“THE FURY OF THE NORSEMEN” (COMMENT). Dick Weisfelder commented here on my post on new research which suggests that the Vikings were model immigrants to England who co-existed peacefully with the natives. Dick said that: “I suspect generalizations of this type. The itinerant Vikings who gave Russia its name and followed river systems all the way to Bzyantium were certainly not generally very nice.” Mary Jane referred in a comment on the same post to the “visceral meaning of the word Viking”, which evidently is not consistent with “friendly neighbor.” The Vikings had a fearsome reputation which was well-earned. Kenneth Clark began his great television series CIVILISATION by saying that he couldn’t define what civilization was, but he could recognize it. He then said that great works of ornamental art can be produced in barbarous societies. And, as he said that, a view of the menacing prow of a Viking war ship filled the screen. My Irish father used to tease my Danish mother every so often by saying “From the fury of the Northmen deliver us, O Lord!” (she would simply smile and let it pass). This wikipedia article says the phrase comes from a Latin prayer—” A furore normannorum libera nos domine (“From the fury of the Northmen deliver us, O Lord!”), doubtfully attributed to monks of the English monasteries plundered by Viking raids in the 8th and 9th centuries.”
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More and more I’m finding that English and Historical academics are simply squabbling over minutiae until the only conclusion one can draw is that nothing is correct. Or maybe those are just the bitter words of a second semester Senior.
Regardless, as with most theories in these subjects, I feel that no single one will do. Viking emigration and contact with other cultures is so vast, there are probably tons of examples of every type of cultural interaction.
As a descendant of this, I vacillate between boasting about how successful we were at terrorizing the European coasts and how civilized we were. I suppose I want everything both ways.
The too modest college senior has, in his second paragraph, gotten to the essence of the subject.
While academics take particular pleasure in challenging old orthodoxies, I’d add that the terrorizing struggle for tenure, promotion and raises has far more to due with many academic controversies than anyone likes to admit. Department chairs and deans often seem to look or act a lot like the stereotypical Vikings!
Did the Scots-Irish like to tease the Vikings? I bet THEY did “just smile.”
Correction of important typo: I bet THEY did NOT “just smile.”
Marion the Viking had two disarming weapons. One was her wonderful, mischievous smile. The other was her disapproving silence. She didn’t need to say anything.
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