The Viking World: A History in ObjectsMain MenuGallery viewA galleryTag Cloudtag cloud pageThemesA path of thematic categoriesAuthor IndexExplore the collection by authorWorks CitedReferencesAdam Bigelow3afa9c7ecebf516bba6609664b1b12f79c54bf77Caitlin Donahue61b7e986e7c71d400e5c803912ed83c0cf65252fCaroline Harvey1783f21a5882b5b4d3d0b6c174d058052a5ff7eaEdward Hershewee701ef220480b51ca728fc9c719bc094cf813655Martin Hoffmana1fd203afd9a84ee8db567e188cf6ed1d269386eTyler Hruby23493f763b312110686cfafc62578fd0ab5f3833Brittany N. Johnsonc1c1763339f8fa953e3c907c6bb8a3bad0c28b2cCarlos Lua Pineda0a28cc23b0aa00b4f24a9e205aeb57fbdb07ff01Moira McConnell710633400590ea38533ea3412c01fc5056288180Clara McCurdy9aec76477d0b55f9c685c47330d6786ec98182e1Elise McIlhaneyef48481634ff342c8b43c9d56f678b2d3562fb69Cameron Meikle669a5682bfbfd603130a26e25628f24eb07e6295Alexander Christopher Newkirk019c2f5b38c043507251d1789e2fdf47e61c3b7fBenja Reilly816c23aa0d444213fb2d1ef33555a15617e08228Oliver Statenc625ae8c3926f5e1a4268bc91d6a6f4cdb1e7fb6Liam Sullivanaa3a1dccb90c7fe4646b61c4af594abbb0c5574aRead Wilder31bf4715220144a665996f2e6cae80a1a8611eadAliza Yazdanicd49f227d88c72331226ddf574bf56c37308cd10Austin Masonf6137011c68eb792c6e14634815583b15e707dea
Söderala Bronze Weathervane
12017-05-17T19:29:48-07:00Caitlin Donahue61b7e986e7c71d400e5c803912ed83c0cf65252f164562Bronze weathervane from Söderala, that would adorn ships or churchesplain2017-05-17T19:33:55-07:00Asp, Yliali. Föremål 106752. SHM 16023. Still image, May 23, 2001. 106752. Historiska Museet. http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=106752&g=1.800-1100106752CC BY61.2793923,16.9566221BronzeHistoriska MuseetSöderala kyrka, Söderala, SwedenvikingatidCaitlin Donahue61b7e986e7c71d400e5c803912ed83c0cf65252f
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12017-05-21T21:29:47-07:00Söderala Bronze Weathervane4object pageplain2017-09-19T19:11:47-07:00From this intricately decorated weathervane, which would be found at the prow of a viking ship, or later at a church, we can learn a bit about how well decorated the ships would often be. This particular weather vane was found in the area of Hälsingland, Sweden, at the Söderala church. It is a piece of bronze and gold plated metalwork, from the 11th century, intricately decorated in the Urnes style.[1] A winding serpent-like creature takes up much of the quadrant shape of the vane, while another animal, potentially a canine, perches on top.
Used as an indicator of the direction of the wind, a weathervane could have been useful when sails started to be used.[2] Some argue that these weathervanes largely served ritual or social purposes, especially since later on they mostly show up in churches. In fact, though there is much literature on the decoration of ships, it is difficult to find any mention of weathervanes specifically.[3] A wood carving from Bergen shows that some ships did display what appears to be a weathervane such as this at the prow of the ship, so there is evidence to show that they were used on ships to some degree.[4]
Even if such weathervanes were less common than say, the famous dragon’s heads at the prows of ships, they are still a good indicator of the rich decoration of ships. We can also find many descriptions of the general decoration of ships in the texts, such as these excerpts from the Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason:[5] “[The ship] was fashioned with a dragon’s head and aft with a crook ending in like manner as the tail of a dragon, & both the prow & the whole of the stern were overlaid with gold,” “But after they had been talking thus a while saw they that four more ships came sailing by, and one of these was a dragon, large indeed, and bedecked with gold,” and “The prows were burnt-gold as from off the slip she glided.” Though these depictions all relate to the famed dragon ships, it is not a stretch of the imagination to see a weathervane such as this fitting in with these other ships.