Early Viking History: Voluspa

Voluspa is the first poem contained in the Codex Regius manuscript of the Poetic Edda, written down around 1270 A.D. The book was discovered in Iceland in the Renaissance and presented to the Danish king in 1643. It was returned to Iceland in the 1960s.It is the only source for most of the poems it contains.

Brief Review of Dates• 2500 BCE Proto-Germans separate from Indo-

European groups and settle in southern Scandinavia. • 500 BCE Proto-Germans displace Celts in northern

Germany.• 120 BCE Germanic tribes Cimbri and Teutoni

invade Roman Empire.• 9 CE Cheruscan chieftain Arminius (Hermann)

defeats Roman legions commanded by Quintilius Varus, end of Roman attempts to conquer Germanic territory.

• 100 CE Tacitus writes Germania, describing the lands and tribes of Germany.

Dates of Völkerwanderung I• 341 Bishop Ulfilas converts Visigoths to Aryan

sect of Christianity, translates bible into Gothic.• 375 Huns appear in eastern Europe, overrun the

Ostrogothic King Ermenrichus. He is the basis for Jormunrek of the Volsungasaga. Beginning of dissolution of Roman Empire.

• 375 CE Migration Period begins with the arrival of the Huns.

• 378 Battle of Adrianople, defeat of Roman army by Gothic forces led by Fritigern. Roman borders are no longer secure after this battle.

Dates of Völkerwanderung II• 436 Romans and their allies the Huns battle

Burgundians in the Rheinland.• 437 Burgundian King Gundaharius dies. He is the

basis for Gunnar of the Volsungasaga.• 449 Angles, Saxons, and Jutes travel to Britain as

mercenaries (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).• 453 Attila the Hun dies (possibly) at the hands of his

new wife, the Germanic Ildico, a diminuitive form of Hild. Attila is the basis for the fictional Atli of the Volsungasaga, or Etzel of the Nibelungenlied.

Dates of Völkerwanderung III• 476 Scirian chieftain Odovacar deposes last Roman

Emperor, Romulus Augustulus; end of Roman Empire.

• 489 Theoderic (Dietrich von Bern) deposes Odovacar, establishes Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy. Hildebrand is one of Theoderic’s most famous retainers.

• c. 550 Migration Period ends.• Beginning of medieval societies and states in Europe.

Migration Routes of Germanic Tribes

Early Viking History I• 700 Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf composed. It

contains references to the Volsung legend.• 715 Willibrord leads first (unsuccessful) Christian

mission to southern Scandinavia. • 750 Swedish Vikings establish Staraja Ladoga, a

Viking colony in Russia. • 783 First Viking raid recorded in the Anglo-Saxon

Chronicle.• 793 Vikings loot monastery on Lindisfarne, the

Holy Island off the east coast of England.• After 795 Viking attacks on Ireland and Scotland

become almost annual events for the next century.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle• “A.D. 793 This year came dreadful forewarnings

over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully; these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine, and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter…”

Early Viking History II• 800 Earliest Skaldic poetry.

Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor, controls most of the European continent.

• 839 Swedish Vikings reach Constantinople.• 841Viking base of Dublin established in Ireland.• 844 First Viking raid on Spain. • 860 Swedish Vikings, the Rus, attack

Constantinople.• 862 Rurik, a Swedish Viking, becomes ruler of

Novgorod, establishes Rus dynasty (Russia). • 862 Finns and Slavs “invite” Rurik and the Rus to

rule over them, origin of Russian state.

Early Viking History III

• 870 Vikings begin settlement of Iceland.• 1000 Conversion of Iceland to Christianity. • 1066 Battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings: End

of the Viking Age.• 1125 Icelandic Landnamabok, Book of Settlements,

written, chronicles the Age of Settlement in Iceland.• 1200 Oldest Icelandic family sagas written. • 1220 Snorri Sturluson writes the Prose Edda. • 1270 Codex Regius manuscript of the Poetic Edda

written down.

Gokstad ship from Museum in Oslo, Norway

Voluspa“The Seeress’s Prophesy”

• Possibly a sacred text recording the central elements of Norse cosmology – a cosmogonic or aetiological poem.

• An ancient text, original material dates at least to the 10th century CE, when belief in the old gods was being supplanted by Christianity.

• Unclear if the author of the poems still believes in the gods.

• Two versions of text preserved; Snorri quotes extensively from the poem in his own Edda.

Voluspa• Written in fornyrdislag meter, typical for narrative

poems, especially heroic poems.x x x xHer ma Hodbroddr Helga kennax x x xFlotta traudan i flota midiom;x x x xhann hefir edli ættar thinnarx x x xarf Fiorsunga und sic thrungit.

Here Hodbrodd may recognize Helgi,The fighter who does not flee in the midst of the fleet;The homeland of your kin,The inheritance of the Fiorsungs he has conquered.

Voluspa• Odin interrogates a Volva, or shamaness /

seeress, about the doom of the gods.• Odin is a magician himself and is able to

compel her to speak, though she appears to do so reluctantly.

• She is able to see back to the beginning of time and forward to the end of time.

• She recounts aspects of several Norse myths known (at least partially) from other sources.

• Voluspa describes the world of the Norse:

The Norse Cosmos-Yggdrasil

The great ash tree and the three levels of the Norse cosmos.

• Creation of the Earth• Yggdrasil• Ymir• The Æsir and the

golden age of the gods• List of dwarfs• Creation of man and

woman, Ask and Embla

• Gullveig, a woman well versed in magic.

• War with Vanir• Death of Baldr• Fimbulvetr• Ragnarok• Death of Odin and

Thor• Rebirth after the Fire

Themes in Voluspa

Norse Cosmos / Origins• Ginnungagap, the realm between the ice of the

north (Niflheim, land of fog) and the fire of the south (Muspellheim), the fusion of both fire and ice engendered the first life.

• Frost giant Ymir. • Cow Audhumla, licks Buri from the frost.• Buri, his son Bur, who married the daughter of a

frost giant, Bestla, and she gave birth to the first gods, the brothers: Odin, Vili, and Ve.

• The 9 Worlds are fashioned from Ymir’s body.

Images of the three Norns at the Well of Urd – Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld (Fated, Becoming, Must-be)

I. Asgard• Yggdrasil – the mighty ash at the center of the

world.• Asgard is the home of the gods, realm of the Æsir.• Well of Urd. Three Norns have a hall beside the

well (Urd, Verdandi, Skuld).• Vanaheim – original home of the Vanir, now at

peace with the Æsir.• Alfheim – home of the elves, or bright elves.• Valhalla – hall of the slain warriors (Einheriar),

half chosen by Odin, others to Freja (Volkfangr).Vigrid – a vast plain, stretching 120 leagues in every direction, site of Ragnarok.

Asgard

The First Cow, Audhumla

Bifrost and the Norse Gods

II. Midgard• Midgard is the home of men (literally middle-earth).• Bifrost – the rainbow bridge (flaming bridge)

connects Midgard to Asgard.• Spring of Mimir – Odin sacrificed an eye to have a

single draught from it, wisdom.• Nidavellir – underground land of the dwarves,

dangerous magical goldsmiths. • Svartalfheim – home of black elves, very different

from bright elves! Dwarves?• Jotunheim – land of the Frost-Giants, located far to

the east and north, beyond mountains.

III. Niflheim• Niflheim is the realm of the dead (literally home

of fog) “9 days ride north and down.”• Hel – the offspring of Loki, half dead and half

living, also her tower/realm.• Spring of Hvergelmir – a source of 7 rivers, one

of the roots of Yggdrasil.• Nidhogg – giant dragon gnawing on the roots of

Yggdrasil, with many snakes as well.• Muspell – land of fire, located to the south.• Naglfari, largest ship ever built (of dead men’s

finger nails), is in Muspell, will appear at Ragnarok.

Voluspa Myths• (17) Ash and Embla, Man and Woman, made from

driftwood.• (20) Three girls, the three Norns or Fates• (21) The First War; Gullveig (Bright-One of the

Vanir–Freya?) arrives in Odin’s hall• (31) Death of Baldr foretold• (34) Binding of Loki, punishment for Baldr’s

death. Events preceding Ragnarok.• (43) Cock crows, signals beginning of Fimbulvetr.• (53) Æsir advance and die, Odin and Thor.• (59) Rebirth from the ashes, Baldr, Hænir, Hod.

Images of Ragnarok

List of Rig / Rigsthula

• Poem is concerned with explaining the beginnings of human society.

• An aetiological myth, explaining origins of class. • Heimdall calls himself “Rig,” a Celtic name for

king (like Latin rex). Originally Odin?• Heimdall visits three families and engenders three

classes of society, each given symbolic names.• Fragmentary poem breaks off after the appearance

of the child in the highest class, “king.”

Home of Great-Grandparents• They serve him a coarse loaf of bread and boiled

calf-meat.• He sleeps between the two for three nights.• Nine months later, Great-Grandmother has a boy

named “Thrall” (slave) who grows strong, but is ugly and dirty.

• Thrall marries “Slavegirl” and she gives birth to many ill-named sons and daughters (248).

• Thrall and Slavegirl and their family work hard in the fields and look after animals.

• From these two come the race of slaves.

Home of Grandparents• Their hut has more possessions and better

furnishings, with industrious owners who wear nice clothes.

• Heimdall sleeps between the two for the next three nights, then leaves.

• Nine months later, Grandmother gives birth to “Farmer,” who is rosy-cheeked and grows strong and capable.

• He marries a pretty girl called “daughter-in-law” and has many sons and daughters with beautiful and happy names (249).

• From these descend the race of farmers—the vast majority of freemen belonged to this class.

Home of Parents• Wealthy owners of last home, man busy

with weapons and woman with fine dress.

• They serve him an elegant meal, with silver dishes and wine, roast birds and light pork.

• Heimdall sleeps between mother and father for three nights.

• Nine months later, Mother gives birth to “Lord,” a dashing young boy, who learns to make and use weapons, hunt, and swim.

Lord and Kin• Rig (Heimdall) reappears to young Lord, teaches him runes,

gives him a name, tells him that he is his son.• Rig tells Lord he must reclaim his ancestral territory.• Lord rides to a hall, begins a battle, reddens the plain with

blood as he fights for his land.• He rules over many settlements, bestows wealth to his

followers, gains honor and prestige.• He marries Erna, daughter of Chieftain, who gives birth to

sons and daughters with noble names (251).• Youngest son, Kin, understands runes and magic, speaks

with birds and charms them. A raven tells Kin he should be leading armies instead of hunting.

• Final line mentions “Dan,” legendary king of Denmark.