Section VI.
Danish-Norwegian Memorials in the North of England.—Coins.—The
Raven.—The Danish Flag.
If even the old Saxon south England is distinguished by its richness in legends and still-existing memorials of the Danes, it is natural that they should be met with in still greater numbers in the old Danish districts to the north and east of Watlinga-Stræt.
Here also the Norwegian saint, “St. Olave,” has been zealously worshipped, both in the country and in the towns. In Norfolk (East Anglia) there is a bridge called “St. Olave’s Bridge.” In itself it is a remarkable monument of a time when bridges over rivers were regarded as such considerable and important structures that, like churches, they were named after, or dedicated to saints; in ancient Scandinavia they even built bridges, as several runic stones testify, “for their souls’ salvation.” In the city of Chester, on the northern frontier of Wales, there is to be found in the southern outskirts, opposite the old castle and close to the river Dee, a church and parish which still bear the name of St. Olave. By the church runs a street called “St. Olave’s Lane.” In the north-west part of York there is likewise a St. Olave’s church, said to be the remains of a monastery founded by the powerful Danish Jarl Siward, who was himself buried there in the year 1055. There can be no doubt that similar churches dedicated to St. Olave were scattered about in other towns of north England, where further researches might possibly yet discover at least some of them.
These traces of the importance formerly conferred on St. Olave in the towns of north England lead one to conjecture that, even after the Danish ascendancy in England was annihilated, a great number of Northmen must have continued to reside there, as was the case in London. This is so much the more natural, as, long before the Norman Conquest, the Northmen preponderated in many, perhaps in most, mercantile towns of the north of England, and particularly in the fortified towns occupied by the Danes. At the time of the Conquest, the population in some of the largest and most important cities towards the east coast, such as Lincoln and York, is said to have been almost exclusively of Scandinavian extraction; hence it was that Lincoln and York, at least, preserved their original Scandinavian “husting” throughout the middle ages, and even later.
In and about the last-named city, which was the chief place in Danish north England, are numerous Scandinavian memorials. The names of several streets in York end in gate. In London, where the same termination of the names of streets frequently occurs, some have, indeed, endeavoured to derive this gate from the gates which these streets adjoined; and, as far as regards London, this explanation may probably in most cases be correct. But in York, where formerly there were at least a score of such streets, it is certainly by no means a probable conjecture that twenty gates existed from which their names were derived; and it therefore becomes a question whether these gates should not be derived from the old Scandinavian “gata” (a street), particularly when they appear in compound names, such as Petersgate (Petersgade), Marygate (Mariegade), Fishergate (Fiskergade), Stonegate (Steengade), Micklegate (from the old Scandinavian “mykill,” signifying great); which have a striking resemblance with Scandinavian names of streets; nay, there is even a legend respecting Godram, or Guthramgate, that it was named after a Danish chieftain, Guthrum or Gorm, who is said to have dwelt there. The historical accounts of the number and influence of the Northmen in York cannot but strengthen these suppositions in a high degree.
North-east of York, on the coast towards the German ocean, is a promontory called “Flamborough-head.” It is separated from the main land by an immense rampart said to have been raised by the Danes, and called on that account “the Danes’ Dyke,” behind which they intrenched themselves on landing. At no great distance, near Great Driffield, is “the Danes’ Dale,” and “the Danes’ Graves,” where remains of the Danes who fell in a battle are said to have been dug up. South of York, on the Humber, between Richal and Skipwith, human bones and pieces of iron have likewise been found in several barrows, or tumuli, ascribed to the Danes. It is supposed that the Danes and Norwegians landed in this neighbourhood at different times, when proceeding up the Humber on their warlike expeditions.
The popular legend of the bloody battle by Stamford Bridge, or, as it was afterwards called, “Battle Bridge,” is not yet obsolete. A piece of ground near the bridge over the river Derwent is called “Battle-flats,” and in the surrounding fields, where, for about a century after the battle, large heaps of human bones were to be seen, joint-bones, together with iron swords and other weapons, have been ploughed up, as well as horse-shoes that would be suitable for the small Norwegian horses. The English chronicles which describe this battle are lavish in their praises of a Norwegian, who, in the midst of the fight, stood quite alone on the bridge over the Derwent, and for several hours kept Harald Godvinsön’s whole army at bay, until at length a man glided under the bridge and ran him through from below with a spear. The inhabitants of the village of Stamford Bridge have to the present day kept up the custom of celebrating this deed at an annual festival, by making puddings in the form of a vessel or trough; for, as the legend states, it was in a trough that the slayer of the Norwegian passed under the bridge. It is certain, however, that the river Derwent hereabouts has only lately been made navigable.
It would lead us too far to relate, even in an abbreviated form, all the legends, or to reckon up all the numerous memorials, which, to the north of Watlinga-Stræt, are connected with the Danes. It is not only the common people in England who in general ascribe every ancient monument of any importance to the Danes; there was a time, and no very distant one, when many learned men were but too much inclined to do the same. In proof of this it suffices to remark that the celebrated circle of stones at Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire—the most superb monument of its kind in the British Islands, or even in the whole of northern Europe—was also at one time described by the learned as a Danish place of sacrifice, although it is clearly distinguished, both by its structure and whole appearance, from the ancient monuments of Scandinavia; and although, on the contrary, the highest degree of probability proclaims its having originated from the older inhabitants of England, the ancient Britons. It is undoubtedly true, that want of adequate experience and knowledge was generally the real cause why the learned were never able to distinguish, with certainty, between what ancient monuments were really Danish and what were not. Nevertheless they would assuredly never have given the Danes credit for so many monuments, at the expense of their own countrymen and ancestors, had they not acknowledged that the immigration and settlement of the Danes in England was of the most widely-extended importance.
Even in our days English antiquarians are not disinclined to ascribe British, Roman, or Anglo-Saxon antiquities to the Danes; as well as to suppose, on the whole, that there are more monuments of the Danes extant in England, than, strictly speaking, that people can validly claim.
At first sight it might indeed appear that the Danes, who so early, and for so long a period, had extensive possessions in the north of England, must have left there a great number of tumuli, stone circles, and cairns; as well as, in consequence of their numberless fights and battles, a considerable quantity of entrenchments. It is sufficiently known how careful the old Northmen were to hand down to posterity the memory of a hero, and of his deeds. The doctrines of Odin even commanded it, as a sacred duty, to erect bauta stones in memory of the brave; which is one of the principal reasons why Scandinavia is distinguished, even down to modern times, by such a striking abundance of ancient monuments.
But with regard to England, we must not forget that the inhabitants of the central and northern parts had for centuries been Christians when the heathen Danes began to make conquests there. Among the Danes, as among the Northmen in general, the belief in their ancient gods had been weakened, and faith in their own power and strength had frequently usurped its place. Living among Christians in a foreign land, and doubtless, also, often marrying native females, they easily adopted, at least in form, the novel doctrines of Christianity, and with them the customs which they brought in their train. They soon renounced the usage of placing the dead in mounds, after the heathen manner, and of providing them with the weapons and ornaments which were dearest to them when alive. The bodies were buried in churchyards, or in the churches themselves; and the precious things which were formerly thought to secure for the hero an honourable seat in Valhalla, now for the most part remained above ground, where they generally found their way into the pocket of the monk, in order that he might deliver the deceased from purgatory by masses for his soul, and procure him an easy entrance into the kingdom of heaven. By degrees, as the Danes abandoned themselves to the influence of the higher civilization of England, they must also have adopted the most essential parts of the English dress, or at all events English ornaments; and consequently, even if only some few of these were deposited in the barrows, it became almost impossible to decide, when these graves were opened after a long lapse of time, whether it were Danes or Anglo-Saxons who had been originally interred in them.
Thus it is easily explained why but, proportionally, very few really Danish or Scandinavian barrows and monumental stones are to be found in England. We must not ascribe it to the progress of agriculture alone that, even in the north of England, we may search the fields in vain for stones, which, by runic inscriptions in the ancient language of Scandinavia, have preserved the remembrance of some distinguished warrior from the eastern lands beyond the sea. It is but rarely that one can even fancy that he has met with a Scandinavian runic stone; but a closer inspection will soon show that both the runes, and particularly the language in which the inscriptions are couched, betray a foreign, and especially an Anglo-Saxon, origin. The most important runic stone in these northern districts is found near the English border, in the Scotch town of Ruthwell, on the other side of Solway Firth. It is of considerable height, and is ornamented with a number of carvings of biblical scenes, mingled with figures of leaves, birds, and animals. Besides Latin inscriptions indicating and explaining these Christian carvings, there is a runic inscription on the stone which was long considered, both by British and Scandinavian archæologists, to be Danish, or at least to contain remnants of the old Scandinavian language. But it is now shown to be derived neither from the Danes nor Norwegians, but from the Anglo-Saxons, as the supposed Scandinavian inscription includes some verses of an old devotional Anglo-Saxon poem. The whole appearance of the stone, also, is rather Saxon than Danish. The runic characters are, in part at least, different from those of Scandinavia, and the words are not, as in them, separated by points. Ornaments with similar so-called Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions are not altogether uncommon in England, particularly in the north. But as not a few ornaments, as well as runic stones with inscriptions in the selfsame character, are also found in the countries of Scandinavia, both in Denmark and Norway, and particularly the latter, and the west and south of Sweden (and there mostly in Bleking), it may be a question whether this runic writing was not originally brought over to England by Scandinavian emigrants. It would otherwise be inexplicable that they should have used entirely foreign runic characters in Scandinavia, whilst they possessed a peculiar and genuine Scandinavian runic writing of their own. The true state of the matter will not, however, be brought to light till antiquarians succeed in explaining, in a satisfactory manner, the inscriptions with Anglo-Saxon runes that are found in England as well as in Scandinavia, and which, for the most part, have not hitherto been deciphered.
[[++]] Swords -
Fig. 1. Scandinavian
and Fig. 2. Saxon
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.
[[++]] Coin: Sitric Comes
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.
[[++]] Coin: Cnut
[[++]] Coin: Cnut reverse
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.
[[++]] Coin: Ebraice
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.
[[++]] Coin: Erik Rex
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.
[[++]] Coin: Olaf
[[++]] Coin:
[[++]] Coin: Cnutr. Recx
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.
Coin: [[++]] Anlaf Cunune
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.
[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.
It is known that Scandinavian Vikings, and particularly Normans and Danes, conquered the French province afterwards called from the Northmen (Normænd) Normandy; and that the successors of Rollo, or Rolf (Ralph), continued to govern that land as dukes. From Normandy, Duke William, surnamed the Conqueror, passed over in 1066 into England, which he conquered by the battle of Hastings. The whole expedition, together with this battle, is represented in the old and extremely remarkable piece of tapestry, preserved in the cathedral of Bayeux, in Normandy, and said to have been worked by William the Conqueror’s own consort, Matilda; at all events it was made shortly after the conquest of England. There can, therefore, be no question about the fidelity of the figures represented, at all events, as far as regards the Normans. It is here seen that the Norman chiefs, after the old Scandinavian fashion, had each his ensign or banner of party-coloured cloth cut out into tongues or points, and fastened to the pole of a lance. But where William is represented on the Bayeux tapestry advancing to the battle of Hastings, the chief banner is borne by a mounted knight clad in chain armour, who rides before another knight, likewise clothed in armour, and having on his lance an ensign or flag with five tongues or points, and with a cross in it.
[[++]] Bayeux tapestry: Two Knights
On the chief banner, the only one of that form among the many flags in the tapestry, but which in its whole shape and pendant fringes bears a striking likeness to the old Danish flags before mentioned, there is seen in the middle the figure of a little bird, which may, with the greatest probability, be taken for Odin’s raven. For it is very natural that the Scandinavian Vikings, or Normans, who had achieved so many and such famous conquests under Odin’s raven, should continue to preserve this sign, even after they had adopted Christianity; and that thus the Normannic dukes in Normandy should also long bear their forefathers’ venerable ensign with them as a Palladium in the combat.
After the conquest of England by the Normans, however, the Norman kings abandoned the old Scandinavian raven-mark, and adapted themselves more to the English customs. Probably each king had his own mark or flag, after the custom of that time, until the national banner afterwards received a settled form. But the remembrance of the Danish raven by no means became obsolete among the English nation. Whilst the raven-flag has almost been erased from the memory of the Danish people, the remembrance of it still exists freshly in the British islands; and both poets and artists who represent, however simply, the ancient combats of the Danes with the Anglo-Saxons, the Scotch, and the Irish, seldom neglect to make “the enchanted raven” wave in the Danish ranks.
On the often-mentioned Bayeux tapestry is also represented the fall of the English king, Harald Godvinsön, at the battle of Hastings. The king’s flag-bearer, or marksman, who, as well as the king, is on foot, bears a flag-staff, on which is fixed a figure, probably of cloth, cut in the resemblance of a dragon, which was the royal mark of the Anglo-Saxon king. Close before him lies a fallen knight, by whose side is seen a lance with the point downwards, and on which hangs a similar dragon.
[[++]] Bayeux tapestry: Harald Godvinsön
This fallen knight is without doubt the king. From the form of his flag, or mark, we may conclude that the Danes’ raven-mark probably consisted at times of the figure of a raven fixed to a shaft, and cut out or sewed in a similar manner.
What colours were used for the raven-mark can now hardly be decided. The bird, or raven, on William the Conqueror’s war-flag appears to have been of a blue-black on a pale yellow, or light, ground. This colour in the tapestry may, perhaps, have been accidental; and the account of an English chronicler would lead us to suppose that the ground of the Danish flags, or marks, was, at least in time of peace, white. But the colours were certainly different at different times. There can be no doubt that the ground was often red; for, from the most ancient times, red was a very favourite colour in the north, especially in time of war. The old inhabitants of the north, when they came as friends, used to show a white shield, but when they appeared as enemies it was red; then “they raised the war-shield.” In Norway red seems to have been the national colour from an early period; and it was even ordered in Gulething’s laws, that every man who possessed six silver marks[[6]] should have a red shield. Something similar was probably the case in Denmark. An old legend preserved by the Scotch historians relates that, in a battle in Scotland about eight hundred years ago, the Danes wore red and white tunics. That red and white appear so prominently on the Danish national colours ever since the thirteenth century is certainly owing to an ancient predilection among the people for these colours. It is perhaps, therefore, most probable that the banners, or marks, of the ancient Danes were, in time of peace, of a light colour, but in war time of a blood colour, with a black raven on the red ground.
In the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries the raven, the Danebrog of heathenism, waved victoriously in the western lands. It was with Canute the Great at Ashingdon, with the Norman William at Hastings, and was thus present at two conquests of England. But the battle of Hastings was the last important battle that the raven won. Heathen Scandinavia had exhausted its strength by numerous and far-extended conquests. Christianity, and with it a new and a higher civilization, advanced with a power not to be checked even among the ancient followers of Odin. The raven, Odin’s mark, to which the heathen Danes had attached themselves with all the strength of religious faith, no longer inspired them as before when the warriors had lost the hope of the joys of Valhalla. If they now fought, it was mostly against heathens who would not bow before that cross on which Christ bled and suffered for the sins of mankind. In order to inspire the combatants, it was necessary that the banner which they followed should be an expression of the spirit which stirred among the people, of that living hope which animated them respecting the manner of their existence in another world. The raven, the symbol of heathenism, paled by degrees, as antiquated and meaningless, and at last quite gave place to the symbol of Christianity, the holy cross.
[6]. A mark was half a pound of silver.
The same representations on ancient coins and tapestry, which exhibit the raven, and the old flags, also show the sign of the cross. The flag on Olaf’s and Regnald’s coins (p. 53) has a figure in the middle resembling the cross. This is still more distinct on the Bayeux tapestry, where William’s chief banner is borne (p. 59), for immediately after the raven follows a flag with the cross. This last, moreover, certainly represents the identical consecrated banner with the figure of a cross, which the Pope sent to William on the occasion of his expedition against England.
The sign of the cross must by degrees have naturally superseded the raven, not only among the descendants of the Danes and Norwegians in England, but also, though perhaps somewhat later, in the north itself. If we may not assume that the present “Danebrog,” with its white cross on a red ground, became the Danish national flag immediately after the introduction of Christianity, it is at least certain that the Danish kings, in the first two centuries after that event, bore flags with crosses as their personal banners, or marks; and particularly in the twelfth century, when the crusades against the heathen Wends began. An old Saga, or legend, relates, that during one of the crusades of King Waldemar the Victorious in Livonia, in 1219, the “Danebrog” fell from heaven among the Danish army. This much, however, is certain—that it is not till after these crusades that the “Danebrog” appears as the established national flag of the Danes; and ever since that time, for more than six centuries, it has continued to wave unchanged in the Danish fleets and armies. It is remarkable that, as the flag of the fleet, and of all fortified places, and as the royal flag, it is split; and it can scarcely be doubted that this form must have originated from the fringes and tongues, or points, with which the old Danish and Scandinavian flags were ornamented in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The Scandinavian people is the only one which from remote antiquity has uninterruptedly borne this split flag; and it is possible that Sweden, as well as Norway, obtained theirs, which is of comparatively late origin, by imitating the old Danebrog.
[[++]] Flags and Ensigns
Other European countries also derived from the crusades flags with crosses as their national banners; as, for instance, England the St. George’s banner, which was white with a red cross; and Scotland a blue flag divided by a white St. Andrew’s cross. About the same time the different kingdoms began to adopt a fixed national coat of arms. Thus Denmark assumed that still in use,—three blue leopards, or lions, on a golden shield, strewed with red hearts; which was originally the family arms of the royal house. It has, however, undergone a few slight changes. With regard to this subject, it is remarkable that three leopards were also borne by the Norman dukes, who were of Norwegian descent, and who, after the conquest, introduced the leopards, or lions, into the arms of England. Generally the lion was not, nor is indeed at present, found on coats of arms in England and France, whereas it appears very frequently in those of the north. Sweden has, besides others, the Gothic lion; the Norwegian national coat of arms is a lion with a halberd; and Denmark has, besides the proper national arms, the Cymbric lion, and the two Sleswick lions. But the lion is so peculiarly Scandinavian that it does not even cross the Eider; Holstein, which is German, has an entirely different coat of arms—a nettle-leaf. There is also this similarity between the Danish and English lions, that they are represented standing, whilst those on the other national arms are depicted springing. Would it, therefore, be quite groundless to trace, even in the armorial bearings of England, one of the many proofs of the influence which the Northmen, and the Scandinavian elements, still continued to exert there at the time when the national arms were adopted, and when the foundations of an entirely new and superior social system had already been laid?