Reykjavík Grapevine - 16.08.2013, Síða 42

42
We give our companies, drinks,
streets and gyms Viking names, and
just before the economic crash we
attributed our international finan-
cial success to the aforementioned
Viking heritage. But isn’t this a bit
grotesque? Weren’t Vikings infa-
mous for raping and pillaging their
way through Europe? Why is their
bloody history and heritage con-
stantly celebrated in a secular and
peaceful society?
Setting sail
I embark on a voyage to discover
more about historical Vikings, who
they were, what they did and what
Iceland’s fascination with them
means. My first port of call is the of-
fice of Viðar Pálsson, researcher at
the Árni Magnússon Institute for Ice-
landic Studies and lecturer in history,
medieval studies and legal history at
the University of Iceland.
Viðar is quick to point out that the
Old Norse manuscripts we have on
Vikings were not written by contem-
porary authors. The hit and run raids
conducted by the Nordic pirates had
all but completely gone out of fash-
ion by the end of the 11th century,
when Scandinavia fully converted
from paganism. Not even the grand-
children of Vikings were alive to tell
the Christian scholars Saxo Gram-
maticus or Snorri Sturluson about
the pagan culture they so famously
documented in the 13th century.
Overly romanticized ideal
“Seeing the ‘Viking age’ as a par-
ticularly heroic age, and promoting
certain ideas of it that are not nec-
essarily true, is a later product of
the Age of Enlightenment, around
1800,” Viðar says. “The source ma-
terial is shaped and reshaped to the
extent that you can be very sceptical
about there being anything ancient
about it.” In other words, authors
wrote and interpreted Viking culture
to suit their own political agenda,
and our modern ideas of the noble
savage Viking were manufactured
many centuries after the last Viking
raids occurred.
Asked who the Vikings were, his-
torically speaking, Viðar says they
were a group of pirates who used
clever tactics to gather treasure,
cattle and slaves at a minimal risk.
They were good at what they did;
they operated an impressive navy,
and were often hired as mercenar-
ies by kings and nobility. Those
same people would also engage in
commerce, make settlements, and
live normal medieval lives as farm-
ers. Only a small number of Norse
people would go on these raids, and
it is very doubtful that many of these
pirates came from Iceland.
Nothing is true, everything
is permitted
As Viðar animatedly describes
the period when Viking raids were
common, it becomes apparent that
there is reason to not take any of our
sources as absolute truths on the
subject. Take for example the myth
that Icelanders are descended from
the noble freedom-loving lords of
Norway. “Iceland was settled by
many different kinds of people,”
Viðar says, “some perhaps chief-
tains, but most were just normal
people.” And the abysmal reputa-
tion of Vikings raping and pillaging
comes from their contemporary vic-
tims demonizing their attackers.
So where does this leave us Ice-
landers? Is cultural nihilism the only
way forward? Not necessarily. Even
if we can’t be sure about the authen-
ticity of our stories, or how old they
are, they are still ours. The idea of Vi-
kings having been explorers, settlers
and mercenaries still holds a certain
appeal, and our medieval fares are
still very entertaining events, even
if we have to accept that a lot of the
gaps in sources are filled in with
modern ideas.
Modern Iceland has a lot of excit-
ing tourist attractions. There is a rich
and diverse musical scene, and a del-
icate nature filled with unbelievable
scenery. Vikings are very appealing,
but they are not Iceland’s only at-
traction. We can call our streets and
beverages Viking-themed names,
erect statues to celebrate famous Vi-
king adventures, and dress up to put
on a show as ‘Vikings.’ But let’s just
remember that even if our sources
were inspired by reality, they are not
to be taken as historical facts.
“The sources
are shaped and
reshaped to
the extent that
you can be very
sceptical about
there being
anything ancient
about it.”
Raping And Pillaging
On why we should view ‘Viking Culture’
with more than a pinch of salt
by Tómas Gabríel Benjamin
Icelanders are taught that they are descended from blue-blooded Norse
lords who fled from King Harald because they would not abide by his tyran-
ny and crippling tax rates, instead opting to settle Iceland. Celebrating this
allegedly noble lineage, we claim to have Viking blood coursing through our
veins and use every opportunity to remind the world of this.
HistoryThe Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 12 — 2013
Axel Sigurðarson
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