The Viking age was one of the most expansive and innovative eras in the history of the Nordic countries. Pillaging and warfare led the Vikings all the way to America, Russia, Turkey, Spain and Africa, virtually every corner of Europe and even a bit further. Viking ships attacked almost every shore in the Western world during the 350 years that followed the introduction of the sail into the region, shortly after 700 AD. The Baltic countries were the first to face the Vikings. At the end of the 8th century the number of attacks in France and Ireland increased massively, and at the beginning of the 9th century it was England’s turn. Soon, Viking onslaughts became as common and predictable as the seasons to a lot of the population of Europe.
Viking society was militarized and this meant that no distinction was made between civilians and soldiers. The leader of society was also the military leader, and all free men had the right to carry weapons, and they needed to know how to use them. Back then, dying in battle was a natural end for a man capable of bearing arms.
In Viking times society consisted largely of peasants dominated by an “aristocratic” upper class of warriors. Thus the warrior values and norms were dominant. It was each man’s duty to take care of his own rights and property. Breaking promises and ruining one’s posthumous reputation was considered worse than death itself. These tough moral norms were based on the duties held towards one’s leaders, friends, family and kin, and on the well-developed fatalism. The fatalism in Norse mythology promoted the belief that the individual’s fate was preordained already at birth. In the Edda poem Voluspå we hear about the three Norns – Urd, Verdandi and Skuld – who are sitting at the root of the world tree Yggdrasil weaving a web from the human threads of fate. The threads they use are the fabric of life itself, and they weave in everything that will happen. Nobody has the power to change what is woven into the tapestry of the Norns – not even the Gods could control them. This fatalism may have lent some meaning to otherwise apparently meaningless deaths. The idea that the result of a battle was outside one’s control must also have provided the Vikings with a psychological advantage, whenever they were faced with an enemy who did not share their view of life and death.
“Odin owns you all” – Before entering battle the battlefield was dedicated to Odin with this conjuration. The outcome had been determined beforehand. The most important thing for a warrior’s posthumous reputation was therefore not necessarily victory or defeat, but how one behaved when the end came. A part of warrior culture was the scald’s songs of praise for the few who fulfilled the ideals, as well as their scorn of those who couldn’t cut it: It was better to die than grow old without honour. The leader had to be generous towards friends and ruthless with enemies. Access to beautiful weapons, big ships, grand clothes and jewellery made from silver and gold all provided proof that you were achieving the ideal.
The Viking warriors were probably very keen to look good. Archaeological discoveries of tweezers, combs, nail cleaners, ear spoons, and toothpicks underline this view. When the Arab traveller Ibrahim ibn Ahmed al – Tartushi visited Hedeby in Denmark around 1000 AD, he observed that both men and women in the city used makeup that made them “look and feel younger and prettier”. From skaldic poems, and especially the Edda poem Rigstula, we know that a well-groomed appearance was the ideal for a man and a warrior. His hair and beard were to be kept. Having a beard seems almost to have been a sign of manhood. Moustaches were often long as the name Tjuguskjegg (Forkbeard) suggest. Today it is a common notion that the Vikings also decorated their bodies with tattoos and pictograms. In fact we know of only one example of this. It is the Arab traveller Ibn Fadlan who in about 920 AD stated that the Vikings were tattooed (or painted) with dark green trees and pictures from the nail root of the fingers to the neck. In addition, there is a verse from the Edda poem Sigerdrivamål explaining that you should carve (risti) runes in your palm if you want help from mystic powers during childbirth. Maybe tattoos were part of some cultic rites in the Viking time? Another possibility is that this form of body art was also seen as decoration and fashion.
As early as the late 700s the Vikings were trendsetters for fashion. The court in Northumbria was criticized by the church scholar Alkuin of York for its tendency to mimic the Scandinavian hair and clothing fashions. In another English anonymous letter a man exhorts his brother to follow the Anglo-Saxon tradition and not indulge in “Danish fashion with shaved neck and blind eyes.” Blind eyes are most likely long fringe. But long hair was also the fashion in some communities. Among the Germanic peoples, for example, there was a notion that long hair symbolized male virility and dominion. In another written source from the 1100s, John of Wallingford call Vikings “manicured heartbreakers.” He notes that the Vikings, thanks to their habit of combing their hair every day, bathing every Saturday and by regularly changing clothes, was able to ” undermine married women’s virtue,” and even to “seduce the daughters of noblemen to become their mistresses.” Several Arab sources also mention that the Vikings had a habit of washing and that they had pretty clothes. Ibn Fadlan describes the Vikings as “tall as date palms, blond and ruddy,” and he says that they washed each morning from the same bowl. The chief washed first. He slicked his hair, blew his nose and spit in the tub, before it was brought on to the next guy who did the same, and so on. For an Arab this was considered filthy, but compared to the continental Europeans, this was cleanliness itself.
In addition, the Vikings seem to have been keen to wear jewellery that would highlight their status, wealth and fashion consciousness. The Arab Ibn Rustah says that Viking men wore bracelets of gold.
It seems that cleanliness and the use of jewellery, makeup and fashionable clothes were an integral part of the Viking warrior’s life.
*All photographs are credited to Espen Winther*
Kim Hjardar, along with Vegard Vike, is the author of the forthcoming Vikings at War book, published by Casemate in September 2016. This award-winning book, currently in its fourth print run in Norway, is one of the most comprehensive books on the Viking art of war ever to be published.
Kim Hjardar holds a MPhil in Nordic Viking and Medieval Culture from the University of Oslo and works as a lecturer in history at St Hallvard College. He has been involved in Viking and Medieval studies for more than fifteen years, both as a professional and through living history re-enactment. He is head of Norway’s biggest and oldest Viking re-enactment association.
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