C.J. Adrien's Blog, page 28

Conquest of the Vikings

By 847 C.E. it became clear that the Viking invaders of Ireland had developed political ambitions beyond the sporadic raiding of the previous three decades. Within one year the Irish won an unprecedented four victories over the Vikings which effectively expelled a tremendous portion of the invaders from Ireland. That same year in Brittany Viking raiders began an invasion of the mainland peninsula and won three decisive victories over the Bretons. Current scholarship makes no connection between the events in Brittany and Ireland in 847 C.E., but evidence exists to link these events more closely than previously acknowledged. It begins in 799 C.E. with a raid on the island of Noirmoutier found south of the mouth of the Loire River. The monks from the monastery of Saint Philbert fled the island, but returned the following year. In 834 C.E., the monks abandoned the island definitively due to the persistence of the summer raids by Vikings. This allowed the Vikings to use the island as a base beginning in 837 C.E. from which they could raid the Loire River Valley. If we consider the larger scope of events in 9th century Europe, Noirmoutier appears to be a rather small and insignificant chapter in the Viking Age. However, the resources of the island (salt), and by extension of the region of Brittany, attracted repeated raids and invasion attempts. Salt was after all a necessary resource for any army of the time, and the Vikings were no exception.

When the Bretons under the command of Barbe-Torte retook the city of Nantes in the 10th century, they found a derelict city which should have been a flourishing trade center. This is indicative that the Vikings had no long term settlement ambitions in Brittany, and that their assets in the region were for purely military reasons. Specifically, the Vikings held parts of Brittany and Noirmoutier for the acquisition of two important resources: salt and wine. Both are needed in war; and the ambitious Hákon necessitated all the help he could muster to see through his plans to conquer Ireland. The need for resources, and the lack of permanent interest in Brittany point to an important connection between the Vikings in France and Ireland who may have supported one another during military campaigns to ensure their mutual interests.

The Line of His People, Now on Goodkindles.net

C.J. Adrien’s epic Viking novel is set to be featured on Goodkindles.net at the following url:

http://www.goodkindles.net/p/author-website-list.html

Featured with the novel will be never before released information about the novel, so keep your eyes peeled!

History Channel’s Vikings ‘Kill It’ Again

I am more excited than ever about the show “Vikings” by History Channel after watching episode three of the second season. Not only have they made the series engaging and interesting to a wide audience, but they are also subtly including important themes relating to the Viking Age that are relevant and important to understand. These themes include the Viking quest for knowledge (as it relates to their mythology), the ruthlessness of the time period, and the discovery of fertile lands in the kingdoms the Vikings attacked. Each of these themes helped to define an age, the Viking Age, which ultimately set the precedent for the progression of European society into the Middle Ages.

If there is one thing we should all understand about the Vikings, it is that they were not as barbaric as we tend to think of them compared to other Europeans. We need to remember that what we know about them comes from Christian authors who were both shocked and appalled at the Vikings‘ blatant disregard for their faith. Yet, the Chritians acted the same way towards other faiths. A few years before the raid on Lindisfarne in 793, Charlemagne had finished conquering the Saxon lands in Germany and had forcibly baptized and murdered (in that order) 3000 prisoners from his conquest. The Franks were conquering in the name of God, and they quickly reached the borders of Jutland, modern day Denmark. Some scholars suppose that the aggressive expansion of Christendom may have helped to initiate the Viking Age. Evidence for this exists in the account at Lindisfarne where the raiders dragged the monks to the ocean and drowned them; perhaps a response to the forced baptism of the Saxons. “Vikings” does a good job at showing that this was an age of violence and that the Scandinavian raiders were not the worse of the mix. In the third episode of the show, King Ecbert is portrayed as a confident man who accepts death as part of his power and responsibility. This shows us, the viewers, that the show acknowledges the historical theme of violence, and that everyone in this time period participated.

Ecbert also evoked the time he had spent with Charlemagne, and his experience with the Northmen already attacking the Frankish Empire. This is a great historical detail that requires some explanation. The Danes had begun raiding the coast of a territory known as Frisia, or modern day Netherlands, as early as the mid-8th century. It is no stretch of the imagination to think that the story told by Ecbert in the series is true, although there is no evidence I know of to place the king of Wessex in Frisia at that time. But the story lends to the idea that these were violent times. According to the dialogue, Ecbert witnessed a raid which ended as quickly as it had begun and Charlemagne’s troops did not react quick enough to catch the Northmen. This detail is mentioned in the works of Adam of Bremen who wrote of the first raids and how the Franks experienced them. Even more intriguing in the dialogue is the evocation of the power of Charlemagne’s troops who, according to Ecbert, were an impressive show of force. This again is a subtle detail which helps viewers understand that everyone was in a warring state in the 8th and 9th centuries.

The next theme that the show included in the third installment of this season was the discovery of fertile lands. I could already see Ragnar’s wheels turning in his head, and the ambition in his eyes. Arable land was indeed scarce in Scandinavia, and many scholars theorize that the Vikings left home because of scarcity. England, of course, is an obvious target, and Viking ambitions quickly grew to total conquest in the British Isles. But that is not the only place they wanted to conquer. At the time, Britain was divided into five kingdoms locked in regional warfare. While the farming in England is better than in Norway (for example), it was not as fertile as lands further south. The Vikings made tremendous efforts to conquer parts of the Frankish Empire, specifically the regions of Normandy and Brittany, both in modern day France. These were not easy targets. Normandy eventually came under Viking control; the name Normandy is from the Danish word for North Man (Nor Mann). Brittany, however, repelled the Vikings. The last target — once Viking kingdoms had been established in Britain and Normandy — was Ireland. Dublin, Wexford, Limerick, and Waterford were all founded by Viking settlers. Thus, the theme presented in the show “Vikings” about finding and then desiring land is both realistic and historically accurate.

The third theme the show has focused on has more to do with the mythology of the Norse rather than physical events. It embodies the Viking’s convictions, their motives, and their culture. To understand the theme, it is first important to understand the myth that supports it. Odin, the leader of the Norse pantheon, was an intrinsically curious figure. He studied nature, questioned other gods, and loved to learn. So strong was his desire to learn that he was willing to sacrifice a great deal to acquire knowledge. One day (as the myth goes), Odin learned there was a way to see into the future and know the events of Ragnarok. He immediately traveled out of Asgard to Mimir’s well. Mimir had once been the wisest of the Aesir, the gods, but had been traded to the Vanir as part of a peace deal to end a bloody war. All who drank from Mimir’s well would receive his knowledge. Odin approached the well and asked to drink. But Mimir required a sacrifice: Odin’s eye. Without hesitation, Odin took his own eye and cast it into the well. He drank from the waters and learned of the end of the world.

Odin’s willingness to sacrifice for knowledge shows us that the Vikings had a deep cultural tradition of exploration and learning. Archeological evidence of this can be found in Scandinavia today where technologies from other parts of the world were suddenly used in Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish farms during the Viking Age; when Scandinavian raiders were traveling the known world. The mystery of the Ulfbert and how they were able to make crucible steel is included in this idea. The willingness to learn is perhaps the most powerful and important concept to understand when learning about the Vikings, and Ragnar Lodbrok of the “Vikings” series embodies the idea beautifully. He is analytical, questioning, and constantly searching for new ideas. He listens to the priest and asks questions about Christianity without fear. While the Christian characters appear to be less interested in learning about their foe, the Vikings in the show continue to study their victims and improve their methods for exploiting them. For this detail in the show alone, I cannot praise the writers enough.

In all, the show does not disappoint. From the spectator point of view, the show is exciting and fun. From the historian’s point of view, the show is interesting, detail oriented, and is promoting the learning of history. If you have not yet seen the show, it is a must-watch. The producers of the show are entertaining the public and teaching them history; they have revived the History Channel.

If you are interested in C.J. Adrien’s work, you can buy his book here.

Where is Wessex in “Vikings”?

According to the show “Vikings” by the History Channel, Ragnar and his allies land in a place called Wessex. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Saxon England (circa 7-9th centuries), Wessex was a relatively powerful kingdom which maintained autonomy despite frequent belligerent attempts by neighboring Mercia (which included modern day Wales) to annex it. During the Viking invasions of England, Wessex actually resisted the invaders successfully. Immediately preceding the large scale attacks by Scandinavians on Britain, the Wessex Saxons had managed to take over Mercia and even bring Northumbria under their wing. This of course is all part of a very complicated history which many scholars spend their lives studying.

To put this small region into historical perspective, Wessex is the home and birthplace of Harald Godwinson, nephew of the “King of England” (that title is used very loosely as British identity was not yet formed the way that we know it today). Harald Godwinson assumed the throne upon the death of the king, but his title was contested by a Norman named William. This dispute would lead to the battle of Hastings and launch Europe into what the current scholarship identifies as the beginning of the Medieval Period.

Saxon Wessex is the region of England which invented the system of dividing territory into Shires. And no, it wasn’t home to any Hobbits.

With all of this extra information in mind, we may now watch tonight’s Vikings with a new appreciation of where this show is taking us, the audience, and how this intriguing show is encouraging us to learn more about history.

C.J. Adrien in the Crypt of Saint Philbert

Above is author C.J. Adrien examining one of the holy relics of the order of Saint Philbert on the island of Noirmoutier. Inside the chest is a vertebrae of the saint who originally founded the monastery of Saint Philbert in the 7th century. During the Viking Age, the monastery was pillaged repeatedly until it was definitively abandoned in the 830′s despite efforts in the 820′s to restore a stable place of worship. The relics were several times thought lost, but eventually recovered and preserved. Some parts still reside in the crypt of the monastery Saint Philbert de Grand Lieu where the monks retreated during the viking age. During the middle ages several institutions carried the name of Saint Philbert, and the relics were divided equally among them, hence why the church on the island only has a vertebrae. The order of Saint Philbert at the beginning of the Viking Age is a significant player in C.J. Adrien’s novel, “The Line of His People”.