Late 9th century The raven banner was used by a number of Viking warlords regarded in
Norse tradition as the sons of
Ragnar Lodbrok. The first mention of a Viking force carrying a raven banner is in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. For the year 878, the
Chronicle relates: In the winter of the same year, the brother of
Ivar and
Halfdan landed in
Devonshire,
Wessex, with 23 ships, and he was killed there along with 800 other people and 40 of his soldiers. The war banner (
guþfana) which they called "Raven" was also taken. The 12th-century
Annals of St Neots claims that a raven banner was present with the
Great Heathen Army and adds insight into its
seiðr- (witchcraft-) influenced creation and totemic and
oracular nature:
Geffrei Gaimar's
Estorie des Engles (written around 1140) mentions the Hrafnsmerki being borne by the army of
Ubbe at the
Battle of Cynwit (878): "[t]he Raven was Ubbe's banner (gumfanun). He was the brother of Iware; he was buried by the vikings in a very big mound in Devonshire, called Ubbelawe".
10th century In the 10th century, the raven banner seems to have been adopted by
Norse-Gaelic kings of
Dublin and
Northumbria. Many of the Norse-Gaelic dynasts in Britain and Ireland were of the
Uí Ímair clan, which claimed descent from Ragnar Lodbrok through his son Ivar. A triangular banner appearing to depict a tilted cross (possibly a bird) appears on a
penny minted by
Olaf Cuaran around 940. The coin features a roughly
right isosceles triangular standard, with the two
equilateral sides situated at the top and staff, respectively. Along the hypotenuse are a series of five tabs or tassels. The staff is topped by what appears to be a
cross; this may indicate a fusion of
pagan and Christian symbolism. File:York banner penny (frontside).jpg|
Banner Penny,
obverse The raven banner was also a
standard used by the Norse
Jarls of Orkney. According to the
Orkneyinga Saga, it was made for
Sigurd the Stout by his mother, a
völva or shamanic seeress. She told him that the banner would "bring victory to the man it's carried before, but death to the one who carries it". The saga describes the flag as "a finely made banner, very cleverly embroidered with the figure of a raven, and when the banner fluttered in the breeze, the raven seemed to be flying ahead". Sigurd's mother's prediction came true when, according to the sagas, all of the bearers of the standard met untimely ends. The "curse" of the banner ultimately fell on Jarl Sigurd himself at the
Battle of Clontarf: Earl Sigurd had a hard battle against
Kerthialfad, and Kerthialfad came on so fast that he laid low all who were in the front rank, and he broke the array of Earl Sigurd right up to his banner, and slew the banner-bearer. Then he got another man to bear the banner, and there was again a hard fight. Kerthialfad smote this man too his death blow at once, and so on one after the other all who stood near him. Then Earl Sigurd called on Thorstein the son of
Hall of Sida, to bear the banner, and Thorstein was just about to lift the banner, but then
Asmund the White said, "Don't bear the banner! For all they who bear it get their death". "
Hrafn the Red!" called out Earl Sigurd, "bear thou the banner". "Bear thine own devil thyself", answered Hrafn. Then the earl said, "'Tis fittest that the beggar should bear the bag'"; and with that he took the banner from the staff and put it under his cloak. A little after Asmund the White was slain, and then the earl was pierced through with a spear.
Early 11th century , showing a Norman knight carrying a banner with bird motif, assumed to be a raven banner. The army of King
Cnut the Great of England, Norway and Denmark bore a raven banner made from white
silk at the
Battle of Ashingdon in 1016. The
Encomium Emmae reports that Cnut had a banner which gave a wonderful omen. I am well aware that this may seem incredible to the reader, but nevertheless I insert it in my veracious work because it is true: This banner was woven of the cleanest and whitest silk and no picture of any figures was found on it. In case of war, however, a raven was always to be seen, as if it were woven into it. If the Danes were going to win the battle, the raven appeared, beak wide open, flapping its wings and restless on its feet. If they were going to be defeated, the raven did not stir at all, and its limbs hung motionless. The
Lives of Waltheof and his Father Sivard Digri (The Stout), the Earl of Northumberland, written by a monk of
Crowland Abbey (possibly the
English historian
William of Ramsey), reports that the
Danish jarl of
Northumbria, Sigurd, was given a banner by an unidentified old sage. The banner was called
Ravenlandeye. According to the
Heimskringla,
Harald Hardrada had a standard called
Landøyðan or "Land-waster". This is often assumed to be a raven banner based on the similarity of its name to Sigurd of Northumbria's "
Ravenlandeye", though there is no direct evidence connecting Harald's standard with ravens. In a conversation between Harald and King
Sweyn II of Denmark, Sveinn asked Haraldr which of his possessions of his he valued most highly. He answered that it was his banner (merki),
Landøyðan. Thereupon Sveinn asked what virtue it had to be accounted so valuable. Haraldr replied that it was prophesied that victory would be his before whom this banner was borne; and added that this had been the case ever since he had obtained it. Thereupon Sveinn said, "I shall believe that your flag has this virtue if you fight three battles with King Magnús, your kinsman, and are victorious in all". Years later, during Harald's invasion of
England, Harald fought a pitched battle against two English earls outside
York. Harald's Saga relates that when King Haraldr saw that the battle array of the English had come down along the ditch right opposite them, he had the trumpets blown and sharply urged his men to the attack, raising his banner called Landøyðan. And there so strong an attack was made by him that nothing held against it. Harald's army flew the banner at the
Battle of Stamford Bridge, where it was carried by a warrior named Frírek. After Harald was struck by an arrow and killed, his army fought fiercely for possession of the banner, and some of them went
berserk in their frenzy to secure the flag. In the end the "magic" of the banner failed, and the bulk of the Norwegian army was slaughtered, with only a few escaping to their ships. Other than the dragon banner of
Olaf II of Norway, the
Landøyðan of Harald Hardrada is the only early Norwegian royal standard described by
Snorri Sturluson in the Heimskringla. In two panels of the famous
Bayeux tapestry, standards are shown which appear to potentially be raven banners (although one is small and not given a motif). The Bayeux tapestry was commissioned by
Bishop Odo, the half-brother of
William the Conqueror; as one of the combatants at the
Battle of Hastings, Odo would have been familiar with the standards carried into the fight. In one of the panels, depicting a Norman
cavalry charge against an English
shield-wall, a charging
Norman knight is depicted with a semicircular banner emblazoned with a standing black bird. In a second, depicting the deaths of
Harold Godwinson's brothers, a triangular banner closely resembling that shown on Olaf Cuaran's coin lies broken on the ground. Scholars are divided as to whether these are simply relics of the Normans' Scandinavian heritage (or for that matter, the Scandinavian influence in
Anglo-Saxon England) or whether they reflect an undocumented
Norse presence in either the Norman or English army. == Modern reception ==