Norse Mythology & Life 3 Old Norse Mytholog
Personal Display for Viking Age Personae: A Primer for Use in the SCA
Download 3.63 Mb.
|
Personal Display for Viking Age Personae: A Primer for Use in the SCAhttp://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/display.html © 1994, 1997, 2000 Carolyn Priest-Dorman Melding the desire for SCA-style heraldry with the aesthetics of a pre-heraldic persona can be a real challenge. Heraldry is at the core of many of our most meaningful activities, and it's no fun to be left out of the game! So what can a culturally secure Viking do to get in on the game? The short answer is, "not much." Let's face it: there simply is not a great deal of heraldic-style activity evident in Viking history. Heraldic historians say that this is because the concept and usages of Western heraldry, properly defined, are creations of the eleventh and succeeding centuries. So someone who wants to participate in heraldic activities while retaining a Viking Age persona will simply have to adjust his or her expectations to the historic realities of the Viking Age. However, some aspects of Viking Age culture can be adapted to SCA-style heraldry: the use of color schemes, the use of appropriate art styles for specific personas, and certain aspects of display styles. This article serves as an introduction to those usages. This article will not address the feasibility of registering any particular style of arms through the College of Arms. I cannot comment on that issue, since I am not now, nor have I ever been, a warranted herald! The Concept of the Personal Signifier Insofar as we understand it, the personal identifying symbol was not employed during the Viking expansion. Indeed, except perhaps for the use of runes, one can scarcely find a hint of it. Rather, the culture relied on oral cues rather than visual ones, and on a horizontal hierarchy of personal alliances rather than on a vertical hierarchy of overlordship or a system of totems. Who you were depended most on your own deeds and actions, your "wordfame," or personal myth. Personal status was further enhanced by richness of display through chattels such as jewelry, textiles, furs, and imported goods, as well as through elaborate carving on everyday objects. This Viking Age fondness for surrounding oneself with rich display is the hook upon which we can hang our SCA heraldic observances, while never quite toppling over into those Frenchified excesses to which our heirs will eventually become susceptible. Some of the post-Viking period Icelandic sagas mention Viking Age personalities carrying shields with attributed "arms"--really just sketchy descriptions of a figured shield (Heimskringla, Laxdaela Saga, Njal's Saga, and the Olaf Sagas; see Radford, pp. 24f). Additionally, from time to time mentions are made of variously colored shields. However, available archaeological information seems to belie some of the saga evidence. For example, shields in the sagas are sometimes said to incorporate points (Gisli's Saga, Laxdaela Saga; see Radford, p. 23), whereas all the archaeological examples of Viking Age shields are round. Further, many of the individuals chronicled in the sagas actually lived well after the Viking Age, such as King Magnus Barelegs, to whom is attributed a figured shield. Accordingly, if you don't discount the sagas as suspect history, you might want to consult them in order to locate these literary references. But always be careful to contextualize. According to saga literature, there was at least one exception to this rule: Sigurdr Hlodvisson the Stout, Jarl of the Orkneys. His story is in sections 11-12 of the Orkneyinga Saga as well as in Njal's Saga (section 157). He possessed a personal standard that he had borne before him in battles, a magical banner embroidered by his mother, a sorceress: "[I]t will bring victory to the man it's carried before, but death to the one who carries it." It was a finely made banner, very cleverly embroidered with the figure of a raven, and when the banner fluttered in the breeze, the raven seemed to be flying ahead. (Orkneyinga Saga, 11, page 37) Sigurdr lived in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries; he met his death at the Battle of Clontarf (1014), after he was forced to carry his own banner because no one else was willing to die for him. There is, of course, no way of knowing how true this story is, but it makes a rattling good song! Colors and Color Usage Here we are on firmer ground. There does seem to be some indication that color preferences were sometimes used as personal identifiers. The Gokstad burial ship was fitted with 64 shields painted solid black and solid yellow, displayed alternately (Brøgger and Shetelig, pp. 88- 89); there is corroborating saga evidence to support the idea of displaying shields in this fashion while in port. Accordingly, some version of the concept of "household colors" may have existed. Very little is known of the actual extent of Viking Age painting. Black, red, yellow, and brown comprise the majority of colors employed in extant Viking painted artifacts. Most known Viking painting was executed on carved woodwork; the Gokstad ship tiller and the Oseberg sledges are some standout examples of carved painted woodwork. Usually the objects were painted a light color (white, yellowish white or plain yellow) and highlights were picked out in black, brown, and/or red. (Yes, even Vikings knew that the heraldic color system works!) Rows of dots or billets, sometimes paired with parallel lines, are found on some extant pieces. Most of the extant painted shields (for instance, those from Gokstad and Valsgärde) are of a single color--red, yellow, or black. The leather-covered one from the tenth-century warrior grave at Ballateare on the Isle of Man is more complex. It was apparently painted in two colors--red and black--over white gesso with a repeating motif of dots between narrow parallel stripes, somewhat like the painted board from Jelling. The gesso was allowed to show through in some areas, making it a three-color design (Bersu and Wilson, p. 60). Whether this was a functional or a ceremonial shield is unknown. There are references to other studies from the first half of this century on Viking Age weaponry, but it's in Swedish (Gotland) and Norwegian. Bersu and Wilson even say "comparative material of this sort is scanty and meaningless." (p. 61) However, there are a find or two indicating that painting on a flat, permanent surface might also have been more common than we think. On that subject, Brøgger, Falk, and Schetelig say: Only one object in the Oseberg Collection has decorative painting independent of wood-carving. This is the 'chair'.... whole sides, all of which are painted with ornaments in several colours on a light ground. Along the edges there are geometrical borders, and the entire compartment is filled with close and complicated ornament.... The motifs and design differed considerably from those of the ornament of the wood-carving, and there is thus reason to believe that on the whole the painting belonged to a different artistic circle, in the same way that textile art had its own style and form. (p. 404) Accordingly, any piece of Viking camp or tourney furniture (chests, chairs, benches, stools, high seat pillars, tent frames) would look really appropriate if painted in this fashion, especially if it was carved beforehand. This works most effectively if a set of "household colors" are chosen and used consistently, in conjunction with an appropriate art style for the time and place of the owner(s). Another interesting phenomenon of color usage is a form of "regional heraldry." There is some archaeological evidence for cloth remains in various parts of the Viking world that hint at regional color "preferences," if you will, for various colors. Viking Age dig locations yield different ratios of archaeological remnants of particular colored garments. For instance, in Viking Age Dublin, judging from the remains, the color purple was fairly commonly worn. In Jorvík (and perhaps, by extension, the Danelaw) the predominant color seems to have been red. In Scandinavia proper (Norway, Sweden, Denmark), they seem to have worn more greens and blues (Walton, p. 18). If your persona is from a specific place, it is possible to customize your garments and the colors you wear to be very true to the archaeological remains from that part of the world. Conclusions about the cultural significance of color choice can sometimes be drawn from literature. For example, from context it seems that red was for fancy wear, blue for death (Radford, p. 6). Many of the burial finds from Birka were dressed in extremely dark blue wool, which may support the conclusion of a relationship between the color blue and death. This area of inquiry is ripe for further exploration, beyond the obvious economic and regional issues involved. Artistic Style There are several periods or styles of Viking art: Broa, Oseberg, Borre, Jelling, Mammen, Ringerike, and Urnes, and they overlap some. Familiarize yourself with them, so you know whether it's appropriate for a particular persona to steal motifs from Borre or Jelling style! For an in-depth treatment of the subject, see Klindt-Jensen and Wilson's Viking Art, or an excellent quickie version in James Graham-Campbell's coffee-table book The Viking. T  he art styles of the Viking Age, especially of the earlier Viking Age, lacked most of the static tendencies of medieval heraldry; instead, they were aggressively fluid and active. The use of single static zoomorphic figures in a style we might call "heraldic" is an innovation of the art style in the Mammen period, beginning in the last third of the tenth century (Fuglesang, p. 178). Before that, fluid groups of zoomorphic motifs, often combined with abstract interlace, were the rule. The earlier your persona, the less strongly you should consider using a single creature motif or a traditional heraldic layout of static, discrete objects.
Download 3.63 Mb. Share with your friends:
|