Svend's Transatlantic Empire

arctic warrior

The storyteller looked around making sure everybody was listening.
Assured, he then began his tale: Many years ago the Devil himself appeared among men – Karl, king of the Franks! The Devil came out of Francia attacking our brethren in Saxony. The Duke, Widukind, fought the Devil until he too had to succumb and accept the Catholic baptism. Our noble king Sigfred wielding his sword aided Widukind and after his acceptance of baptism kept his word to the Saxons aiding their final fight against the Devil.
The little children huddled together getting comfort from their older brothers and sisters and the men grunted and nodded their heads in approval.
The storyteller continued: Seeing the distress of our Saxon kin Sigfred sent his dragons (long-ships) towards the Devils spawn in Angelland to raid their shores and kill them at random – the supporters of the Devil and the Catholic bishops.
The storyteller was becoming agitated by now, but a sudden thud of a weaving stone falling to the floor had everybody jump! An old man turned his head: woman! Don’t scare the children!
The woman smiled, picked up the stone and turned towards the weave. Everybody laughed.
The children were sent to bed in the hay upon the loft over the animals and the men drew together talking about the state of affairs.
 

arctic warrior

Excerpt of: “Danes, Swedes and Norwegians in the New World”, Copenhagen 1972.
Any enemy of Charlemagne was the enemy of Sigfred, especially after the betrayal of Widukind who had received the Catholic baptism. When Charlemagne attacked the Bajuvarians Sigfred sent his ships towards Charlemagne’s allies among the Angels and Saxons in Britannia, killing the Kings official in Dorset. Other raids followed and at the beginning of the last Saxon uprising in the year of the lord 793 King Sigfred had ordered that any noble were allowed to prepare ship and go for plunder in Angelland, paying a tenth of the spoils to the King and thus be known as the Kings navigator.
But the Charlemagne grew weary of the attacks especially when they began plundering his part of the Channel coast and Friesland, the Frisians only been pacified a decade before. But now their shipbuilding skills were required and Charlemagne promised freedom for any Frisian supplying ships and crew and a reward to any man killing Norman raiders. Those not able to build ships were made build castles instead and thus defend their and their Kings lands.
Alcuin the angle was sending letters to Charlemagne’s allies in Britannia urging them to defend themselves and stop their infighting. All must unite to repel the invaders. But the rulers of Angels and Saxons didn’t listen to his advice continuing their infighting for supremacy of their Island. Not until years after the death of Alcuin and in the late years of Charlemagne did they come to their senses and did stop their infighting and killing of each other. Eanred of Northumbria understood Alcuins warnings and began to build castles and ships to fight the Normans. Also Ecberth of Wessex, son-in-law of Charlemagne, listened to the wise words of Alcuin and began to build ships for defence of his coast.
 

arctic warrior

The Kings navigators then set sail for Hibernia hitting her unprotected shores with devastation. But the Hibernians was quick to learn from the Angels and Saxons of Britannia and soon the Normans found nothing on the shores of Hibernia but castles and hostile hosts.
Then the King had to take care of his own home lands as Charlemagne led his mighty host against the King and devastated Angel, Jutland and Hardland and had the impudence of building a fortress in sight of the Kings lands. Tall was the tower and upon it stood the standard of Charlemagne for everybody to see.
The King wanted to take the war to Charlemagne’s lands, but everywhere his navigators found castles, hostile hosts and enemy ships in great numbers. No longer would monasteries be found on isolated islands but close to a castle or a town with one. Often the Kings navigators would not return from the western waters and those who did turned north and east.
But not much was to be plundered in the east. Trade was bountiful and fortunes made but it didn’t make sense to rob one’s own kin. And the slaves were poor but ingenious and willing to transport your goods for a small amount. But the country was immense not to sail around and one would be lost without guides.
 

arctic warrior

So the King Godfrey marched his army, his Berserk’s, the Nobility’s Hird and the cavalry to the land of the Abodriti levelling their fortresses and burning their cities. Before Charlemagne could react Godfrey had his army build a wall and dig a moat at Denmark’s southern border with the Frankish lands. When Charlemagne arrived with his host at the wall, Godfrey shouted insults at him. The next day Godfrey sailed away with part of his army for Friesland only to find the Frisians well prepared and meeting him in a naval battle. Though fighting bravely the King and his Berserk’s were all killed and those who were able to fled the Frisian shore.
Some of those who ventured north had heard tales in Hibernia of a land of ice and fire, forest and pasture in the middle of the ocean, the Atlantic it was called. The land was thought to be immense; no one had sailed around it and knew its size.
The story of Folke and his three ravens are known to all but it is a Catholic lie to diminish the grandeur of the discovery of the land Island (Iceland), know for its glimmering white caps of ice on the mountains. Really Eirik Atlisson was the first to claim land and put ashore his men, his womenfolk, his children, cattle, sheep, horse and thralls.
 

arctic warrior

As the King Godfrey was dead and gone to his father’s great halls his sons began to fight each other for the crown. Charlemagne saw this and was pleased, broke his camp and left the border. Any pretender to the crown of Denmark would find a ready ear at Charlemagne’s court; receive gifts, baptism and arms and a war chest to rally an army. And so the sad story of Denmark’s war amongst the sons of Godfrey continued.
But those who did not want to participate in the war or who was forced away by the warring fractions adoption of the Catholic rites to enforce their will could not go to the Frankish lands or Britannia, nor would the Yngve Kings of Sweden let them into their lands unless they were willing to go back to Denmark to fight for Yngve. They could go to Slavic lands but not much was to gather there and so a great number went into the Ocean after having made ready a knar. Settling in Island this soon became a place of too many peoples for too little land. And so when Thorfinn, I’ve forgotten his father’s name, was blown off course and sighted new land to the west, people eager to leave and settle there weren’t difficult to come by.
 

arctic warrior

We have passed midnight.
---
When the war of succession in Denmark ended, King Harald wanted to put all Danes in Denmark and in other lands under his domain. He thus sent forth expeditions to the Faroe Islands, Island and Thorfinn’s Land to make every Dane, and everybody else in those lands pay him King’s tax. The King’s men were welcomed in the Faroe Islands being on the route from Scotland and Ireland to Island and from Island to Norway and prone to extortion by any armed host. Island was altogether another story. No one wanted a King to pay tax – what for? The clan leaders were well armed so the King’s men returned empty-handed from Island. Thorfinn’s Land was difficult to land in not to say reach as no one in Island were particular willing to lead the King’s men there. Ashore they came but no tax did they gather.
In Denmark King Harald was preparing for invasion of Britannia. His navigators reported that the long time of peace had had the peoples of Britannia get lax and forget to man the coastal fortresses.
Harald gathered forces.
 

arctic warrior

Thus Harald the Catholic gathered his host and set sail for England. Many were the chieftains and jarls accompanying his host with their Hird, in expectation of plunder, land and wealth.
As Harald’s dragons landed on the coast of Northumbria the Northumbrians decided to stay in their castles. Harald mocked them of being scared womenfolk hiding away and not daring to face his army. Harald gathered horses and his host left the coast for York. But the Northumbrians were cunning and after the departure of Harald’s host they ventured from their castles burning his ships and killing what guards had been left there. When Harald got word of this he turned about for the coast only to find the Northumbrian army and no ships. Harald then set up camp and during the night he was killed and in the morning the Danes asked for a truce. Under threat of being killed all the Danes had to lay down arms and were then shipped back to Denmark, spite and humiliation. Haralds dead body was also shipped to his Queen.
The year after Haralds humiliation and death King Eanred the Great Defender died.
 

arctic warrior

“The birth of the Scanian Empire 840-1200”: Valdemar Knudssoen, Lund 1948.
The foundation of the Scanian Empire was to be found in defeat!
Usually the foundation of the Scanian Empire is reckoned from Rolf’s defeat of the Norwegian jarl Haakon in the Battle at Iddefiord 846. The subsequent recognition of Rolf as over-lord of all Norwegian jarls and election as King of Norway the following year after the burning of the Great Hall of Hamar and thus the death of most of the Norwegian nobility.
The other basis debated for the foundation of the Scanian Empire is the loss of Jutland to Emperor Ludwig the Pious in the year 843 after the second Danish war of succession triggered off by the killing of King Sven by the chieftain Odinkar at the Thing of Viborg 840 and the futile efforts of re-conquest by King Ivar leading to King Rolf’s decision to extend his empire north instead of west and south.
But my research of sources of the era, mostly the chronicle of Emperor Ludwig the Pious, Aachen 877, but also traces of evidence found at Havn (OTL Copenhagen) and the newly discovered Hjalgrim’s Saga.
At Havn the ancient castle is usually dated to ca. 950 due to the dendrochronologic dating of oak logs used to build the early Navy harbour on the island Holm just east of Havn. The founding of the castle is believed to follow the building of the harbour and both elements are seen as the Kings effort to strengthen his military presence in the Isles directed towards the Emperor during the Scanian Empires expansion north.
But on the very foundation stones of the Havn castle is found engraved the broken lance!
Yes, it is there, the very mark of the Rolf Dynasty thought to express the pious ness of the Rolf Dynasty, as it is seen as a symbol of the death of Christ.
But rumour has it that the broken lance is actually an expression of the defeat of King Harald in Northumbria 840. This rumour is usually rejected by scholars as a construction of a later date. By those accepting the rumour as containing a core of truth the reason for spreading of the rumour was the spite by Sven’s followers at the Rolf Dynasty.
I intent to show, that the rumour is an expression of truth!
 

arctic warrior

Excerpt of: “The Danish Empire”, Copenhagen 1968.
The return of Harald’s dead body and his army didn’t spark any events until late in the year. Harald’s son Sven was elected King, primarily because of his support among the nobility that had followed Harald to Northumbria. The nobility was able, in spite of their humiliation, to install Sven. Trouble didn’t arise until late in the year when Sven at the Thing in Hringsted, Zealand declared that he was going to institute Christianity as the state religion. Until then the religion had been a matter of nobility and King and the population had enjoyed a religious tolerance that allowed for practicing practically any religious belief. It is the forcibly introduction of Christianity to the populace that brought on Sven’s downfall.
After the declaration at Hringsted Sven’s Hird and his followers began persecuting followers of various Christian sects: Aryans, Orthodox etc. but also followers of the Asa belief and the ancient Vanir belief. This backfired upon Sven who was the first victim of his faction being killed at the Thing of Viborg late in 840. Discontent had spread and a civil war erupted with mostly the lower nobility and freemen making up one faction and high nobility the other.
War raged until 842 when Rolf, a member of the royal family situated in Lund, with the backing of the lower nobility and freemen gained the upper hand. Rolf was to a great degree aided by the sudden interference by Emperor Ludwig who sent an army into Jutland occupying the whole peninsula. Rolf made truce with the Sven faction and then in a short time ridded himself of the heads of the Sven faction accusing them of treason and killing of their majesty King Harald during the ill-fated campaign in Northumbria.
Rolf then turned towards the leaders of his own faction forcing Christianity upon them. Resistance was futile and in order to keep freedom of belief migration for the Faeroe Islands but more significantly Island and Thorfinn’s Land took place in large numbers. Others who left the religious regime of Ludwig in Jutland joined their countrymen in the North Atlantic.
An estimation of the migration of the years 812-870 is put at a low of 20.000 and a high of as much as 80.000.
 

Quiet_Man

arctic warrior said:
Others who left the religious regime of Ludwig in Jutland joined their countrymen in the North Atlantic.
An estimation of the migration of the years 812-870 is put at a low of 20.000 and a high of as much as 80.000.
Click to expand...


The upper figure seems very high for the type of shipping around those days, even if it is 58 years. Still a very good tale though.
 

arctic warrior

Quiet_Man said:
The upper figure seems very high for the type of shipping around those days, even if it is 58 years. Still a very good tale though.
Click to expand...

It does but the circumstances are quite different from OTL. If we are to believe the Saga's and Chroniclers the number of ships were impressive. But that may be somewhat off reality.
I haven't seen any numbers of yearly migration from Norway to Iceland but the accepted figure seems to be at 20000. With no way into Western Europe and prolonged Succession Wars in Denmark as well as forced conversion that figure is bound to rise. The writer is quoting other sources but it must be remembered that TTL there is no settling in Danelaw. In fact there is no Danelaw!
 

Dathi THorfinnsson

arctic warrior said:
Excerpt of: “The Danish Empire”, Copenhagen 1968.
...

After the declaration at Hringsted Sven’s Hird and his followers began persecuting followers of various Christian sects: Aryans, Orthodox etc. but also followers of the Asa belief and the ancient Vanir belief.
Click to expand...

2 questions: 1) Aryans. I rather thought that Arianism was long gone by then.
2) In the existing literature, the AEsir and Vanir are part of the same structure. Obviously, your story is 4/500 years earlier than the stories were written down, but I would not have thought that they would have been different cults. Certainly, some people would have specifically have been attracted to THorr, or Freyja or whomever, but that was more personal preference/qualities of those particular gods than which sub-pantheon they were placed in, no? Especially since unity of cultus seems to have been very important socially - It was, after all, one of the reasons Iceland converted en masse OTL, because religious and social ceremonies were mixed. Gardhar were priests as well as chieftains.
 

arctic warrior

Dathi THorfinnsson said:
2 questions: 1) Aryans. I rather thought that Arianism was long gone by then.
2) In the existing literature, the AEsir and Vanir are part of the same structure. Obviously, your story is 4/500 years earlier than the stories were written down, but I would not have thought that they would have been different cults. Certainly, some people would have specifically have been attracted to THorr, or Freyja or whomever, but that was more personal preference/qualities of those particular gods than which sub-pantheon they were placed in, no? Especially since unity of cultus seems to have been very important socially - It was, after all, one of the reasons Iceland converted en masse OTL, because religious and social ceremonies were mixed. Gardhar were priests as well as chieftains.
Click to expand...

1) Aryans or arianism - it isn't clear if it was gone in the Scandinavian countries in these times, early Viking period. There is argument to this in Denmark today.
2) According to discussion the Aser/Aesir were iron age deitifications of characters of shamanistic rites. Vanir were fertility gods/goddesses of much more ancient heritage. In Viking times Aser/Aesir belief is seen as an upper/warrior class phenomena and Vanir as farmers beliefs linked as they are to fertility, animals, crops etc. In both parts of society the head of family are accorded as the leader of religious practice as well as taking care of family matters which ties with the Gardhar description. In effect there must at sometime have been a conflict of Aser - Vanir believers as the first war according to the Edda was between those gods, but truce was made and hostages exchanged which made for peace in between them.

The religious matters seem quite complicated as it looks like different systems of belief existed side-by-side. 826 Harold Klak was baptized to recieve the aid of the Emperors in gaining the throne of Denmark and the relatively peaceful, so it appears, conversion of Denmark might cover the fact that Christianity was an upper class if not Royal phenomena early on to induce better administration and seperate King from the high nobility no longer being primas inter pares but head of state by the grace of God.
 

arctic warrior

The conquest of Jutland was celebrated all over the Frankish Empire and in Britannia. At long last had the barbarians been defeated. The Emperor Ludwig sent clerics to Jutland to enforce Christianity upon the godless Jutes. The enforcement was carried out, according to sources with the utmost zeal. This conquest was to have far reaching consequences. One can only guess at what would have happened if Jutland at this stage had remained Danish. Quite possibly the Danish expansion into the Scandinavian Peninsula had not taken place, at least not in the magnitude and thus the Scanian/Danish Empire would not be of the format known to us. A possible outcome would have been raids upon the Frankish lands during the tumultuous years following the death of Emperor Ludwig and the division of the Frankish lands. But this is in fact a construction of thought, interesting but a construction not rooted in reality.
The efforts at converting the Jutes made these in great numbers leave the country for the North Atlantic and in lesser numbers the Danish Isles and Scania.
In Britannia the defence carried out by King Eanred of Northumbria was well remembered and became a legend. But the practical outcome was in most Britannic Kingdoms maintenance of the coastal defences that had served so well against the barbarians. This would eventually be the foundation of the later Saxon navy.
In the north of the British Isles Scotland was becoming one nation during the 840’ties with Kenneth MacAlpin setting out to uniting it 838.
 
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