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Remembering the Vikings: Violence, institutional memory and the instruments of history
Author(s) -
Ellis Caitlin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/hic3.12644
Subject(s) - reputation , perspective (graphical) , history , period (music) , ancient history , psychology , sociology , social science , art , aesthetics , visual arts
The Vikings maintain a fearsome and violent reputation to this day. This perspective on vikings was shaped by monastic chroniclers and dynastic propaganda. But are vikings the victims of history because their history has been written by their victims? Viking violence has been contextualised using comparative history but also as the result of a socialised warrior mentality. To church historians, vikings could explain the lack of memory in their own institutions; gaps in historical records are still attributed to viking devastation. Sometimes viewed as the instruments of God in the medieval period, now vikings are the instruments of history, either as convenient explanations or catalysts for change.