My first encounter with what I now consider the archetypal Northern man was on a trip to the cinema with my family when I was about five years old. The stars were Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis. The film was The Vikings of course and the story although fictitious depicted invasion by Viking long boats on the shores of Britain.
The story was filled with gore, sword wielding hunks and helpless Anglo-Saxon inhabitants. The musical score embedded itself in my musical heritage and drifts into my thoughts whenever I think about Vikings. They were Ragnar, Einar, Erik and Sven. Scarred and strong, clad in leather and metal, they were the stuff of a young girl's dreams. That prototype wouldn't be surpassed until Russell Crowe stole my heart as he hit the big screen as Gladiator Maximus. Life would never be the same again. If you happen to know him, please give him my number.
History lessons told us that the Vikings were seafaring warriors who came here to pillage our land but that is not really true. They were mainly traders, skilled metal workers and farmers, They came here to settle, possibly even to escape the colder climes of the far north and many integrated with existing communities.
It was well known that when trading with other nations, they often embraced the religion of that place, sometimes producing amulets depicting both Thor's hammer and the Christian cross. Eventually some who settled in Britain abandoned the traditional Viking funeral, set adrift at sea on a burning vessel, in favour of burial in a churchyard. The initial attack on Lindisfarne however was a massacre. The Monastery was destroyed and all monks living on the island were massacred. Seems to have been a clash of paganism and Christianity.
Northern Man in a Nutshell
Raping and pillaging
strapping invaders
sailed in on longboats
blowing their horns.
Leather and metal
falcons and flagons
forging fine jewels
from silver and gold.
Pagan they came here
hearing the stories
of a god more forgiving
than those of their own
slowly embracing
Christian community
wedding the Saxon
farming and fathering
sowing the seeds
of ancestral thrones
here in the soil
of an alien land.
Thanks for reading. Adele
4 comments:
I cannot claim any nostalgia for The Vikings as I've never seen the movie; however I do have real Norse blood in my veins and a lockdown mane worthy of the name (at least until next week). My understanding of Norse communities was that when the 'king' died, his eldest son would inherit the land and if there were other sons they would effectively banish themselves by going to seek alternative territory - often by conquest - in the best traditions of the animal world. I really liked the strong rhythm of your poem Adele, and its use of striking, alliterative language. Russell Crowe's number? No chance ;-D
"We are the Nords and we come from the Fjords!" or is that too articulate? An enjoyable post and poem.
They made us what we are.
I liked your poem. It's an interesting theory that they found England more to their liking than their Viking homeland for religious reasons as much as anything.
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