The Reality of the Norse Raiders
When someone starts talking about Vikings, a few things may come to mind. The Minnesota Vikings football team, perhaps? Or maybe the iconic (but inaccurate) little gold helmet with plastic horns? How about a bloodthirsty Norse warrior ripping apart dragons and men alike with their mighty axe?
The Origins and Meaning of “Viking” A Dive into the Old Norse Term
In the traditional sense of the word, Vikings are Scandinavians who spent their lives raiding across Europe during the 8th-11th centuries. It stems from the Old Norse word vikingr, which was used as a verb to describe the activity of sailing abroad to raid and plunder. People would “go to viking” (gå i viking in Danish), which, in a less literal translation, probably meant to head out on adventure. It may also have stemmed from the Old Norse word vik, meaning bay or fjord. Using this word to develop a name for those infamous raiders makes sense, because fjords were essentially natural harbors protected from the weather, making them a great place for gathering fleets to go viking.
Later historians adopted the word “viking” as an actual name for these Scandinavian raiders and the culture of Scandinavia at the time, despite the fact that there is no historic precedent for this. It’s unknown how the vikings referred to themselves, but other contemporary sources like the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Royal Frankish Annals typically call them “Danes”, “heathens”, or “Nordmanns”. To make things even more confusing, it’s also not always clear whether those “Danes” were specifically from Denmark or if the chroniclers simply used the name as a catch-all term for everyone from Scandinavia.
If the latter is the case, then it would seem historians of the past and present are on a similar wavelength, because in modern times, the word “viking” is often mistakenly used to refer to all 8th-11th century Scandinavians. This has led to several misconceptions about the vikings themselves as well as the rest of the Scandinavian people of the time.
The Misunderstood Vikings: Fact vs. Myth
Firstly, it’s easy to forget that not all vikings came exclusively from the Scandinavian region. The vikings traveled far and wide to major cities and countries thousands of miles away, raiding, trading, and settling from Scotland to Persia. Therefore, it’s not a stretch of the imagination that adventurers from other places might end up in a viking crew, the same way that sailors from many places would end up on other ships in later time periods. For example, many Friisians from what is now Holland also joined viking expeditions, as both Danes and Franks repeatedly fought for control of that area.
Secondly, referring to all 8th-11th century Scandinavians as vikings has perpetuated the idea that becoming one was a common career choice. In reality, most Scandinavian people at the time were farmers, traders, or artisans. Those who did choose to go raiding were relatively few in comparison, and most of them would only venture out once or twice in their lifetimes. However, that’s not how the people on the other side of these raids saw things.
Recording the Viking Raids Chronicles and Sagas
In the eyes of the people who were raided, these Norse invaders were greedy, bloodthirsty heathens who destroyed their villages, stole holy artifacts, and sold the people they captured into slavery. This is what the Anglo-Saxons had in mind when they documented these attacks in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and since there is no contemporary source from the Scandinavians’ point of view, this was the dominant narrative until nearly three centuries later.
In Denmark, the earliest sources we have on the subject are the Chronicon Roskildense (Roskilde Chronicle) written anonymously around 1140 and Brevis Historia Regum Dacie (The Brief History of the Kings of Denmark) composed by Sven Aggesen in 1186-1187, followed by Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum (The Danish History) written sometime between the late 12th and early 13th centuries. While these texts do provide valuable information on the Viking Age from a Danish perspective, there are a few things to bear in mind. First, these sources, especially the Gesta Danorum, borrowed heavily from the poetic format of centuries old oral sagas, yet the contents of these sagas had already been altered by generations of storytellers and their changing cultural and spiritual preferences. In addition, the main goal of these medieval sources was not necessarily the objective documentation of historical events, but to legitimize the previous pagan kings in a now Christianized Denmark. Thus, the brutish nature of the vikings was slightly toned down and their victories in battle were likely somewhat exaggerated and romanticized. That’s not to say that these sources are entirely without worth. Often times they expand on events or people only mentioned briefly in previously written accounts, and they offer a more humanized perspective of the vikings than in the Frankish annals or the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Within these medieval chronicles, they’re portrayed not as violent heathens but as citizens of their country fighting for the glory of themselves and their kings. Even so, if we want to understand what the day-to-day lives of vikings and Scandinavian settlers were like, then we must turn towards archeology.
How Modern Archeology is Shaping Viking Legacy Changing Our Perception of Viking Culture
It’s really thanks to modern archeology that we’ve been able to gain a more nuanced understanding of the vikings as people, their culture, and the impact of their raids on the rest of Europe. By studying the artifacts they left behind, we’ve been able to contextualize the historical sources we do have and begin working through their bias. We can learn about the everyday people who weren’t deemed famous enough to write about in any chronicles or sagas. We can work out more precisely where the vikings lived and fought by excavating possible battle sites and settlements. By running experiments on reconstruction methods, we can learn about how they incorporated the cool, new foreign styles and techniques that they saw abroad into their crafts. By studying the remains of the dead, we can learn about those who fought and died as well as those who were caught in the crossfire. We can learn about who they were as human beings.
Just like with any source though, archeology has its drawbacks, one of which is that the way finds and studies are interpreted and presented to the public can significantly alter how they’re perceived. Some scholars feel historians may have done too good a job of countering the savage perception of vikings to the point where modern museums are, “projecting a warmer, cuddlier image of the Vikings”. Naturally, there are limits as to how explicitly certain places are allowed to show the violence inflicted by viking raiders, and people may not want to think about how their favorite TV viking may have killed innocent people or captured slaves. It’s a difficult balance to strike: appreciating the culture of Viking Age Scandinavians while also acknowledging the devastation caused by viking raids.
Vikings Beyond The Warrior Stereotype Traders, Sailors, and Settlers
In Tectonicus, we prioritize historical accuracy and aim to present a nuanced narrative of the vikings’ history, culture, and exploits, balancing their technological and military prowess with the devastation caused by their attacks. Our History Department carefully researches each historical aspect of our game, from the battlefield terrains to the shoes worn by viking warriors, and works with the rest of the team to create a narrative that is both engaging and accurate. Since military campaigns are the main focus of our game, the violence of the vikings will naturally be at the forefront, but instead of mindless brutality, it will be portrayed in the context of their many encounters with the Anglo-Saxon forces. The ingenuity of both sides will be conveyed through their military strategies and their cultural achievements through detailed history cards and conversations between key historical figures, because at the end of the day the vikings are both. They were warriors and traders, brutes and artisans, heathens and settlers. If we truly want to know who the vikings were, we need to consider each of these perspectives.
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