The Vikings are, without a doubt, one of the historical societies that most attract the general public and, however, it is also possible that it is also one of the most mythical. Do we really know what they were like? Although the answer is that every day more, partly thanks to books such as the recently published “Vikings at War”, by the Norwegian historians Kim Hjardar and Vegard Vike (Desperta Ferro Ediciones) , there are still some aspects to be polished that are always given as true and that, in reality, they are not so true.
1. They wore horned helmets
This is probably the most widespread myth about the Vikings and, at the same time, the most debunked in recent times . Although the images of horned helmets are a constant even in souvenirs in the Scandinavian countries themselves, the truth is that no Viking used them. Archeology has left us evidence of more or less elaborate iron helmets (from the classic conical with nasal to the magnificent Gjermundbu helmet) owned by wealthier Norsemen. However, those with less purchasing power would have used leather protections that, in addition to being more affordable, survive less well over time and are difficult to find in the deposits.
It seems that the idea became popular in the 19th century as a result of the growing interest in medieval Norse literature that led to the illustrated reissue of some Norse Sagas, such as the “Saga of Frithiof”, or in the well-known opera by Richard Wagner, ” The sunset of the gods”. In these illustrations the Vikings wore these helmets that gave them a more fierce and romantic appearance.
2. Viking women fought just like men
When we were shedding the horned helmets, the women warriors arrived to occupy the throne of the quintessential Viking myth thanks to – or because of – series like “Vikings” on the History Channel.
Although a large number of women warriors appear in these, the so-called “skjaldmær”, and despite the fact that they are also a recurring character in medieval Norse literature (in Sagas or in the Gesta Danorum by Saxon Grammaticus), archeology has not revealed to us until now dates more than a few examples like the one in tomb Bj. 581 from Birka, in Sweden. An impressive example, yes.
The reality is that most of the women’s lives were spent on the farm, where their role was fundamental and critical for the maintenance and survival of the community. They also played a crucial role in those colonized territories, such as Iceland or England, and in the commercial emporiums judging by the number of female burials that we find in them.
Archeology has also shown us that not fighting did not detract from the possibility of achieving great status within the Old Norse society as evidenced by burials such as the Oseberg burial ship, belonging to two women of the highest rank and one of the archaeological finds most spectacular vikings of all time.
3. They were dirty and wild
If we stick to our current standards, yes, the Vikings probably needed some showers and some more personal care. However, for a primitive society and, especially if we compare them with other contemporary peoples, they had quite surprising hygiene and clothing routines for the time.
In Old Norse the word “laugardagur” means “washing day” and it was the day that the Vikings used to groom themselves and wash their clothes. Sets of hygiene utensils made up of ear sticks, tweezers or knives have been found at Viking sites. In fact, one of the most common objects in all the sites are, to the surprise of many, combs . Made of bone or antler, most of them could be richly elaborated, being a decorative and status element. These combs appear in Norse graves since at least the Bronze Age.
Literature also tells us about these highly suspicious customs for Christians of the moment. In a chronicle attributed to Abbot John of Wallingford, he complained bitterly that thanks to their habit of combing their hair every day, bathing every Saturday and regularly changing their clothes, the Vikings were able to undermine the virtue of women. married Englishwomen and even to seduce the daughters of noblemen to make them his mistresses.
4. Looting was their main livelihood and way of life
Although by default we associate the Vikings with looting and plundering, the truth is that not all Scandinavians of the period dedicated themselves to it and, far from it, it was their only means of subsistence.
The Norse plundered when conditions were favorable as a means of quick and easy riches , that is a fact, but their interests were substantially broader.
Many of them were looking for new lands to settle in, either for farming or for political reasons, wanting to get away from the growing hierarchy and centralization of Scandinavia, and they settled in places like Ireland, England, Iceland or Greenland.
Others dedicated themselves to trade and crafts, importing and exporting their products in commercial enclaves such as Birka or Kaupang, carrying out commercial contacts that extended throughout the Baltic and Eastern Europe.
Others signed up as mercenaries in the service of the emperor of Byzantium , and the vast majority of them were actually farmers who did not leave their community for most of the time. The reality is that the percentage of Norse who pillaged during the Viking Age as full-time warriors must have been small, to say the least.
5. They were gross, but it has been exaggerated
One drawback that the Vikings were a practically illiterate society is that, until the arrival of archaeology, everything we knew about them had been told to us by others. Who is it? Those who suffered as enemies, as unwelcome visitors, those who were plundered by the Northmen. And those who, centuries after the end of the Viking Age, wrote literary epics – the so-called Sagas – to record a heroic and legendary past.
Thus, the image that history has left us of them is a brutal image, but somewhat distorted. It is not that the Vikings did not do many of the things that the chronicles tell us, the point is that they were not the only ones and, nevertheless, the label of lethal and ruthless has been left to them.
Among the myths that we can demolish here is the one that says that they tortured their enemies by performing the blood eagle on them or that they drank from the skulls of their opponents to celebrate victories. As for the first, consisting of tearing the back of the living enemy to extract the lungs and leave them hanging like two wings, the most accepted and probable is that it is a mistranslation of some “kenning” (metaphor) used in the medieval Nordic literature that at some point ceased to be understood and became part of the legend.
As for the second, another case of translation with little skill. At the beginning of the 17th century Olaus Wormius published his treatise “Runir seu Danica literature antiquissima”, (Runes: the oldest Danish literature), a compilation of transcriptions of runic texts in which it could be read that the Danes (the Danes) drank from the curved horns that came from the skulls. For the later Latin translator, the Danes drank from the skulls of those they had killed and a new myth began.
