Why European Women Couldn't Resist the Charm of Vikings?
This story is not about Italy—or at least not Italy alone. I want to tell you about the Vikings. All the images in this post are from different sources I found online.
My interest is clear: On Jan. 17, I begin a series of conferences about the history of Russia and, according to the “Norman theory,” the first dukes (a person who held military and civil powers, with hereditary title and position, in a territorial district) in Russia were from Scandinavia (there were not states and nations in that period of history). That means they were Vikings.
Who were those Vikings?
They were “highway bandits,” as Russians call this kind of man (it’s an antique way of saying it because, in antiquity, all the big ways were infested with groups of bandits who robbed passers-by). But Vikings not only attacked villages and cities where they killed men, stole everything, and took slaves to markets, they were skilled merchants, mercenaries, negotiators… From Scandinavia, they reached even the markets of Baghdad.
If we want to be precise about them, there was an untold law when the firstborn son inherited all his father's assets. The other sons had to leave their homes almost without anything to earn their fortune with their hands. If you remember the first chapter of “Three Musketeers,” you remember the arrival of D'Artagnan in Paris. In the IX-XI centuries, the situation was not significantly different.
What were their goals?
Riches, of course. That is why their early routes were to reach the rich countries where the Roman Empire was not too far ago. Second, the most rich markets of Byzantium. Finally, Khazar Khaganate had silver mines. To avoid the warlike Arabs during their invasion of the Mediterranean area (630-10th cent.), the Vikings chose the Russian river route to reach both Byzantium and Khaganat.
How long was their journey?
They usually used cabotage, coastal maritime navigation, and small and medium-sized vessels. They sailed during the day and docked to sleep on the shore in the evening. In this way, it is said, they could do 25–30 miles a day. Their vessels, called Drakkar, could contain 25–80 men with medium 40-men ships.
On the ship, every man had his place with a bench where he could put his items. All men were oarsmen (unlike Roman ships, for example, where the oarsmen were slaves).
They say the Vikings often needed only one or two trips to become rich in their homeland.
What did the Vikings look like?
They had long hair that ended in braids at the back but was shaved on the sides. As seen in the life portrait of one of their descendants (1000 AD), they had long mustaches and a trim beard. This method of combing hair was very convenient for wearing a helmet.
As confirmed by the numerous archaeological excavations, the Vikings wore clothes made of very rich fabrics. They had many ornaments and weapons that demonstrated their wealth (of silver and other metals, which were very expensive things).
Chronic Joannis Wallingford (Chronicle of John of Wallingford from 449 to 1036)
“The Danes, who comb their hair every day, bathe on Saturdays, dress in colorful clothes, and are hung with jewelry, managed to charm even respected and, even worse, married European women. They somehow persuaded the daughters of the nobility to become their concubines or lovers!”
The Vikings lightened their hair but also maintained hygiene. They wore rich clothes and washed them constantly. They cared for themselves, cut their nails, combed their hair, and cared for their appearance.
However, to European church leaders, Viking self-care rituals were scandalous. Frequent bathing and caring for one's appearance were perceived as vicious habits contrary to Christian norms. For example, the Saga of the Orkneymen (between 1192 and 1206) tells the story of the wife of one of the Earls of Orkney, who escaped from her husband at night on a drakkar with a Norman.
Codex Regius Grágás (1117-1118, Iceland): If a man wore a shirt with a large (feminine) cutout on his chest, his wife had every right to ask for a divorce.
The Last Journey of a Viking
"…that all the dead should be burned at the stake along with their property. He said that everyone should come to Valhalla with the goods with him at the stake and use what he himself buried in the ground. The ashes must be thrown into the sea or buried in the ground, and a mound must be built in memory of noble people. A tombstone must be placed for all (other) people. … People believed then that the higher the smoke from a funeral pyre rises into the air, the higher in the sky the one who is burned will be. The richer he will be there, the more goods burned with him.
— The Saga of the Ynglings, Earthly Circle.
Archaeologists often find rich buried treasures along Russia's trade routes. Many wonder why those who hid these treasures, even with large sums, did not come back to retrieve them. The saga I mentioned above seems to explain everything: not only could these be gifts to the gods to ensure a good journey and return, but it is also written there that the deceased can use in the afterlife “what he himself buried in the ground.”
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