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A review by penguin_emperor_of_the_north
The Age of the Vikings by Anders Winroth
5.0
That was fascinating. I realize that all people's have an interior life beyond the stereotypes but it's interesting to get to see that life.
The book starts out addressing the stereotypical image of the vikings, bloodthirsty raiders who seemingly killed for the sake of killing. Then it goes into the interconnected economy of early medieval Europe (apparently Arabic coins are commonly found in Scandinavian archeological sites) and the technology, social, political and economic life of Scandinavia. It ends with a discussion of religion and art in early medieval Scandinavia.
It's present throughout the book but especially in the opening chapters about violence, the author emphasizes skepticism about the historical narrative. First, he points out that we don't have many written records from the Vikings themselves. Most accounts of Viking raids were written by churchmen from the territories being targeted. Understandably, they took a dim view of the Vikings, especially their habit of razing churches and monasteries.
But second, Winroth points out that the Vikings weren't terribly different from continental kings and emperor's. He gives the example of Charlemagne, who lead expeditions into neighboring areas for loot and plunder just like the Vikings. The differences seem to be in the tactics and the propaganda. Where Vikings were fast moving maritime raiders, Charlemagne had a powerful but slow moving army. And Charlemagne's targets left no written accounts so he gets portrayed as the hero where the Vikings get labelled as aggressors.
The discussion of economy and technology was also really cool. Might be the engineer in me but I always like to hear how a problem is solved. Especially things that seem so basic, like farming. I'm so used to the modern way of farming in the American Midwest that I'm amazed to hear how things could be and were done differently in a different world with different technology.
Or shipbuilding! I mean, these people built boats! By hand without power tools! And then sailed them into the open sea and navigated based on the stars and what marine critters they saw (seriously, apparently whales have specific areas of the ocean they usually dwell in or different seabirds are commonly seen at consistent distances from land). After that worked a few times I get why people would do it but whoever first decided he was going to find his way based on where he saw a whale last time was some combination of crazy and awesome.
And the idea of a monetized economy. It's fascinating to think that at one point that was the new thing and people had to be convinced to accept it. And it's something that I take for granted but it really does help commerce flow. I can hardly imagine it but there was once a time that a monetized economy was not a widespread thing.
Finally, the religion thing. Winroth talks a lot about the Christianization of Scandinavia and the similarities between the Norse mythology that we know and Christianity. Like the end of world being a cataclysmic battle followed by Paradise, or the killing of a pure, innocent deity, or the story of a deity fighting a monster (think Michael versus the dragon in Revelation or Thor versus Jörmungandr in Norse myth).
This book is really fascinating, I'm glad that I took the time to read it. It takes a lot to get me out of my early modern Europe comfort zone but it was definitely rewarding to do so.
I've hidden the below to save room. It's some additional speculation about the similarities in Norse and Christian stories but I didn't want to overemphasize the religion and mythology aspect (it's only the focus in one chapter of ten). The below is just me talking about a subject where I have interest and maybe enough knowledge to be dangerous.
I'm biased (I always hate to hear about Christianity being forcibly imposed, that's not the point guys) but I find the natural interchange idea more palatable than the idea of Christian ideas being forcibly imposed. But Winroth's point is that without pre Christian sources for their mythology we can't tell what is authentically Norse myth and what is the result of cross pollination.
I'd propose an alternate explanation too. Maybe there's a common wellspring for these stories. Consider the monster versus deity story. It's not just in Norse myth and Christian revelation. Babylonian mythology has Marduk fighting Tiamat, Classical myth has Zeus against Typhon, Apollo against Python and Heracles against the Hydra, Egyptian myth has Set against Apep. Perhaps the deity versus monster story is something that appeals to mankind on a fundamental level and tends to pop up in different forms.
The book starts out addressing the stereotypical image of the vikings, bloodthirsty raiders who seemingly killed for the sake of killing. Then it goes into the interconnected economy of early medieval Europe (apparently Arabic coins are commonly found in Scandinavian archeological sites) and the technology, social, political and economic life of Scandinavia. It ends with a discussion of religion and art in early medieval Scandinavia.
It's present throughout the book but especially in the opening chapters about violence, the author emphasizes skepticism about the historical narrative. First, he points out that we don't have many written records from the Vikings themselves. Most accounts of Viking raids were written by churchmen from the territories being targeted. Understandably, they took a dim view of the Vikings, especially their habit of razing churches and monasteries.
But second, Winroth points out that the Vikings weren't terribly different from continental kings and emperor's. He gives the example of Charlemagne, who lead expeditions into neighboring areas for loot and plunder just like the Vikings. The differences seem to be in the tactics and the propaganda. Where Vikings were fast moving maritime raiders, Charlemagne had a powerful but slow moving army. And Charlemagne's targets left no written accounts so he gets portrayed as the hero where the Vikings get labelled as aggressors.
The discussion of economy and technology was also really cool. Might be the engineer in me but I always like to hear how a problem is solved. Especially things that seem so basic, like farming. I'm so used to the modern way of farming in the American Midwest that I'm amazed to hear how things could be and were done differently in a different world with different technology.
Or shipbuilding! I mean, these people built boats! By hand without power tools! And then sailed them into the open sea and navigated based on the stars and what marine critters they saw (seriously, apparently whales have specific areas of the ocean they usually dwell in or different seabirds are commonly seen at consistent distances from land). After that worked a few times I get why people would do it but whoever first decided he was going to find his way based on where he saw a whale last time was some combination of crazy and awesome.
And the idea of a monetized economy. It's fascinating to think that at one point that was the new thing and people had to be convinced to accept it. And it's something that I take for granted but it really does help commerce flow. I can hardly imagine it but there was once a time that a monetized economy was not a widespread thing.
Finally, the religion thing. Winroth talks a lot about the Christianization of Scandinavia and the similarities between the Norse mythology that we know and Christianity. Like the end of world being a cataclysmic battle followed by Paradise, or the killing of a pure, innocent deity, or the story of a deity fighting a monster (think Michael versus the dragon in Revelation or Thor versus Jörmungandr in Norse myth).
This book is really fascinating, I'm glad that I took the time to read it. It takes a lot to get me out of my early modern Europe comfort zone but it was definitely rewarding to do so.
I've hidden the below to save room. It's some additional speculation about the similarities in Norse and Christian stories but I didn't want to overemphasize the religion and mythology aspect (it's only the focus in one chapter of ten). The below is just me talking about a subject where I have interest and maybe enough knowledge to be dangerous.
Spoiler
He notes that a lot of those Norse stories are known from writings several hundred years after Christianization and could be the result of Christian ideas being written into a Norse framework (either by the chroniclers we know like Snorri Sturluson or whoever handed the stories onto them). But Winroth also points out that between full Christianization and the pagan days there was plenty of interactions between the pagan North and Christian Europe. There was ample opportunity for Christian ideas to work their way into Norse myth naturally without some later writer deciding to formally 'baptize' the old myths to make them more palatable for a Christian audience.I'm biased (I always hate to hear about Christianity being forcibly imposed, that's not the point guys) but I find the natural interchange idea more palatable than the idea of Christian ideas being forcibly imposed. But Winroth's point is that without pre Christian sources for their mythology we can't tell what is authentically Norse myth and what is the result of cross pollination.
I'd propose an alternate explanation too. Maybe there's a common wellspring for these stories. Consider the monster versus deity story. It's not just in Norse myth and Christian revelation. Babylonian mythology has Marduk fighting Tiamat, Classical myth has Zeus against Typhon, Apollo against Python and Heracles against the Hydra, Egyptian myth has Set against Apep. Perhaps the deity versus monster story is something that appeals to mankind on a fundamental level and tends to pop up in different forms.