Raven banner

Raven banner
This article discusses the medieval flag. For the booklet, see The Raven Banner. The raven banner (Old Norse: hrafnsmerki; Middle English: hravenlandeye) was a flag, possibly totemic in nature, flown by various Viking chieftains and other Scandinavian rulers during the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries. The flag, as depicted in Norse artwork, was roughly triangular, with a rounded outside edge on which there hung a series of tabs or tassels. It bore a resemblance to ornately carved "weather-vanes" used aboard Viking longships. Scholars conjecture that the raven flag was a symbol of Odin, who was often depicted accompanied by two ravens named Huginn and Muninn. Its intent may have been to strike fear in one's enemies by invoking the A modern reconstruction of the raven banner based on surviving contemporary representations. power of Odin. As one scholar notes regarding encounters between the Anglo-Saxons (who had Christianized from their indigenous Germanic paganism) and the invading Scandinavians (who retained their native form of Germanic paganism): "The Anglo-Saxons probably thought that the banners were imbued with the evil powers of pagan idols, since the Anglo-Saxons were aware of the significance of inn and his ravens in Norse mythology."[1]

Raven symbolism in indigenous Scandinavian culture

The raven is a common iconic figure in Norse mythology. The highest god Odin had two ravens named Huginn and Muninn ("thought" and "memory" respectively) who flew around the world bringing back tidings to their master. Therefore, one of Odin's many names was the "raven god" (Hrafnagu). In Gylfaginning (c. 1220), the medieval Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson explains:

Vendel era helmet with raven noseguard, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.

Raven banner

Vendel era helmet plate, found in Uppland, interpreted as Odin.

Raven artwork on a Swedish Vendel era shield, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.

Hrafnar tveir sitja xlum honum ok segja eyru honum ll tendi, au er eir sj ea heyra. eir heita sv, Huginn ok Muninn. sendir hann dagan at fljga um heim allan, ok koma eir aftr at dgurarmli. ar af verr hann margra tenda vss. v kalla menn hann Hrafnagu, sv sem sagt er: Huginn ok Muninn fljga hverjan dag jrmungrund yfir; umk ek Hugin, at hann aftr n komi, sjumk ek meir of Munin." [2]

Two ravens sit on Odin's shoulders, and bring to his ears all that they hear and see. Their names are Huginn and Muninn. At dawn he sends them out to fly over the whole world, and they come back at breakfast time. Thus he gets information about many things, and hence he is called Rafnagud (raven-god). As is here said: Huginn and Muninn Fly every day Over the great earth. I fear for Hugin That he may not return, Yet more am I anxious for Munin. [3]

Odin was also closely linked to ravens because in Norse myths he received the fallen warriors at Valhalla, and ravens were linked with death and war due to their predilection for carrion. It is consequently likely that they were regarded as manifestations of the valkyries, goddesses who chose the valiant dead for military service in Valhalla.[4] A further connection between ravens and Valkyries was indicated in the shapeshifting abilities of goddesses and Valkyries, who could appear in the form of birds.[5] The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare.[6] To make war was to feed and please the raven (hrafna seja, hrafna gleja).[6] An example of this is found in Norna-Gests ttr, where Regin recites the following poem after Sigurd kills the sons of Hunding:

Raven banner

N er blugr rn breium hjrvi bana Sigmundar baki ristinn. Fr var fremri, s er fold rr, hilmis nefi, ok hugin gladdi. [7]

Now the blood eagle With a broad sword The killer of Sigmund Carved on the back. Fewer were more valiant As the troops dispersed A chief of people Who made the raven glad. [8]

Above all, kennings used in Norse poetry identify the raven as the bird of blood, corpses and battle;[9] he is the gull of the wave of the heap of corpses, who screams dashed with hail and craves morning steak as he arrives at the sea of corpses (Hlakkar hagli stokkin mr valkastar bru, krefr morginbrar er kemr at hrs svi).[10] In black flocks, the ravens hover over the corpses and the skald asks where they are heading (Hvert stefni r hrafnar hart me flokk hinn svarta).[11] The raven goes forth in the blood of those fallen in battle (d hrafn valbli).[12] He flies from the field of battle with blood on his beak, human flesh in his talons and the reek of corpses from his mouth (Me dreyrgu nefi, hold loir klum en hrs efr r munni).[13] The ravens who were the messengers of the highest god, Huginn and Muninn, increasingly had hellish connotations, and as early as in the Christian Slarlj, stanza 67, the ravens of Hel(l) (heljar hrafnar) who tear the eyes off backtalkers are mentioned.[9] Two curses in the Poetic Edda say "may ravens tear your heart asunder" (it skyli hjarta rafnar slta).[14] and "the ravens shall tear out your eyes in the high gallows" (Hrafnar skulu r hm galga slta sjnir r).[15] Ravens are thus seen as instruments of divine (if harsh and unpleasant) justice. Despite the violent imagery associated with them, early Scandinavians regarded the raven as a largely positive figure; battle and harsh justice were viewed favorably in Norse culture.[16] Many Old Norse personal names referred to the raven, such as Hrafn,[17] Hrafnkel[18] and Hrafnhild.[19]

Usage
Ragnar Lodbrok and purported descendants
The raven banner was used by a number of Viking warlords regarded in Norse tradition as the sons of the Danish king Ragnar Lodbrok. The first mention of a Viking force carrying a raven banner is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. For the year 878, the Chronicle relates: And in the winter of this same year the brother of Ivar and Halfdan landed in Wessex, in Devonshire, with 23 ships, and there was he slain, and 800 men with him, and 40 of his army. There also was taken the war-flag (gufani), which they called "Raven". The 12th-century Annals of St Neots claims that a raven banner was present with the Great Heathen Army and adds insight into its seir- (witchcraft-) influenced creation and totemic and oracular nature:[citation needed]
Dicunt enim quod tres sorores Hynguari et Hubbe, filie uidelicet Lodebrochi, illud uexillum tex'u'erunt et totum parauerunt illud uno meridiano tempore. Dicunt etiam quod, in omni bello ubi praecederet idem signum, si uictoriam adepturi essent, appareret in medio signi quasi coruus uiuus uolitans; si uero uincendi in futuro fuissent, penderet directe nichil mouens et hoc sepe probatum [20] est It is said that three sisters of Hingwar and Habba [Ivar and Ubbe], i.e., the daughters of Ragnar Lobrok, had woven that banner and gotten it ready during one single midday's time. Further it is said that if they were going to win a battle in which they followed that signum, there was to be seen, in the center of the signum, a raven, gaily flapping its wings. But if they were going to be defeated, the raven [21][22] dropped motionless. And this always proved true.

Geffrei Gaimar's Estorie des Engles (written around 1140) mentions the Hrafnsmerki being borne by the army of Ubbe at the Battle of Cynwit (878): "[t]he Raven was Ubbe's banner (gumfanun). He was the brother of Iware; he

Raven banner was buried by the Danes in a very big mound in Devonshire, called Ubbelawe."[23]

Orkney, Dublin and Jrvk

A triangular banner appearing to depict a bird (possibly a raven) appears on coins minted by Olaf Cuaran around 924.[24] The coins feature a roughly right isosceles triangular standard, with the two equilateral sides situated at the top and staff, respectively. Along the hypotenuse are a series of five tabs or tassels. The staff is topped by what appears to be a cross; this may indicate a fusion of Norse pagan and Christian symbolism. The raven banner was also a standard used Possible depiction of the raven banner on the reverse of a coin minted by Olaf Cuaran. by the Norse Jarls of Orkney. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, it was made for Sigurd the Stout by his mother, a vlva or sorceress. She told him that the banner would "bring victory to the man it's carried before, but death to the one who carries it." The saga describes the flag as "a finely made banner, very cleverly embroidered with the figure of a raven, and when the banner fluttered in the breeze, the raven seemed to be flying ahead." Sigurd's mother's prediction came true when, according to the sagas, all of the bearers of the standard met untimely ends.[25] The "curse" of the banner ultimately fell on Jarl Sigurd himself at the Battle of Clontarf: Earl Sigurd had a hard battle against Kerthialfad, and Kerthialfad came on so fast that he laid low all who were in the front rank, and he broke the array of Earl Sigurd right up to his banner, and slew the banner-bearer. Then he got another man to bear the banner, and there was again a hard fight. Kerthialfad smote this man too his death blow at once, and so on one after the other all who stood near him. Then Earl Sigurd called on Thorstein the son of Hall of Sida, to bear the banner, and Thorstein was just about to lift the banner, but then Asmund the White said, "Don't bear the banner! For all they who bear it get their death." "Hrafn the Red!" called out Earl Sigurd, "bear thou the banner." "Bear thine own devil thyself," answered Hrafn. Then the earl said, "`Tis fittest that the beggar should bear the bag;'" and with that he took the banner from the staff and put it under his cloak. A little after Asmund the White was slain, and then the earl was pierced through with a spear.[26]

Other
The army of King Cnut the Great of England, Norway and Denmark bore a raven banner made from white silk at the Battle of Ashingdon in 1016. The Encomium Emmae reports that Cnut had ...a banner which gave a wonderful omen. I am well aware that this may seem incredible to the reader, but nevertheless I insert it in my veracious work because it is true: This banner was woven of the cleanest and whitest silk and no picture of any figures was found on it. In case of war, however, a raven was always to be seen, as if it were woven into it. If the Danes were going to win the battle, the raven appeared, beak wide open, flapping its wings and restless on its feet. If they were going to be defeated, the raven did not stir at all, and its limbs hung motionless.[27]

Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry, showing a Norman knight carrying what appears to be a raven banner.

Raven banner The Lives of Waltheof and his Father Sivard Digri (The Stout), the Earl of Northumberland, written by a monk of Crowland Abbey (possibly the English historian William of Ramsey), reports that the Danish jarl of Northumbria, Sigurd, was given a banner by an unidentified old sage. The banner was called Ravenlandeye.[28] According to the Heimskringla, Harald Hardrada flew a raven banner called Landyan or "Land-waster"; whether this was the same banner as that flown by Sigurd of Northumbria is unclear. In a conversation between Harald and King Sweyn II of Denmark, Sveinn asked Haraldr which of his possessions of his he valued most highly. He answered that it was his banner (merki), Landyan. Thereupon Sveinn asked what virtue it had to be accounted so valuable. Haraldr replied that it was prophesied that victory would be his before whom this banner was borne; and added that this had been the case ever since he had obtained it. Thereupon Sveinn said, "I shall believe that your flag has this virtue if you fight three battles with King Magns, your kinsman, and are victorious in all."[29] Years later, during Harald's invasion of England, Harald fought a pitched battle against two English earls outside York. Harald's Saga relates that when King Haraldr saw that the battle array of the English had come down along the ditch right opposite them, he had the trumpets blown and sharply urged his men to the attack, raising his banner called Landyan. And there so strong an attack was made by him that nothing held against it.[30] Harald's army flew the banner at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, where it was carried by a warrior named Frrek. After Harald was struck by an arrow and killed, his army fought fiercely for possession of the banner, and some of them went berserk in their frenzy to secure the flag. In the end the "magic" of the banner failed, and the bulk of the Norwegian army was slaughtered, with only a few escaping to their ships.[31] Other than the dragon banner of Olaf II of Norway, the Landyan of Harald Hardrada is the only early Norwegian royal standard described by Snorri Sturluson in the Heimskringla.[32] In two panels of the famous Bayeux tapestry, standards are shown which appear to be raven banners. The Bayeux tapestry was Detail from the Bayeux tapestry, showing a commissioned by Bishop Odo, the half-brother of William the broken raven banner lying on the ground. Conqueror; as one of the combatants at the Battle of Hastings, Odo would have been familiar with the standards carried into the fight. In one of the panels, depicting a Norman cavalry charge against an English shield-wall, a charging Norman knight is depicted with a semicircular banner emblazoned with a standing black bird. In a second, depicting the deaths of Harold Godwinson's brothers, a triangular banner closely resembling that shown on Olaf Cuaran's coin lies broken on the ground. Scholars are divided as to whether these are simply relics of the Normans' Scandinavian heritage (or for that matter, the Scandinavian influence in Anglo-Saxon England) or whether they reflect an undocumented Norse presence in either the Norman or English army.[33] Despite claims that the Hrafnsmerki was the first European flag in the New World, there is no indication that it was ever carried as a universal flag of Scandinavians, and no source assigns it to the Vinland settlers (or any other Icelandic or Greenlandic group).[34] In Shetland a alternate form of the banner (red raven on a rectangular, red field) is used as the symbol of Up-Helly-Aa, a festival that celebrates the Islands' Norse heritage.

Raven banner

Notes
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Hrafnhildur Bodvarsdottir 112. Gylfaginning at Norrne Tekster og Kvad (http:/ / www. heimskringla. no/ original/ snorre/ gylfaginning. php), Norway. Rasmus B. Anderson's translation at the Northvegr foundation. (http:/ / www. northvegr. org/ lore/ prose2/ 012. php) Viking Answer Lady Webpage - Valkyries, Wish-Maidens, and Swan-Maids (http:/ / www. vikinganswerlady. com/ valkyrie. htm) Examples of this occur in rymskvia, stanzas 3 and 4, when Freya lends her bird fetch to Loki; and in the Valkyrie Kra of whom an account survives in Hrmundar saga Gripssonar. [6] Hjelmquist 142. [7] Norna-Gests ttr 6 (http:/ / www. snerpa. is/ net/ forn/ nornages. htm) [8] Hardman 6. (http:/ / www. northvegr. org/ lore/ oldheathen/ 077. php) [9] Hjelmquist 143. [10] Hjelmquist citing Fornmanna sgur III p. 148, in Hjelmquist 143. [11] In a poem by rr in Bjarnar Saga Hitdlakappa, p. 67, cited in Hjelmquist 143. [12] Stanza 2, in Krkuml, cited in Hjelmquist 143. [13] Stanza 2 and 3, in Haraldskvi, cited in Hjelmquist 143. [14] in stanza 8 of Gurnarkvia II cited in Hjelmquist 144. [15] In stanza 45 in Fjlsvinnsml cited in Hjelmquist 144. [16] E.g., Woolf 63-81; Poole passim. [17] E.g., Gunnlaugs saga passim; Reykdla saga ok Vga-Sktu 13. [18] E.g., Hrafnkels saga passim. [19] E.g., Ketils saga hngs 3. [20] Annals of St Neots (878), ed. Dumville and Lapidge, p. 78. [21] Lukman 141 [22] Cf. Grimm's earlier edition and translation: ' "The daughters of Lobrk had woven that banner and finished it during one single midday's time. It also is said that in any battle where the signum was borne before them, if they were to win victory one would see in the middle of the signum a living raven flying; but if they were about to be defeated, it hung straight and still." Grimm ch. 35 [23] Lukman, 14142. [24] Many of the Norse-Gaelic dynasts in Britain and Ireland were of the U mair clan, which claimed descent from Ragnar Lodbrok through his son Ivar. [25] Orkneyinga Saga 11. [26] Njal's Saga 156. [27] Trtteberg 549-555. [28] Lukman 148. The Crowland author comments on the name of the banner, "quod interpretatur corvus terrae terror," "which means Raven, terror of the land." [29] Haralds saga Sigurarsonar 22. [30] Haralds saga Sigurarsonar 85. [31] Haralds saga Sigurarsonar 88. [32] Cappelen 34-37. [33] Barraclough passim. It should, of course, be noted that by 1066, all of the armies involved in hostilities in the British Isles, Norwegian, English and Norman, were at least nominally Christian. The Normans were in many ways, including linguistically, quite far removed from their Norse origins. [34] Engene 1-2; see also Barraclough passim.

References
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. (English translation). Everymans Library, 1991. Barraclough, Captain E.M.C. "The Raven Flag". Flag Bulletin. Vol. X, No. 2-3. Winchester, MA: The Flag Research Center (FRC), 1969. Cappelen, Hans. "Litt heraldikk hos Snorre." Heraldisk tidsskrift No. 51, 1985. Dumville, David and Michael Lapidge, eds. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Vol 17: The Annals of St. Neots with Vita Prima Sancti Neoti. Woodbridge: D.S. Brewer. 1985. Engene, Jan Oskar. "The Raven Banner and America." NAVA News, Vol. XXIX, No. 5, 1996, pp.12. Forte, Angelo, Richard Oram and Frederik Pedersen. Viking Empires (http://books.google.com/ books?id=_vEd859jvk0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005 ISBN 0-521-82992-5.

Raven banner Grimm, Jakob. Teutonic Mythology. 4 vols. Trans. James Steven Stallybras. New York: Dover, 2004. Hjelmquist, Theodor. "Naturskildringarna i den norrna diktningen". In Hildebrand, Hans (ed). Antikvarisk tidskrift fr Sverige, Vol 12. Ivar Hggstrms boktryckeri, Stockholm. 1891. (http://runeberg.org/antiqtid/12/) Hrafnhildur Bodvarsdottir. The Function of the Beasts of Battle in Old English Poetry. PhD Dissertation, 1976, State University of New York at Stony Brook. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International. 1989. Lukman, N. "The Raven Banner and the Changing Ravens: A Viking Miracle from Carolingian Court Poetry to Saga and Arthurian Romance." Classica et Medievalia 19 (1958): p.133-151. Njal's Saga. Trans. George DaSent. London, 1861. Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney (http://books.google.com/books?id=vPifjS1BLyEC& printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false). Trans. Plsson, Hermann and Edwards, Paul (1978). London: Hogarth Press. ISBN 0-7012-0431-1. Republished 1981, Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044383-5. Poole, R. G. Viking Poems on War and Peace: A Study in Skaldic Narrative (http://books.google.com/ books?id=ND5Su1szecAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Viking+Poems+on+War+and+Peace& ei=tlzTSuuqGojYNv6viewN#v=onepage&q=&f=false). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1991. Sturluson, Snorri. "King Harald's Saga." Heimskringla. Penguin Classics, 2005. Trtteberg, Hallvard. "Merke og Fly." Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder, Vol. XI, Oslo, 1966, columns 549-555. Woolf, Rosemary. "The Ideal of Men Dying with their Lord in the Germania and in The Battle of Maldon." Anglo-Saxon England Vol. 5, 1976.

External links
Viking Answer Lady on Viking flags (http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/banners.shtml) Njal's Saga - Public domain edition of translated by George DaSent, 1861, at Northvegr.org (http://www. northvegr.org/lore/njal/) The Raven Banner (http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/xn_raven.html)

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

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File:RavenBanner.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:RavenBanner.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Contributors: Original uploader was Eyrian at en.wikipedia File:Vendel era helmet (950).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Vendel_era_helmet_(950).jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Berig at en.wikipedia File:Odin Vendel helmet.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Odin_Vendel_helmet.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Bloodofox, Dbachmann, Haukurth, Vassil File:Swedish shield from Vendel (946).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Swedish_shield_from_Vendel_(946).jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Berig at en.wikipedia File:Penny (Triqueta and Raven Banner) of Amlaib Cuaran.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Penny_(Triqueta_and_Raven_Banner)_of_Amlaib_Cuaran.png License: Public Domain Contributors: There is no person credited for images contained the the work. The introduction thanks the Clarendon Press for the production of these en:collotypes. The British Library Catalogue record for this work does not specify any photographer either, and the image is believed to be anonymous under UK law, and old enough to be in the public domain on that basis. Publication was in 1899, and accordingly the image is also public domain under US law. File:Raven banner (Bayeux Tapestry).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Raven_banner_(Bayeux_Tapestry).jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Brianann MacAmhlaidh File:Bayeux raven banner 2.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bayeux_raven_banner_2.png License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was Briangotts at en.wikipedia

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