How to Pronounce Norse Runes Set to Music

SKÁLD | Rún has created a video in which a singer recites the Norse runes to a catchy tune.  The verses quote one of the poems in the Prose Edda, a collection written in Iceland in the 13th century.

By following along with the Icelandic subtitles you can sharpen your pronunciation of those difficult vowels.

Networking Among Ancient Icelandic Homesteads

Combining archeological evidence and written land registers from the 1100s to modern times, Gisli Palson investigates connectivity among homesteads and tenants.  Such connections could be quite complex since a homestead could own grazing or fishing rights on other properties. These complexities often lead to conflict and even violence as suggested in the Icelandic sagas. 

Soapstone as Viking Cookware

Norse used pots carved from soapstone or steatite, which is mostly made of the mineral talc.  The stone is very soft and easily carved.  Many cultures used this stone for carving and cookware.   "In the Viking Age, however, the use of soapstone for pots and vessels virtually exploded and almost completely expelled the former pottery tradition [from Norway] to Denmark/Germany and possibly Iceland."

I have always wanted a soapstone cookpot because of its lovely look and cooking advantages such as heat retention.  It is delicate if exposed to sudden changes in temperature.  When I found a soapstone pot at a thrift store, I purchased it immediately.  Iron skillets are "seasoned"  but soapstone pots are "cured."  Uncured soapstone is a nondescript grey.  There are many ways to cure the pot.  I used the method of applying cooking oil (olive oil is what I selected) and placing the pot in a heated oven for gradually increasing amounts of time.  As you can see above, the stone turned a beautiful shades of dark gray with shiny flecks and streaks.  I can't wait till my next Society for Creative Anachronism encampment to show off my historically accurate pot.










Here is a link to an article on the Norse use of soapstone for cooking utensils. 
https://perstoremyr.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/2002_storemyr_heldal_soapstonehistorynorway.pdf

Horse in Norse Life

The Viking Heritage Magazine published an excellent overview of the horse in Norse life including horses sources, tack, burial customs, etc. Additional articles cover Norse musical instruments, tillers, rune stones, and much more. Illustrations are gorgeous.

http://www.wastekeep.org/documents/Viking%20Heritage%20Magazine/2005%20-%2002%20Magazine.pdf

No Wool, No Sails, No Viking

From the article: "Viking life must have been like this—frigid, wild days in an open boat, constantly watching the waves and clouds to avoid disaster. Wool was as much a part of that life as the sea and the ships. The Vikings were great sailors and fearsome warriors, but they couldn’t have left port without wool. It provided the raw material for their clothes, their blankets, even the sails that harnessed the wind for their ships." And women were key to the Viking explorations and raids. The ship could have been built by two skilled boat builders in weeks but two women worked for a year to make the sails.

"Researchers at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, calculated that by the mid-11th century, the Viking fleet—fishing boats, coastal traders, cargo ships, and longships—carried roughly one million square meters of sail, requiring the equivalent of all the wool produced in one year by about two million sheep."
Fascinating article!

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/no-wool-no-vikings

SCA Arts and Sciences Day--Norse Bridle Reconstruction

I went to my first Arts and Sciences Day at SCA

Dragonslaire. The purpose is for people to get together to share and work on projects. As you can tell, I went way overboard on the sharing part by creating a posterboard presentation on my reconstruction of two bridles found in Norse ship burials--one in Sweden and one in Norway.

I think I went way overboard but it was a lot of fun to meet people and see all the wonderful projects on which they are working.

A special shout out to Countess Ilaria who provides inspiration and background knowledge on her web site about how to make period bridles. 

http://ilaria.veltri.tripod.com/bridle.html

The Lady in Blue--A Norse Burial in Iceland

Bláklædda Konan, Ný Rannsókn á Fornu Kumli (Bundled up in Blue, the re-investigation of a
Viking grave) at the National Museum of Iceland in May 2015 is about the grave of a Norse woman dated around 900 AD found during road building in northeastern Iceland.  Her face rested on one of the turtle brooches, used to hold up an apron like garment or smokkr and the copper in the piece of jewelry helped preserve the organic matter in the grave. The woman was dressed in blue linen and probably came to Iceland as a child.

"Within this enclosure was the grave of a female, resting on her left side in a flexed position. Her knees and hips were bent and the left side of her face touched one the two oval brooches that would originally have been located on her breasts. Other grave goods included a trefoil brooch, 42 beads, textile fragments, two whetstones, bone fragments of either a comb or knife handle, a spindle whorl, and a stone of unusual shape which proved to be a fragment of chalcedony."

You can read more about the analysis and dating of this burial at the following link:

https://northernwomen.org/project-2/

Woman Confirmed as Norse Warrior

A Forbes article is being shared via Facebook about research showing that a female Viking warrior
has been proven via DNA. She was buried with weapons, a mare, and a stallion. Here is how young girls start to discover their inner Viking warriorhood at the Icelandic Horse Booth at the 2017 Washington State Fair. Photo by Judy Skogen.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2017/09/08/first-female-viking-warrior-proved-through-dna/#34e308f772c8

New Norse Burial with Bridle in Denmark

Danish archeologists have found a burial of a rich equestrian dating from around 950AD. The grave chamber contained several harness and a bridle with gilded mounts. The Skanderborg Musem set up a wonderful website about the burial. Check out the wonderful artwork of a mounted warrior on what is a tolting Nordland/Icelandic like horse sporting a reconstruction of the bridle. Blessi says I need to make him a bridle like this to join his collection of Norse bridles.

This link takes you to a slideshow providing more details about the site, the burial, including photographs of the bridle mounts and a drawing of the reconstructed bridle.

https://www.slideshare.net/dkmuseer/merete-bagge-ryttergraven-i-fregerslev

Here's a link to an article in English:

http://cphpost.dk/news/archeologists-make-sensational-viking-discovery-in-denmark.html

http://www.vikingfregerslev.dk/Forside-2938.aspx

Enter the Gripping Beast

The study "Enter the Gripping Beast. Artistic innovation and social networks in Viking-period towns" by Berge, Jasinski, and Sognnes identifies the emergence of gripping beast motif as early as 790 AD. I was highly amused by one of their proposed inspirations for gripping beasts. "Suddenly a new and very different form of decoration...occurs alongside this, consisting in curiously squat, short-legged little animals with a clearly defined anatomy, faces shown en face, and paws grasping at whatever they can reach..Was it an inspiration from Western Europe, acquired the first Viking raids? Did it reflect a fascination with newly introduced domestic cats? A symbol of Freya?"

Recent genetic research shows that the Norse were key in the dispersion of domestic cats during their long sailings . Can't you see the poor creatures desperately clinging to tall, bearded, wool wrapped Vikings as the felines try to avoid all that water?Above  is an early 9th century depiction of gripping beasts on the Carolingian Animal head post from the Oseberg ship grave. They certainly look like  cats trying to avoid a bath. 

http://www.academia.edu/1973560/Enter_the_Gripping_Beast._Artistic_innovation_and_social_networks_in_Viking-period_towns

Finished Norse Shield

Here is my finished Norse shield!





It will look so good with Blessi'
Vendel bridle.

Painting a Vendel Shield

Thanks to good friends my Norse shield made by Bill Grunner made its way from Snohomish to Bellingham to Port Townsend to my place. Mr. Grunner did a wonderful job making the shield--beautiful finish job. I am painting it with a gripping beast design to match Blessi's Vendel bridle that I made for him.

Here are some stages in the execution.
I have already primed the wood, marked off the shield into thirds (since the design repeats 3 times), used the computer to blow up the design to shield size, transferred motif to shield, and started painting. I had to do a lot of manual adjustments to the design since the original image was off center. Also start painting from left to right (if you are right handed) or you will smear paint at some point. Also make sure your design aligns with handle in the back or you may end up carrying an upside down or sideways design.

Norse Designs in Poulsbo WA

Poulsbo, WA adapted a Norse great hall design for its public library. One outside corridor is
decorated with carved, wooden panels of gripping beasts. The gripping beast occurs as a motif throughout the library.


This style is known as Urnes, the latest of the Norse art styles from around 1050 to 1120 AD. The Urnes gripping beast motifs are slim, stylized, and usually tightly woven. The best example is the wooden Urnes stave church in Norway.

Urnes photos are from Wikipedia.

Tailoring and Lapstraking

I made myself a lined jacket from Vogue pattern 9096.  The jacket has petal-like overlays on the right side.  The effect is very much like the clinker or lapstrake construction technique using overlapping planks for the hulls of Viking ships.

Gokstad ship, Viking Ship Museum,
Oslo, Norway-Wikipedia

I am going to make another version of the jacket using brown material to emphasize the "planks" and then add a Viking dragon prow that curls around my neck and rests on the opposite side.  This will be either very strange or very cool or both.








What do you think?

Prow from Oseberg ship
burial grave for two women
Norway 820 AD

Lewis Chessmen Knight produced on 3-d printer

My friend Dave used his 3-D printer to make one of the knights from the Lewis Chessmen, ivory chessmen carved by the Norse in Norway (or Iceland --there is some controversy) in the 12th century.  What a wonderful gift.  It makes me sing "Everything is Awesome" from The Lego Movie every time I see it.

You can read more about the Lewis chessmen here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_chessmen

Building a Norse Persona--Winroth vs. Short--Part I

As a participant in the Society for Creative Anachronism, my persona is an Icelandic woman from around 1000 AD.  I picked this persona to honor Blessi.  To better understand a woman's role during this time frame, I sometimes read a book on Norse history and/or culture.

My most recent foray involves two books:
- The Age of the Vikings by Anders Winroth
- Icelanders in the Viking Age by William Short

I highly recommend both books for different reasons.

Winroth provides an excellent discussion of the violence inherent in Norse Society, even though the Norse were also traders and explorers.  During the years of the Vikings before the consolidation of power under the Scandinavian kings, chieftains maintained power by giving away riches and exotic items (I never thought of a Walnut as an exotic item) to ensure the loyalty of their followers.  To ensure a steady stream of booty, the chieftain was reliant on organizing successful raids by ships, which because possible due to technological advances in ship building.  Traders also brought home considerable silver and gold traded for  slaves, furs, ivory, walrus skin ropes, etc, and Winroth does an excellent job tracing the economic impact of this transfer of goods and the rise and fall of Norse market centers across Europe.  Those who choose not to go a vikingr and remain on the farm were also subject to the possibility of random violence.

When discussing Norse politics, art, religion, and home life, Winroth makes the decision not to use the Icelandic sagas,  arguing that they were written some 200 years after events occurred so they are biased by the beliefs of the post Christian conversion people who wrote them down.   Instead he used contemporary Arab accounts,  archaeological finds, rune carved stones commemorating various events, skaldic poetry  such as Beowulf  and Vellekla dating from this period.

His discussion of the interpretation of rune stones is fascinating.  He provides a detailed breakdown of the multiple layers of  meanings of the Karlevi runestone on an island off Sweden carved as a memorial to the chieftain Sibbi in the late 10th century.  On a superficial level to a passerby who is slightly conversant in reading the runes, Winroth explains that the monument "screams 'Danger!  Ghosts!" to a potential grave robber but a more sophisticated reader would pick up the lavish praise for Sibbi (I have just condensed 5 pages of extrapolation to 1 sentence.)

Winroth also argues against some of the most popularly held beliefs of Norse behavior--the blood eagle (a horrify way of executing somebody), berserkers as fighters crazed by drugs or blood lust, and the sacrifice of large numbers of men and beast by hanging in the pagan religious center at Uppsala in Sweden (where are all the bones and/or ashes of these sacrifices if they were so prevalent?).

My only quibble about this book is I wonder if all of Winroth's archaelogical data is strictly accurate.  At one point in the book, he states that the height of the feast halls cannot  be extrapolated from post holes (discolorations in the ground marking where posts were set into the ground).  I remember from my archaeology class in college that the height of a pole could be determined if there was remnants of the wood remaining in the post hole since different types of wood have different weight bearing properties; therefore a general height of the original pole can be  estimated. Woodroth may have meant that all of the wood had rotten away so there was no way to estimate the height.  I went looking for review of this book by scholars and found an article by Sæbjørg Walaker Nordeide, University of Bergen in The Medieval Review :
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/14790/12.10.31.html?sequence=1


Nordeide argues that a number of Winroth's statements are based on outdated literary resources and old archeology."I must point out that some of the literature cited is extremely old, such as in the case of Viking-Age decorative styles (68-71). Sometimes this leads to serious errors in the book, such as in the case of the Gokstad ship burial, which is dated to "some point soon after the middle of the ninth century" (44), and to "the early ninth century" (76). However, since 1993 the date of this grave has been known to be from c. 900. "

Dr. Martin Rundkvist points out another series of errors and redundancies in his Science Blog found at:
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2014/10/20/new-popular-book-on-the-viking-period/


Rundkvist points out that some of the examples of Norse art are not categorized correctly and some of the sources that Winroth uses are dated.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this review.