Scandinavian history in the Viking age - Department of Anglo-Saxon ...

Scandinavian History in the Viking Age
From a Scandinavian viewpoint such common terminology is less easy to identify, but it is striking how
many mediaeval authors across the region termed their own speech the d²nsk tunga ‘Danish language’.
Even allowing for dialectal variation, language seems likely to have been the strongest single factor
which might have allowed for a common Scandinavian identity; see:
[C5] E. Haugen, The Scandinavian languages: an introduction to their history, The great languages
(1976) [UL 775.c.97.99]
[C6] M.P. Barnes, ‘How “common” was common Scandinavian?’, Germanic studies in honor of Anatoly
Liberman, edd. K.G. Goblirsch et al., NOWELE 31-32 (1997), 29-42
Perceptions of Scandinavia
Pre-Viking authors
The earliest written reports of Scandinavia come from the works of various Classical geographers (B25).
Although invaluable in their own way, these authors have (mis-)informed many current ideas of early
Scandinavian history, not least in terms of tribal groups.
[C10] Thule. Some of the earliest texts talk of a place called ‘Thule’ (in various spellings), and it is often
not easy to work out what part of Scandinavia (if any) they refer to; see the accounts of Pytheas reported
with details of the lifestyle of the inhabitants in Strabo’s Geography (B25a):II.5.8, IV.5.5, and by Pliny
in his Natural history (B25b):II.77, IV.16. The later identification with Iceland comes out from later
accounts by scholars such as Dicuil (B160) and Adam of Bremen (B73)
[C11] ‘Scandinavia’. Rather more cogent is the very brief account in Ptolemy’s Geography (B25c),
which isolates ‘Scandia’ as a cluster of islands east of the ‘Cimbric peninsula’, ie. Jutland. It has long
been recognised that this must refer to the province of Skåne in the south-western tip of modern Sweden
[C12] Tribal geography. Many of these authors make passing observations on the peoples of
Scandinavia and (sometimes) their customs. For example, in his History of the wars VI:15 Procopius
(B32) reports the wanderings of a tribe called the ‘Eruli’ through Scandinavia and gives a brief account
of the peoples living in Thule
[C13] These pre-Viking authors have been subjected to a series of studies by J. Svennung: Scadinavia
und Scandia: lateinisch-nordische Namenstudien, SKHVU 44:1 (1963) [UL 500:05.c.9.44] (E.s.);
Jordanes und Scandia: kritisch-exegetische Studien, SKHVU 44:2a (1967) [UL 500:05.c.9.44] (E.s.);
Skandinavien bei Plinius und Ptolemaios: kritisch-exegetische Forschungen zu den ältesten nordischen
Sprachdenkmälern, SKHVU 45 (1974) [UL 500:05.c.9.45] (E.s.)
Viking-age authors
The heavy reliance on older authorities in mediaeval geographical work means that the value of many
contemporary sources is often inhibited. Some excellent accounts of northern geography are provided by
some of the Arabic authors (B202 ff.), but they naturally tend to concentrate on eastern Europe. For
contemporary perceptions of the customs of the Vikings abroad, see (C1-2) and (B45).
[C15] Dicuil (B160) chapter 7 contains many interesting observations on the North Atlantic, most
notable for the fact that Irish hermits had already discovered Faroe and ‘Thule’ by 825
[C16] The Old English Orosius (B106) is particularly useful, in that it records descriptions of northern
European political geography by both Ohthere and the Old English author. See: A.S.C. Ross, The
‘Terfinnas’ and ‘Beormas’ of Ohthere, Leeds School of English Language and Literature texts and
monographs 7 (1940; repr. 1981) [UL 759.c.82.6; repr. 1990.8.1417]; O. Crumlin-Pedersen, ‘Ships,
navigation and routes in the reports of Ohthere and Wulfstan’, (B106a):30-42; M. Korhammer, ‘The
orientation system in the Old English Orosius: shifted or not?’, Learning and literature in Anglo-Saxon
England: studies presented to Peter Clemoes on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, edd. M. Lapidge
and H. Gneuss (1985), 251-69 [UL 541:14.c.95.79]
[C17] Adam of Bremen’s geographical description of Scandinavia in book IV of his Gesta (B73)
remains however the most essential account of the political geography of Viking-age Scandinavia. On the
routes described by Adam, see: O. Jørgensen and T. Nyberg, Sejlruter i Adam af Bremens danske
øverden, Arkiv 74 (1992) [Haddon]
[C18] Much debate has also turned on the word ‘viking’ and its etymology and appearance in non-
Scandinavian sources; see S. Hellberg, ‘Vikingatidens víkingar’, ANF 95 (1980), 25-88 and (C35 ff.)
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