Viking Age England

by Julian D Richards

  The variety of burial rites is exposed most clearly by the excavations under York Minster (Philips and Heywood 1995). A cemetery was established on the site of the Roman basilica, beneath the south transept of the present Minster, in the early ninth century. Its limits were apparently defined by the bases of the outer walls of the old Roman headquarters building, and a Roman road which continued in use as a routeway. The Anglo-Saxon church probably lay to the south-west. Over 150 burials have been excavated, with roughly equal numbers of males and females. Less than 10 per cent of the burials were in coffins. One was in a lidded stone coffin with a recess for the head; up to six may have been in wooden coffins constructed of planks, and four were buried in wooden domestic storage chests, comprising one adult female, two adult males, one with a coin of 841-8, and an adolescent with traces of gold thread from a fine costume. There were also seven cist-type graves, including the use of pillow stones, and one corpse laid on a bed of mortar. Two of the bodies appear to have been placed upon wooden biers, rather than in coffins. The first was an adult male lying between two rows of clench nails which held together the oak planks of a wool-caulked clinker construction. Pillow stones had been positioned to support the head. This grave was also exceptional in that it was aligned east-west, unlike the others which followed the Roman building alignment. The second body laid on a bier was a child, aged 4-6. The rest of the York burials were simply placed in holes in the grounds, generally in oval-shaped cuts, without coffins or shrouds.

  Twelve of the York burials were, however, placed on a bed of charcoal. They included both coffined and uncoffined burials. In just one case the charcoal had been laid over the body; otherwise the body was laid on the charcoal. These were not the latest burials and this must be seen as a particular custom reserved for a subset of burials. Charcoal burials are known from other cathedral cemeteries, including Exeter, Hereford, Oxford and Worcester, and appear to range in date from the ninth to the twelfth centuries. Charcoal may have served the practical function of soaking up fluids from a decaying corpse and avoiding unpleasant smells, but it seems to have been reserved for those of special status; perhaps it was thought to preserve the body from corruption. At Hereford all the burials inside the church were given a charcoal lining.

  Twelve of the York Minster burials were marked by recumbent carved stone slabs (plate 21). A few had separate head- and/or foot-stones, including cut-down shafts, or fragments of earlier recumbent slabs. Most had a single recumbent slab decorated on the top only, including two of hogback form (see chapter 11). One adult male was buried under a re-used inscribed Roman memorial to which an Anglo-Saxon inscription had been added. These graves must certainly represent some of the elite of York who chose to be buried at their Minster church. It is impossible to say if they were Vikings or Anglo-Saxons, although several incorporate Scandinavian iconography, such as Sigurd and Wayland the Smith, indicating at least that Scandinavian influence had been absorbed (plate 22). Guthrith, one of the early Viking rulers of York, was buried in York Minster. One can say that at least two of the memorials marked the graves of children, aged 3-5 and 10-12, which is an interesting statement of how high status could be achieved in Viking York. Apparently some were born to it.

  Cemeteries developed around all Saxon Cathedral churches and burials have been found during work on many sites, including Carlisle, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, London, North Elmham, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Winchester and Worcester, as well as York. Their use as burial places probably followed from their function as shrines and resting places for the bodies or relics of holy saints. Those seeking salvation hoped to benefit by being buried in proximity to a holy relic. At North Elmham 194 eleventh-century graves were excavated within a fenced enclosure. All were aligned west-east with their heads in the west. There was no clear evidence of coffins, no trace of grave-markers, and no grave-goods. At the Castle Green, Hereford, 87 burials were excavated from a much larger cemetery dating from the seventh to the twelfth centuries. The burials were initially around a timber church which was replaced by a stone structure in the eleventh century. The method of corpse disposal appears to have been particularly important in the ninth and tenth centuries: of 18 burials, 13 were in charcoal, 12 in coffins, and 4 had pillow stones (Shoesmith 1980).

  In summary, the apparent shortage of obvious Scandinavian style burials over much of the Danelaw has to be set against the variety of new burial rites, including the use of commemorative monuments (chapter 11). As Anglo-Saxon and Viking cultures came into contact, new identities were forged. In some cases, such as the north-west and in specific circumstances elsewhere (such as Heath Wood), these comprised the maintenance and even development of a distinctive Viking identity. Elsewhere it was expedient for the newcomers to align themselves with existing elite practices, or to invent new ones.

  From the burial evidence it appears that the new identity frequently included adoption of Christianity. Haraldr Bluetooth claimed that he was the first to make the Danes Christian, sometime in the second half of the tenth century. If this was indeed the start of a top-down process, whereby kings encouraged their subjects to take up new religions, then those Danes settling in England a hundred years earlier would have arrived as pagans. Norway and Sweden were each converted to Christianity later than Denmark; and the strength of paganism amongst the Hiberno-Norse may be reflected in the accompanied burials of the Irish Sea area, and north-west England. Elsewhere Viking leaders may have considered it politic to abandon pagan practices in order to win favour with the native population. Guthrum agreed to be baptised in order to make peace with Ælfred, after having been defeated by him at the Battle of Eddington. Pagan merchants undertook baptism in order to do business with their Christian counterparts. Pagan settlers were baptised in order to take Christian English wives.

  Scandinavian settlers were particularly adaptable to local circumstances, and so was their religion. Paganism was not an organised religion like Christianity. The Pantheon was sufficiently flexible to admit the Christian God, especially since Anglo-Saxon writers endowed Christ with heroic qualities. As we shall see in the next chapter, memorial crosses bearing combinations of pagan and Christian motifs appear in northern England from the mid-tenth century, and Scandinavian settlers began to build churches. Yet the stone sculpture suggests that the conversion was just a little pragmatic and not altogether complete. As late as the reign of Knutr it was felt necessary to condemn the activities of wizards and to forbid the worship of ‘idols, heathen gods, the sun or moon, fire or flood, springs, and stones or any kind of woodland tree’. Many present-day folk practices still contain fragments of pagan ceremonies, perhaps still preserving today Scandinavian rituals which once existed.

  11

  MONUMENTS IN STONE

  One of the most durable forms of evidence of Viking Age England are the Anglo-Scandinavian stone monuments which can be found in many churches and churchyards, especially in Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. Yet whilst the animal ornament and iconography is in a Scandinavian style, the erection of stone crosses was not a Scandinavian tradition.

  Viking Age sculpture represents a special blend of Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon and Celtic traditions. Although rune-stone memorials were erected in several parts of Scandinavia, and Gotland is famous for its picture-stones, there were no stone carvings in Scandinavia until the end of the tenth century. In England, however, there was a flourishing Anglo-Saxon tradition of stone sculpture. Elaborately decorated architectural stonework and standing stone crosses are found at early monastic sites (Lang 1988). Many crosses may have been grave-markers but some appear to have been memorials to saints, or boundary markers. Stone sarcophagi and decorated recumbent stone slabs were also sometimes used to mark particularly wealthy graves.

  Scandinavian settlers in the Danelaw embraced the Christian tradition of erecting stone memorials to the dead and developed it as their own. Anglo-Scandinavian crosses are particularly prevalent at sites where there was already Anglo-S
axon sculpture, suggesting less disruption to ecclesiastical sites than is often assumed. At the monastery church at Lastingham (North Yorkshire), the crypt contains sculpture decorated in both Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian styles. It has been estimated that 60 per cent of Yorkshire sites with Anglo-Saxon sculpture also have Anglo-Scandinavian sculpture; in Cumbria, of 15 sites with Anglo-Saxon sculpture, 12 also have Anglo-Scandinavian crosses. The patrons may have changed but it appears the local masons still found employment. Some continuity is also apparent in the styles of ornament used. Although Anglo-Scandinavian sculpture borrows decorative styles and motifs that can be found throughout the Viking world, there are also Anglo-Saxon elements in the design. The vine scrolls at Middleton, Brompton and Leeds, for example, are clearly derived from those on the earlier Anglo-Saxon crosses at Ruthwell and Bewcastle. The organisation of decoration into distinct panels was also an Anglo-Saxon practice rather than a Scandinavian stylistic trait.

  However, by the Viking Age, stone memorials are found at five times as many places as in the eighth and ninth centuries. In Cumbria there are 115 monuments of the tenth and eleventh centuries from 36 sites. In Yorkshire there are approximately 500 monuments at over 100 locations, about 80 per cent of which may be dated to the Viking Age. Some are concentrated at known religious centres but Anglo-Scandinavian sculpture has also been identified at numerous sites where there is no Anglo-Saxon work. These sites represent an expansion in the number of centres commissioning crosses from the tenth century onwards. This increase corresponds with the decline of monastic patronage, and the transfer of resources to a new secular aristocracy. These were prosperous landholders, particularly those farming the rich agricultural land of the Vales of York and Pickering. Christian crosses now came under secular influence as the new local elite employed them to signify their status and their allegiances.

  Tenth-century sculpture in the Danelaw is therefore different from the sculpture that preceded it, not only in terms of ornamentation, but also in terms of location and function, since much more is clearly funerary. These monuments represent individual aristocratic burials. At most churches in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire there is sculpture from only one or two monuments, and David Stocker has suggested that many of these crosses were the founding monuments in a new generation of parochial graveyards. However, there are a number of churches with many more sculptures. These are frequently located in trading places, such as Marton-on-Trent, Bicker and St Mark’s and St Mary-le-Wigford, in what has been termed the ‘strand’ of Lincoln (Stocker 2000). These exceptional graveyards may belong to unusual settlements occupied primarily by mercantile elites.

  In Ryedale, where most Anglo-Saxon churches contain Anglo-Scandinavian crosses, these include a distinct group of so-called warrior crosses, such as those at Levisham, Weston, Sockburn, and Middleton (North Yorkshire). The Middleton warrior was once thought to represent a pagan Viking warrior lying in his grave, but is now seen as an Anglo-Scandinavian lord seated on his gift-stool or throne and surrounded by his symbols of power (17). Regional patterns in ornamentation, form and iconography, as well as reflecting locations of schools of sculptural production, may also reflect regional power groups, in which lords signalled their allegiances and status through commissioning particular types of sculpture. A uniformity of style and ornament can be identified across the whole of eighth-century Anglo-Saxon Northumbria, maintained by a common monastic tradition and inter-monastic contact. This was broken down in the ninth and tenth centuries after the Viking immigration, with the development of identifiable local sculptural traditions and workshops (see chapter 7).

  17 The Middleton Cross was extracted from the church fabric in 1948. It was once thought to represent a Viking warrior lying in his grave but is now generally interpreted as a warrior-lord sitting on his gift-stool or throne. The pellets above his shoulders are part of the chair. He is wearing a pointed helmet and carries a long knife, or scramasax, at his belt. He is surrounded by his symbols of power, including spear, sword, axe and shield.

  In the coastal areas of north-west Cumbria, for example, there is a concentration of circle-headed crosses. The distribution is centred on the Viking colonies of the western seaboard between Anglesey and northern Cumbria and illustrates the importance of coastal links. An outlier at Gargrave (North Yorkshire) suggests that settlers in the upper river valleys may have originated from the west rather than the east.

  In Yorkshire, the grave slabs excavated at York Minster served as a model for many Yorkshire stone monuments, although the motifs were borrowed and modified in Ryedale and other areas. In Ryedale, for instance, the crosses at Kirkbymoorside, Middleton and Levisham all share the same peculiar style of cross head, with a raised outer crest on a ring connecting the arms. The sculptors frequently combined new with old elements. In York the tenth-century sculptors promoted original Anglo-Scandinavian-style designs as well as maintaining continuity with Anglian traditions. Most of the Yorkshire crosses were probably carved not in the initial phase of Scandinavian settlement, but in the period 900-50, after the expulsion of the Norse from Dublin, during the period in which Yorkshire was under strong Hiberno-Norse influence (Lang 1978; 1991). After the expulsion of Erik Bloodaxe in 954, York metropolitan sculpture developed more under Mercian influence, while Ryedale sculpture became introverted and insular with little evidence for further external influence (Walsh 1994).

  18 The Gosforth Cross, Cumbria (after Collingwood). The cross, which stands 4.2m (14ft) high, was cut from a single piece of red sandstone. Its pictures exploit the links and contrasts between Scandinavian and Christian theology. On one side there is a Crucifixion scene in which Mary Magdalene appears dressed as a Valkyrie, with a trailing dress and long pigtail. On the other sides scenes from Ragnarok are depicted, at the moment when the gods’ enemies, the forces of evil, break loose from their restraining bonds. The Fenris wolf is seen escaping from his bonds to attack Odin. The evil god Loki is seen chained beneath a venomous serpent whilst his wife catches poison in a cup. Heimdal, watchman of the gods, is also depicted with his spear and horn. In the ensuing battle monsters and gods perish as earthquake and fire sweep all away. From this chaos emerges a new cleansed world

  In Lincolnshire the tenth-century sculpture also represents the remains of grave markers set up to commemorate the founding burials in a new generation of parish graveyards (Everson and Stocker 1999). This new burial fashion reaches Lincolnshire slightly later than Yorkshire; all the crosses were erected between 930-1030, and most can be dated 950-1000. These are again derived from Hiberno-Norse prototypes in Yorkshire, north-west England and the Isle of Man.

  In the Peak District area of Derbyshire, Anglian origins of the sculptural tradition are again reflected in the use of round shafts to the crosses. The majority of the Derbyshire crosses have been dated between 910-50. They demonstrate an Anglo-Scandinavian domination of political landscape, but it has been suggested that the level of continuity of design also indicates an acceptance of the West Saxon overlord and his Church (Sidebottom 2000).

  Outside the Danelaw there are fewer examples of Viking Age sculpture, although examples from St Oswald’s Priory (Gloucester), Ramsbury (Wiltshire) and Bibury (Gloucestershire) do indicate the spread of Scandinavian taste into southern England in the tenth and eleventh centuries. In Cornwall, Scandinavian motifs appear occasionally, such as at Sancreed, Temple Moor, Padstow and Cardynham, displaying links with the Irish Sea area. The Isle of Man has one of the greatest concentrations of Viking Age sculpture, with 48 crosses produced in a relatively short time span of c.930-1020.

  ICONOGRAPHY

  The iconography of the Scandinavian crosses illustrates the close links of the Irish Sea area in the Viking Age (Bailey 1980). The same motifs and stories are frequently depicted in the Isle of Man and Yorkshire. The ring chain ornament seen on Gautr’s cross on the Isle of Man, for example, is also found in Cumbria, Northumbria and North Wales. Other Manx motifs, such as a distinctive style of knotwork tendril, d
isplay links with Yorkshire, particularly Barwick-in-Elmet and Spofforth, and there are further similarities with crosses in Aberford, Collingham, Saxton, and Sinnington all suggesting a great deal of contact and movement between the Isle of Man and Yorkshire (Walsh 1994). The hart-and-hound motif is found on the Isle of Man and in Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire. The bound devil depicted at Kirkby Stephen (Cumbria) has parallels in similar figures from Maughold on the Isle of Man. The legend of Sigurd is also a popular scene in both areas, suggesting a shared set of beliefs and traditions.

  Although most monuments are purely Christian, with the Crucifixion being the most popular scene, Christian, pagan and secular subjects are all depicted. In many cases Christian and pagan stories are combined by the sculptor, giving a Christian twist to a pagan tradition. One of the most startling examples is the Gosforth Cross (18) which has the Crucifixion depicted on one side whilst scenes from Ragnorok are shown on the others. The popularity of Sigurd on many crosses stems from his use to honour the dead, but Sigurd’s struggle with the dragon Fafnir also provides a link with heroic Christian themes. On a grave slab from York Minster (plate 22) Sigurd is depicted poised to stab the dragon. A panel from the cross at Nunburnholme (East Yorkshire) in which Sigurd has been recarved over a Eucharistic scene may be drawing attention to the Sigurd feast as a pagan version of the Eucharist. The heroic figure Weland, the flying smith, is another popular theme with subtle ambiguities. At Leeds (West Yorkshire) he is related to angels, and the eagle of St John.