I stared at it for a few minutes, then peered at the label again. I hadn't misread it. The massive, bright gold necklace in front of me really did weigh 20kg. And some poor woman had had to wear it to show off her husband's wealth and power.
It would've been easy to think I was in a very niche jewellers, perhaps specialising in historic heavy metal, but I wasn't. I was at the British Museum exploring their latest exhibition: Vikings: Life and Legend. As you know, I've thoroughly enjoyed Bernard Cornwell's Saxon stories, featuring culturally confused Uthred of Bebbanburgh, oathsworn to Alfred the Great and his dynasty, yet also a Saxon in Viking clothing. After reading so much about arm rings and hack silver, ships that slip through the sea and swords that inspire songs and slice warriors to the bone, I just had to go and take a look at the real thing.
Running from from 6 March to 22 June this year, Vikings: Life and Legend presents rare and, in some cases, previously unseen artefacts from the 8th to 11th centuries to illustrate Viking culture across the four continents they conquered. As well as the copious amounts of coins and jewellery, the exhibition offers the public its first opportunity to see Roskilde 6. No, not an unexpected Viking satellite, but the largest warship ever found. I love the fact that it was unearthed during work on the Roskilde Viking Ship Museum in Denmark. Not sure if it was serendipity or careless misplacement - one of our longboats is missing?
Anyway, when complete, Roskilde 6 was an impressive five meters high at each end and 37 meters long. Built in 1025 (something that in itself surprised and disoriented me a bit - just 41 years before the Normans invaded Britain!) and crewed by 100 fighting men, she must have been a horrifying sight on the horizon. "Sounds great" you might think "where do I sign?". Just one slight problem. Roskilde 6 was underwater for more than 900 years, so this exhibition includes just 20% of the wood that made up the original ship. The curators have come up with a brilliant way around this though; a steel framework representing the rest of it has been constructed and, despite feeling a bit shoved into the exhibition space, it did give this Viking icon a new lease of life that saw it once again leave witnesses awestruck.
So, what else would you expect from an exhibition about Vikings? We've had bling and warships, so how about weapons? The Vikings inhabited a warrior culture and the swords, axes, shields, knives and spears of Cornwell's stories are beautiful, deadly and often powerful characters in themselves. While there were some fascinating and often very beautiful weapons in the exhibition's perspex cases, reinforcing both the Viking's incredible craftsmanship and warrior-worship, I must confess I rather liked the axehead visitors could actually hold at the very start of our journey through the early middle ages. Just inside the door, tucked away and, when I visited anyway, staffed by a hard done by looking man who perhaps felt like he was being punished for something*, was a small table where visitors could actually handle artefacts. Among these were a small but very heavy axehead, surprisingly not for chopping wood but for battle. Coming into such close contact with it made me wonder at how heavy its larger brothers and sisters in the cases must be and marvel at how tough the people who wielded them were.
And this is where I think the exhibition falls down slightly. Although it's subtitled 'Life and Legend', I came away feeling like I still didn't really have a sense of the people who might've owned, made or used the fine pieces on display or an overarching idea of how they morphed from the raiders and traders of modern legend into settled peoples. Yes, I got some bullet points; that gold and generosity led to power and loyalty, that trade as well as warfare reached for thousands of miles due to their cutting-edge maritime technology, that times were unstable so hoards were buried and belief was pragmatic and adaptable. But it still felt very broad brush and somehow disconnected. How did craftsmen make these fine objects? Who were the key figures in the Viking world? What was day to day life like?
Perhaps I'm being unfair, however. After all, many items were made of wood or fabric, so have long since rotted away or been melted down or adapted by following generations, and we know women's voices rarely, if ever, survive to tell of domestic life. And yet, besides getting to see some actual arm rings and genuine Thor's hammer pendants like those mentioned in the Saxon stories (yippee!), voices were exactly what interested me the most in this exhibition. At intervals, quotes from various skald (poet) warriors and the 13th century Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturlson were written on the walls, giving snapshots of the lust, humour and passion of the Vikings. Suddenly they lived again.
On the way home, I found myself thinking back to the heavyweight necklace of twisted gold. The notice had also said it could've been a diplomatic gift from one king or prince to another. This got me thinking. If you didn't like someone's wife, it would be one heck of a way to annoy her...
Vikings: Life and Legend is on at the British Museum is a joint exhibition from the British Museum, the National Museum of Denmark and the National Museums in Berlin and is on until 22 June 2014. Tickets are £16.50 (excluding booking fees and audio guide and whatever form of transport you have to pay for because London has a monopoly on this sort of thing. Although, to be fair, after defeating and executing that longboat of Vikings in Weymouth 1000 years ago, you can understand why they don't think Westcountry-types can be trusted. The remains of these unfortunates can also be seen in this exhibition.) The audio guide is £4.50 per person and a bit too short, but is recommended as this is a popular exhibition and it was very difficult to actually get close enough to read the signs at times.
*Don't worry, he soon perked up when people started showing genuine interest and asking questions.
Related Links
The British Museum
The Weymouth Viking Massacre
Roskilde 6 Ship
Uhtred Unleashed - My review of the seventh and latest book in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series, the inspiration behind this visit.
