Part 6

It is a matter of course that arms and ornaments should be at times dug up in England that belonged to Scandinavian Vikings, who found either death or a new habitation on the English shore. In the rivers on the eastern coast, where the Vikings’ ships showed themselves so regularly, and where remains of these ships are supposed to be now and then discovered, iron swords have been found, as for instance in the Thames, of undoubted Scandinavian origin. (Fig. 1.) They are in general longer and heavier than the Saxon sword (Fig. 2.), and are superior to them from having a guard, and a large, and commonly triangular, knob at the hilt. On the other hand, they are exactly of the same kind as our Scandinavian swords of what is called “the iron age;” that is, they belong to the latest period of heathenism. The Vikings, who often had to combat from their ships, and who, being few in number, were so much the more obliged to depend on their arms and the strength of their weapons, were necessarily compelled to have them both long and good. “Danish battle-axes” are usually mentioned in the old English and Frankish chronicles as excellent and dangerous weapons of attack. Nay, even from the distant Myklegaard, or Constantinople, where the Northmen, under the name of Varangians, served for a long series of years as the Greek Emperor’s bodyguard, stories have reached us of the particular kind of battle-axes which they wielded with such strength. These axes, like the swords, were frequently inlaid with silver or gold, and were of excellent workmanship. It is also related by Giraldus Cambrensis that the Irish procured their battle-axes from the Northmen. The Danes in England, at least towards the latter part of their sway, are likewise said to have used shirts of mail, or chain armour, in which, however, the rings were not interlaced, but sewed on by the side of each other; helmets, with iron bands that covered the nose; and lastly, large pointed triangular shields. Some are even of opinion that these coats of mail were commonly black, and that this gave rise to the Danes being sometimes called “the black Danes.” Others derive this surname from the colour of their hair and skin, which must at that time have been in general considered darker than the Norwegian complexion; whilst others, again, infer that the Danes generally used black sails for their ships, and the Norwegians white. The Scotch and Irish distinguish clearly between “Dubgall” or the black stranger (whence the present name Dugal), and “Finngall,” or the fair stranger. Old Irish authors also call the inhabitants of Denmark “Dublochlannoch” (dark Lochlans), and the inhabitants of Norway “Finn-Lochlannoch” (fair Lochlans). Lochlan is with them the usual appellation of Scandinavia.

Besides their arms, the ornaments and decorations of the Danes and Norwegians were also of a peculiar kind; at least they are in general clearly different from the Anglo-Saxon ornaments now discovered in graves in England. As the Danish and British antiquities of the earlier, or what is called the bronze period, betray a considerable and well-defined difference, so also a comparison between the corresponding antiquities of the iron period will clearly show, that even if Roman taste formed the basis of art both among the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes and Norwegians during the last-named period, yet that each people followed its own independent course. That the Northmen, consequently, were not exclusively indebted to England for all that fresh development of taste which predominated at the close of heathenism and commencement of Christianity, but that they had themselves, before the Conquest of England, already made a great step in advance, was however no more than what one might expect from a people capable of building ships that crossed the Atlantic, and who were acquainted with, and frequently used, a peculiar sort of writing, the Northern runes.

But though, at present at least, it is scarcely possible to point out in England proper a single runic memorial of undoubted Danish or Norwegian origin, still there are found at times, particularly in north England, certain antiquities, with inscriptions that perfectly supply the want of those illustrations which the runic stones would otherwise afford, respecting the influence and settlements of the Northmen in England. These are small silver coins struck by Danish-Norwegian kings and jarls during their dominion there. I do not allude, of course, to coins of such kings as Canute the Great, Harald Harefoot, and Hardicanute; for as these princes held a confirmed dominion in England—and that at a time when coining was general in Europe, and when on the whole the light of history begins to shine clearer—there would be nothing strange, nor particularly instructive in an historical point of view, that they also had coined money. I refer to coins of Danish-Norwegian chiefs, whose deeds in England the chronicles have related either sparingly or not at all, and who lived more than a century before the Conquest by Canute the Great.

A short stay would easily have sufficed to erect a runic or bauta-stone; and great and imminent indeed must have been the danger which threatened the Northman of the olden time if he omitted, even on a foreign soil, to perform the last honours for a fallen friend or relative. But a coin was not so quickly minted. The countries of Scandinavia had not a mintage of their own before the year 1000, or thereabout; when the Danish king, Svend Tveskjæg, having brought home with him from his expedition into England, a quantity of Anglo-Saxon coins, began to have them imitated. The Scandinavian Viking, to whom coining was a strange and unknown art, had enough to do, during a short and dangerous expedition for conquest, to procure a footing and support for his army; and if he failed in conquering a kingdom, he was glad to bring home as booty some pounds of foreign money. It was only when he had made himself king or jarl over a considerable district, and when he had begun to exchange his wild warrior’s life for the milder occupations of peace, that he could have leisure to reflect that he also, like other princes in England, should promote his people’s welfare and his own advantage by ordering those coins to be minted which are so important for trade and commerce. The older the dates of such Danish-Norwegian coins struck in England—the rarer the minting of coins in general, even in the more enlightened countries—so much the more clearly is the existence proved of well-established Scandinavian kingdoms, where works of peace were already capable of thriving.

Some few years ago (1840), a highly remarkable and very ancient treasure of silver was discovered near Cuerdale in Lancashire, within the boundaries of the ancient Northumberland. It consisted of bars, armlets, a great number of pieces of broken rings and other ornaments, as well as about seven thousand coins, all of which were inclosed in a leaden chest. To judge from the coins, which, with a few exceptions, were minted between the years 815 and 930, the treasure must have been buried in the first half of the tenth century, or almost a hundred years before the time of Canute the Great. Amongst the coins, besides a single Byzantine piece, were found several Arabic or Kufic, some of north Italy, about a thousand French, and two thousand eight hundred Anglo-Saxon pieces, of which only eight hundred were of Alfred the Great. But the chief mass, namely, three thousand pieces, consisted of peculiar coins, with the inscriptions, “Siefredus Rex,” “Sievert Rex,” “Cnut Rex,” “Alfden Rex,” and “Sitric Comes” (jarl); and which, therefore, merely from their preponderating number, may be supposed to have been the most common coins at that time, and in that part of north England where the treasure had been concealed. Cnut’s coins were the most numerous, as they amounted to about two thousand pieces of different dies; which proves a considerable and long-continued coining.

Not only are the names Sitric (Sigtryg), Alfden (Halvdan), Cnut (Knud), Sievert (Sivard), and Siefred (Sigfred), visibly of Scandinavian origin, but they also appear in ancient chronicles as the names of mighty Scandinavian chiefs, who in the ninth and tenth centuries ravaged the western lands.

Sitric Comes is certainly that Sitric Jarl who fell in a battle in England about the year 900. Alfden is undoubtedly the same king “Halfden,” who at the close of the ninth century so often harried south England,—where he even besieged London—till he fell in the battle at Wednesfield in 910. Cnut, whose name is found inscribed on the coins in such a manner that one letter stands on each of the four arms of a cross, whilst the inscription R, E, X. (Rex) is inclosed between them, is probably he whom the Danes called “Knud Daneast” (or the Danes’ Joy), a son of the first Danish monarch Gorm the Old; as it is truly related of him that he perished in Vesterviking (or the western lands). Sigfred must either have been the celebrated Viking king for whose adventurous expedition France, and its capital Paris in particular, had to pay dearly; or that Sigefert, or Sigfred, who in the year 897 ravaged the English coasts with an army of Danes from Northumberland.

The steady connection which the Vikings in England maintained with France affords a natural explanation why their coins were imitations both of contemporary English, or Anglo-Saxon, and of French coins. Thus on the reverse of Cnut’s coins just mentioned, we sometimes find, as on that engraved above, the inscription “Elfred Rex,” which is purely Anglo-Saxon; and sometimes the particular mark for Carolus, or Charles (Karl), which otherwise is only found on the French Carlovingian coins.

A very frequent inscription on the Scandinavian coins here alluded to, as for instance in the last engraving, is “Ebraice Civita,” or “The city of York;” whose ancient name “Eabhroig,” and in the barbarous Latin of the time “Eboracum,” was converted into “Ebraice.” On other contemporary coins struck at York, namely on some of what is called St. Peter’s money, York is also called “Ebracec” and “Ebraicit.” For the Cuerdale coins, in order to express the name “Ebraice,” coins of French kings of the city of “Ebroicas,” or Evreux, in Normandy, seem to have been particularly chosen as patterns; for by a slight change of a few letters this Ebroicas could be converted into Ebraice; which was the easier process at a time when the art of stamping coins was not much practised. An additional proof that these coins were really minted by Scandinavian kings in Northumberland, and in the city of York, is, that none such have been found in any other part of England; whilst, on the contrary, one of Canute’s coins, which have been so frequently mentioned, was dug up, together with English and French coins of the same kind as those found at Cuerdale, at Harkirke near Crosby, also in Lancashire; and consequently at places whose names ending in _kirke_ (church) and _by_ (town), bear witness no less than that of Cuerdale (from _dal_, a valley) to the dominion of the Northmen in those parts.

Should any doubt still exist that, so early as the ninth century, Danish-Norwegian kings and jarls minted a considerable number of coins in York, in imitation of contemporary Anglo-Saxon and French coins, it is at all events certain that the Northumbrian kings Regnald, Anlaf or Olaf, and Erik, who resided in York during the first half of the tenth century, caused coins of their own to be minted there, and which agree exactly with the historical accounts. Regnald, who reigned from about 912 to 944, was a son of King Sigtryg, and brother to the Olaf before mentioned, who fought the battle of Brunanborg; Erik (+ 951) is either King Erik Blodöxe of Norway, or a son of King Harald Blaatand of Denmark, who is said to have ruled in Northumberland about the same time.

In the main points these coins are also imitations of the Anglo-Saxon, but are distinguished from them by various and very striking peculiarities, which show them to have been coined both by Danes, or Norwegians, and by conquerors. Erik designates himself on them by the Latin title “Rex,” as was usual at that time even among the Anglo-Saxons; but Regnald and Anlaf use the pure Northern title “Cununc;” or, in the Icelandic mode of writing, _Konungr_, the ancient Scandinavian word for _King_. Some of these coins have martial emblems which do not appear on the Anglo-Saxon coins of the same period, and which, therefore, were clearly intended to be in honour of the warlike qualities and victories of the Northmen. Erik’s coins have a sword of the peculiar Scandinavian form, with a triangular pummel at the end of the hilt.

Similar swords are also seen on the St. Peter’s money before mentioned, coined at York during the rule of the Scandinavian kings. One of these coins represents a bent bow with the arrow on it, and on the reverse a sledgehammer, or battle-axe.

Regnald’s and Anlaf’s (or Olaf’s) coins, with the Scandinavian legend “Cununc” instead of “Rex,” are ornamented with shields placed together (an emblem which may have been transferred from them to the later coins of Harald Haardraade and other Norwegian kings); as well as with flags of a triangular form, with hanging fringes. It is remarkable enough, that though such flags are not to be found on contemporary English coins, a piece of the Danish-English king’s, Canute the Great, has lately been found on which the king’s bust is represented, and before it a striped triangular flag with hanging fringes, of the same form as the flags on the coins of the Danish-Norwegian kings in north England. The legend on one side is, “Cnutr. Recx;” and on the other, “Brihtred on Lun;” which shows that the coin was minted in London.

Thus the coins, in conjunction with the chronicles, contribute to prove that flags were important emblems with the northern conquerors, which was indeed quite natural with a people like the ancient Scandinavians. The old Sagas in particular contain frequent accounts of the great value that the Northmen set on these flags, or, as they were then called, “mærker” (marks). Thus the Norwegian chief Harald Haardraade, before he became king of Norway, and after his return from his many expeditions into the Greek Empire, sitting and conversing one evening (according to the nineteenth chapter of his Saga) with King Svend Estridsen of Denmark at the drinking table, Svend asked him what precious things he had that he set most value on? He answered, his banner, called Landöde (or, the land-ravager). Svend then asked what qualities this banner had, since he esteemed it so precious a thing? Harald replied, “They say that he before whom this banner is borne always gains the victory; and such has constantly been the case since I possessed it.”

The class of coins before alluded to as minted by Danish-Norwegian sovereigns in England not only presents a remarkable view of the importance, as well as appearance, of the old Scandinavian flags, or marks, but also serves in a high degree to confirm the repeated accounts of the English chroniclers, that “the Danes,” during their conquests in the western lands, often bore a common standard, or national flag; a point about which the Danish chronicles or Sagas are silent. A coin of Anlaf, or Olaf, king of Northumberland, is particularly illustrative of this. It has the legend, “Anlaf Cununc,” and represents a bird with extended wings, in which English antiquarians have very justly recognised the raven, the chief ensign, or emblem, of the ancient Danes.

From the most ancient times, and almost since the period that war was first waged, certain ensigns were undoubtedly known and used, around which the warriors rallied in battle. This had its origin, indeed, in necessity, in order that, in the tumult of battle, the combatants might always be able to discern where their fellow-warriors were; and such a rallying point was particularly of the greatest importance when an army was thrown into disorder, or began to fly. To this it may be added, that the commander, or the principal leaders, were generally near the ensign; which thus became a signal where the battle was usually hottest, and a point to rally round in order to protect the chief when in danger.

But these ensigns, which doubtless were originally boughs of trees or other simple things easy to be recognised at a distance, obtained by degrees a religious importance, and must thus have still more excited the courage of the combatants. For ensigns those figurative images were principally chosen under which men were accustomed to represent to themselves their principal gods, or to which a peculiar religious faith was attached. In the course of time these ensigns were adopted by whole tribes as national ones. The eagle, Jupiter’s sacred bird, served the Romans for a warlike ensign, and animated the legions on their distant and universally-celebrated expeditions. With them, however, it did not flutter in a banner, but was cast in metal and fixed on the end of a staff. The national ensign used by at least a great part of the Gallic tribes in the south of France about the time of the birth of Christ, was of a similar kind. According to a few still-existing representations of it on monuments, it presented the image of a hog, fastened, like the Roman eagle, at the end of a staff. Among the Gauls the hog was a sacred animal, whence it is afterwards found frequently represented on the old Gallic coins.

Among the German and Scandinavian races, on the contrary, we cannot point with certainty to any such early national ensigns. These people, as it is well known, formed, for several centuries after the birth of Christ, a number of petty and independent kingdoms, which were, besides, often divided amongst several powerful chiefs. It was customary for every chief to have a peculiar sign, often an animal, delineated on his shield; and which was likewise represented on the banner that he carried with him into battle. This banner, or mark, was generally borne before him in the combat by his “marksman;” and at sea it waved on the prow of his ship. It was not, like that of the Romans and Gauls, of cast metal, but of variegated cloth.

It was not till the time that the Danes and Norwegians began to invade the countries of the west, and to make great conquests there, and consequently not till the ninth century, that we find the oldest traces of the Danes, or rather perhaps the Danish-Norwegian Vikings, having fought under one flag; which was not, like the earlier ones, that of a single chief, but rather an established national ensign. We must remember that they were heathens, making war upon a Christian land, and fighting for Odin and Thor against White[5] Christ. Regardless of their former contests in the north itself, the Vikings were now united on these foreign shores by the ties of mutual interest and a common religion; and nothing, therefore, was more natural than that the ensign which conducted them in battle should be consecrated to Odin, or, as he was called, the father of victory, in whose presence they expected at some time to assemble and enjoy the delights of Valhalla. The eagle had been consecrated to Jupiter by the Romans; among the Northmen the raven was Odin’s (or, the Father-of-all’s) sacred bird. One of Odin’s names was therefore “Ravne-gud” (raven-god). The ravens Hugin and Munin sat on his shoulders, and only flew away to bring him intelligence of what happened in the world. The ancient Northmen had consequently an especial confidence in the omens of Odin’s bird. When the Viking Floke Vilgerdesön set out from Norway to discover Iceland, he consecrated at a sacrifice three ravens, which he wished to take with him, to show him the way. He was therefore called Ravnefloke. The Northmen, also, made prognostications from the scream and from the flight of the raven; and the warriors, in particular, regarded it as a good omen if a raven followed them as they marched to battle.

Footnote 5:

An epithet applied by the Northmen to our Saviour.

As Jupiter’s eagle had been the war sign of the Romans so was Odin’s raven the chief mark of the Danes in the heathen ages. An old chronicler (Emma’s Encomiast) relates, that in the time of peace no image whatever was seen in the flag, or mark, of the Danes; but in time of war there waved a raven in it, from whose movements the Danes took auguries of victory or defeat. If it fluttered its wings, Odin gave them a sign of conquest; but if the wings hung slackly down, victory would surely desert them. From the few historical accounts that remain to us of this raven’s mark we are not, however, justified in believing that it was so long or so generally adopted among the Danes as the eagle was among the Romans. We find it expressly mentioned only during the Danish conquests in the British Islands; yet, remarkably enough, at such different times and under such peculiar circumstances, that we may with good reason assert that the raven’s mark was really a common flag of battle and conquest for the Danes and Norwegians.

It is mentioned for the first time in the year 898, consequently nearly a thousand years ago; that is to say, about the time of the banner-coins before described, and especially of that coin of Anlaf, or Olaf, on which is seen the bird with extended wings. At that time, it is said, the Danish chiefs suffered a great defeat in South England, in which they lost their war-ensign, or banner (_Anglo-Saxon_, guð-fana), which they called “the raven” (_Anglo-Saxon_, ræfen v. hrefn. v. hræfen). Another account adds, that these chiefs were sons of Regner Lodbrog, and that the flag, or mark, was cunningly woven by Regner’s daughters. The raven borne upon it was thought to forbode either victory or defeat.

This ensign is again spoken of a century later, in the time of Canute the Great. It is mentioned in the great battle of Clontarf, in Ireland (1014), when Sigurd, the Norwegian Jarl of Orkney, bore a raven-standard against the Irish. Two years afterwards, in the sanguinary battle at Ashingdon in Essex (1016), which partly decided Canute’s conquest of England, the Danish army had begun to give way; when the jarl, Thorkel the Tall, shouted to the warriors, as he pointed to the flag, that the raven fluttered its wings, and predicted a glorious victory. The Danes took fresh courage, and victory crowned their efforts. The mighty Danish jarl Sivard, or Sigurd, surnamed “Digre” (the stout) (+ 1055), who ruled the earldom of Northumberland somewhat after Canute’s time, and after the Danish dominion in England had ceased, also bore a raven ensign, which was called “Ravenlandeye,” or the raven that desolates the land. (“_Corvus terræ terror._”) There seems to have been many legends among the people, both as to the manner in which Sigurd procured this ensign, and as to its supernatural power.

After the time of Canute the Great and Sigurd Digre, there is scarcely any coin to be found bearing the image of the raven; but fortunately there is a representation of another kind, belonging to the eleventh century, which in no slight degree proves that raven-ensigns were actually borne by the successors of the Danes and Norwegians in the west of Europe until about the year 1100.