Did you know that the Vikings may be the victims of bad press? To be certain, they were brutal and intent on conquest and gathering wealth. But they were no better and no worse than any of the European armies that marched across the continent in those centuries. They were a product of their times.
They did not write about themselves and they didn’t have paper. Their history was oral and, while they were literate, their alphabet, the Futhark runic system, was carved into wood and stone. This method of writing wasn’t conducive to long works. They used it to inscribe rune stones with brief accounts of deeds and families, and to make short notes and messages.

The literati of the day were Christian monks and priests. European armies seldom if ever attacked monasteries and churches, but the Vikings did. So the priests wrote particularly vicious accounts of them, no doubt inflating the events, and there was no one to contradict these reports. European armies were more destructive and vengeful than the Vikings, who mainly wanted to collect treasure or tribute, and leave. If they had destroyed the places they raided and killed all the people, they couldn’t return the next year to get more gold and silver. And return they did, year after year. Eventually, the European cities paid them off to leave them in peace. This practice became so prevalent, it led to a collapse of the European economy.

What gave the Vikings their fearlessness in battle and in life itself? Next time, we’ll explore how their cultural beliefs influenced their battle-prowess.

Did you know that the Vikings’ cultural beliefs led to their fearlessness in war? For them, there were only two outcomes to a battle: they lived or they died. If they lived, they would go on to fight another day. If they died, they hoped to go to Valhalla where they would fight all day and feast all night until Ragnarok took even the gods themselves.

Things were much the same either way. Their future lay in the hands of the Norns, three goddesses who were similar to the Fates. At the birth of all people, the Norns decreed the moment of each person’s death. No one, not even the gods, could change it. So the outcome in battle was already decided. The Vikings figured they might as well put on a good show for the gods and earn their way into their presence in the afterlife.

All they could hope to leave behind were their good name and honor. To step one foot from battle was the mark of a nithingr, or coward. This would ruin their reputation and destroy their chances to reach Valhalla. Since death was already set, there was no reason to shrink back in a fight. It wouldn’t save them. So they plunged into battle with no fear and no hesitation, hoping to win the grace of the gods either here on Midgard or in Valhalla
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Next time: Why the Vikings didn’t have a religion as we know it.

Welcome to another installment of “Did You Know”, an series of short blogs about interesting and little known facts about the Vikings.

Did you know that the ancient Scandinavians didn’t have a religion as we would recognize it? They had an entire pantheon of gods, to be sure. But the people considered them to be more like temperamental and influential relatives or friends than supernatural beings to be worshipped. The gods and spirits surrounding them were an intimate part of their lives, existing in the land and weather.

The people didn’t worship the gods so much as they demanded, bartered, cajoled and stood eye to eye with them.Their beliefs were not connected with morals, and they had no real concept of good and evil as we know it. Offending the gods only lost their favor, but didn’t define a person’s fate in the afterlife. One could only catch the eye of the gods with bravery, word-fame, and honor, and thus earn their help. Even though the Scandinavians believed in an after life, they had no concept of the soul or eternity.

Each person chose the gods he followed. If one god didn’t do as one wished, one went to another. The responsibilities of each god were not well defined and could be regional. Social rank often decided which god one followed. For example, kings and warriors called on Odin, the common man chose Thor, and farmers followed Freyr.

Except perhaps in the larger temples like the one at Uppsala, Sweden, there were no priests. The local jarl performed many of the ceremonies and rituals.

They didn’t have a word for religion. The closest term they had was “sidr” or custom. As Christianity spread, it was called “nyr sedr”, the new custom. Their former beliefs became known as “forn sidr” or the ancient custom. The predilection for exchanging gods at a whim caused a problem for the spread of Christianity in Scandinavia. We have examples of amulets that are designed to be both the hammer of Thor and the Christian cross. It would seem that the habit of calling on different gods lingered on long after Christianity became established.