Viking Society for Northern Research
Encyclopedia
The Viking Society for Northern Research, founded in London
in 1892 as the Orkney, Shetland and Northern Society or the Viking Club, is a group dedicated to the study and promotion of the ancient culture of Scandinavia
whose journal, Saga-Book, publication of editions, translations, and scholarly studies, and since 1964 the Dorothea Coke Memorial Lectures, have been influential in the field of Old Norse
and Scandinavian-British Studies.
Initially, the club was founded as a social and literary society for those from Orkney and Shetland. After some debate, this was broadened to include all those interested in the Norsemen
and the history of the North, and an inaugural session of the reconstituted Viking Club or Orkney, Shetland and Northern Society was held at the King's Weigh House
Rooms on 12 January 1894. It was mocked in the Pall Mall Gazette
under the headline "Vikings Drink Tea", whereupon a member retorted in a letter that "The fiercest warriors, even savages, drink tea and coffee nowadays". Punch
made fun of the Nordic titles of its officers with a satirical "Saga of the Shield-Maiden":
was used as a pen name and reference was made to effeminacy and nithings.
The society soon became better known for scholarship than for the conviviality that had been half its intended purpose. The 'foys', or concerts, gave way starting in 1901 to an annual dinner, which has continued to the present with few interruptions. In 1902 its name changed to the Viking Club or Society for Northern Research and in 1912 to the Viking Society for Northern Research. The first volume of the journal, Saga-Book, appeared in 1895; the first volume of Old Lore Miscellany is dated 1907-08; in welcoming that, the Pall Mall Gazette praised the society for "fresh and meritorious work". In 1908, a correspondent reported approvingly in the American Journal of Philology on the Society's "very large" membership including "many names prominent in the literary life and the scientific world of England, Scotland and the North" and on its publications and expenditure of "large sums of money" on expeditions as far afield as Denmark. From 1920, Saga-Book occasionally published monographs as separate numbers, but there is also a short Extra Series of monographs which began in 1893. A translation series began in 1902 with W.G. Collingwood and Jón Stefánsson's The Life and Death of Kormac the Skald. A text series began with an edition of Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu in 1935 and later broadened to include further monographs. The Dorothea Coke Memorial Lectures at University College London
, endowed in 1962 by Colonel B.E. Coke in memory of his wife, began in 1963 with G.N. Garmonsway lecturing on "Canute and His Empire"; these are published. The Society has also assisted in publishing the proceedings of the Viking Congress since the sixth Congress in 1969, and in making foreign publications available to members.
The Viking Society both resulted from and encouraged the Victorian Viking revival
. Collingwood, an art professor who became a philologist and translator as well as illustrator of Old Norse texts, presented his oil painting The Parliament of Ancient Iceland to the society and it hung in their meeting room. From its earliest days the Society brought together the prominent scholars in the field: William Morris
, Eiríkr Magnússon
, Guðbrandur Vigfússon
and Frederick York Powell
were among the active members in its early days, and its publications, lectures, and symposia have continued in the same vein, featuring Gabriel Turville-Petre
, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Ursula Dronke
, for example.
In 1917 the Viking Society was asked to help with the effort to establish Scandinavian Studies at the University of London
, where it was by then holding its meetings, and it became traditional for the head of what is now the Department of Scandinavian Studies at University College London
to be joint Honorary Secretary of the Society. The Society's extensive library became part of University College's library in 1931 in exchange for permanent access to a meeting room; however, in 1940 the collection was almost entirely destroyed in a fire caused by wartime bombing
and it had to be laboriously replaced.
World War I
had little effect on the Society's meetings but interrupted its publications, which resumed only slowly; there had been financial problems early in its history (a Treasurer destroyed the year's financial records rather than take them with him in a move, and the printers sued to recover the cost of an overrun), and again in 1916 a large sum had to be promised to the printers to avert a lawsuit, but in the 1920s serious financial problems arose. Meetings were suspended during World War II
but publications struggled on.
After the idea was raised at the fifth Viking Congress in Tórshavn
in 1965, a Scottish
offshoot of the Viking Society, the Scottish Society for Northern Studies, came into being in 1968. It publishes a journal called Northern Studies and holds an annual conference.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1892 as the Orkney, Shetland and Northern Society or the Viking Club, is a group dedicated to the study and promotion of the ancient culture of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
whose journal, Saga-Book, publication of editions, translations, and scholarly studies, and since 1964 the Dorothea Coke Memorial Lectures, have been influential in the field of Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
and Scandinavian-British Studies.
Initially, the club was founded as a social and literary society for those from Orkney and Shetland. After some debate, this was broadened to include all those interested in the Norsemen
Norsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
and the history of the North, and an inaugural session of the reconstituted Viking Club or Orkney, Shetland and Northern Society was held at the King's Weigh House
King's Weigh House
The King's Weigh House today serves as the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile and was formerly the name of a Congregational Church in London.-History:...
Rooms on 12 January 1894. It was mocked in the Pall Mall Gazette
Pall Mall Gazette
The Pall Mall Gazette was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood...
under the headline "Vikings Drink Tea", whereupon a member retorted in a letter that "The fiercest warriors, even savages, drink tea and coffee nowadays". Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
made fun of the Nordic titles of its officers with a satirical "Saga of the Shield-Maiden":
There'll be many a black, black eye, mother, in the club to-morrow night,The society did at that time call its officers "jarl, jarla-man, Viking-jarl, umboths-jarl and the rest," and its by-laws are still called the Law-Book. Initially they had used names specifically related to the Isles: "Udaller, Udal-Book and Udal-Right for Member, List of Members and Membership respectively [and also] Huss-Thing, Schynd-Bill, Great Foud and Stem-Rod". Both publications also made fun of the "weaking" pronunciation of viking and of the ambitious statement of intent in the prospectus: "It behoves every one who is directly or indirectly connected with or interested in the North to give the Viking Club such support as will enable it to take its proper place among the foremost societies in Europe". In the words of Punch:
For the Things-bothman and the Law-bothman have together arranged to fight;
While the stakes will be held by the Skatt-taker, and the Jarl will join the fray,
And we Shield-maidens will shriek and whoop in Old Norse, as best we may!
If we scratch up a scanty Skanian skill with skald and skal and ski,The mockery touched off vehement exchanges of letters in the Orkney Herald and the Shetland News in which St. Magnus
In the foremost place of societies soon in Europe we'll be!
Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney
Saint Magnus, Earl Magnus Erlendsson of Orkney, sometimes known as Magnus the Martyr, was the first Earl of Orkney to bear that name, and ruled from 1108 to about 1115...
was used as a pen name and reference was made to effeminacy and nithings.
The society soon became better known for scholarship than for the conviviality that had been half its intended purpose. The 'foys', or concerts, gave way starting in 1901 to an annual dinner, which has continued to the present with few interruptions. In 1902 its name changed to the Viking Club or Society for Northern Research and in 1912 to the Viking Society for Northern Research. The first volume of the journal, Saga-Book, appeared in 1895; the first volume of Old Lore Miscellany is dated 1907-08; in welcoming that, the Pall Mall Gazette praised the society for "fresh and meritorious work". In 1908, a correspondent reported approvingly in the American Journal of Philology on the Society's "very large" membership including "many names prominent in the literary life and the scientific world of England, Scotland and the North" and on its publications and expenditure of "large sums of money" on expeditions as far afield as Denmark. From 1920, Saga-Book occasionally published monographs as separate numbers, but there is also a short Extra Series of monographs which began in 1893. A translation series began in 1902 with W.G. Collingwood and Jón Stefánsson's The Life and Death of Kormac the Skald. A text series began with an edition of Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu in 1935 and later broadened to include further monographs. The Dorothea Coke Memorial Lectures at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, endowed in 1962 by Colonel B.E. Coke in memory of his wife, began in 1963 with G.N. Garmonsway lecturing on "Canute and His Empire"; these are published. The Society has also assisted in publishing the proceedings of the Viking Congress since the sixth Congress in 1969, and in making foreign publications available to members.
The Viking Society both resulted from and encouraged the Victorian Viking revival
Viking revival
Early modern publications dealing with Old Norse culture appeared in the 16th century, e.g. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus and the first edition of the13th century Gesta Danorum , in 1514...
. Collingwood, an art professor who became a philologist and translator as well as illustrator of Old Norse texts, presented his oil painting The Parliament of Ancient Iceland to the society and it hung in their meeting room. From its earliest days the Society brought together the prominent scholars in the field: William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
, Eiríkr Magnússon
Eiríkr Magnússon
Eiríkr or Eiríkur Magnússon was an Icelandic scholar who was Librarian at the University of Cambridge, taught Old Norse to William Morris, translated numerous Icelandic sagas into English in collaboration with him, and played an important role in the movement to study the history and literature of...
, Guðbrandur Vigfússon
Guðbrandur Vigfússon
Guðbrandur Vigfússon, known in English as Gudbrand Vigfusson, was one of the foremost Scandinavian scholars of the 19th century.-Life:He was born of an Icelandic family in Breiðafjörður...
and Frederick York Powell
Frederick York Powell
Frederick York Powell , was an English historian and scholar.- Biography :Frederick York Powell was born in Bloomsbury, London. Much of his childhood was spent in France and Spain, so that he early acquired a mastery of the language of both countries and an insight into the genius of the people...
were among the active members in its early days, and its publications, lectures, and symposia have continued in the same vein, featuring Gabriel Turville-Petre
Gabriel Turville-Petre
Edward Oswald Gabriel Turville-Petre F.B.A. was Professor of Ancient Icelandic Literature and Antiquities at the University of Oxford...
, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Ursula Dronke
Ursula Dronke
Ursula Dronke is a medievalist and former Reader in Old Norse at the University of Oxford. She is the Emeritus Vigfússon Reader in Ancient Icelandic Literature and Antiquities and an Emeritus Fellow of Linacre College. She also formerly taught in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages at...
, for example.
In 1917 the Viking Society was asked to help with the effort to establish Scandinavian Studies at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, where it was by then holding its meetings, and it became traditional for the head of what is now the Department of Scandinavian Studies at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
to be joint Honorary Secretary of the Society. The Society's extensive library became part of University College's library in 1931 in exchange for permanent access to a meeting room; however, in 1940 the collection was almost entirely destroyed in a fire caused by wartime bombing
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
and it had to be laboriously replaced.
World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
had little effect on the Society's meetings but interrupted its publications, which resumed only slowly; there had been financial problems early in its history (a Treasurer destroyed the year's financial records rather than take them with him in a move, and the printers sued to recover the cost of an overrun), and again in 1916 a large sum had to be promised to the printers to avert a lawsuit, but in the 1920s serious financial problems arose. Meetings were suspended during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
but publications struggled on.
After the idea was raised at the fifth Viking Congress in Tórshavn
Tórshavn
Tórshavn is the capital and largest town of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the north west of the town lies the high mountain Húsareyn, and to the southwest, the high Kirkjubøreyn...
in 1965, a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
offshoot of the Viking Society, the Scottish Society for Northern Studies, came into being in 1968. It publishes a journal called Northern Studies and holds an annual conference.