To explain what a Viking is, let’s start with what it’s not. It is not the brutal warrior in horned helmet as the picture. And it’s not the half-naked, bloody maniac as portrayed by Alexander Skarsgård in The Northman. And it is not the free, egalitarian farmer making joint decisions in a democratic society either.
The Viking as we’re most familiar with, is probably the one with the horned helmets though. But this is an invention from the 19th century when, in the midst of political upheaval, urbanisation and nationalisation, historians searched for a common past, to unite people in nationhood. A new, nationalistic history was needed. And something to symbolize it.
The old Icelandic Sagas were a good starting point, with its many tales of kings, warriors and heroes. The Sagas were taken for truth, and the fact that they had been written many hundreds of years after the supposed events took place was ignored.
In the Sagas, a male ideal was found that vastly differed from the 18th century with its powdered wigs and glamourous “feminine” men. The men in the Sagas were strong and forceful, adventurers and warriors. This suited the new male ideal that emerged in the 19th century. The women (although strong and powerful women exist plenty in the old Sagas) were ignored and relegated to the home.
So, in the Nordic countries, a new past emerged, and to symbolize it, the Viking was constructed. The horned helmet was added in the 1870s when Wagner’s operas about Nordic history premiered, as a dramatic costume. There is no evidence that Vikings ever wore helmets with horns attached.
The problem with defining what a Viking is – is that there has never been such a thing as a ”Viking”.
The people living in what we now call the Viking Age, did not identify themselves as Vikings, nor do their way of life much resemble the stereotypical view of “Vikings”. There wasn’t ONE way to live either of course, not ONE culture or ONE religion.
But to generalize, the Viking Age took place approximately between 700-1100. Outside of Scandinavia, it is usually dated between 793 when Lindisfarne Abbey was attacked, and the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Of course, the people living back then did not see these events as the beginning and end of an Age. But it is generally this timespan we’re talking about when referring to the Viking Age.
The ”Vikings” lived mainly in Scandinavia, in what today is Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. Although these peoples have been bundled together historically, they did not see themselves as a common people because no large kingdoms existed in that area during most of what we call the Viking Age. They did travel, trade, made alliances and raided both within Scandinavia and outside it. There is evidence that “Vikings” travelled as far as North America and to the Middle East. These contacts meant a constant inflow of merchandise, thoughts and ideas. Culture was no less static back then than it is today.
But if this is going to be more than a philosophical discussion, I’m going to have to make generalizations. So in the following posts, I will try to summarize the general features of what we call the Viking Age – the culture, religion, the trade and raids, and the everyday life.
Source: Hesselbom, Ted & Lihammer, Anna. “Vikingen – en historia om 1800-talets manlighet”.