Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It

by Janina Ramírez

In 1876, German designer Carl Emil Doepler created the stage costumes for a production of Wagner’s Ring cycle. Wanting the Viking-age characters to appear more impressive on stage, he put horns on the headdresses of the evil characters, while the heroes wore headdresses with wings. The popularity of this visual image – ancestors harnessing the strength of animals in a form of supernatural shapeshifting – meant it became a way of celebrating all things ‘Germanic’. The hijacking of Viking culture by German nationalists was a deliberate strategy, and in just twenty years the horned helmet was reproduced on everything from cruise menus to children’s books. Tying Germany to a perceived Viking ancestry only intensified under the Nazis.