An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and IrelandWorsaae, Jens Jacob Asmussen
History
An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland
Worsaae, Jens Jacob Asmussen
Great Britain -- Civilization -- Scandinavian influences; Northmen -- Great Britain; Northmen -- Ireland
After the conquest of England by the Normans, however, the Norman kings
abandoned the old Scandinavian raven-mark, and adapted themselves more
to the English customs. Probably each king had his own mark or flag,
after the custom of that time, until the national banner afterwards
received a settled form. But the remembrance of the Danish raven by no
means became obsolete among the English nation. Whilst the raven-flag
has almost been erased from the memory of the Danish people, the
remembrance of it still exists freshly in the British islands; and both
poets and artists who represent, however simply, the ancient combats of
the Danes with the Anglo-Saxons, the Scotch, and the Irish, seldom
neglect to make “the enchanted raven” wave in the Danish ranks.
On the often-mentioned Bayeux tapestry is also represented the fall of
the English king, Harald Godvinsön, at the battle of Hastings. The
king’s flag-bearer, or marksman, who, as well as the king, is on foot,
bears a flag-staff, on which is fixed a figure, probably of cloth, cut
in the resemblance of a dragon, which was the royal mark of the
Anglo-Saxon king. Close before him lies a fallen knight, by whose side
is seen a lance with the point downwards, and on which hangs a similar
dragon.
[Illustration: [++] Bayeux tapestry: Harald Godvinsön]
This fallen knight is without doubt the king. From the form of his flag,
or mark, we may conclude that the Danes’ raven-mark probably consisted
at times of the figure of a raven fixed to a shaft, and cut out or sewed
in a similar manner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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