Norse Mythology & Life 3 Old Norse Mytholog
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| The historical iconographic evidence for this type of display is slim, but it does exist. A silver penny minted at York under Anlaf Sihtricsson, circa 942, depicts a standard in the same basic shape as the weather vane, including streamers. The standard has a cross on it and a cross- shaped finial atop the pole. In the eleventh century Bayeux Tapestry, a similarly shaped standard, also with streamers, is depicted downed at "fratres Haroldi regis". Later, a carved stick from thirteenth century Bryggen [Bergen], Norway, depicts a fleet of some forty-five ships (Magnusson, pp. 59-60). Three of the ships sport "weather vanes" with streamers at the prows; two others have carved heads, and one flies a gonfanon.
The weather vane-shaped standard makes a good banner. Since it's secured on two sides, it doesn't flap all over the place or flop over. You can rig such a banner to hang from the frame of a tent, the crosspiece of a gateway, or the top of a spear (during those non-martial periods, that is). If you pick a device that looks good on that shape, so much the better. With respect to shield display, the first rule is that it should of course look good on a centergrip round shield. But the question you should ask yourself is, how much effort do you think would a Viking would have invested in painting something spiffy on a war shield? After all, why make art on something that is designed to be torn up and discarded in fairly short order? Practically speaking, fighting shields were more likely to have had ornamental ironwork, that could travel from shield to shield, than to have painted ornament. (Ceremonial shields, of course, might have been fancier, just as later-period parade helms are fancier than battle helms from the same period.) Nevertheless, there is that SCA urge toward heraldic display, so let's assume you feel you have to paint your shield. A   mong the heraldic elements that convey a Vikingesque look are some of the field divisions. Gyronny divisions, both those with straight lines and those with curving ones ("gyronny arrondi") look especially good on a round shield. So does the ordinary known as a pall , which looks sort of like an uneven-sectioned gyronny, or some of the plainer quadrate (cross) effects.
If you want an animal charge, the single most common period emblem for Vikings seems to have been the raven. Other beasts known to them would also make especially good choices include the northern brown bear (not the polar bear; they were only found in Greenland, which was discovered at the end of the tenth century), the wolf, Þórr's storm-goats, Freyja's cats, or perhaps horses. Wyverns, serpents, and other ribbony worm-like critters are also good; the College of Arms has registered some good examples of Norse critters over the years (if you're interested in registered arms, that is). They're a chief element in the Jelling style; there are also many instances of them in the Mammen period and afterward. The Bamberg and Cammin caskets, at least one of which is pictured in most coffee-table Viking books, have depictions of snakes. The sinuous regularity of the Urnes style often employed snakes as motifs (see the central panel of the Urnes stave-church doorway, second half of the eleventh century, for a probable example). Urnes is the latest of the Viking Age styles. For more ideas, you should consult motifs from any available Viking period iconographic source: runestones, metalwork, wood carving, and so on. Wherever possible, get a look at photos of actual artifacts rather than line drawings. One thing to remember, though, is to adhere to the Rule of Scale: don't take a tiny motif (like a little border element) and blow it up to huge, and don't take a huge motif (like an Oseberg carved post) and do it tiny. Instead, try to find design elements that fit the scale of the item on which you want to put them. An annotated bibliography of easily accessible coffee-table books on Vikings can be found elsewhere at this site; any of those books would be likely to yield the sort of pictures you should be consulting. An Example Here is how I imbue my own mid-tenth century Danelaw persona with the practice of SCA- style heraldry. To begin with, I stress red in my persona's dress and accessories, in accordance with the "regional heraldry" concept. I display my device (Gules, three square weaver's tablets in bend Or) as a flag on a quarter-round flag shape with the curve to dexter base. This maximizes the visual effect of an implied heraldic bend, for the sake of the heraldically minded observer, while remaining true to my Viking Age aesthetics. My husband and I are very fond of bears. Believe it or not, we discovered that the only Viking Age depictions of bears are from the tenth-century Danelaw, where our personae are steaders; how fortunate for us! So we have adapted those bears, which appear as part of the "roofs" of some carved stone coffin lids, to display on our tent and seating. The tents and furniture of my household are all painted with the same shade of "household yellow" paint. Details are added in brown and red as required. You can see a photo of this effect at Mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar's Pavilion taxonomy website.  Download 3.63 Mb. Share with your friends:
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