Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 22

Norway to Christianity in the 11th
century, wooden churches fused pagan
and Christian motifs. Dragons,
synonymous with the devil and evil
in the Bible and other religious texts,
served as reminders of danger and
temptation in daily life. Early church
builders created dragon heads with
gaping mouths extended from roofs
over gable apexes. Dragon-slaying
scenes, representing the triumph of
good over evil, often loomed over
door portals. These dragon motifs
can still be seen in the stave churches
that remain in Norway (see sidebar).
Religious roots
ythical animals such as dragons
and gargoyles became so
popular in church design throughout
medieval Europe-from English and
French stone churches to Norway's
wooden churches-that St. Bernard
of Clairvaux, France, complained in
an 1125 letter to an abbot: " What
mean those ridiculous monstrosities
in the courts of cloisters ... here a
serpent's tail attached to a quadruped,
there a quadruped's head on a fish ...
M
Top: Wood carvings on display on
Holkmenkollen Hotel. Middle: Ring
designed by Liz Bucheit at Crown Trout
Jewelers. Right: Artifact from Gokstad ship.
there a horned animal with the hind
parts of a horse? "
While dragons of varying descriptions
populate the Bible's Old and
New testaments, the trend for depicting
mythical animals in churches that
swept Europe can be traced to an early
text from the Middle Ages.
DRAGONS AND SHIPS
T
he discovery of three well-preserved Viking ships helped the
dragon emerge as a chief symbol of an independent Norway.
One ship, The Oseberg, an early ninth-century Viking ship found
in 1904 on a burial mound near Tønsberg on the Oslo fjord, features an
ornately-carved wooden head post of a long-necked dragon, plus carvings
of other animals and plants. The Oseberg, along with the Gokstad
and Tune ships, are now at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.
The text, " Physiologus, " is a collection
of descriptions and religious
allegories for real and mythical animals-from
lions, panthers and pelicans
to dragons, unicorns and phoe- nixes. It exerted a powerful influence
on medieval European church art.
Originally written in Greek between
the 2nd and 4th centuries, it was
translated into languages and dialects
throughout Europe and popularized
Christian symbols such as the dragon
for Satan, and the unicorn and phoenix
for Jesus Christ.
Usually portrayed in art and coatsof-arms
with a serpent-like tail, one
head, bat-like wings and four legs (like
the dragon on the flag of Wales), some
theories suggest dragons may have
22 V I K I N G Novemb er 2 009

Viking Magazine - November 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Viking Magazine - November 2009

Contents
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - Cover1
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - Cover2
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - Contents
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 4
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 5
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 6
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 7
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 8
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 9
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 10
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 11
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 12
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 13
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 14
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 15
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 16
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 17
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 18
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 19
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 20
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 21
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 22
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 23
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 24
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 25
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 26
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 27
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 28
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 29
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 30
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 31
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 32
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 33
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 34
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 35
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 36
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 37
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 38
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 39
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 40
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 41
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 42
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 43
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 44
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 45
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - 46
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - Cover3
Viking Magazine - November 2009 - Cover4
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