Historiska Museet, Stockholm-
Picture
Stones, Tools,
Jewellery, Clothes
and Huge Trinkets
of Gold
Stockholm's
Historiska Museet
(Historical Museum) houses a good collection of viking artifacts and
reconstructions, including tools, picture stones, boats, jewellery and a stunning display of gold accessories from the
pre-viking period.
Gold CollarsThis
is the only image
of the gold artifacts I feel comfortable showing. I couldn't take
pictures in their Gold Room, so made this small image out of one I
was given  years ago. It's extremely low
rez, but gives you an
idea of the magnificence of the exhibits. The collar
shown is the smallest of this type in the Museum's
collection. Another one has five tiers, and a third one has seven. In
close-up, you see amazingly detailed little solid gold creatures
clinging to the surfaces.
These solid gold collars
are significant for Beowulf
pilgrims, because they enable us to
visualize the kind of ornament the poet's talking about at lines
1192-1214. Beowulf has despatched Grendel, and the Danes hold a feast.
Queen Wealhtheow gives him drink, and gifts:
To him was the cup borne,
and friendly invitation
with words offered,
and twisted gold
graciously presented:
two armlets,
a cloak and rings,
and the
biggest neck-ring
that I on Earth
have ever heard of.
I haven't under heaven
heard of a better
hoard-treasure of heroes,
since Hama carried off
to the bright burg
the Brosings' necklace,
jewels
set in treasure,
...
1200
(Hygelac of the Geats, grandson of
Swerting,
wore that neck-piece on his
last exploit, ...
fighting with the Frisians.
... )
In
several places the poet expresses skepticism about the real utility of
treasure. That doubt is made clear in this passage, since the beautiful
neckpiece is directly linked to the death of Hygelac. The poet doesn't
explicitly say the collar is cursed, but it's implied, especially
when we read it with the poem's other disparaging references
to
treasure.
 The
Historiska Museet's logo is taken from the upper panel of this memorial
picture stone from Tjangvide, Sweden. It dates f rom
about 700 CE. The figure is often identified as Odin (aka Woden or
Wotan) on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir. Some think it's the dead
warrior, Jurulv, riding triumphantly into Valhalla having been slain by
a spear in the scene above the rider.
Some of
these stones include terse runic messages, and they often tell a
pictorial story when read from top to bottom. According to Peter Anker,
the runestrip at the lower right of the Tjangvide stone says "[name
missing] raised this monument to Jurulv, his brother. He was killed
during a journey due to his relatives' wickedness."
The
ship
carrying warriors is a common element. Whether the ship represents a
voyage taken in this world, or in the next to Valhalla, is another
matter that may never be settled.
 But
aren't the ships interesting? Note the Oseberg-like volutes at the prow
and stern of the one above, and the dragon-head prow on the one to the
left. In Beowulf,
Scyld Scefing's burial ship is described as isig ond utfus,
"icy and eager to go" (line 33). Notice the exuberant expression on the
face of that dragon.
The sails shown on all three of
these stones seem to me to settle a question sometimes raised in
connection with Beowulf's ship.
Could Beowulf's Ship Really Sail?We're
told that when Beowulf and his Geats (pronounced 'yachts') leave
Denmark,
"... from the mast a single sea-wing,
a
sail,
was made fast; the sea-wood creaked ..." (lines 1905-06). 
The
question is, since the ships we've found from Beowulf's time don't seem
to have been rigged for sails - ( like the Sutton Hoo ship they
were for rowing only) - isn't the Beowulf
poet committing an anachronism?
It makes sense to
suppose that a complex device like the sail
depicted on this and the other stones did not appear
overnight, but took decades or longer to develop. A prototype could have been in use a century and a half earlier.
So
(to me) it's plausible that a sail in some form was available
around 515 CE, when Beowulf is supposed to have made his
journey to
Denmark.
These sails are technologically
transitional. Maybe
because of material strength (or lack of it),
in each picture we see sheets
(control
ropes) attached at many points along the lower edge. In the second and
third ship (above), each viking holds a sheet. Could this have been to
distribute the strain more evenly across a relatively weak fabric?
Later sails, like the
one on the model
below,
have only two sheets, one at each lower corner. They would
have
been lashed to cleats attached to the hull, not held by individual
sailors as seen above. This may reflect greater strength in sails and
ropes as viking shipbuilding and sailmaking technologies evolved. (Jim Cornish offers more on sail making at this page.)
Some would say Beowulf's
quality as a poem is unaffected by whether or not sails were in use
around 515. But for me, anyway, my respect for the poem and the poet
are strengthened by the realization that historical details in Beowulf are
authentic.
In my experience the most frequently asked question by non-specialists is, "How much of Beowulf is real?" So it behooves us Beowulf pilgrims to have a considered answer ready.
Skoal!
After
all that sailing, robbery, pillage and slaughter a viking needed to
kick back and relax with his mates. This picture stone from Tangelgarda
on the island of Gotland shows men hoisting drinking horns. Wine was a
luxury, but mead and beer could be brewed locally.
According
to the Museum's information board the lower scene may be Odin stealing
mead from the giant Sutting.
Below
is a viking-age burial boat from the Arby grave in Uppland, Sweden. The
man or woman had been placed on a bed of grass, with parts of a cart,
oars, and wooden planks, food bowls, a wooden spoon and game board.
There were no valuables, as the grave had been robbed many centuries
ago. A stallion and greyhound had been slain and buried next to the
boat.
Above
and right is a large (canoe-sized) model of the Gokstad Ship (the
original is on display at Bygdoy, Norway). This was an opportunity to
get a closer look at the interior details such as decking, rigging and
the mastfish.
This is the block wedged behind the mast to lock it in place (centre of
right-hand picture).
 To the right is a large model of the Viking-age
trading town of Birka, in Lake Malar west of Stockholm.
Iron Smelting
gave Sweden
an EdgeSweden's iron industry began
about
500 BCE.
Home-made
blister furnaces for smelting bog-iron ore or red earth
ore were still
in use in some parts of Sweden until late in the 19th century.
 Judging
by the museum exhibits I've seen so far, iron tools, weapons and
hardware were abundant, though no doubt very valuable, in Denmark and
Sweden in the viking age.
 Above
are a pair of tongs, probably for ironsmithing, and above it a pair of
shears. To the left is a collection of hammer heads.
The
iron-smelting process required huge amounts of wood (to make charcoal)
and a lot of manual labour. But the technology once understood enabled
every community, even a single farm, to set up its own smelter and
smithy.
The iron was low in carbon, which enabled smiths to forge it
into useful shapes for tools, weapons and hardware. Most of the
hand tools a modern carpenter or shipwright would need, were
represented
in these cases: scrapers, shaves, saws, awls, gimlets, spoon bits,
rifflers, files, chisels, axes, hatchets, adzes and lots of hammers.
 
To
the left are gold horse harness fittings from Broa, on the island of
Gotland, dated around 800 CE. Above and right are
reconstructed
viking age clothing, one man's outfit and three women's.
Price
of a Life -- Wergild The
display to the right dramatizes the social hierarchy in viking and
pre-viking society. The fine paid for killing a person depended on the
victim's social status. The display consists of three piles of silver
jewellery, representing the weight required for each rank. The
following weights were laid down in Gutalagen law from the early 13th
century:
for slaying a Free Gotlander:
4.8
kg (10.5 lbs.) of silver -- as on lower shelf
for slaying a Free non-Gotlander:
2
kg (4.5 lbs.) of silver -- as on middle shelf
for slaying a Slave:
225 grams
(0.5 lbs.) of silver -- as on upper shelf
Wergild's
Role in BeowulfA
similar custom was followed in Anglo-Saxon England; the payments were
called wergild.
Wergild
isn't explicitly named in Beowulf,
but5the practice is mentioned several times. For instance, the poet
ironically says that Grendel isn't offering to pay any (lines 157-58).
But wergild eventually does link Beowulf to Grendel.
When
Ecgtheow, Beowulf's father, killed a man and his relatives refused to
pay the wergild,
he was in serious trouble. The Danish King
Hrothgar paid the debt, probably saving Ecgtheow's life. Beowulf's
mission to Denmark to take on Grendel, is in part out of gratitude for
this favour.
Sorry,
the
pix on this page aren't up to my usual amateur standard. The lighting
inside Historiska was dim and strange - maybe to save the exhibits, or
to save electricity, or in honour of Odin. 
But
it's my fault; I must learn to adjust the sensitivity on my trusty
camera in dark places, instead of hoping that Photoshop Elements can
fix it later.
We found a pleasant courtyard
outside the Museum cafe. What a contrast to the dim light inside.
 The
Statens Historiska Museet is at Narvavargen 13-17, Stockholm
Next
we'll step outside and take a Quick
Look Round Stockholm.
References and LinksBook: Peter Anker, The Art of Scandinavia,
Volume One (of two). Paul Hamlyn, 1970. [Translated from L'Art
Scandinave (1968)]. For the Tjangvide stone, see Plate 92 and
pages 190-91. Links
(off this site)
Take me to
the Historiska Museet's Gold Room
(Quicker than waiting for Historiska Museet's English-Language
home page ( if you're on dial-up, their home page
takes
'forever' to load) For more about bog iron smelting in
the Viking Age, go to hurstwic
Copyright: The
above quotations from Beowulf are from Mike Walton's The
Book of Beowulf (Cayuga, Ontario: Copyright 2007),
pages 26, 62-63, and 85 . You may
use the material above in an essay or for private Beowulf
study, but not commercially. Do credit
your source!
-- Mike Walton
Take me to Versions-of-Beowulffor recommended editions, translations movies, other media children's versions Home!
to Beowulf-Country.org 
|
