Tuesday, 2 September 2025

THE VIKING PROPHECY (III), THE POEM VÖLUSPÁ (EDDA)

According to the Völuspá, Odin, the leader of the Æsir gods, as the most important and mightiest family was called, was always eager for knowledge. 

He asks a völva, an ancient seeress, to rise from the grave and tell him, the father of the slain (Valfǫþr) -because he takes warriors into his famous hall of Valhalla- stories of the past. She answers him by mentioning the nine worlds that make up the universe and the ash-tree Yggdrasil, as well as Ymir, a giant out of whose limbs the universe was made.

There was a yawning gap at the beginning of time. The creation of the universe seems to have been the work of the sons of Borr: Odin and his brothers Vili and Vé, whose names we know from another poem called the Lokasenna. The three brothers shape the earth, take their assembly seats, and then name the stars in the skies, thus giving an order to the universe. The gods meet at Ithavoll, a mysterious place only mentioned twice in the poem, where they set forges and make tools and set up temples.

At their dwelling, three giant-maids arrive, a possible reference to the Norns. The Norns were creatures even more powerful than the gods since they decided the fate of everyone. A council is held during which we are given a catalogue of the race of dwarves; very few of them are mentioned elsewhere.

One of them, Gandalf, was turned into a wizard by Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings. Another one, Dvalin, is important, too, since he seems to have given the dwarves magic runes which made them very skillful, as told in the second poem of the Edda, the Hávamál. Then we have Andvari, the one who tells in a poem called Reginsmál about how Loki, the trickster god, stole his wealth, causing him to curse the treasure that brought the death of Sigurd. Sigurd is the tragic legendary hero who killed a dragon with a cursed treasure, inspiring many authors among whom, once again, Tolkien.

After this section with the many dwarves, three gods, Odin, Hönir, and Lothur, continue their work and create mankind out of two trees, ash and elm (Ask and Embla). The fates reappear in stanza 20, where they carved runes on wood and made laws.

 

Álfr ok Yngvi, Eikinskjaldi,
Fjalarr ok Frosti, Finnr ok Ginnarr;
þat man æ uppi, meðan öld lifir,
langniðja tal Lofars hafat.

Unz þrír kvámu ór því liði
öflgir ok ástkir æsir at húsi,
fundu á landi lítt megandi
Ask ok Emblu örlöglausa.

Önd þau ne áttu, óð þau ne höfðu,
lá né læti né litu góða;
önd gaf Óðinn, óð gaf Hœnir,
lá gaf Lóðurr ok litu góða.

Ask veit ek standa, heitir Yggdrasill
hár baðmr, ausinn hvíta auri;
þaðan koma döggvar þærs í dala falla;
stendr æ yfir grœnn Urðar brunni.

Þaðan koma meyjar margs vitandi
þrjár, ór þeim sal er und þolli stendr;
Urð hétu eina, aðra Verðandi,
skáru á skíði, Skuld ina þriðju;
þær lög lögðu, þær líf kuru
alda börnum, örlög seggja.

Þat man hon fólkvíg fyrst í heimi,
er Gullveig geirum studdu
ok í höll Hárs hana brendu;
þrysvar brendu þrysvar borna,
opt, ósjaldan, þó hon enn lifir.

Heiði hana hétu, hvars til húsa kom,
völu velspá, vitti hon ganda,
seið hon hvars hon kunni, seið hon hugleikin,
æ var hon angan illrar brúðar.

Þá gengu regin öll á rökstóla,
ginnheilug goð, ok um þat gættusk:
hvárt skyldu æsir afráð gjalda
eða skyldu goðin öll gildi eiga.

Fleygði Óðinn ok í fólk um skaut,
þat var enn fólkvíg fyrst í heimi;
brotinn var borðveggr borgar ása,
knáttu vanir vígská völlu sporna.

Þá gengu regin öll á rökstóla,
ginnheilug goð, ok um þat gættusk:
hverr hefði lopt allt lævi blandit
eða ætt jötuns Óðs mey gefna.



Alf and Yngvi,Eikinskjaldi,
Fjalar and Frosti, Fith and Ginnar;
So for all time, shall the tale be known,
The list of all, the forbears of Lofar.

Then from the throng, did three come forth,
From the home of the gods, the mighty and gracious;
Two without fate, on the land they found,
Ask and Embla, empty of might.

Soul they had not, sense they had not,
Heat nor motion, nor goodly hue;
Soul gave Othin, sense gave Hönir,
Heat gave Lothur and goodly hue.

An ash I know, Yggdrasil its name,
With water white, is the great tree wet;
Thence come the dews, that fall in the dales,
Green by Urth's well, does it ever grow.

Thence come the maidens, mighty in wisdom,
Three from the dwelling, down 'neath the tree;
Urth is one named, Verthandi the next,--
On the wood they scored, and Skuld the third.
Laws they made there, and life allotted
To the sons of men, and set their fates.

The war I remember, the first in the world,
When the gods with spears, had smitten Gollveig,
And in the hall, of Hor had burned her,
Three times burned, and three times born,
Oft and again, yet ever she lives.

Heith they named her, who sought their home,
The wide-seeing witch, in magic wise;
Minds she bewitched, that were moved by her magic,
To evil women, a joy she was.

On the host his spear, did Othin hurl,
Then in the world, did war first come;
The wall that girdled, the gods was broken,
And the field by the warlike, Wanes was trodden.

Then sought the gods, their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, and council held,
Whether the gods, should tribute give,
Or to all alike, should worship belong.

Then sought the gods, their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, and council held,
To find who with venom, the air had filled,
Or had given Oth's bride, to the giants' brood.

 

Soli ho kvervar beint i si bane
Honnigdraum lokkar mitt gap og mi gane
Vindane ular og elva ligg still
Eg lyt nok kvile litt til


The sun wheel is steady on her way
Honey dreams spark my throat and palate
The winds still howl and the river stands still
I guess I should return to my rest

Wardruna

Monday, 1 September 2025

THE VIKING PROPHECY (II), THE POEM VÖLUSPÁ (EDDA)

The Northmen of the 8th or 9th century CE whom we usually call Vikings did not really have any written sources for their religion. 

They carved some images in stone, they made some wooden idols, and they rather recited poems about what they thought the world was like. 

A few centuries after the age of these daring seamen, traders, and explorers, some Icelanders wrote down such poems remembered from ancestors.  

This collection of poems is called the Edda, and it is our most precious source of information about what the myths of the Northmen might have looked like.

It is written in Old Norse, the language people used to speak in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark up until the 15th century CE. 

These poems are found in two manuscripts, the Codex Regius (King's book) and another book called the Hauksbók, but the order of the stanzas, the groups of four lines making up the poems, seems more logical in the first book. 

The first poem of the collection is the Völuspá, meaning the prophecy of the völva

Snorri Sturluson, a 13th-century CE Icelandic scholar, also wrote a version of these tales, quoting much of the poems in his book. The version he knew, however, seems different, indicating that the poems of the Edda were very popular among the Vikings.

 

Þá gengu regin öll á rökstóla,
ginnheilug goð, ok um þat gættusk;
nátt ok niðjum nöfn um gáfu,
morgin hétu ok miðjan dag,
undorn ok aptan, árum at telja.

Hittusk æsir á Iðavelli,
þeir er hörg ok hof hátimbruðu,
afla lögðu, auð smíðuðu,
tangir skópu ok tól görðu.

Tefldu í túni, teitir váru,
var þeim vettugis vant ór gulli;
unz þrjár kvámu þursa meyjar
ámátkar mjök ór jötunheimum.

Þá gengu regin öll á rökstóla,
ginnheilug goð, ok um þat gættusk:
hverr skyldi dverga drótt um skepja
ór brimi blóðgu ok ór Bláins leggjum.

Þar var Móðsognir mæztr um orðinn
dverga allra, en Durinn annarr;
þeir mannlíkun mörg um görðu
dvergar í jörðu, sem Durinn sagði.

Nýi, Niði, Norðri, Suðri,
Austri, Vestri, Alþjófr, Dvalinn,
Nár ok Náinn, Nípingr, Dáinn,
Bifurr, Bafurr, Bömburr, Nori,
Ánn ok Ánarr, Óinn, Mjöðvitnir.

Veggr ok Gandálfr, Vindálfr, Þorinn,
Þrár ok Þráinn, Þekkr, Litr ok Vitr,
Nýr ok Nýráðr, nú hefi ek dverga,
Reginn ok Ráðsviðr, rétt um talða.

Fili, Kili, Fundinn, Nali, Hepti,
Vili, Hanarr, Svíurr, Billingr, Brúni,
Bildr ok Buri, Frár, Hornbori, Frægr ok Lóni,
Aurvangr, Jari, Eikinskjaldi.

Mál er dverga í Dvalins liði
ljóna kindum til Lofars telja,
þeir er sóttu frá salar steini
Aurvanga sjöt til Jöruvalla.

Þar var Draupnir ok Dólgþrasir,
Hár, Haugspori, Hlévangr, Glóinn,
Dori, Ori, Dúfr, Andvari,
Skirfir, Virfir, Skafiðr, Ai.



Then sought the gods, their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, and council held;
Names then gave they, to noon and twilight,
Morning they named, and the waning moon,
Night and evening, the years to number.

At Ithavoll met, the mighty gods,
Shrines and temples, they timbered high;
Forges they set, and, they smithied ore,
Tongs they wrought, and tools they fashioned.

In their dwellings at peace, they played at tables,
Of gold no lack, did the gods then know,
Till thither came, up giant-maids three,
Huge of might, out of Jotunheim.

Then sought the gods, their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, and council held,
To find who should raise, the race of dwarfs
Out of Brimir's blood, and the legs of Blain.

There was Motsognir, the mightiest made
Of all the dwarfs, and Durin next;
Many a likeness, of men they made,
The dwarfs in the earth, as Durin said. 

Nyi and Nithi, Northri and Suthri,
Austri and Vestri, Althjof, Dvalin,
Nar and Nain, Niping, Dain,
Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Nori,
An and Onar, Ai, Mjothvitnir.

Vigg and Gandalf, Vindalf, Thrain,
Thekk and Thorin, Thror, Vit and Lit,
Nyr and Nyrath, now have I told
Regin and Rathsvith, the list aright.

Fili, Kili, Fundin, Nali,
Heptifili, Hannar, Sviur,
Frar, Hornbori, Fræg and Loni,
Aurvang, Jari, Eikinskjaldi.

The race of the dwarfs, in Dvalin's throng
Down to Lofar, the list must I tell;
The rocks they left, and through wet lands
They sought a home, in the fields of sand.

There were Draupnir, and Dolgthrasir,
Hor, Haugspori, Hlevang, Gloin,
Dori, Ori, Duf, Andvari,
Skirfir, Virfir, Skafith, Ai.

 


Hugsterk i hovud
Tеnkje som ti
Eg kunne òg trengе
Å fylgje din sti

Strong in mind
Think like ten
I might also need
To follow your path

Wardruna

Sunday, 31 August 2025

THE VIKING PROPHECY (I), THE POEM VÖLUSPÁ (EDDA)

Claire FontaineThe Grandma, Egil and his family (Astrid, Sigurd and Arne) have just arrived to Tromsø where Joseph de Ca'th Lon was waiting for them. 

In this Artic city, they are going to spend some days discovering Norse mythology and learning about it with the Völuspá. Join them in reading the medieval poem of the Poetic Edda, a literary experience that will transport you to the dreamlike and magical world of the Vikings.

In Germanic paganism, a seeress is a woman said to have the ability to foretell future events and perform sorcery. They are also referred to with many other names meaning prophetess, staff bearer and sorceress, and they are frequently called witches both in early sources and in modern scholarship. In Norse mythology the seeress is usually referred to as völva or vala.

The various names in North Germanic sources may give the impression that there were two types of sorceress, the staff-bearers, or seeresses (vǫlva), and the women who were named for performing magic (seiðkona).

The Völuspá, in Old Norse Vǫluspá, is a medieval poem of the Poetic Edda that describes how the world might have come into shape and would end according to Norse mythology

The story of about 60 stanzas is told by a seeress or völva, in Old Norse vǫlva, also called spákona, foretelling woman, summoned by the god Odin, master of magic and knowledge. According to this literary text, the beginning of the world was characterized by nothingness until the gods created the nine realms of Norse cosmology, somehow linked by the World Tree, Yggdrasil.

At the same time, the fate of everything was set in stone by a group of seeresses. In the very beginning, two families of gods were involved in a war, ending with a truce and a wall around their divine citadel of Asgard. However, they would not live in peace forever because the universe has been doomed since the very moment of its creation. Every god has a specific enemy with whom they will do battle and many will be slain, including the chief god Odin

 

Hljóðs bið ek allar helgar kindir,
meiri ok minni mögu Heimdallar;
viltu, at ek, Valföðr! vel framtelja forn spjöll fíra,
þau er fremst um man.

Ek man jötna ár um borna,
þá er forðum mik fœdda höfðu;
níu man ek heima, níu íviði,
mjötvið mœran fyr mold neðan.

Ár var alda þar er Ýmir bygði,
vara sandr né sær né svalar unnir,
jörð fannsk æva né upphiminn,
gap var ginnunga, en gras hvergi.

Áðr Burs synir bjöðum um ypðu,
þeir er Miðgarð mœran skópu;
sól skein sunnan á salar steina,
þá var grund gróin grœnum lauki.

Sól varp sunnan, sinni mána,
hendi inni hœgri um himinjódyr;
sól þat ne vissi hvar hon sali átti,
máni þat ne vissi hvat hann megins átti,
stjörnur þat ne vissu hvar þær staði áttu.


Hearing I ask, from the holy races,
From Heimdall's sons, both high and low;
Thou wilt, Valfather, that well I relate
Old tales I remember, of men long ago.

I remember yet, the giants of yore,
Who gave me bread, in the days gone by;
Nine worlds I knew, the nine in the tree
With mighty roots, beneath the mold.

Of old was the age, when Ymir lived;
Sea nor cool waves, nor sand there were;
Earth had not been, nor heaven above,
But a yawning gap, and grass nowhere.

Then Bur's sons lifted, the level land,
Mithgarth the mighty, there they made;
The sun from the south, warmed the stones of earth,
And green was the ground, with growing leeks.

The sun, the sister, of the moon, from the south
Her right hand cast, over heaven's rim;
No knowledge she had, where her home should be,
The moon knew not, what might was his,
The stars knew not, where their stations were.

 

Fjölð veit ek fræða, fram sé ek lengra
Um ragna rök römm sigtíva.

I know many things, I see further ahead
About the arguments of the wise, the wise man.

Wardruna

Saturday, 30 August 2025

OND PARODI PÅ EN SPILDT POESI, HVORDAN ER DET SKET

To lys på et bord
tre forløsende ord
fire glas fylde med ungdommens mod

Fem slags smil til dessert
seks små kys tre til hver
blev betalt med vort hjerteblod

En ond parodi
på en spildt poesi
det er alt hvad der findes i dag
for de smil og de ord
der blev sagt ved det bord
har vi glemt midt i tidens jag

Hvordan er det sket

Har vi slet ikke set
at de lys brændte hurtigt ned

Og tiden der kom
blev så håbløs og tom
hvorfor skal det vare ved

To lys på et bord
tre forløsende ord
fire glas fyldt med ungdommens mod

Fem slags smil til dessert
seks må kys tre til hver
blev betalt med vort hjerteblod

Hvordan er det sket

Har vi slet ikke set
at de lys brændte hurtigt ned
og tiden der kom
blev så håbløs og tom
hvorfor skal dog det vare ved

To lys på et bord
tre forløsende ord
fire glas fyldt med ungdommens mod
fem slags smil til dessert
seks små kys tre til hver
blev betalt med vort hjertes blod
blev betalt med hvort hjertes blod


 Hvordan er det sket.

Otto Brandenburg 

Friday, 29 August 2025

EXPLORE THE NATIONALMUSEET, LEARN ABOUT VIKINGS

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have visited the Nationalmuseet accompanied by Egil and his family. If you want to know the history of a place, you have to visit its National Museum.

The Nationalmuseet offers an extraordinary insight into the history of Denmark, from the lands of Jylland and Sjælland to the current territories that include the Faroe Islands and Greenland

Denmark was a colonial power and is not only be witnessed by the Faroe Islands and Greenland, but also by the Indian city of Tranquebar.

The museum offers a fascinating walk from the Prehistoric era, with the bodies of the first Danish cromanyons; the Germanic and Viking eras; the Renaissance with the absolutist monarchies; the Modern era with industrialization and the Contemporary era with the independence of Norway, the war conflicts in Europe and the new paradigm of the European Union.

In addition, the museum also contains rooms dedicated to Egyptian, Latin and Greek cultures; as well as a collection of Romanesque works, among which stand out a Saint George and a brown-skinned Virgin Mary that are very familiar to us.

One of the most moving moments of the visit is the exhibition dedicated to the Vikings and Volvä, the Viking sibyl who predicted the future and who takes you into a dreamlike and magical world that helps you understand what life was like in Scandinavian lands hundreds of years ago.

Egil has been a great guide during this last day in Copenhagen. This afternoon, they will take a flight to Oslo to continue delving into the world of the Vikings and relax and rest for a few days in the middle of nature, in search of these Viking spirits, whose voices still resonate very strongly in these places, but which can only be heard by those who are willing to believe in them.

Let's go in search of Volvä and her people and try to invoke them with the same poems that the Norse sibyl left us as written testimony of a pivotal era for the history and culture of Scandinavia.

The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from Strøget at the centre of Copenhagen. It contains exhibits from around the world, from Greenland to South America. Additionally, the museum sponsors SILA -The Greenland Research Center at the National Museum of Denmark to further archaeological and anthropological research in Greenland.

The museum has a number of national commitments, particularly within the following key areas: archaeology, ethnology, numismatics, ethnography, natural science, conservation, communication, building antiquarian activities in connection with the churches of Denmark, as well as the handling of the Danefæ (the National Treasures).

The museum covers 14,000 years of Danish history, from the reindeer-hunters of the Ice Age, Vikings, and works of religious art from the Middle Ages, when the church was highly significant in Danish life. Danish coins from Viking times to the present and coins from ancient Rome and Greece, as well as examples of the coinage and currencies of other cultures, are exhibited also. 

The National Museum keeps Denmark's largest and most varied collection of objects from the ancient cultures of Greece and Italy, the Near East and Egypt. For example, it holds a collection of objects that were retrieved during the Danish excavation of Tell Shemshara in Iraq in 1957.

Exhibits are also shown on who the Danish people are and were, stories of everyday life and special occasions, stories of the Danish state and nation, but most of all stories of different people's lives in Denmark from 1560 to 2000.

More information: Nationalmuseet

Vikings were a seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.

They voyaged as far as the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East, Greenland, and Vinland (present-day Newfoundland in Canada, North America). In their countries of origin, and in some of the countries they raided and settled, this period of activity is popularly known as the Viking Age, and the term Viking also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a whole during the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries. 

The Vikings had a profound impact on the early medieval history of northern and Eastern Europe, including the political and social development of England (and the English language) and parts of France, and established the embryo of Russia in Kievan Rus'.

Expert sailors and navigators of their characteristic longships, Vikings established Norse settlements and governments in the British Isles, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Normandy, and the Baltic coast, as well as along the Dnieper and Volga trade routes across Eastern Europe where they were also known as Varangians.  

The Normans, Norse-Gaels, Rus, Faroese, and Icelanders emerged from these Norse colonies. At one point, a group of Rus Vikings went so far south that, after briefly being bodyguards for the Byzantine emperor, they attacked the Byzantine city of Constantinople.

Vikings also voyaged to the Caspian Sea and Arabia. They were the first Europeans to reach North America, briefly settling in Newfoundland (Vinland). While spreading Norse culture to foreign lands, they simultaneously brought home slaves, concubines, and foreign cultural influences to Scandinavia, influencing the genetic and historical development of both. 

During the Viking Age, the Norse homelands were gradually consolidated from smaller kingdoms into three larger kingdoms: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

The Vikings spoke Old Norse and made inscriptions in runes

For most of the Viking Age, they followed the Old Norse religion, but became Christians over the 8th–12th centuries. The Vikings had their own laws, art, and architecture. Most Vikings were also farmers, fishermen, craftsmen, and traders. 

Popular conceptions of the Vikings often strongly differ from the complex, advanced civilisation of the Norsemen that emerges from archaeology and historical sources. A romanticised picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century; this developed and became widely propagated during the 19th-century Viking revival.

Varying views of the Vikings -as violent, piratical heathens or as intrepid adventurers- reflect conflicting modern Viking myths that took shape by the early 20th century. Current popular representations are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes and are rarely accurate -for example, there is no evidence that they wore horned helmets, a costume element that first appeared in the 19th century.

The etymology of the word Viking has been much debated by academics, with many origin theories being proposed. One theory suggests that the word's origin is from the Old English wicing settlement and the Old Frisian wizing, attested almost 300 years prior. Another less popular theory is that víking came from the feminine vík cree', inlet, small bay. The Old Norse word víkingr does not appear in written sources until the 12th century, apart from a few runestones.

Another etymology that gained support in the early 21st century derives Viking from the same root as Old Norse vika 'sea mile', originally referring to the distance between two shifts of rowers, ultimately from the Proto-Germanic *wîkan 'to recede'. This is found in the early Nordic verb *wikan 'to turn', similar to Old Icelandic víkja 'to move, to turn', with well-attested nautical usages, according to Bernard Mees. This theory is better attested linguistically, and the term most likely predates the use of the sail by the Germanic peoples of northwestern Europe.

In the Middle Ages, viking came to refer to Scandinavian pirates or raiders.

The word Viking was introduced into Modern English during the late 18th-century Viking revival, at which point it acquired romanticised heroic overtones of barbarian warrior or noble savage.

During the 20th century, the meaning of the term was expanded to refer not only to seaborne raiders from Scandinavia and other places settled by them (like Iceland and the Faroe Islands), but also any member of the culture that produced the raiders during the period from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries, or more loosely from about 700 to as late as about 1100. As an adjective, the word is used to refer to ideas, phenomena, or artefacts connected with those people and their cultural life, producing expressions like Viking age, Viking culture, Viking art, Viking religion or Viking ship.

The Viking Age in Scandinavian history is taken to have been the period from the earliest recorded raids by Norsemen in 793 until the Norman conquest of England in 1066

Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south.

The Normans were descendants of those Vikings who had been given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France, namely the Duchy of Normandy, in the 10th century. In that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe. Likewise, King Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, had Danish ancestors. Two Vikings even ascended to the throne of England, with Sweyn Forkbeard claiming the English throne in 1013 until 1014 and his son Cnut the Great being king of England between 1016 and 1035.

Geographically, the Viking Age covered Scandinavian lands (modern Denmark, Norway and Sweden), as well as territories under North Germanic dominance, mainly the Danelaw, including Scandinavian York, the administrative centre of the remains of the Kingdom of Northumbria, parts of Mercia, and East Anglia.

Viking navigators opened the road to new lands to the north, west and east, resulting in the foundation of independent settlements in the Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe Islands; Iceland; Greenland; and L'Anse aux Meadows, a short-lived settlement in Newfoundland, circa 1000. The Greenland settlement was established around 980, during the Medieval Warm Period, and its demise by the mid-15th century may have been partly due to climate change. The semi-legendary Viking Rurik is said to have taken control of Novgorod in 862, while his kinsman Oleg captured Kiev in 882 and made it the capital of the Rus. The Rurik dynasty would rule Russia until 1598.

Christianity had taken root in Denmark and Norway with the establishment of dioceses in the 11th century, and the new religion was beginning to organise and assert itself more effectively in Sweden. Foreign churchmen and native elites were energetic in furthering the interests of Christianity, which was now no longer operating only on a missionary footing, and old ideologies and lifestyles were transforming. By 1103, the first archbishopric was founded in Scandinavia, at Lund, Scania, then part of Denmark.

The assimilation of the nascent Scandinavian kingdoms into the cultural mainstream of European Christendom altered the aspirations of Scandinavian rulers and of Scandinavians able to travel overseas, and changed their relations with their neighbours.

One of the primary sources of profit for the Vikings had been slave-taking from other European peoples. The medieval Church held that Christians should not own fellow Christians as slaves, so chattel slavery diminished as a practice throughout northern Europe. This took much of the economic incentive out of raiding, though sporadic slaving activity continued into the 11th century. Scandinavian predation in Christian lands around the North and Irish Seas diminished markedly.

The kings of Norway continued to assert power in parts of northern Britain and Ireland, and raids continued into the 12th century, but the military ambitions of Scandinavian rulers were now directed toward new paths.

In 1107, Sigurd I of Norway sailed for the eastern Mediterranean with Norwegian crusaders to fight for the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem; the kings of Denmark and Sweden participated actively in the Baltic Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries.

More information: BBC


The more journeys you make,
the more directions they take.

Egil's Saga

Thursday, 28 August 2025

H.C. ANDERSEN, DEN LILLE HAVFRUE & FRIHEDSMUSEET

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have spent a day full of activities.

They have visited H.C. Andersen, an old Grandma's friend, best remembered for his fairy tales. 

After a tour by boat, they have visited Tivoli Gardens and Den Lille Havfrue, a Copenhagen icon.

Finally, they have visited the Frihedsmuseet, the Museum of Danish Resistance, a must that remembers us everyday the great disaster that was the WWII, and how it affected the Scandinavian lands, especially Denmark and Norway.

More information: Hans Christian Andersen, Scandivanism in Tales

More information: Frihedsmuseet

Den lille Havfrue, in English The Little Mermaid, is a bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, depicting a mermaid becoming human. The sculpture is displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is 1.25 metres tall and weighs 175 kilograms.

Based on the 1837 fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and has been a major tourist attraction since its unveiling in 1913. In recent decades it has become a popular target for defacement by vandals and political activists.

Mermaid is among iconic statues that symbolize cities; others include: the statue of Pania of the Reef in Napier; Manneken Pis in Brussels; the Statue of Liberty in New York; Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro; Smok Wawelski (Wawel Dragon) in Kraków, Poland; or Nelson's Column and Eros in London.

The statue was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg, who had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairytale in Copenhagen's Royal Theatre and asked the ballerina, Ellen Price, to model for the statue. The sculptor Edvard Eriksen created the bronze statue, which was unveiled on August 23, 1913. The statue's head was modelled after Price, but as the ballerina did not agree to model in the nude, the sculptor's wife, Eline Eriksen, was used for the body.

The Copenhagen City Council arranged to move the statue to Shanghai at the Danish Pavilion for the duration of the Expo 2010 (May to October), the first time it had been moved officially from its perch since it was installed almost a century earlier. While the statue was away in Shanghai an authorised copy was displayed on a rock in the lake in Copenhagen's nearby Tivoli Gardens.

Copenhagen officials have considered moving the statue several meters out into the harbour to discourage vandalism and to prevent tourists from climbing onto it, but as of September 2022 the statue remains on dry land at the water side at Langelinie.

More information: Introducing Copenhagen


 But a mermaid has no tears, 
and therefore she suffers so much more.

Hans Christian Andersen

Wednesday, 27 August 2025

THE ROSENBORG SLOT & THE DUTCH RENAISSANCE STYLE

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have visited Rosenborg Slot, one of the most beautiful Danish castles sited in Copenhagen.

Rosenborg Slot, in English Rosenborg Castle, is a renaissance castle in Copenhagen, Denmark

The castle was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606 and is an example of Christian IV's many architectural projects. It was built in the Dutch Renaissance style, typical of Danish buildings during this period, and has been expanded several times, finally evolving into its present condition by the year 1624. Architects Bertel Lange and Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger are associated with the structural planning of the castle.

The castle was used by Danish regents as a royal residence until around 1710. After the reign of Frederik IV, Rosenborg was used as a royal residence only twice, and both these times were during emergencies. The first time was after Christiansborg Palace burned down in 1794, and the second time was during the British attack on Copenhagen in 1801.

Located on the third floor, the Long Hall was completed in 1624. It was originally intended as a ballroom. Around 1700 it was used as Royal Reception Room and for banquets. It was not until the second half of the 19th century that it became known as the Knight's Hall.

Christian V had the hall partly modernised with twelve tapestries depicting the King's victories in the Scanian War (1675-1679). The stucco ceiling seen today is from the beginning of the 18th century. It shows the Danish Coat of Arms surrounded by the Orders of the Elephant and of Dannebrog. Side reliefs depict historical events from the first years of the reign of Frederik IV, including the liberation of the serfs, the founding of the dragoons and of the land militia among them. The frescos in the ceiling by Hendrick Krock, represent the Regalia.

Among the main attractions of Rosenborg are the coronation chair of the absolutist kings and the throne of the queens with the three silver lions standing in front. The Long Hall also contains a large collection of silver furniture, of which most is from the 17th century.

The castle is open to the public for tours and houses a museum exhibiting the Royal Collections, artifacts spanning a breadth of royal Danish culture, from the late 16th century of Christian IV to the 19th century. Some of these articles once belonged to the nobility and the aristocracy. The castle, now state property, was opened to the public in 1838.

Of special interest to tourists is a treasury displaying the Crown Jewels and the Danish Crown Regalia located in the castle. A Coronation Carpet is also stored there. The Throne Chair of Denmark is located in the castle. In the summer time, flowers bloom in front of the castle in the castle garden.

The castle is situated in Kongens Have (The King's Garden), also known as Rosenborg Castle Garden

The Rosenborg Castle Garden is the country's oldest royal garden and was embellished in the Renaissance style by Christian IV shortly before the construction of the main castle. Today, the gardens are a popular retreat for the people of Copenhagen, and attract an estimated 2.5 million visitors every year. Next to the castle are barracks where the Royal Life Guards is garrisoned. 

The Life Guard guards the castle.

More information: Den Kongelige Samling


 I love fairy tales because of 
their haunting beauty and magical strangeness. 
They are set in worlds where anything can happen. 
Frogs can be kings, a thicket of brambles 
can hide a castle where a royal court 
has lain asleep for a hundred years, 
a boy can outwit a giant, 
and a girl can break a curse with nothing 
but her courage and steadfastness.

Kate Forsyth