Not every legend is a myth, some of them are true. Such were the Vikings and their magical powers. The Vikings, Nordic people who lived in the 8th to late 11th centuries, raided and traded across a wide area of Europe and sailed westwards to Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. They ignored the harsh weather of these regions, neglected the storms and the cold, the eternal clouds that hide both the stars and the sun, forbidding any possible navigation, discounted the winds and the fog and, despite all these hard conditions, they not only lived but also fought, conquered explored and ruled over many lands and seas.
Many sagas and legends are told about them. Some stories, as magical and unrealistic as they may seem are actually more real than one may think. The following tale, “Rauðúlfs þáttr” (from the 12th –13th centuries that tells a story that occurred in the 10th-11th centuries), may seem imaginary, but it uncovers deep truths about the Vikings, and it includes one artifact, the Sunstone, long believed to be magical or fictional, that recently was (re)discovered to be a real, physical and based on some fascinating science.
We strongly recommend you to read the full version of the tale that can be found here (Viking Society Web Publications, The Story of Rauð and his Sons. Tr. J. E. Turville-Petre), starting from page 16. A shortened version is provided below.
Rauðúlfs þáttr
There was a man called Raud, known also as Ulf and Raudulfs, who lived up in Eystridalir. He had two sons: Dag and Sigurd. Bjorn summoned a district assembly, to investigate the matter of large thefts of cattle and swine that occurred in his province. He blamed the two brothers: Dag and Sigurd, but they denied the accusations. Shortly afterward, King Olaf with his retinue arrived, and the dispute which had already been publicly heard was then laid before the King. The brothers were summoned; but when they came before the King, he declared that these men had nothing of the robber about them. He absolved them of the charge brought by Bjorn, and gave it as his opinion that they had no part in this affair. They invited the King to visit their father, and to receive entertainment there for three nights. The King promised to do so, and finally arrived at Raudulfs homestead, with a retinue of two hundred men.
Raud and his sons arranged a most splendid banquet. The King was much impressed and fell into conversation with Raud the householder. He readily perceived that the man was both eloquent and wise. The King questioned Ulf about many obscure matters, and Ulf had an answer ready in every case. King Olaf then questioned him on the course of events that had not yet taken place. Ulf gave some information about most of them. The King then exclaimed: “Are you a prophet, Ulf?” “Certainly not, my lord,” he replied. The King replied: “I have followed closely, and it is my considered opinion that you make no statement beyond your own conviction. Tell me, how comes it that you know in advance things that have not yet happened, if you are not a prophet? I know that you are a good Christian, and therefore you cannot be using sorcery for the purpose.” Ulf replied: “Some of my conclusions I draw from the direction of the winds, some from the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon or stars, and some from dreams.”
The King then asked: “What is your principal accomplishment, Ulf?”. Ulf replied if he must assert some claim, then his chief ability lies in explaining dreams in the sense of things to come. Then the King had Raud’s sons brought before him, and spoke thus: “Your father Ulf has shown himself a wise man. Now, have you learnt all his accomplishments?” Sigurd, the elder of the brothers, replied: “I am far from knowing them all, for he has taught me but one, and I recognise that I have not learnt to practise it as well as he; It is to define the course of the heavenly bodies visible to me, and to distinguish the stars which indicate periods of time, so that I can reckon duration of time by day and night. Even without seeing the heavenly bodies, I can determine all the hours, by day and by night.”
The King continued: “And now Dag, what is your accomplishment?” “I have learnt from my father one accomplishment which seems worth mentioning, and even so my father is much better at it than I. If I look a man intently in the eyes, and survey all his appearance and behaviour, I can penetrate his nature and perceive what kind of man he is, what his vices and virtues are.” Said the King: “That is a powerful glance, if what you say is true. I can soon put it to the test.”
The King turned and asked many guests the same question. Bjorn said that “when at a Thing-meeting (a district assembly) I report a decree or message from my liege lord, there is none among the audience so powerful that I need lower my voice nor speak haltingly, whether he approves or not.” Eventually the King answered himself: “This is my contribution: if I once see a man and choose to consider him attentively, I am sure to recognise him later, wherever I see him.” It was good and merry entertainment.
Then the King retired to bed. The weather was fair and clear, not a cloud to be seen. The King asked Sigurd: “What will the weather be like tomorrow?” “A fall of snow” he replied. “I hardly think so,” said the King. He went next to his sleeping quarters. As the King entered the sleeping-chamber, he examined the form of the building, which he saw at once to be constructed on a circular plan. There were four main doors to the building, equidistantly placed. Round the outer walls, finely furnished beds had been prepared. Twenty high, stout posts had been erected inside the building; they stood in a circle upholding the vaulted roof, which was all decorated with designs in colour. In the centre of the building was a broad, circular platform of wood, with steps to mount it running round. On the platform stood a large bed. Ulf told the King that he should lie down on the bed there made ready if he wished to dream a prophetic dream. The King agreed.
King Olaf lay awake far into the night, as was his custom. First he recited his prayers, then gave himself up To long meditation. He gazed up at the ceiling and on the walls, and saw God, the angelic hosts, the firmament which encloses in its circuit all the regions of air, and there also were depicted the heavenly bodies. Below came the clouds and the winds, then many kinds of winged creatures; lowest of all the earth, with its plants and trees and diverse animals, the seas and lakes too, with many kinds of sea-beasts. On the lower ceiling running round outside the central pillars, deeds of antiquity were portrayed, and stories of famous kings. The King looked long upon all this. As he reflected upon it, a thing happened which seemed stranger to him than all else: he felt as if the bed were revolving beneath him, or it might have been the whole building. Then drowsiness overcame him, and he slept for a while. When he woke, he thought over his dreams.
The king summoned Raud the master of the house, to whom he related his dream. In the dream, he said, he had seen a cross of most remarkable form, and then he described in what fashion it was. The weather was overcast, and snow was falling, as Sigurd had predicted. The King then summoned Sigurd and Dag into his presence. He sent a man out to observe the weather, and there was not a patch of clear sky to be seen. The King then asked Sigurd to determine how far the sun had travelled. He gave a precise answer. So the King had the sunstone held aloft, and observed where it cast out a beam; the altitude it showed was exactly as Sigurd had said. Then the King asked Dag: “What flaw do you perceive in my character?” Dag replied: “Sire: a trait common to many, delight in women.” “You speak true,” said the King:” and you three, father and sons, are far ahead of most people I know in wisdom and penetrating intelligence.”
“Ulf,” said the King,” can it be, that the bed I slept on last night revolved beneath me, as I thought—or was it the building itself? ” He replied: “Things were so arranged, Sire, that you should always be facing the sun, and your dream should follow the course of the sun, together with every turn of your thoughts and all your questioning.”
Then said the King: “I require of you, Ulf, to recite my dream, and explain the meaning of it.” Ulf replied: “First of all, I will relate something that you have not asked me: what thoughts you had before you fell asleep. You prayed God to reveal to you in some sort the outcome of the disturbance—warfare, almost—which is now breaking out, and the fortunes of the kingdom from this time forward.” Then Ulf described in detail the cross that appeared in the dream, its colors, metals, wood and structure. He explained that it means that short life and brief temporal dominion have been foretold for the King, but his dignity will shine forth above that of all men in this land. Then Ulf told the kingdoms of many Kings yet to come – which Kings will be glorious, which will be terrifying, who will be remembered for a long time, and who will be shortly forgotten. How the country will be cleft in two, and brother will raise spear against brother.
The King thanked Raud. Next day, the King questioned Ulf about his lineage, and that of his wife. Raudulf told him, and said that his wife is the sister of King Hring, the son of Dag.” The King had perceived that the father and his sons were very wise men. So he asked Dag what flaw of character he saw in Bjorn the steward. Dag replied that Bjorn was a thief; and he went on to describe how Bjorn had hidden away, at his farm, horns, bones and hides, the product of the cattle he had stolen during the autumn, fastening the guilt upon others.” He is responsible,” said Dag, “for all the losses by theft that people in this district suffered last autumn; and these he has laid to the charge of others.” And he went on to give the King detailed instructions as to where a search should be made.
When the King left Raud’s house, he was sped on his way with rich gifts. The sons of Raud accompanied him, for he thought that now he could not do without them. The King straightway visited Bjorn the steward, and everything fell out just as Dag had said. Then the King banished Bjorn from the country.
The Sunstone
The tale somewhat reminds of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, isn’t it? It is full of magic like the rotating house or the prophetic dreams, it has kingdoms, wars, fraud, wisdom, and bravery.
One of the artifacts mentioned offhand is the sunstone. In the tale, Olav used the sunstone to confirm the time reckoning skill of one of his hosts, Sigurd, right after leaving the rotating house. He held the sunstone up against the snowy and completely overcast sky and noted where the light was emitted from it. Both the tale above, Rauðúlfs þáttr, and Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar, two of the original medieval texts that include sunstones are considered to be allegorical.
The round and rotating house visited by Olav has been interpreted as a model of the cosmos and the human soul, as well as an expression of the Church. It has been suggested that the sunstone was used as a symbol of the Virgin, following a widespread tradition in which the virgin birth of Christ is compared with glass letting a ray of the sun through. Although sunstones also listed in church and monastic inventories without discussing their attributes, it was long believed that such an object, with its seemingly magical abilities, never really existed.
However, in 2013 [1] all that changed. A stone, Iceland spar (a calcite crystal), was found in the wreck of a 16th-century ship, next to other navigational instruments. This finding confirmed what was proposed in a research in 2011 [2], that showed that one can identify the direction of the sun to within a few degrees in both cloudy and twilight conditions as well as when the sun is beyond the horizon by using the stone and the naked eye. The idea was proposed already in 1967 [3], and since then multiple studies were conducted to prove the claim (for example [4][5][6][7][8][9]). These studies, together with the shipwreck finds, create a pretty clear picture of the legendary sunstone. It appears that the sunstone wasn’t allegorical after all – it was a polarizing crystal!
The secret lies in two phenomena: the polarization of light, and birefringence. If you want to uncover with us the secrets of the Sunstone, read our next article, that will be published soon and in which we will deep dive into the physics behind this magical, but real, artifact.
[1] The sixteenth century Alderney crystal: a calcite as an efficient reference optical compass? Albert Le Floch, Guy Ropars, Jacques Lucas, Steve Wright, Trevor Davenport, Michael Corfield and Michael Harrisson. http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rspa.2012.0651
[2] On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers Gábor Horváth, András Barta, István Pomozi, Bence Suhai, Ramón Hegedüs, Susanne Åkesson, Benno Meyer-Rochow and Rüdiger Wehner. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2010.0194
[3] Ramskou T. 1967Solstenen. Skalk 2, 16–17.
[4] Could Vikings have navigated under foggy and cloudy conditions by skylight polarization? On the atmospheric optical prerequisites of polarimetric Viking navigation under foggy and cloudy skies Ramón Hegedüs, Susanne Åkesson, Rüdiger Wehner and Gábor Horváth. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspa.2007.1811
[5] Guy Ropars, Vasudevan Lakshminarayanan & Albert Le Floch (2014) The sunstone and polarised skylight: ancient Viking navigational tools?, Contemporary Physics, 55:4, 302-317, DOI: 10.1080/00107514.2014.929797. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00107514.2014.929797, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.941.6317&rep=rep1&type=pdf
[6] Adjustment errors of sunstones in the first step of sky-polarimetric Viking navigation: studies with dichroic cordierite/ tourmaline and birefringent calcite crystals Dénes Száz, Alexandra Farkas, Miklós Blahó, András Barta, Ádám Egri, Balázs Kretzer, Tibor Hegedüs, Zoltán Jäger and Gábor Horváth. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.150406
[7] Ropars, G. & Gorre, G. & Floch, A. & Enoch, J. & Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan. (2012). A depolarizer as a possible precise sunstone for Viking navigation by polarized skylight. Royal Society of London Proceedings Series A. 468. 671-684. 10.1098/rspa.2011.0369. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258709999_A_depolarizer_as_a_possible_precise_sunstone_for_Viking_navigation_by_polarized_skylight
[8] Success of sky-polarimetric Viking navigation: revealing the chance Viking sailors could reach Greenland from Norway Dénes Száz and Gábor Horváth. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.172187
[9] Accuracy of the hypothetical sky-polarimetric Viking navigation versus sky conditions: revealing solar elevations and cloudinesses favourable for this navigation method Dénes Száz, Alexandra Farkas, András Barta, Balázs Kretzer, Miklós Blahó, Ádám Egri, Gyula Szabó and Gábor Horváth. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspa.2017.0358
Featured image by By Nicholas Roerich – Myseum by name of Nicolas Roerichthe last upload: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21509654
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