"How the Viking got his horns" Topic
11 Posts
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Tango01 | 04 May 2014 9:20 p.m. PST |
"Roberta Frank has shown how the ‘traditional' horned helmet came to be associated with the Vikings. Carl Doepler was the costume designer for Wagner's first Bayreuth production of Ring des Nibelungen in 1876, and he created a simple horned helmet for the production. The fate of the horned helmet was sealed. Where previously it had been the preserve of the Ancient Briton or Gaul, now it was firmly associated with the Viking brand in the popular consciousness. Nowadays we know better. Vikings did not have horns on their helmets. Nevertheless, Vikings are still depicted as wearing horned helmets in many places, especially in advertising, as a quick trawl of Google for Viking-related business names shows. It is an immediately recognisable brand that can be used for a range of products to indicate various attributes of that product. I do struggle to understand the reasoning behind Viking Scaffolding, but Viking River Cruises and Viking Taxis do make some sense
" Full article here. link Amicalement Armand |
jowady | 04 May 2014 9:42 p.m. PST |
Interesting theory but the characters in Wagner's works aren't Vikings. |
Wombling Free | 05 May 2014 3:30 a.m. PST |
@jowady: Did you actually read the blog post? And have you read Roberta Frank's article? It's available on Scribd: link It's worth reading the background before you start decrying the theories. |
T Meier | 05 May 2014 7:55 a.m. PST |
It's strange how these things get started. Before I did High Elves for Ral Partha, elves were depicted as medieval looking, like Robin Hood's merry men. I decided they should look more sophisticated so I added elements from Italian late medieval and early Renaissance (figuring they were the most sophisticated, cultured medieval types) most notably a helmet called a Barbute which resembles the ancient Greek Corinthian helmet. Other sculptors apparently liked the look and copied it but thinking it was the Greek version they added other Greek elements. The look eventually ended up in the LOTR film. So it just goes to show if you get in early enough and get the snowball rolling there's no telling where it will end up. |
jowady | 05 May 2014 9:31 a.m. PST |
Wukong yes I read it, don't buy it. Especially since artistic illustrations of Vikings with horned helmets predate Wagner. I have an old book published in 1843 showing horned Viking Helmets. Also as the Ring Cycle is based in Germany ( the Rhine Maidens, Das Rheingold and all the rest) I really don't see a jump to the Vikings. Wagner wrote these operas as a celebration of German Nationalism and a throwback to pre-Christian Germanic tradition. So much so that the Nazis and Hitler embraced the Ring as Nazi Propaganda. |
Wombling Free | 05 May 2014 10:28 a.m. PST |
Wukong yes I read it Frank's article, the blog post or both? I have an old book published in 1843 showing horned Viking Helmets. What's the book, and would it be possible to post a pic of the horned helmets from it as well as some context for the illustration please? Frank identifies plenty of examples of Germanic types with horned helmets but not specifically Vikings (Scandinavians living between 800-1100), except for one illustration from 1851, until the look appears to have been popularised by Wagner. After Wagner, she notes the sudden proliferation of the motif. The key here is that isolated examples might have been around prior to Wagner but his usage of them placed them firmly in the popular consciousness. Regarding the Ring Cycle referencing the Vikings, Frank makes the point clear on the first page of her article. Wagner's Ring Cycle is not a wholly German product, even though it is based on the Nibelungenlied, and was, as you write, a celebration of German nationalism. Instead it mixes in Norse and German motifs. |
jowady | 05 May 2014 1:09 p.m. PST |
Unfortunately I can't scan at the moment but it's mentioned in this article ( mine is a later edition) as well as the pre Wagner tradition of horned and winged helmets; "How did the priests' headdress get transferred to intrepid Viking warriors? Blame artists, not archaeologists or historians. The Viking got his horned and winged helmets during the Romantic period (late 1700s to mid-1800s). Romantic artists rejected the constraints of Classicism and started to explore, among other themes, ancient Germanic and Celtic history and mythology. These artists weren't always careful about the details and sometimes depicted a hodgepodge of Germanic, Celtic, and classical motifs. (Would you believe a Viking driving a chariot?) Romantic artists gave Vikings Celtic-style winged helmets before they got horned ones. In the 1820s the Swedish artist Gustav Malmström was the first to give horns to Vikings, as opposed to pre-Viking Germans like the Cimbri. He did so in illustrations for an edition of Frithiof's Saga (1820-25). This Swedish poem by Esaias Tegnér was based on a poor excuse for an Old Icelandic prose saga written at a time when the once great saga tradition was beginning its long sad descent into what E. V. Gordon called the "turgid monotony of the fourteenth-century tales of kings, queens, and knights in fantastic adventure." Tegnér's sappy reworking was unaccountably popular and influential around the world. The various English translations were largely responsible for popularizing the word Viking in English." |
Wombling Free | 05 May 2014 1:51 p.m. PST |
Thanks for the quote. I'm familiar with that article in its various internet incarnations. It actually cites Frank's article and does note that the popularisation of the horned helmet happened after Wagner, which was really Frank's point. There is no doubt that some horned helmets existed before the Ring Cycle was produced but winged helmets dominated. Are you aware of any academic articles that refute Frank's point? I'll look out for Malmström's work in Tegnér, but would still be grateful if you can scan the image at some point, because my library only carries translations of Tegnér, and I am always looking for more material like this. It's probably worth pointing out that Frithiofs saga is not really Viking though. It derives from Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna, which is a legendary saga dealing with the period before the Viking Age. I presume this is why Frank did not include Malmström's illustrations in her article. She cannot be unaware of the saga, given her academic weight in the field. And now back to contemplating the horned helmet as Viking beer hat
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jowady | 05 May 2014 2:24 p.m. PST |
I didn't mean to say the article had no merit. Wagner's Ring is a powerful artistic piece and I don't think that anyone (including me) says it has no influence. My point was that there were plenty of Pre-Wagner depictions. Thanks, it was nice to put my Art History undergraduate classes to use for a change. And I will admit to an unfortunate fascination with the ring when I was a sophomore in High School, we played many dungeon crawls to Wagner. Fortunately when I was a Junior I discovered girls and Mozart. |
Wombling Free | 06 May 2014 5:51 a.m. PST |
My point was that there were plenty of Pre-Wagner depictions. There are certainly plenty of depictions of Germanic and Scandinavian warriors with horns. My point/question is one of definition. Are those depictions of Vikings (meaning warriors from c.800 to c.1100) or are they depictions of pre-Viking warriors? In the case of Thrithiof, that is a pre-Viking warrior, not a Viking warrior. It's a problem of vocabulary. We say 'Viking' these days and automatically associate it with Scandinavians from around the Viking Age, but the term is used loosely, whereas for academic purposes it is quite tightly defined. Another thought occurs to me. Do we default to identifying these pre-Viking Scandinavian warriors as Vikings because they have horns on their helmets? Are our conclusions directed by this visual signal that we have grown up with? Does Art History have anything to say on this? I too had a youthful fascination with the Ring. I even watched the entire Bayreuth production when it was broadcast back in the eighties. I still like it, although my operatic tastes have expanded significantly since then. It certainly fitted my teen angst nicely. :) |
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