The Norwegians Row the Snake

Illustration by Wilhelm Wetlesen for Harald Hardrådes saga, Heimskringla 1899-edition: «Kvinner frå Nidaros står og ser på at skipet vert drive fram med sytti årer.»

Well, tonight is when it happens - Norway meets England in the World Cup. I have already pointed out in a previous blogpost that Erling Braut Haaland's namesake, the eleventh-century Erlingr Skjalgsson, said, before a battle, that 'eagles should fight face to face'. Since he was from the same part of Norway as today's Erling, I am sure that will happen tonight.

A lot of attention has been paid to the 'Viking Row' as practised by the Norwegian fans to encourage the team and by the team itself to celebrate. Indeed, a recent blogpost on the History Extra website by David Musgrove explains the origins of this phenomenon in the fact that (a) vikings did row and (b) they chanted while doing it. Part of the evidence cited is an old article by my PhD supervisor, Dr Richard Perkins (here is a link to a better version of the article, it's on pp. 155 ff.) on rowing chants. Now Richard was mainly interested in arguing that rowing chants were an important influence in the development of skaldic poetry, and particularly the version known as dróttkvætt, the metre in which most of the poetry in praise of Viking Age kings and chieftains was composed. The argument is long and complex but what is relevant here is that some of the poetry describes the rowing process on the way to battle.

Probably the best poem for understanding viking rowing and sailing is by Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, an Icelandic poet who composed in praise of the Norwegian king Haraldr Sigurðarson. Haraldr famously died in England in 1066, at the battle of Stamford Bridge (a non-football connection, that, since it was the one in Yorkshire, not Chelsea). Þjóðólfr's poem, which inspired the illustration above, describes Haraldr's war-fleet. The poem includes the following stanza, as edited and translated by Diana Whaley:

Sorgar veit, áðr slíti
sæfang ór mar strǫngum
herr, þars heldr til varra,
hár sjau tøgum ára.
Norðmeðr róa naðri
neglðum straum inn heglða
— úts, sem innan líti
arnarvæng — með jarni.

Anguish will be felt, before the troop whips the sea-gear [oar] out of the powerful sea, where the oarport holds [each of] the seventy oars in place for the stroke [lit. strokes]. The Norwegians row the snake [ship] nailed with iron on the hail-beaten current; [looking] out, it is like seeing an eagle’s wing from within.

I've always loved that last bit, that looking out of the ship while the men are rowing is 'like seeing an eagle's wing from within' - what a perfect image! It also fits nicely with Erlingr's rallying cry, as noted above, that 'eagles should fight face to face'. The idea of the ship as a snake or dragon is quite common in this poetry, derived, I think, not so much from the dragon figureheads on some ships, but from the slithering flexibility in the water of viking ships.

If Erling Braut Haaland is as interested in his Viking ancestry as seems to be the case, he would do well to read some of this eleventh-century poetry and draw some inspiration from that. So let's hope that tonight the Norwegians do indeed 'row the snake' to victory.