Last November when I was in Ireland I was lucky enough to see the
Viking warrior ship “Sea Stallion” at the National Museum in Dublin.
It had sailed from Denmark to Dublin last summer, down the river Liffey and hoisted by crane out of the water to the courtyard of the museum.
The “Sea Stallion” will make its 1,400 nautical mile journey home to Denmark at noon on June 29th. I have included the web link so you’ll be able to get the full story and follow the “Sea Stallion” home.
The following piece is about the Vikings in Ireland and the story of Thor’s Hammer. Wishing you all a great summer and hope to see you in Bar Harbor. Slainte, Linda
Don’t forget to check out the web link:
http://www.havhingsten.dk/index.php?id=277&L=1
VIKINGS
The first Viking raid occurred in 795, when Vikings plundered the monastery on Lambay Island, off the Dublin coast. Initially they came in small parties and make surprise attacks on places along the coast then sailed away with their plunder. Even though Dublin is often considered a Viking city it was in existence for a long time before their arrival. According to legend St. Patrick visited Dublin in 450AD and baptized some of their citizens at a well situated in what is now the grounds of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
At least nine churches were established in the Dublin area before the arrival of the Vikings, and the place was significant enough in 660AD for the Pope to appoint a Bishop of Dublin – despite the fact that it appears to have been little more than a village at the time.
In 837AD an event took place, which ensured that the village would become a city. In that year 60 Vikings ships sailed up the river Liffey and spied out the lie of the land. They were impressed and four years later established a fortress at Dubh Linn, which means “black pool” in the Irish language.
For more than 1000 years after this Dublin was a foreign stronghold in Ireland under the Vikings, the Normans and finally the British until independence in 1922.
The Irish were no match for the warring Vikings and were unable to defend themselves against the superior weaponry of the invaders. Nor had they organized armies or fleets and in fact there was a lack of unity in the country, which was divided up by the quarrelling of the provincial kings.
At the start of the Viking period the Irish monasteries consisted of the earthen enclosures containing a church, various outbuildings and the monks’ residences. The Vikings found that it was very easy to ransack these largely defenseless settlements. In time, the monks learned how to frustrate the Vikings, by building tall stone towers known as Round Towers. The door was placed one floor up, accessible only by a ladder. Inside the tower each floor was accessed further only by ladders. If Vikings were sighted, the monks would grab as much food and valuables as they could, climb into the tower and pull up the ladder. The Vikings would then raid the empty monastery while the monks watched from the safety of the tower. Even if the Vikings did get into the tower, the monks simply retreated further up the tower by pulling up more ladders. Such a strategy did not save the monastery itself, but did save the monks and some of their belongings from being captured. Round towers were constructed across Ireland, a large number of which are still intact today.
But after about 830, the Vikings changed their tactics. They became bolder and sailed up the river to plunder inland places. They set up bases and attacked the surrounding countryside. They also began to settle in the country as the climate was more clement, particularly in winter, than their more northerly homelands. They founded the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Wexford, Waterford, and Wicklow. These were the first towns of Ireland and the Vikings quickly began to develop them as trade centers.
They traded all over the know world from Dublin which was then the slave export to the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa. The sale of blonde and blue eye female slaves made a lot of money when sold to Arab and African customers. When the Vikings of Dublin became Christians this terrible trade in human lives ceased around 960AD.
The controversial excavations at Wood Quay in central Dublin revealed countless artifacts from as far a field as Russia, China, Constantinople and North Africa proving that commerce did in fact take place with these countries among others.
A number of Viking kings ruled Dublin and the most famous of them was Sitric Silkbeard. He was a shrewd man and when King Brian Boru at the Battle of Clontarf finally defeated the Vikings in 1014, he had refused to let his men join in the fighting. As a result he was allowed to keep his position as King of Dublin and one of the most memorable feats he is responsible for the founding of Christchurch Cathedral in approximately 1028.
Thor’s Hammer
Mjollnir was Thor’s magic golden hammer. The hammer came about when Loki cut off the hair of Thor’s goddess wife Sif. To save his life from the angry thunder god, Loki traveled to the land of the dwarfs where the Sons of Ivaldi made new hair for Sif out of strands of magical gold. They also made a magical golden long boat for Frey and the magical golden war spear Gungnir of Odin the Allfather. On the way back to Asgard, Loki visited the dwarfs Brokk and Eitri and entered a dangerous bet. Loki bet that his gifts for the gods from the Sons Of Ivaldi were better than gifts that Brokk and Eitri could make, and offered his head should he lose. Brokk and Eitri took the bet and started work right away. Loki grew worried and turned himself into a horsefly to watch the two work. As they made their first item, Loki bit Brokk on the hand so that he could not fan the fire heating the forge, but Brokk didn’t notice and finished a fine magical golden boar named Gullinbur for the god Frey.
Brokk and Eitri started work on the second item and Loki bit Brokk on the neck to stop him from fanning the fire, but Brokk didn’t notice and finally they finished a magical golden arm ring for Odin, named Draupnir. Brokk and Eitri started work on the final item and when they were almost finished Loki bit Brokk on the eyelid. Brokk stopped fanning the fire to wipe the blood out of his eye just long enough for the fire to cool down to much to finish the third item, a magical golden hammer for Thor, called Mjollnir. It was a good hammer, but the handle was just a little too short.
Mjollnir won the bet for Brokk and Eitri because it would hit any object Thor would throw it at and return to his hand, but Brokk could not collect Loki’s head because it would mean cutting Loki’s neck, and his neck was not part of the deal. So Brokk sewed Loki’s mouth shut to teach him a lesson on when to use it, and most importantly, when not to.
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