form.
The Viking Heart in Action
In my own time in Sweden, I have come to appreciate Norse culture and history more. This coming year, I hope to visit other parts of the Nordics: Finland, Norway, and Iceland to better understand their stories.
As climate change intensifies, there are more disasters across the Nordics that the Anglo-saxons, Vikings, and old Norse would have been perplexed by. They would have written it into their ancient poems and lamented the cruel irony of their Gods and the coming of Ragnarok. This attitude is summed up by the idea that
“It is as natural to the Icelandic heart to turn to poetry in times of stress as for another to search his Bible.”.
A ship on the Skåne coast
Yet, within the Viking heart is also a deep courage and spirit that gave inspiration to take action and defy the Gods and Fate, despite being subject to it.
This fall, I am organizing a Nordic Youth and Climate Change Conference (NYCCC) with youth NGOS from across the Nordics. So far, we will have 70+ youth from across the Nordics sailing, flying, and traveling from Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. They gather in Stockholm to safeguard their futures and save the Arctic from the swift tide of climate shocks.
There is bravery in this, that I find reminiscent of the Norse legends and bonds of shared purpose. For these youth are the descendants of voyagers, travelers, tradesman, and vikings; and they still have their mark to leave on this world.
In closing, I always appreciate the words of Arthur Herman in the "Viking Heart" when he says:
"Where are the Vikings today? They live in our minds as well as our hearts, preserved in myth but also made real through the journey that each of us must make, as part of life"
There is still a mystery and majesty to the world if we have eyes to see it. See you all at this next adventure.
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