I'm a bit foggy on the literature of this period. I realize that BEOWULF features Scandinavian characters, but that's about the limit of my knowledge.
So I'm curious:
Did the Vikings bring their own literature?
Were their exploits recorded by Anglo-Saxon writers (other than historians)?
Were there any working Viking writers residing in England during that time?
Any guidance would be very appreciated.
Did the Vikings bring their own literature? Were there any working Viking writers residing in England during that time?
Catalogue of the Skaldic poets who composed the Old Norse praising poem at the royal court of Scandinavian rulers, called Skáldatal, record eight poets who served Cnut the Great (r. 1035) who became the king of England as well as Denmark. Since researchers suppose that Cnut mainly stayed in England rather than Scandinavia during his lifetime, we can surmise that some of these skalds (skaldic poets) took a visit in Cnut's court in England and dedicated the poem to Cnut also in front of his Scandinavian retinue as well as some of his English couriers (Townend 2001).
While I'm not so positive about the possibility for the English courtier to understand the Old Norse poem with complicated literary metaphors and meters fully, the atmosphere of the royal court with such a kind of warrior poems might well affect the surrounding English people at that time.
Some of well-known "Viking Art", alleged stone sculptures of Old North mythical figures were also produced in northern England, though the provenance is rather early 10th century than the 11th century Anglo-Dane period. It is often supposed that the Danish settlers took some oral traditions of Old North myths, though researchers have still debated the exact context of how these tradition left trace on the stone carving in the local church (Kopár 2013). Carvings on the Gosforth Cross is probably the best known examples, but entry on the popular blog is perhaps not so good introduction on the possible interpretation of these carvings.
While I don't want to discuss the historicity of the saga of the Icelanders (narrating the alleged deeds of the Icelanders from the settlement to Iceland in the late 9th century to the middle of the 11th century) as well as their protagonists here in details, Egil's saga (written in the early 13th century) also narrates the visit of the story's protagonist and skald poet, Egill Skallagrímsson (10th century), into several ruler's courts in England (not just Scandinavian settlers' ones).
As for the writer, however, the trend might have also been found in the the opposite direction - the later traditions mention that the English clergy was recruited by several Scandinavian rulers into the missionary field in Scandinavia, with their knowledge of Latin alphabets (as well as liturgical manuals). Some of the first silver coins produced in Scandinavia around the turn of the millennium by the authority of the king of emerging Nordic kingdoms also imitated the late Anglo-Saxon style, sometimes produced by the moneyer with Old English name. It could mean that Scandinavian rulers probably also recruit Anglo-Saxon moneyers to produce the silver coin (with Anglo-Saxon style portrait of the ruler with some relevant texts) in the newly founded town in Scandinavia.
Were their exploits recorded by Anglo-Saxon writers (other than historians)?
In addition to the fragmentary but very famous Old English poem Battle of Maldon (linked to the online translation) whose topic was the battle fought between the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxon local army in 991, homilies and hagiographies are perhaps the best field among the literature produced in Viking Age England.
Archbishop Wulfstan of York (d. 1023) is the key figure of so-called "Second/ Late Viking Age" in England, since he authored several key texts in several genres, and further, served both King Aethelred II and Cnut the Great. His homily, Sermo lupi ad Anglos (1016). epitomizes the apocalyptic atmosphere among the English clergy around the end of the millennium the best - the sinfulness of the English people was probably responsible for the God's anger and inviting the Danish Vikings (again) to England, so people should atone their sin by prayer to the God - that is the main message of his work.
Do you also know that some (or in fact, almost all) of the Ragnarsson brothers featured in the drama series of the Vikings/ Last Kingdom appeared first in the later English traditions rather than Scandinavian versions? Their early tradition developed in the saint's life (hagiography) featured St. Edmund of East Anglia, martyred in the midst of Viking attacks in 869/870 and recorded on the parchments also in the Late 10th/ early 11th centuries at first. Ubba/ Ubbe was in fact the favorite villain (or scape-goat of the violence caused by the Vikings) among the English authors at that time and later (Ellis 2020: 5).
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