SANDWICH
ART HISTORY
GRADE FIVE
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Lesson: Vikings
From about 800 AD to 1100 AD, Vikings were a dominant force. Known as travelers from Scandanavian regions, the Vikings were skilled at assimilating into the local population. Viking culture had a lasting impact on the art, technology, society, and trade of every population they encountered. While they often are viewed as barbarian raiders, they were primarily skilled traders and explorers who opened up a host of new trade routes and discovered a number of new lands during their brief, but significant, reign as a prominent empire of early Europe. They ventured as far as the Americas, Constantinople, and Kiev.
Codex Aureus, Stolkholm c.870 AD, page from Gospel book, 50.7 x 33.7 cm parchment. English. Royal Library, Sweden. Reproduction Print.
The Stockholm Codex Aureus (Stockholm, National Library of Sweden, MS A. 135) is an eighth-century Gospel book. This beautiful manuscript was probably made in Canterbury and would also have had a bejewelled bookbinding. The presence of a precious binding can be inferred from a note on the opening page that commemorates Wulfhelm, the goldsmith, Ceolheard, the jeweller, and someone named Ealhhun. It was nicknamed the ‘Golden Codex’ because the lavish use of gold-leaf for some of its initials. Its golden glory is best illustrated by the opening page of the Gospel of Matthew.
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The opening page of the Gospel of Matthew has more to offer than just its gold and decorated letters: a ninth-century note added in the upper and lower margin of the page relates the exciting history of this book. As it turns out, the Codex Aureus had once been stolen by Vikings and, as the note states, an Anglo-Saxon ealdorman and his wife had ransomed it from the heathen army: “In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I, ealdorman Alfred, and Werburg, my wife, obtained these books from the heathen arme with our pure money, that was with pure gold, and we did that for God’s love and for the sake of our souls. And because we did not wish that these holy books would remain long among the heathens, and now we want to give it to Christ’s church for God’s praise, honour and glory, and in gratitude of his passion and for the use of the religious community, who daily raises up God’s praise in Christ’s church, on the condition that they are read every month for Alfred and for Werburg and for Alhthryth, for the eternal salvation of their souls, for as long as God should grant that the faith is allowed to be in this place. Also likewise, I, ealdorman Alfred, and Werburg pray and ask in the God’s almighty name and those of all his saints that no man will be so bold as to deliver or separate these books from Christ’s church for as long as the faith is allowed to stand.”
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In return they would have expected the monks to pray for their souls.
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The first page of the Gospel of Matthew in medieval Gospel books was often highly decorated. There are at least 20 animals in the first line of the text. Even the letter X terminates in 2 animal heads.
Gokstad Ship, 9th century AD, Oslo, Norway , (excavated in 1880)
It was a clinker-built ship meaning that it was built so the planks overlap and are bound together at either end into a strake. The planks taper in cross-section to allow for overlap. These ships were designed to travel across the sea and into shallows with draughts as low as 20 inches. The ship was built for warfare and transport. The ship measures 78’ long by 16.5’wide and is mostly made of oak, although the mast and oars are pine.
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Queen Asa was the grandmother of King Harald Fairhair, who commissioned this ship.
A middle-aged male was buried with the ship but the grave was looted so there isn’t much known about him.
Oseberg Wagon, 9th century AD, Norwegian. Reproduction print.
The Vikings lived from circa 700-1100 AD. This is one of several forms of transportation found in the richest Viking burial from Norway, including a Viking ship. The burial was located about 40 miles south of Oslo on the banks of the Oslo Fjord. Two adult women were buried in a wooden tent structure inside the burial mound. One of the women was in her 80s when she died, the other in her 50s. One may have been Queen Asa. Textiles found near the skeletons suggest the women were dressed in red wool with strips of silk appliqued on her tunic.
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The wagon is intricately carved with scenes on all its sides. The back of the wagon features at least ten cats possibly relating it, and the people that traveled in it, to Freyja, the Goddess of fertility, love, beauty, gold, and death. Freyja herself had a cart pulled by two cats. Carts like this are also featured on the tapestry found in the Oseberg burial.
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Freyja had elaborate ceremonies because the growing season was so short and so important. These ceremonies included one in which a cart like this was wheeled from village to village collecting flowers and other offerings to accompany prayers for an abundant harvest.
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This is the only complete wheeled vehicle from the Viking era. It is thought that the wagon was not intended to travel long distances because of its solid wooden wheels. The wagon bed appears to be able to be lifted from the chassis. It may have served as a means for a person to board a ship without getting their feet wet or it may have been a burial cart.
Weathervane, 11th century, (adapted from prow ornament) gilt bronze, Swedish. Reproduction Photograph.
Before being used as a weathervane on a Swedish church, the gilt bronze standard flew at a Viking warship's prow.
Stone Memorial with Inscription, 11th century, Taby Uppland, Sweden. Reproduction Photograph.
Runes are the letters used to write the several Germanic alphabets before the adoption of the Latin alphabet. They were made for carving on wood, hence the characters are angular to make it easy to carve across the grain. On stones Runes were used primarily to mark graves or a person’s accomplishments. This stone from Busby, Taby, Uppland Sweden tells of a man called Osten who went to Jerusalem and died in Greece.