March 13, 1997
For hundreds of years, stories about the Scandinavian Vikings have been passed down through generations. They now exist in the form of Sagas, fairy tales, fictions, movies and much more. In each one of these stories, we are likely to see a unique and different perspective of the Vikings. Some will say that they were barbarians that spent their lives raiding and pillaging and others will say that they were farmers and explorers who worked hard at keeping the peace amongst their people. Not only will we see these differences written in different forms of literature, but we will also see them within different forms of the same type of writing. We see an example of that in Njal's Saga and The Saga of the Jomsvikings which are two Sagas that express very different views of the Vikings and their culture. Njal's Saga portrays the Vikings as farmers and explorers that attempt to live life peacefully whereas The Saga of the Jomsvikings describes them to be a lot like violent barbarians.
Violence is a very broad term that can be used to describe situations in both Njal's Saga and The Saga of the Jomsvikings , but in very different ways. When one compares these two Sagas, one will notice that there is a good amount of violence portrayed in both, but on very different levels and, most importantly, for very different reasons. The Vikings that we are introduced to in Njal's Saga are a people that always have a purpose for their behavior. We never see them take any violent action without good reason. In addition, when we do see them fight, we notice that, with only a few rare exceptions, the fighting always takes place in an open field or by the river where the stakes are even. Neither side has any advantages. The Jomsvikings, on the other hand, are known for sneaking up on their victims and taking them by surprise.
Njal's Saga, although it portrays the Vikings as peaceful farmers and explorers, has it's share violence that erupts amongst the people. However, it is very rare that we see this commotion take place without good reason. The Vikings in this saga do not kill, just to kill. They will fight to defend their honor or the honor of a family member, or they will fight to avenge the murder of a family member. For instance, the on going feud occurred between Njal and Gunnar's wives started when Hallgerd said to Bergthora, "... you have turtle-back nails on every finger, and Njal is beardless" (Njal's 98). The insults continued for a while and Bergthora then had one of Hallgerd's men killed to defend her husbands honor as well as her own.
The saga also contains characters such as Mord Valgardsson who is a villain that encourages violence to occur amongst the Vikings. Mord is a man "generated by self-aggrandizement, by attempt to gain power and wealth" (Njal's 26), who turns the Njalssons against their foster brother, Hoskuld Hvitaness-Priest. He convinces the brothers that if they don't act soon and kill Hoskuld, then it will be too late, for Hoskuld will kill them first. But, as stated by the translator, Magnus Magnusson, "throughout the saga good' men and worthy' men try hard to settle disputes peacefully, to find solutions that satisfy the honour' of all concerned..." (Njal's 27). So, although violence did arise, the Vikings in Njal's Saga attempted to live quiet and peaceful lives.
In The Saga of the Jomsvikings, violence is expressed in very different terms. The characters in this saga thrive on little, other than killing and raiding as many towns and villages as they can get their hands on. Vagn Akason is one of the most ruthless Vikings that we come across in this story who exemplifies the barbarous Viking we imagine as we read this saga. When Vagn was only twelve years old, he set out with two battle ships and a hundred and twenty men with whom "he sailed the whole length of Denmark, raiding the countryside ruthlessly, robbing arms and war gear, and did not stop before he had enough of both" (Jomsvikings 73). There was no need for this violence that Vagn expressed, but he was only one of the many that enjoyed these killing, raiding and robbing expeditions.
Not only do we see a difference in the reasons behind battles in the two sagas, but we also notice that the two cultures had very different tactics to their fighting; particularly in ship battles. In Njal's Saga, whenever two ships came in contact with one another and prepared to fight, there was always a choice. The offensive ship would offer the defending ship the opportunity to surrender, such as when the earl approached the Njalsson ship and "called out to them to surrender" (Njal's 194). If they chose not to surrender, then a battle was avoided, but if they chose to defend themselves, as the Njalssons did, then the fighting would begin.
In The Saga of the Jomsvikings these ship battles occur in a much more informal manner. When Earl Hakon spotted Bui's ships, "he rowed to the spot and attacked Bui, and there arose the fiercest fighting" (Jomsvikings 98). There was no warning and no words were exchanged between the two sides prior to the attack. This is another example of how barbaric the Vikings were made out to be in The Saga of the Jomsvikings compared to the more civil and peaceful Vikings that we encounter in Njal's Saga .
Aside from the differences that we see taking place during battles in these two sagas, we will also notice that daily life differs greatly. The Vikings in Njal's Saga had developed a parliamentary commonwealth which provided them with a set of laws that everyone in the land was required to follow. When murders and other crimes took place, these laws stated that compensation had to be awarded to the victims and/or their families. If compensations could not be agreed upon, then often times the victim and or a family member would charge the guilty party at the Law Rock during the annual Althing. We see this take place when Gunnar says to Geir, "I am going to charge you at the Law Rock with calling upon a jury to find in action outside their jurisdiction - the killing of Audolf; and on that charge I shall demand a sentence of three-year outlawry" (Njal's 138). We also notice that within this society, those people who are the "peacemakers" are the ones who are admired and respected. They are the people that others go to for advise and they are the ones that live to be old and well liked.
The Jomsvikings, on the other hand, live together in Jomsborg where they coexist as an all male society under the rule of one man. The ruling man within this society had the final say in all matters. When Vagn came to Jomsborg to ask to be allowed to enter the society, Palnatoki, who was the ruler at they time, asked the other Jomsvikings for advice. They all told him that they thought it would be unwise to admit Vagn into their society, but Vagn made a deal with Palnatoki and was, in the end, admitted into the Jomsvikings' society. In addition, they are allowed to go away for three days at a time to visit their families and then they must return back to Jomsborg. They are all required to go on raids, but they must bring all their stolen goods back with them and share them with the other Jomsvikings. Their social status within Jomsborg as well as the rest of society depends greatly on how much they can steal and how many people they can kill. When we take all of these comparisons into consideration, it is almost as if though Njal's Saga and The Saga of the Jomsvikings are talking about two totally different groups of people.
There is one possible explanation for why the lives of these Vikings were so different. Being that Iceland was a Parliamentary Commonwealth, everyone was provided for and a person could acquire wealth and land through marriage and inheritance. In Norway and Denmark, however, things weren't that simple. Both countries were ruled by absolute monarchs and if you couldn't obtain wealth and land through them, then you had to go out and fend for yourself. This could be one explanation as to why the Vikings went raiding and pillaging in the Baltic and the British Isles. It was the only way they knew to survive.
When we think of Vikings today, we often think of large, hairy men who wear horned helmets and carry their swords and shields with them at all times while they travel the world, pillaging and raiding anything that gets in their way. Where did we get this image from? Television, movies and cartoons is the most likely answer. Having read The Saga of the Jomsvikings, I can now understand where Hollywood got the idea for this imaginary Viking culture that they have created. They are a business that operate on peoples interests and imaginations, so they had to take all of the more "interesting" aspects of the unknown Viking culture and create one that is entertaining and exciting for the viewer to see. We are now beginning to understand more about the Viking culture, but as long as we, the viewers, continue to encourage the television industry to portray this false society as reality, those of us who do not read sagas and history will never know the truth about the Vikings.
The history of the Vikings is in no way the only example of distorted history. All history that wasn't witnessed on tape was told or written by someone that may have heard it from someone else or simply incorporated their own views into the story. As much as we all want to believe what television and books tell us, we have to remember to keep in mind how and where our source got their information from. The information that we have on the Vikings is a very good example. All the sagas that we have read were written over three hundred years after the events took place. There is no knowing how much the stories changed and what part of them changed. Not only were they written hundreds of years later, but the religion, which played a major part in peoples lives, had changed from Paganism to Christianity.
No matter how much we compare and argue about who the Vikings really were, we'll never really know. Each saga and story that we read and each movie and cartoon that we watch is going to give us a different perspective of this mysterious culture. It is doubtful that we will ever know much more than the fact that they traveled throughout Europe, discovered Iceland and Greenland and were possibly the first Europeans to travel to America.