Ravens in the Viking Age

Ravens were the sacred birds of the Norse god, Odin, during the Viking Age. The raven invoked the power of Odin as a god of war, death, prophecy, wisdom and magic.

Odin owned a pair of pet ravens called Hugin and Munin. The words Hugin and Munin mean “Thought” and “Memory”.

The Prose Edda recounted Hugin and Munin flew around the world and returned home to Asgard. The magical ravens possessed the power of speech. They whispered news of their travels to Odin.

Viking art depicted Hugin and Munin perched on the shoulders of Odin.

The shamans believed Odin shape-shifted into a Hrafnaguð or “Raven god”. The term alluded to the close relationship between ravens, the deities and mankind.

The Valkyries were the nine daughters of Odin. They decided the destiny of warriors on the battlefield.

The supernatural maidens shape-shifted into a flock of ravens and flew over warriors fighting in wars and conflicts. They snatched the souls of the fallen heroes and carried them on horses to the halls of Odin in Valhalla.

Ravens were part of the military mythology of the Vikings. Their habit of feeding on the bodies of dead warriors after battles were in keeping with the belief the higher powers of the gods decided the fate of wars and conflicts.

The Vikings deemed ravens as omens of good fortune. The Norse pirates used ravens to find dry land during their voyages across the open sea. They released ravens from their longboats and steered in the direction the birds travelled in.

The Norse chieftains chose the symbol of the raven to signal their devotion to the cult of Odin. They claimed Odin as their divine ancestor in the belief the Norse god gave them the right to rule their people.

The raven banner was the most familiar symbol of the Vikings between the ninth and eleventh centuries. The raven summoned the divine protection of Odin.

The Norse chieftains displayed the raven banner during their raids on churches, monasteries and settlements in Britain and Ireland. The flag struck terror into the Gaels and Anglo-Saxons.

The raven banner was triangular with a rounded edge and tassels underneath.

The Vikings believed the fluttering of the raven banner in the wind portended victory on the day of battle. The limpness of the war flag was a sign of defeat.

The Anglo-Saxon chronicle recounted in 878 that the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok adopted the raven banner as their flag.

Ragnar Lothbrok was the son of King Sigurd of Sweden and a famous warrior adventurer in the ninth century. He flew the raven banners from his longboat during raids along the coasts of Europe.

The Scandinavian sagas referred to Ragna Lothbrok as a semi-divine hero. He was the bravest of all the Viking heroes.

Ivar the Boneless, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Bjorn Ironside and Ubba were the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok and the leaders of the Great Heathen Army. They honoured the memory of their father, Ragnar Lothbrok, by flying the raven banner during the invasion of Anglo-Saxon England in 865.

Alfred, King of Wessex, defeated Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson during the progress of the Great Heathen Army in northern Britain. He captured the treasured Viking “war- flag, which they called the RAVEN”.

The Anglo-Saxons believed the raven banner possessed the power of the pagan god Odin. They also feared the war flag was cursed with the evils of witchcraft.

The Annals of St Neots narrated in the twelfth century that the daughters of Ragnar Lothbrok infused the banner with witchcraft.

Legends claimed those who carried the raven banner on to the battlefield and saw the raven flying in the wind were sure to win the day.

However, the sight of the raven banner drooping to the side was an omen of defeat.

Ubba and his Viking warriors carried the hrefn, or raven banner, at the Battle of Cynwit in Devon in 878.

The Anglo-Saxons killed Ubba and slaughtered his army at the battle. They captured the raven banner and believed the magical flag granted victory over the Danes.

The Norse-Gael kings of the Ui Imair dynasty in Dublin were the descendants of Ivar the Boneless. They claimed Ragnar Lothbrok as their ancestor and adopted the raven banner as their royal emblem in the tenth century.

The Viking king of Dublin, Olaf Cuaran, minted coins with the raven banner in the City of York in 940. The coins marked the beginning of his reign as the ruler of Northumbria.

Earl Sigurd ruled over Orkney, Shetland and Caithness between 960 and 1014. His army carried theraven banner during wars with his enemies.

The legends of the raven banner described the mother of Earl Sigurd as a sorceress who weaved enchantment into the war flag.

She handed the raven banner to her son, Earl Sigurd and told him the supernatural flag bestowed victory on the army that carried it. However, the bearer of the raven banner would die during the conflict.

Earl Sigurd displayed the raven banner at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. He watched three standard-bearers perished on the battlefield.

The warning given by his mother was soon forgotten during the intense fighting.

Earl Sigurd grabbed the raven banner from the dead standared bearer and tied the flag around his waist. The raven banner granted victory to the owner, but Earl Sigurd did not survive its curse.

Odin took the form of his sacred bird, the raven, on weapons, amulets, jewellery and banners. The raven symbol invoked the divine attributes of Odin and esteemed by the Norse chieftains and warriors in the Viking Age.

A carving of the Norse god, Odin, adorned Thorwald’s Cross on the Isle of Man. A Scandinavian settler planted Thorwald’s Cross in the consecrated ground of St Andrew’s Church in Andreas between the tenth and eleventh centuries.

The pagan image showed a man with a moustache and a raven perched on his shoulder. The mythical wolf, Fenris, was near the feet of Odin.

Fenris devoured Odin at the Battle of Ragnorok in Norse mythology. The demise of the Norse deities at the Battle of Ragnorok implied the Scandinavian colonists abandoned paganism of their forefathers and embraced Christianity.

The runic inscription on Thorwald’s Cross stated the statue honoured the wife of the owner and a tribute to their life together.

Thorwald’s Cross belongs to a collection of twenty-six runestones in the shape of crosses on the Isle of Man. The runestones represented the merging of cultures between the Viking settlers with the indigenous Gaels of the island.

For more information on the Viking kings of the Ui Imair dynasty in Dublin, 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

Wikipedia — Raven Banner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_banner

Wikipedia — Manx Runestones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_runestones

Wikipedia — Huginn and Muninn:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huginn_and_Muninn

Transceltic — Ravens in Celtic and Norse Mythology

https://www.transceltic.com/pan-celtic/ravens-celtic-and-norse-mythology

Viking Roots — The Raven Banner: https://m.facebook.com/235623266577320/photos/a.235682906571356/419948678144777/?type=3&locale2=de_DE

History Today — The Rise of the Valkyries: https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/rise-valkyries

Nordic Religions in the Viking Age By Thomas DuBois: https://books.google.ie/books?id=g2-Lga0r62MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ravens+on+the+Mj%C3%B6lnir+amulets+of+vikings+at+archaeological+sites+of+ireland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjNm-XT5LfxAhVyQxUIHSlNDksQ6AEwAHoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=raven&f=false