1. "The Vikings practiced pillage as the only way of life or livelihood".
One of the most popular images we have of the Vikings is being looters and raiders whose main occupation was practicing raids wherever they went, stealing, raping, looting and burning all that was left in its wake. Yet again we are facing a myth historically refuted.
It is important to realize that our written records of the Viking Age are typically dated from 200 to 300 years after the events described. Until recently, almost all we had to know about the Vikings were chronicles written by those contemporaries who suffered Viking attacks, such as Christian chronicles - as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - where obviously the only image we have about the Vikings is as looters, since it is probably the only one that they saw or wanted to see those who were attacked by them.
However, today we know that the Vikings rather than looters and raiders were mainly farmers and traders who spent most of the year taking care of their farms and lands and traveling to trade their products. They would have their expeditions - generally small - mainly in summer if they could afford it and, it seems, as an alternative method to get riches quickly. In fact, many inhabitants of the Vikings territories during the Viking Age, probably never went to an expedition.
2. "The Vikings were a barbaric, savage and illiterate society of rapists".
Again, this myth was a result of the only sources we had about the Vikings, until recently, and they were essentially a negative opinion. This image that has come to us is a "dirty", "ragged", "savage" and "rough" Vikings.
However, we know some things that demolish this myth; According to the Chronica by John Wallingford, "thanks to their habit of grooming the hair every day, bathing every Saturday and change clothes regularly, are capable of undermining the virtue of married women and even seduce the daughters of our noble to transform them into their beloved".
We are talking about a time when hygiene was stigmatized by Christianity as something "sensual" and "pagan". Vikings were a society with a hygiene concept pretty "modern", they washed daily, every Saturday bathed (in contrast to their Christian contemporaries who bathed and changed his clothes, at most, twice a year: one in the fall and one in spring, coinciding with the arrival of cold or heat, time to change their clothes by a cooler or warmer ones), did laundry and changed their clothes regularly and had impressive objects of care hygiene. Something that Christians didn't until many centuries later.
In addition, the Vikings took care their physical appearance, both in their hair and their ways of clothing that became substantially refined. We know they liked the decorations, beads, jewelry carved with great detail and meticulous decorative elements. We know they liked the clothes of rich fabrics like silk - that brought through trade to places as far away as Byzantium and Baghdad - and bright and cheerful colors like red or blue that decorated with rich embroidery performed themselves with colored threads.
And not just in appearance is the issue, the office of skald (poet), was one of the most valued among the Vikings, who were considered socially at the height of the nobles. The Vikings not only enjoyed the material art, but they were a society fascinated by knowledge - in this case of oral tradition - which greatly enjoyed poetry, art in reaching unsuspected levels of refinement for the period from which we are talking about. Poetry, mythology and knowledge were absolutely important for the Vikings, do not forget that their chief god, Odin, not only was considered the god of victory or war, but also the god of wisdom who didn't hesitate to offer his eye on the Well of Mimir for gaining wisdom and knowledge.
About raping, there is not one single contemporary source even accusing the Vikings of raping anybody. Where comes from such reputation? About one century after the Viking Age, monks started for the first time to accuse the Vikings of rape. In other words: about 100 years after the Viking Age had ended. In fact, the raping of a free woman was one of the few reasons on which the Vikings and their assembly government applied the death penalty ("human sacrifice"). Of course, we are not saying that rape didn't happen, as it has happened in all societies of history, but to blame an entire society of it is fallacious.
All this leads us to the topic of treatment of women during Viking Age. Viking women, as any other European women, were the transmitters of culture and knowledge of their society and they leaded home affairs. A viking woman had her dowry freely available and could apply for divorce when she believed appropriate. Viking women were not owned by anyone and they had a voice to freely say what they believed opportune and to make decisions. Viking woman was an essential part of society. This is very different to what happened in Christian society, where women were perceived as a source of sin and evil. According to Christianity, every person was born guilty of original sin because Eve tempted Adam in the story of the Garden of Eden from the Bereshit בְּרֵאשִׁית (Genesis) book. Eve, therefore, was responsible for the inherent sinfulness of mankind and the sufferings of the human race. During the Middle Ages, the Church used the Latin term maleficae (malignant) to name the "witches" i.e. those who preserved the pre-Christian traditions from prehistoric origins, in order to demonize and accuse the pagans of practicing the "worship to Devil". These ancient traditions, as it has been said, were generally transmited by women and that's why the term "witch" is usually more applied to a female figure than a masculine.
3. "Norse paganism approved homosexuality".
This myth comes specially from Christians who call themselves as "nationalists" taking the post-Viking age Christian writers as sources, but contrary to their fantasies, homosexuality did not have a good reputation during the Viking age as portrayed by the Christian writers. It is fair to say that Christian extremism and paranoia wanted to see perversions in almost any action did by pre-Christian cultures, similarly to what happened next with homosexual authors distorting European mythology, specially Greek mythology.
One of the most popular images we have of the Vikings is being looters and raiders whose main occupation was practicing raids wherever they went, stealing, raping, looting and burning all that was left in its wake. Yet again we are facing a myth historically refuted.
It is important to realize that our written records of the Viking Age are typically dated from 200 to 300 years after the events described. Until recently, almost all we had to know about the Vikings were chronicles written by those contemporaries who suffered Viking attacks, such as Christian chronicles - as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - where obviously the only image we have about the Vikings is as looters, since it is probably the only one that they saw or wanted to see those who were attacked by them.
However, today we know that the Vikings rather than looters and raiders were mainly farmers and traders who spent most of the year taking care of their farms and lands and traveling to trade their products. They would have their expeditions - generally small - mainly in summer if they could afford it and, it seems, as an alternative method to get riches quickly. In fact, many inhabitants of the Vikings territories during the Viking Age, probably never went to an expedition.
2. "The Vikings were a barbaric, savage and illiterate society of rapists".
Again, this myth was a result of the only sources we had about the Vikings, until recently, and they were essentially a negative opinion. This image that has come to us is a "dirty", "ragged", "savage" and "rough" Vikings.
However, we know some things that demolish this myth; According to the Chronica by John Wallingford, "thanks to their habit of grooming the hair every day, bathing every Saturday and change clothes regularly, are capable of undermining the virtue of married women and even seduce the daughters of our noble to transform them into their beloved".
We are talking about a time when hygiene was stigmatized by Christianity as something "sensual" and "pagan". Vikings were a society with a hygiene concept pretty "modern", they washed daily, every Saturday bathed (in contrast to their Christian contemporaries who bathed and changed his clothes, at most, twice a year: one in the fall and one in spring, coinciding with the arrival of cold or heat, time to change their clothes by a cooler or warmer ones), did laundry and changed their clothes regularly and had impressive objects of care hygiene. Something that Christians didn't until many centuries later.
In addition, the Vikings took care their physical appearance, both in their hair and their ways of clothing that became substantially refined. We know they liked the decorations, beads, jewelry carved with great detail and meticulous decorative elements. We know they liked the clothes of rich fabrics like silk - that brought through trade to places as far away as Byzantium and Baghdad - and bright and cheerful colors like red or blue that decorated with rich embroidery performed themselves with colored threads.
And not just in appearance is the issue, the office of skald (poet), was one of the most valued among the Vikings, who were considered socially at the height of the nobles. The Vikings not only enjoyed the material art, but they were a society fascinated by knowledge - in this case of oral tradition - which greatly enjoyed poetry, art in reaching unsuspected levels of refinement for the period from which we are talking about. Poetry, mythology and knowledge were absolutely important for the Vikings, do not forget that their chief god, Odin, not only was considered the god of victory or war, but also the god of wisdom who didn't hesitate to offer his eye on the Well of Mimir for gaining wisdom and knowledge.
About raping, there is not one single contemporary source even accusing the Vikings of raping anybody. Where comes from such reputation? About one century after the Viking Age, monks started for the first time to accuse the Vikings of rape. In other words: about 100 years after the Viking Age had ended. In fact, the raping of a free woman was one of the few reasons on which the Vikings and their assembly government applied the death penalty ("human sacrifice"). Of course, we are not saying that rape didn't happen, as it has happened in all societies of history, but to blame an entire society of it is fallacious.
All this leads us to the topic of treatment of women during Viking Age. Viking women, as any other European women, were the transmitters of culture and knowledge of their society and they leaded home affairs. A viking woman had her dowry freely available and could apply for divorce when she believed appropriate. Viking women were not owned by anyone and they had a voice to freely say what they believed opportune and to make decisions. Viking woman was an essential part of society. This is very different to what happened in Christian society, where women were perceived as a source of sin and evil. According to Christianity, every person was born guilty of original sin because Eve tempted Adam in the story of the Garden of Eden from the Bereshit בְּרֵאשִׁית (Genesis) book. Eve, therefore, was responsible for the inherent sinfulness of mankind and the sufferings of the human race. During the Middle Ages, the Church used the Latin term maleficae (malignant) to name the "witches" i.e. those who preserved the pre-Christian traditions from prehistoric origins, in order to demonize and accuse the pagans of practicing the "worship to Devil". These ancient traditions, as it has been said, were generally transmited by women and that's why the term "witch" is usually more applied to a female figure than a masculine.
3. "Norse paganism approved homosexuality".
This myth comes specially from Christians who call themselves as "nationalists" taking the post-Viking age Christian writers as sources, but contrary to their fantasies, homosexuality did not have a good reputation during the Viking age as portrayed by the Christian writers. It is fair to say that Christian extremism and paranoia wanted to see perversions in almost any action did by pre-Christian cultures, similarly to what happened next with homosexual authors distorting European mythology, specially Greek mythology.
In ancient Norse sagas Loki (a dark entity, who did not receive any kind of worship, related to chaos, fraud and deceit in Norse Mythology) accused Odin of being effeminate in Lokasenna, for practicing seiðr magic, which was seen as a feminine magic. But since Odin is the most important of all Gods, he is indeed above such laws. The fact that Loki insults Odin calling him homosexual, and Odin immediately replied angrily, shows that the Pagan Norse did not approve homosexuality, and many of modern pagans hold to this idea. The effeminate in ancient Nordic cultures was called ergi, and it was a pejorative term.
This is shown in the laws against offenses and insults. For example in the legal code Grágás it says:
There are three major terms when someone calls effeminate that lead to a lawsuit if this is said to a man, or if it is sexually used by another man, then the injured party can sue for terms of abuse, and even has the ability to retaliate in combat these words used against him.It also mentions that those trying to avoid marriage were penalized by law. A man who refused marriage was called fuðflogi (lit. man who flees the female sex organ) while a woman avoid marriage was flannfluga (lit. she who flees the male sex organ).
The Old Norse word used in the law code and literature for an insult was níð, which may be defined as "libel, insult, scorn, lawlessness, cowardice, sexual perversion, homosexuality". From níð are derived such words as níðvisur ("insulting verses"), níðskald ("insult-poet"), níðingr ("coward, outlaw"), griðníðingr ("truce-breaker"), níðstông ("scorn-pole"), also níða ("to perform níð poetry"), tunguníð ("verbal níð"), tréníð ("timber níð", carved or sculpted representations of men involved in a homosexual act, related to niíðstông, above). Níð was part of a family of concepts which all have connotations of passive male homosexuality, such as: ergi or regi (nouns) and argr or ragr (the adjective form of ergi) ("willing or inclined to play or interested in playing the female part in sexual relations with another man, unmanly, effeminate, cowardly"); ergjask ("to become argr"); rassragr ("arse-ragr"); stroðinn and sorðinn ("sexually used by a man") and sansorðinn ("demonstrably sexually used by another man"). A man who is a seiðmaðr (one who practices women's magic) who is argr is called seiðskratti.
The case of the "goldgubber" plaques.
There is a pseudo-scientific text circulating Internet claiming that there are archaeological "proofs" of vikings approving "homosexual marriages":
"A provoking bit of information is provided in the art-historical evidence as well. There exist a good number of small gold foil plaques known as goldgubber which depict a couple embracing. Frequently these are assumed to be Freyr, god of fertility, and Gerð, the beautiful giant maiden, and many commentators such as Hilda Ellis-Davidson believe that they may have been used at weddings.(Ellis-Davidson, Myths and Symbols, pp. 31-31 and p. 121). However, if one looks closely, at least two of the surviving goldgubber depict same sex couples embracing, one two bearded figures, another two women with the typical long, knotted hair, large breasts, and trailing dresses! Since these plaques in general are associated with weddings and sexual union, it is tempting to assume that these two same sex examples represent and/or commemorate homosexual relationships. Of course, the plaques in question could simply depict two friends embracing. Another possible explanation is that, in many cultures, people do not dance with the opposite sex, only with members of their own gender, and that therefore these figures may be representations of dancers."
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Two gullgubber plaques presented as an allegedly "proof of gay marriage" among vikings.
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Gullgubber are art-objects, amulets, or offerings found in Scandinavia and dating to the Nordic Iron Age. They consist of thin pieces of beaten gold (occasionally silver), usually between 1 and 2 sq. cm. in size, usually stamped with a motif, and are the oldest examples of toreutics in Northern Europe.
Approximately 3,000 gullgubber have been found, from approximately 30 sites in Norway, Sweden, and the greatest number in Denmark. No fewer than 2,350 were found at the settlement of Sorte Muld on the Danish island of Bornholm, while over 100 were found at Lundeborg, near Gudme on the Danish island of Funen, and 122 at Uppåkra, Scania, Sweden. Relatively few gullgubber have so far been found in Norway.
Many of the gullgubber that have been found in Norway and Sweden depict a man and a woman facing each other, sometimes embracing, sometimes with a branch or a tree visible between them. Sometimes the figures' knees are bent and they may be dancing. Some have only a single figure, either male or female, or an animal. A few are unstamped cutouts. Sharon Ratke, in her dissertation on the gullgubber, has added a further category of "wraiths" and suggests that they may indicate that some gullgubber were a tribute to the dead or to travellers. She rejects the notion of dancing, interpreting those figures as static and classing them among the wraiths. Recent attempts have been made to interpret the gestures of the couples depicted on gullgubber in terms of christian-medieval sources such as the Sachsenspiegel, as denoting "betrothal" or "marriage".
However, almost 2,500 of the 3000 (That is 78-83%) have been found at Sorte Muld, on the Danish island of Bornholm, by far the highest number at any site. The second highest number, were found not far away at Uppåkra, Scania, Sweden. At both Uppåkra and Sorte Muld, the majority of the gullgubber do not depict couples. At Uppåkra, most depict men, a smaller number depict women, and only a few depict couples.
Therefore and first of all, it is highly questionable to pretend that these objects are mostly associated with "weddings" or "sexual unions". Secondly, of the 3000 gullgubber found, only two of them depict same sex couples, that is, only 0.06%. So, why to interpret these objects as part of such a minority phenomenon as homosexualism rather than as part of a truly widespread and accepted phenomenon as friendship? That's because the interpretations of these people are biased by their own preconceptions and by their twisted and sick minds. Pretendig this as a "proof" of "widespread acceptance of homosexualism among vikings", implies a lack of intellectual honesty and it reflects that these conclusions are politically motivated.
