Norsemen, Danes, Swedes
The Viking expeditions are grand. They include all of Europe, to the east along the large river-roads through Russia, to the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, to the west along the Atlantic coasts down past Arab Spain through the strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean. But they also include the wild unknown North Atlantic with the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland, even America.
The three Scandinavian countries had each their own geographic profile externally, and their own political interests. The names
Sverige, Norge and
Danmark show that each country had memories of old historic life. The name
Sverige (Svearike) is the
rige of the Swedes, a
rige meant in that period a land where a king was the ruler (= English: a kingdom). It is not a coincidence that the name of the land of the Swedes pointed to the authority and power of a king. The Swedish kingdom existed long before the Viking-period.
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| map from 1539 with Danevirke |
Danmark means the
mark (land/field) of the Danes. The old meaning of the name
"marc" = uninhabited borderland.The
Mark must in this connection be the land at the south of Jutland's foot, the wild land south of Danevirke, which divided the Danes from the Saxons to the southwest and from the Slavic people to the southeast.The name
Danernes mark = Danmark was gradually used in general already before year 900. The Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great wrote
Denemearcan in his foreword to Orosius' world history, and this is the first time the name
Danmark is mentioned in the world literature.
The name
Norge has an old root, but in a different way from the Danish and Swedish.
Norge was also a collected kingdom under Harald Fairhair, but much later than what happened similarly in Denmark and Sweden. The name
Norge has a commercial historical meaning. It means
"den nordlige vej" (the northern road) or
Nordvejen ( the Northroad), an appellation of commercial historical origin. This road was the trade route along the long, long coast of Norway, from south to north and back, a route which is described in the before mentioned king Alfred's document from the late 900s. It was a sea route from the trade center
Skiringstal at the Oslofjord, via the seas of Kattegat, Skagerak and the North Sea up to the White Sea, where they fetched sealskin, polarbear skin and walrus-tooth.
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| Sea Stallion model of Viking ship on its first voyage Denmark-Ireland. |
The face of Norway turned west, towards the great oceans and their islands. It was mostly the Norsemen, who before and during the Viking period braved the immense, icegrey, stormy North Atlantic - and they started their voyage with no knowledge of, what they might meet or find. The Norwegian interest was split in two, the first one expeditons/raids to the southern, starting by a north-Scottish island, which was inhabited by Norsemen at the very first beginning of the Viking period; from here to the coast of Scotland, to Ireland, to the Isle of Man, to all Irish and English coasts around the Irish Sea - from here the Norse expeditions went deep into England from northwest, where they were fighting and competing with the Danes, but the Norse went still farther away, to the northern and southern France and into the Mediterranean - the French part of the expeditions is the same for Norsemen and Danes. The Norsemen's second interest, the northern expeditions went to the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. These expeditions were probably due to the pressure, which king Harald Fairhair put on the Norse earls and free farmers, when he roughly forced them to accept Norway under one Crown in the end of the 9th century. These later Norwegian expeditions across the Atlantic were not raids or piracy, they were more colonization of desolate areas.
Sweden looked to the east. The Swedish expansion had started already in the 8th century (across the Baltic Sea). The mighty Swedish trade developed and branched in a grand manner southwards through Russia to the southern states. The Baltic Sea was considered common area for Swedes and Danes.
Thousand years ago the Viking Ingvar Vidfarne went towards the east. In 2004 a Swedish expedition revived his tour from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, a a wearing tour across sea, mountains and along tortuous roads. The magazine Illustreret Videnskab was onboard on the almost ten meter long Himingläva.
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| The Fyrkat house, copy of Viking stone (London stone) |
And south of the Scandinavian peninsula was Denmark with lots of islands and the peninsula Jutland, the main land. Jutland had its foot upon the Central European continent, but this did not mean a connection between Denmark and the countries south of the border. On the contrary was Jutland and thereby Denmark withdrawn from their southern neighbours, the German Saxons to the southwest and the Slavic Obodrits and Wends to the southeast. The Vikings preferred to use the water routes on the sea and the rivers. The Danish interest went therefore not directly to the south, but to the southwest along the Frisian and Frankish coast and towards west to England. To the east was the western part of the Baltic Sea. To the southwest were all the coasts and rivers of the northern France deep into the Danish field - but the Danes did not stop here - they went farther away and came to the Mediterranean together with Norsemen and Swedes.
Sea Stallion Vikingship Museum Roskilde
Source: Johannes Brøndsted, Vikingerne,1960; Illustreret videnskab, 2004.
photo: grethe bachmann
The summer country is lovely - fortunately there are still lots of places to enjoy. I know so many places by heart, especially in Jutland, but something has changed. And it has changed radically. I saw the beginning of the change last year and the year before, but this year it is more striking. The fallow-fields are hastily disappearing; the land has been ploughed up.
A small lake lies downside a church hill with an old stone dike. This is a place where you can find plants which has grown here since centuries ago - living relicts from the past. There's a rattle in the rush, two ducks fly across and over in a corner. That's odd. Ducks are usually not shy to people, but they have possibly a nest nearby. They do not live in the duck house in the middle of the lake. No matter how many duck-houses people put up in village ponds and small local lakes the ducks are not interested. Wrong architects maybe?
The lake is divided in two parts, and the second part is a little larger with some cosy village houses along the edge. One of the houses is charming with a vigorous lilac leaning up the wall and the thatched roof. In the garden by the country road is a beautiful elm tree. An elm with fruits wakes up some memories from my childhood. Yes, just laugh! I'm growing old, thinking about my childhood!! Did you ever eat those elm-fruits called manna? We did. In the park at home was an old elm tree. I don't think we children had too little food at home. Maybe we needed some vitamins from the manna? And it tasted good as far as I remember! And when you walk by the lake there is often a small boat hiding among the rush, this one is apparently well cared for with paint, but when is it used? Waiting for a complete angler who's out in the early morning or the late evening, for fishing trouts - or pikes. The pike is a dangerous fish for the little ducklings. The ducks live fortunately in the small lake with no pikes.
