Editing Vikings (section)

===Post-medieval perceptions===
[[File:Vikings fight.JPG|thumb|A [[Combat reenactment|modern reenactment]] of a Viking battle]]
Early modern publications, dealing with what is now called Viking culture, appeared in the 16th century, e.g. ''Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus'' (''History of the northern people'') of [[Olaus Magnus]] (1555), and the first edition of the 13th-century ''Gesta Danorum'' (''Deeds of the Danes''), by [[Saxo Grammaticus]], in 1514. The pace of publication increased during the 17th century with Latin translations of the [[Edda]] (notably Peder Resen's ''Edda Islandorum'' of 1665).

In Scandinavia, the 17th-century Danish scholars [[Thomas Bartholin]] and [[Ole Worm]] and the Swede [[Olaus Rudbeck]] used runic inscriptions and Icelandic sagas as historical sources. An important early British contributor to the study of the Vikings was [[George Hickes (divine)|George Hickes]], who published his ''Linguarum vett. septentrionalium thesaurus'' (''Dictionary of the Old Northern Languages'') in 1703–05. During the 18th century, British interest and enthusiasm for Iceland and early Scandinavian culture grew dramatically, expressed in English translations of Old Norse texts and in original poems that extolled the supposed Viking virtues.

The word "viking" was first popularised at the beginning of the 19th century by [[Erik Gustaf Geijer]] in his poem, ''The Viking''. Geijer's poem did much to propagate the new romanticised ideal of the Viking, which had little basis in historical fact. The renewed interest of [[Romanticism]] in the Old North had contemporary political implications. The [[Geatish Society]], of which Geijer was a member, popularised this myth to a great extent. Another Swedish author who had great influence on the perception of the Vikings was [[Esaias Tegnér]], a member of the Geatish Society, who wrote a modern version of ''[[Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna]]'', which became widely popular in the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

[[File:Viking Siege of Paris.jpg|thumb|Viking long ships [[Siege of Paris (845)|besieging Paris]] in 845, 19th-century portrayal]]
Fascination with the Vikings reached a peak during the so-called [[Viking revival]] in the late 18th and 19th centuries as a form of [[Romantic nationalism]].<ref name="Wienberg2015">{{cite book |last1=Wienberg |first1=Jes |editor1-last=Larsson |editor1-first=Lars |editor2-last=Ekengren |editor2-first=Fredrik |editor3-last=Helgesson |editor3-first=Bertil |title=Small Things – Wide Horizons: Studies in honour of Birgitta Hårdh |year=2015 |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78491-132-4 |page=290 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HxteEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA290 |chapter=Vikings and the Western Frontier |access-date=11 February 2023 |archive-date=11 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211175220/https://books.google.com/books?id=HxteEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA290 |url-status=live }}</ref> In Britain this was called Septentrionalism, in Germany "[[Wagnerian]]" pathos, and in the Scandinavian countries [[Scandinavism]]. Pioneering 19th-century scholarly editions of the Viking Age began to reach a small readership in Britain. Archaeologists began to dig up Britain's Viking past, and linguistic enthusiasts started to identify the Viking-Age origins of rural idioms and proverbs. The new dictionaries of the Old Norse language enabled the [[Victorian era|Victorians]] to grapple with the primary Icelandic sagas.<ref name="bbc">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/revival_01.shtml The Viking Revival By Professor Andrew Wawn at] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107200719/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/revival_01.shtml |date=7 November 2017 }} BBC</ref>

Until recently, the history of the Viking Age was largely based on Icelandic sagas, the history of the Danes written by Saxo Grammaticus, the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', and ''[[Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib]]''. Few scholars still accept these texts as reliable sources, as historians now rely more on archaeology and [[numismatics]], disciplines that have made valuable contributions toward understanding the period.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00sawy|url-access=registration|title=The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings|first1=Peter|last1=Sawyer|first2=Professor of Medieval History Peter|last2=Sawyer|date=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|via=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0198205265|access-date=17 October 2015}}</ref>{{pn|date=December 2024}}

====In 20th-century politics====
The romanticised idea of the Vikings constructed in scholarly and popular circles in northwestern Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries was a potent one, and the figure of the Viking became a familiar and malleable symbol in different contexts in the politics and political ideologies of 20th-century Europe.<ref>Hall, pp. 220–21; [[William W. Fitzhugh|Fitzhugh]] and Ward, pp. 362–64</ref> In Normandy, which had been settled by Vikings, the Viking ship became an uncontroversial regional symbol. In Germany, awareness of Viking history in the 19th century had been stimulated by the border dispute with Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein and the use of Scandinavian mythology by [[Richard Wagner]]. The idealised view of the Vikings appealed to Germanic supremacists who transformed the figure of the Viking in accordance with the ideology of a Germanic master race.<ref>[[William W. Fitzhugh|Fitzhugh]] and Ward, p. 363</ref> Building on the linguistic and cultural connections between Norse-speaking Scandinavians and other Germanic groups in the distant past, Scandinavian Vikings were portrayed in [[Nazi Germany]] as a pure Germanic type. The cultural phenomenon of Viking expansion was re-interpreted for use as propaganda to support the extreme militant nationalism of the Third Reich, and ideologically informed interpretations of Viking paganism and the Scandinavian use of runes were employed in the construction of [[Nazi mysticism]]. Other political organisations of the same ilk, such as the former Norwegian fascist party [[Nasjonal Samling]], similarly appropriated elements of the modern Viking cultural myth in their symbolism and propaganda.

[[Soviet]] and earlier [[Slavophilia|Slavophile]] historians emphasised a Slavic rooted foundation in contrast to the Normanist theory of the Vikings conquering the Slavs and founding the [[Kievan Rus']].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ohloblyn |first1=Oleksander |title=Normanist Theory |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CN%5CO%5CNormanisttheory.htm |website=Encyclopedia of Ukraine |access-date=7 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907221348/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CN%5CO%5CNormanisttheory.htm |archive-date=7 September 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> They accused Normanist theory proponents of distorting history by depicting the Slavs as undeveloped primitives. In contrast, Soviet historians stated that the Slavs laid the foundations of their statehood long before the Norman/Viking raids, while the Norman/Viking invasions only served to hinder the historical development of the Slavs. They argued that [[Rus' (name)|Rus']] composition was Slavic and that [[Rurik]] and Oleg's success was rooted in their support from within the local Slavic aristocracy.{{Citation needed|date=November 2018}}. After the dissolution of the [[USSR]], [[Novgorod]] acknowledged its Viking history by incorporating a Viking ship into its logo.<ref>Hall, p. 221</ref>