Drakkar — the Formidable Dragonships of the Vikings
The drakkar of the Norse chieftains were the scourge of Christian communities across Britain, Ireland and Europe between 800 and 1100. A sighting of the dragon-shaped figure on the prow of the longship signalled the beginning of a murderous Viking raid.
The Vikings regarded the dragonships of Ivar Ragnarsson, or Ivar the Boneless, Ragnar Lodbrok and Erik Bloodaxe as symbols of their courage and fierceness during warfare.
Drakkar of the Norse Chieftains
The Norse chieftains used the drakkar primarily for warfare and hit-and-run raids. Their dragonships could travel fast over long distances.
The lightweight and manoeuvrability of the drakkar allowed the oarsmen to steer them quickly during sea battles or into coastal inlets during raids.
The Scandinavian sagas described the magnificent drakkar of the Viking kings.
Snorri Sturluson noted King Harald of Norway built a huge “dragon” in the ninth century. The longship of Harald Hardrada, or Harald Sigurtharson, bore a dragon-head during the Norwegian invasion of England in 1066.
The “Long Serpent” was the “handsome” warship and prized possession of King Olaf of Norway in the eleventh century.
“On Long Serpent, there were thirty-four rowing benches. There was gilding all over the figureheads and the curve on the tail. The sides were as high as those on ocean-going vessels. This was the best ship made in Norway and at the greatest expense” (Heimskringla).
Eystein Magnusson, King of Norway, constructed a longship resembling the Long Serpent in the early twelfth century.
Mysticism of the Dragon-heads on the Drakkar
The intricately carved figure of a dragon, or serpent, on the drakkar proclaimed the high status and wealth of its owners. The stern represented the tail of the dragon and the sails mimicked the wings.
The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason claimed the Vikings decorated the dragon-heads with gold.
A monk at St. Omer Monastery in Flanders recounted motifs adorning the fleet of King Svein Forkbeard in 1013.
“On one side, lions moulded in gold were to be seen on the ships, on the other, birds on the tops of the masts indicated by their movements the winds as they blew, or dragons of various kinds poured fire from their nostrils”(Encomium Emmae Reginae).
The drakkar, or dragons, were fierce mythical sea creatures in the Viking traditions. The Scandinavians deemed dragons symbols of war and destruction.
The supernatural power of the dragon-heads protected the crews against evil spirits, sea monsters, storms and attacks by Norse ships during hazardous voyages across the open ocean.
The Scandinavian skalds imbued the drakkar of the Viking chieftains with the mysticism of the Norse gods.
The drakon, or “great dragon”, frequently appeared in the myths of the Norse deities.
Jormungand, or the Midgard Serpent, was the son of Loki, the god of mischief, and the brother of Hel, the goddess of the dead. Odin feared Jormungand and cast the drakon into the depths of the ocean.
Rituals Associated with the Drakkar
The Norse sagas describe the Viking chieftains mounting the dragon-head on the prow before setting out on expeditions.
The Book of Settlements was a collection of Icelandic laws that required captains to remove the dragon-heads when approaching dry land. Norse superstitions claimed the figure of a dragon frightened away the deities and spirits of the earth.
Size of the Drakkar
The drakkar resembled the longboats owned by the Viking nobles but were twice the size. Their crews numbered between 40 and 60 men rather than the 20 or 30 men on the small longships.
The Vikings spent their time on the decks of the drakkar during voyages at sea. The stores kept below consisted of dried meat or fish, milk and wine.
The Changing Role of the Drakkar in the Viking Age
The drakkar were the flagships of the Viking fleets that raided Ireland, Britain, Europe, the Mediterranean, Russia and the Middle East.
Historians believe the Viking raids in the early ninth century were exploratory expeditions. The Norse pirates built ports and settlements along the rivers and coasts of the British Isles by the late ninth century.
Ivar the Boneless and his kinsman, Olaf the White, founded the powerful Viking kingdom of Dublin in the mid-ninth century. He left Dublin in 865 to lead the Great Heathen Army.
The Great Heathen Army conquered and then colonised the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Wessex, Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia.
The Norse colonists in Dublin profited from the trading links established by Ivar the Boneless and Olaf the White with the Danelaw in England.
Dublin transformed from a small Gaelic fishing village into the centre of the slave trade in Europe by the tenth century.
The Viking towns of Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Wexford grew rich as centres of trade in Ireland.
The Norse maintained the lucrative trade routes connecting Scandinavia with Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Russia.
The mercantile activities of the Vikings transformed the drakkar from warships into cargo vessels over the centuries. The most valuable commodities transported by the dragonships were slaves, furs, textiles, ivory, jewellery, wine and spices.
Viking Explorers and the Drakkar
The enormous size of the drakkar provided Viking explorers with opportunities to discover North America, Greenland, the Faroes and Iceland.
Leif Erikson, or Leif the Lucky, was sailing to Greenland in 1000 but veered off course. He anchored his dreki, or “dragon”, near the coast of Newfoundland.
The Vikings called the colony founded by Leif Erikson “Vineland”, meaning the “Land of WIne”.
Effect of the Viking Drakkar in Ireland
The Viking dominance of the sea inspired the Gaelic kings to build fleets to match those of their Norse rivals.
The Annals of Ulster reported Ragnall ua Imair “routed a new fleet of the Ulaid” in 913.
The Norse boat builders passed on their knowledge to the Gaels while working in Dublin and the Viking towns of Ireland in the late tenth century.
Hiberno-Norse ships did not replace the traditional curragh, or vessels, of the Gaels.
However, Norse words became prevalent in Irish seafaring in the Medieval Ages. The Scandinavian terms for anchor, harbour and rudder entered into the vocabulary of the Gaels and Anglo-Saxons almost simultaneously.
Drakkar in Archeology
Archaeologists discovered the remains of a dreki on the seafloor at Roskilde harbour near Copenhagen.
The Danes built the longship during the reign of King Cnut in the early eleventh century. The use of Irish oaks in its construction confirmed the dreki was built in Dublin.
Ceremonial dragonships lay beneath the royal burial mounds at Oseberg and Gotstad in Norway.
The Vikings built the ship at Oseberg in the ninth century. They buried two women in the boat during the thirteenth century. The remains of horses, oxen and dogs suggest the animals were sacrificed according to the old pagan traditions of the Norse gods.
The remarkably well-preserved Gotstad boat is considered the finest example of Scandinavian shipbuilding from the Viking Age.
The Vikings interred a chieftain in a ship-grave at Ladby in Denmark in 925. The dragon-shaped prow protected the soul of the chieftain during his final voyage to the afterlife.
If you enjoy Viking history and want to know more, please visit
Olaf the White and Ivar the Boneless — The Viking Kings of Dublin: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0916GJ3B2
The exile of the Vikings from Dublin and their escape to the Norse colonies in the Irish Sea region are discussed in:
Vikings in Ireland (870–914): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096KVNBZK
References
Avadsnes — Dragonships by Marit Synnøve Vea: https://avaldsnes.info/en/viking/drakeskip/
http://irisharchaeology.ie/2012/09/the-oseberg-viking-ship-burial/
The Little Book of Vikings By Eric Paul Erickson:
VSNR Publications — translated by ALISON FINLAY and ANTHONY FAULKES:
http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Heimskringla%20I.pdf
Handbook of Medieval Culture. Volume 3 edited by Albrecht Classen:
JSTOR — The Viking Longship by John R. Hale: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26057665
Internet Archive — Encomium Emmae Reginae by Alistair Campbell:
https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.185337/2015.185337.Encomium-Emmae-Reginae_djvu.txt
Montegrappa — MONTEGRAPPA VIKING: https://www.montegrappa.com/de/magazine/edizioni-limitate-e-fandom/penna-viking-montegrappa.html
Explore Norse Myths!: With 25 Great Projects By Anita Yasuda: https://books.google.ie/books?id=hGjnCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA28&dq=dragon+ships+in+the+norse+mythology&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiKk_bY59z1AhWPY8AKHbeeBjMQ6AF6BAgGEAI#v=onepage&q=dragon%20ships%20in%20the%20norse%20mythology&f=false
Wikipedia — Leif Erikson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson
History Hit — 10 of the Most Famous Vikings by Harry Atkins: https://www.historyhit.com/the-most-important-vikings/
Royal Museums — Viking Ships: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/viking-ships
Historiska — The mythological world of the Vikings:https://historiska.se/norse-mythology/mythological-world-of-the-vikings/
Penelope — Long Serpent: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/maldon/longserpent.html#:~:text=The%20Crane%2C%20Short%20Serpent%2C%20Long,XIX%2C%20Olaf's%20illegitimate%20son).
Medieval Ireland By Clare Downham: https://books.google.ie/books?id=9jA9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA90&dq=the+fleets+built+by+the+irish+against+the+vikings&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjloYC1x-j1AhXJSsAKHaQkAj0Q6AF6BAgDEAI#v=onepage&q=the%20fleets%20built%20by%20the%20irish%20against%20the%20vikings&f=false
