The Flemish Influence on Sinterklaas in America

On December 6th, children in Flanders receive gifts. These gifts ostensibly come from Sint Nicolaas – the individual we call “Saint Nicholas”. The festival and the main character are called (in Dutch) “Sinterklaas” – the original version of the American word that became “Santa Claus”. With the aid of his Moor assistant, Zwarte Piet (“Black Pete”), Sinterklaas delivers gifts to good children and leaves coal in the stockings of naughty children.

Most references to the origin of Sinterklaas in America point to New Netherland as the source of this custom. But most historians say that Santa Claus as a concept did not gain broad acceptance in the U.S. until well into the 19th century. Of course, since New Netherland was ostensibly Dutch, most writers and historians have assumed that the holiday was transported over by settlers from Holland. But for the hard-core Calvinists (the only religion officially permitted in New Netherland in the mid-17^th century) such celebrations were at odds with the austere form of Christianity they practiced. The Sinterklaas tradition had strong Catholic origins, which of course made it anathema to 17th century convicted Calvinists. Fortunately for 21^st century retail merchants, key members of the Dutch Reformed Church in Nieuw Nederland who had roots in officially Catholic Flanders, were unwilling to give up their cultural traditions.

One of these prominent individuals was Annetje Loockermans (whose story I have told earlier here). Annetje was the sister of Govert Loockermans, who was not only the richest man in North America when he died in 1670, but was also a prominent municipal leader and member of the Dutch Reformed (=Calvinist) Church in New Netherland. A 19^th century writer/descendant (Mrs. Van Rensselaer) claims that Annetje Loockermans led the “petticoat government” of New netherland after she arrived here in 1642. Although Calvinists in America, Annetje, her brother Govert, and several of her other brothers were born and baptized Catholic at Sint Pieterskerk in the Brabantian town of Turnhout (part of today’s province of Antwerp). While growing up in Flanders, the Loockermans most certainly observed (outwardly) Catholic feastdays, since Turnhout remained officially (and exclusively) Catholic..

Once in America, Annetje married Olaf van Courtlandt and her children led the Netherlandic colony culturally, politically and economically. Her daughter Maria married Jeremias van Rensselaer who was the son of Kiliaen, the “patroon” or founder of Rensselaerswyck a feudal manor whose privileges later made it an anomaly in the egalitarian United States. Maria, who was according to a contemporary, beautiful but crippled, married at the age of 17. When her husband died unexpectedly, the young widow raised her children and kept the patroonship profitable. Naturally, like any daughter, she also kept the traditions alive she had picked up from her Flemish mother Annetje originating in Turnhout.

The earliest evidence of any practice related to Sinterklaas is found in the New York State archives. A surviving receipt from Wouter de Backer (Walter the Baker) to Maria van Rensselaer in 1675, (please see the embedded picture, 9^th line from the bottom), says that in addition to cookies ("koeken"), Mrs. Van Rensselaer purchased 2 guilders and 10 stijvers worth of ‘sunterclaes’ (Sinterklaas) "goet" ["goodies"]. Please see an excerpt above and the actual scanned image here. It is from this discarded bakery receipt that America – and the world – finds the earliest reference to “Sinterklaas” in America.

Later, other descendants of Annetje Loockermans carried the Sinterklaas theme even further. Annetje’s son, the half-Flemish Stephanus, became the first native-born mayor of New York City. Stephanus’ great-great-great granddaughter was a young woman named Catherine Elizabeth Taylor. Catherine’s mother Elizabeth Van Courtlandt grew up in the tight-knit Upper Hudson Valley community and attended the Dutch-language church services of the Dutch Reformed Church. Although Catherine also married outside this Dutch-language community, her husband, Clement Clarke Moore, was keenly interested in the history and traditions of the settlers of New Netherland. He shared this interest with two other prominent friends: John Pintard and Washington Irving. Most historians trace the modern, popular appreciation of Santa Claus back to these three change agents: Clement Clarke Moore, John Pintard, and Washington Irving.

Washington Irving, while not descended from the settlers of New Netherland himself, grew up in Manhattan in the 1780s – at that time a place where a part of the population still spoke Dutch. When an epidemic hit New York City in 1798, Irving was invited to stay with a friend who lived near Sleepy Hollow, New York in the Upper Hudson Valley. There Irving and his close friend became fascinated with the local tales of the Dutch-speaking inhabitants. Soon afterwards they began transcribing and publishing these tales.

 In his 1809 book A History of New York From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, Washington Irving popularized these tales and coined such terms as “Gotham” and “Knickerbocker”.  While intended as a satire, the book was remarkably detailed on New Netherland history, Dutch language and customs to pass as legitimate history to the masses. Moreover, Irving's prose (then and even today) was engaging enough to become a best-seller of the time (and to remain popular well into the 20th century).

 Irving's story popularized St. Nicholas - pronounced Sinterklaas - from an obscure ethnic holiday celebrated by a shrinking circle of ethnic Dutch-speakers to something tied into New York's Dutch origins. In particular, and as it pertains to our story here, Irving focused on the interaction between St. Nicholas and the patriarch of the Van Courtlandt [although he spelled it "Van Kortlandt"] family. In it St. Nicholas appears in dreams to Van Kortlandt. Irving also shares a description of St. Nicholas' Feast Day as celebrated by the Dutch-speakers of New Netherland (please see Washington Irving, Knickerbocker's History of New York, edited by Anne Carroll Moore; New York: Doubleday, 1959: especially pp. 27, 49-51, 58, etc. and pp. 95-100). Curiously, his only nods to Flanders are to redundantly claim that each of the pear-shaped characters in the story wore "Flemish hose" and reckon that the fines they received were in Flemish pounds (1 Flemish pound = 6 Dutch Guilders).

While Washington Irving’s book – which became for that date and place a huge bestseller – first brought the concept of Sinterklaas to the wider American public, it took yet another man, Huguenot John Pintard, to crystallize the concept. Pintard was a merchant of untiring energy, whose wife was related to President James Monroe’s wife, Elizabeth Van Kortright. Elizabeth was the great-great-great-great granddaughter of Jan Baptiste van Kortryk, a Flemish immigrant to New Netherland from Kortrijk, West Flanders.

Pintard, is credited by some with establishing Washington’s birthday and July 4^th as national holidays. He also proposed St. Nicholas' feast day, December 6th, as an alternate family holiday to the dangerous and debauched revelry then common on New Year's Eve. A friend of Washington Irving - and founder of the New York Historical Society - Pintard began the revival of St. Nicholas with a St. Nicholas Society Dinner on December 6th, 1810 (the year after Irving's publication). Later, this evolved into the St. Nicholas Society of New York. 

However, what really settled “Santa Claus” as the figure and Christmas as the holiday it has come to be, was the last gentleman in this trio: Pintard's friend Clement Clarke Moore. Moore, it is now believed, appropriated a poem first written by Henry Livingston and published in the Troy Sentinel in 1823. Livingston’s 17^th century ancestor in New Netherland was Robert Livingston, son of a a Scottish father and a woman whose name was “Mary Flanders”. Fluent in Dutch, Robert Livingston thrived first under the Dutch in New Netherland and, later after 1664, under the English at New York. Livingston’s wife was the widow of Nicolaus Van Rensselaer. He cemented his standing in New Netherland society when his grandson married a Van Courtlandt. Sadly, Henry Livingston, who died in 1828, never saw his poem become a global phenomenon.

Undoubtedly influenced by not only the enthusiastic reception of Irving’s book but the growing popularity of Pintard’s holiday, Moore published the iconic Christmas poem after its original author died in 1830. Moore gave us here in America the poem we know as "Twas the Night Before Christmas" . It was this witty ditty that helped push the date we celebrate Christmas from the evening of December 5th/6th to December 25th. Cultural influences being what they are, Christmas is now celebrated even in non-Christian countries like Japan (albeit as a cultural, not a religious, holiday).

The Van Courtlandt family tradition of Sinterklaas – almost certainly originating in the maternal traditions of Tournhout native Annetje Loockermans – became the Santa Claus tradition of today. It has now been passed on to later generations and is inseparably blended with the fabric of America. Little did she realize the legacy she would leave for 21st century America and indeed the world.

So as you hum the latest Christmas jingle, bake your Christmas 'goodies', or scramble for those last minute gifts, take a moment to reflect, if you will, on the debt owed to a few hardy Flemish women in 17th century Nieuw Nederland who transmitted their cultural traditions to the world from Flemish Americans.

With that as backdrop, Gentle Reader, it seems only fitting that I leave you with the stanzas and illustrations that inspired the adoption by first American and then world popular culture of Santa Claus. The below text is courtesy of a superb website on the poem: "Account of a Visit From St. Nicholas"

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danc'd in their heads,
And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a minature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name:

"Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer, and Vixen, 
"On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blixem; 
"To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
"Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys - and St. Nicholas too:

And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound:

He was dress'd all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnish'd with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys was flung on his back,
And he look'd like a peddler just opening his pack:

His eyes - how they twinkled! his dimples how merry,
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly:

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laugh'd when I saw him in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And fill'd all the stockings; then turn'd with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight-
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

This originally appeared in the Flemish American Blogspot http://www.flemishamerican.blog. Copyright 2013 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted without my express, written permission.

The Flemish Claim to Sinterklaas in America

Today, December 6th, children in Flanders receive gifts. These gifts ostensibly come from Sinterklaas with the aid of his Moor assistant, "Swarte Piet". This tradition had strong Catholic origins, which of course made it anathema to 17th century convicted Calvinists. Thankfully, key members of the Dutch Reformed Church in Nieuw Nederland who had roots in officially Catholic Flanders, were unwilling to give up their cultural traditions.

One of these key individuals was Annetje Loockermans (whose story I have told earlier here). Annetje was the sister of Govert Loockermans and together with several of her other brothers, represented the Brabantian town of Turnhout well in 17th century America.

Annetje married Olaf van Courtlandt and her children led the Netherlandic colony culturally, politically and economically: her son Stephanus was the first native-born mayor of New York City. Her daughter Maria married Jeremias van Rensselaer (son of Kiliaen, the founder of Rensselaerswyck and the subject of recent books). Later, when her husband died, the young widow raised her children and kept the patroonship profitable. She also kept the traditions alive she had picked up from her Turnhouter mother Annetje.

The earliest evidence of any practice related to Sinterklaas is found in the New York State archives. A surviving receipt from Wouter de Backer (Walter the Baker) to Maria van Rensselaer in 1675, (please see the embedded picture), lists (8 lines from the bottom) says that in addition to cookies ("koeken"), Mrs. Van Rensselaer purchased 2 guilders and 10 stivers worth of Sinterklaas "goet" ["goodies"] - please see an excerpt above and the actual scanned image here.

Later descendants of Annetje Loockermans were to carry the Sinterklaas theme even further: they gave us here in America the poem we know as "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as well as pushed the date we celebrate Christmas from the evening of December 5th/6th to December 25th. Cultural influences being what they are, Christmas is now celebrated even in non-Christian countries like Japan (albeit as a cultural, not a religious, holiday).

So as you hum the latest Christmas jingle, bake your Christmas 'goodies', or scramble for those last minute gifts, take a moment to reflect, if you will, on the debt owed to a few hardy Flemish women in 17th century Nieuw Nederland who transmitted their cultural traditions to the world from Turnhout.

Copyright 2011 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted without my express, written permission.

The First (Flemish?) Christmas Celebrated in North America

"Leif Eriksson Sights Land in America" by Christian Krohg, 1893

Around specific holidays like Christmas I look for the ties of Flemings [i] to the composition of global culture. What contributions have Flemings made to the mix? Not surprisingly (for those of you who are regular readers), a little digging reveals that the Flemish have, since the earliest traces of Christianity’s dissemination in Flanders, played a role in the propagation and transmission of Christmas as celebrated here in North America. In fact, it might even be possible to claim that the first Christmas celebrated in North America was conducted by a Flemish priest.

Flemish Missionaries [ii]As most historians now agree, Flanders itself emerged as a distinct political entity within decades of Charlemagne’s anointing as Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in the Year 800.[iii] The birth of Flanders was in part caused by the raids of Norsemen on the Flemish estuaries (Scheldt, Zwin, and others). Moreover, some of these ‘raids’ resulted in occupation by the victors that lasted – for example, in Gent, at St. Baaf’s Cathedral – for decades.[iv] Over the course of which, unions were formed between the occupiers and the locals, leading not only to a hybrid ethnicity (large numbers of Flemings in those same areas today have an overwhelming amount of Scandinavian DNA ), [v] but also to shared practices and customs.

It was the Benedictines who brought Christianity to Flanders in the 600s.[vi] Their monastery at Tourhout (often mistranscribed as “Tourholt”) sent forth a stream of missionaries to the Viking settlements across Scandinavia.[vii] The first of these, St. Ansgar, became the first Archbishop of Bremen – a diocese that explicitly included (when it was established in the mid-9th century) Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. St. Ansgar’s successor and closest disciple, the Fleming St. Rembert [viii], carried on St. Ansgar’s missionary work to the Norse. St. Rembert drew upon the Benedictine monastery at Tourhout, West Flanders[ix] for missionary recruits to his Christianize the Vikings.

One of these Flemish priests, known to us today as Dankbrand [x], succeeded in converting King Olaf of Norway in the 990s. Dankbrand’s Flemish fervor carried him to Iceland where he spent three years (996-999) preaching to the lawless Icelandic clans. It was from these clans that Lief Erikson’s family was expelled, prompting their migration to Greenland and ultimately North America. Dankbrand’s return from Iceland to King Olaf’s court in 999 curiously corresponded with Leif Erikson’s return to the king’s court as well. Since the journey from North America to Norway at that time would require a stop over in Iceland (where Leif Erikson had family and ties) it may very well have been that Dankbrand and Lief became acquainted in Iceland first before meeting in Bergen, the capital of Norway and Denmark and of the arc of settlements from North America to Scandinavia.[xi]

It was at King Olaf’s court that Leif Erikson accepted Christianity.[xii] Since training of priests took literally years (and there were no seminaries established in Norway at this time), inevitably the missionaries were foreigners. Chances then that Dankbrand – or one of the other Flemish priests[xiii] – actually is responsible for converting Leif Erikson.

The First (Flemish?) Christmas in North AmericaThe surviving chronicles tell us that Leif was fired with a new convert’s enthusiasm. Accordingly, after a likely conference with King Olaf [xiv], Leif Erikson embarked once more with about 160 settlers and missionaries for his colony in North America.[xv]

Leif Eriksson, as is commonly accepted, is recognized as the earliest recorded European discover of America. [xviii] Among Leif Ericsson’s party was also at least one “south country” man – a Norse term at the time for Germanic speakers, and that might include the Flemish – who was not of Norwegian ethnicity. It is this man who legend says discovered the grapes – which of course are the necessary ingredient for the proper celebration of Mass by these new Christians in North America. It was the discovery of grapes that suggested the name “Vinland” for this part of North America.[xvi] Modern scholars now believe that the label Vinland applied specifically to the Cape Cod area, Rhode Island, and perhaps even Martha’s Vinyard.[xvii]

Leif’s small band – including any Flemish missionaries and “south country” men – only lasted in North America continuously from about 1000 to 1009 AD. As better chronicled in my earlier posting, it was Flemish missionaries that converted the king of Norway, the people of Iceland, and most likely joined the hardy band that set out to their outposts in Greenland and the New World. If this is true, then the first Christmas celebrated by Christians in North America was led by a Fleming. [xix]

Endnotes - Please excuse the poor linkage here between the footnotes and the reference point. A new rendition of this blog by the webmaster has made it frustratingly difficult to carry over links from Windows 7.

i) Nearly every post I make triggers a regionalistic response. Hence, due to the stream of e-mails I receive from eagle-eyed historical aficionados – that my terminology of “Fleming” is meant in the broad sense to include those Dutch speakers south of the Schelde/Lier Rivers and southwest to Boulogne (known as Bonnen for the Dutch inhabitants). In other words, the Dutch speakers in what is modern-day Belgium and northern France. Thus, I include Brabanters, Brusselaers, citizens of Mechelen, subjects of the bishopric of Luik (Liege), and Limburgers in this mix. For a superb map (in color no less!) see Dr. Pieter Geyl, Geschiednis van de Nederlandse Stam: Deel I (tot 1648), (Amsterdam/Antwerpen: Wereldbibliothek, NV, 1958) “Kaarte IV: De feodale versnippering”, opposite p.40.

ii) For a recent synopsis of Catholic contributions in the U.S. Midwest alone please see Bart Ryckbosch, “Belgian Missionaries in the American Midwest” in the Belgian American Historical Society of Chicago Newsletter, Vol. 4, no. 2, (December, 2008) pp. 2-8 http://www.bahsc.org/images/newsletter/bahsc_newsletter_2008_12_vol_4_n_2.pdf .

iii) See http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/charlemagne.shtml for a brief summary of Charlemagne. I will delve into this in greater detail in a follow-on posting.

iv) For my discussion of the linkage of St. Baaf’s (St. Bavon to French and English speakers) with the Vikings, please refer to my earlier posting here: http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-flemings-in-america-part-one.html

v) The best reference I am aware of for the common discussion of DNA and Flemish ancestry is Guido DeBoeck, Flemish DNA & Ancestry, (Arlington, VA: Dokus, 2007), especially Chapter 8 (p.237ff). For a direct look at how we are connected genetically (and the waves of historical interaction, genetically tied), take a quick look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_I_(Y-DNA) . . Note that a sizeable percent of the population of modern Flanders - 28% - have some Scandinavian DNA. Please see Guido Deboeck, "Genetic Diversity in Flemish DNA" (2008) quoting Spencer Well's Deep Ancestry, here http://www.jogg.info/42/files/Deboeck.htm and Gerhard Mertens, "Y Haplogroup Frequencies in the Flemish Population", Journal of Genetic Genealogy, 3 (2): 19-25, 2007 found online here: http://www.jogg.info/32/mertens.pdf

vi) Specifically, St. Amandus is credited with the ‘reconversion’ of Flanders in the 7th century: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Amandus . St. Amandus established St. Baaf Cathedral in Gent at this time. Today’s Trappists – well-known for their beers and ales – are an offshoot of the Cistercians who themselves broke away from the Benedictines. All three orders follow the Rule of St. Benedict. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trappists

vii) "Even in the year 780 we had some emigrants. When Saint Adelhard, son of Count Bernhard and grandson of Karel Martel moved to Corbie in France to manage the abbey (780 to 814 and 821 to 826), he did not leave by himself. He was accompanied by a good number of like minded people. Another saint, Saint Asher (801 to 865) primate of the Scandinavian countries, was appointed by Louis The Pious as the first archbishop of Hamburg. Since Asher was a Fleming, Louis donated to him the abbey of Torhout. Asher stayed there on a regular basis, and each time when hereturned to Hamberg a large number of Flemings followed in his wake." - from Vlaamse Stam (Flemish Heritage), amonthly magazine of "De Vlaamse Vereniging voor Familiekunde (V.V.F)"(The Flemish Association for Geneology). The article was contained in the January 1991 issue, pages 546 through 554, and authored by Marc van de Cruys. “St. Asher” is also known as St. Ansgar.

viii) Löffler, Klemens. "St. Rimbert." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 21 Jun. 2009 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13057a.htm . There is a good explanation of the history of Tourhout and the connection with Rembert here: http://www.geocities.com/heemkundetorhout/geschiedenis.htm .

ix) Although established in 650, this monastery in the heart of West Flanders – like many others in the Carolingian empire – got a sharp push with the reforms implemented and patronage afforded under Charlemagne. For details see Joseph Lemmens, La Memoire des Monasteres: Une Histoire de la Belgique du VIIe au XVIIe Siecle, (Bruxelles: Le Cri, 1999), pp.35-38. The connection between Tourhout specifically and Flanders more generally with the Norsemen is sceptically handled (but with better chronological linkage than elsewhere) here: http://home.tiscali.nl/gjallar/Plaatsen_Torhout_Engels.html . The web author (Luit van der Tuuk) has also recently published a book, Normannen in het Rivierenland, (2009) which I have yet to read. For more info on Tourhout please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourhout and http://www.torhout.be/ .For an unofficial but more in-depth (albeit un-pc) municipal history in English please see http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/be-vwvth.html .

x) His name is also transcribed as Thankbrand, Thangbrand, Frangbrandr, etc. See for example, the Lutheran Church Cyclopedia: https://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.asp?t1=T&word=THANGBRAND

xi) Norway formally declared sovereignity over the extended Scandinavian diaspora in 1362.

xii) “It was only at the court of King Olaf at Trondhjem that he [Leif] submitted to baptism.”

xiii) Some of these Flemish priests may have been Scandinavian orphans ‘bought’ by Dankbrand or Rimbert and brought to Tourhout for training, becoming “Flemishized” in the process. See http://home.tiscali.nl/gjallar/Plaatsen_Torhout_Engels.html .

xiv) James Robert Enterline in Erikson, Eskimos & Columbus, (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2002), pp. 47-48, for the fact that a great many of the Icelanders were of noble or aristocratic Norwegian blood, and thus permitted to request an audience with King Olaf.

xv) Although archeologists have identified only the settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland as a true settlement, it is now widely accepted that the Norsemen settled as far south as modern day Rhode Island. However, Viking implements have been identified across North America and as far afield as Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. See this map for details: http://www.spirasolaris.ca/1amap4.html . Additional online reference sites here: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/vinland.html and here http://www.spirasolaris.ca/sbb4g1bv.html .

xvi) John Fiske, The Discovery of America, Vol. 1, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1892), pp.165-6.

xvii) Frederick N. Brown, III, Rediscovering Vinland: Evidence of Ancient Viking Presence in America, (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2007), Vol. I, p.183ff.

xviii) James Robert Enterline in Erikson, Eskimos & Columbus, (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2002), p.6, has declared, “Leif Erikson, too, was a discoverer of America. There is no longer any controversy among scholars about that.”

NOTE: An excellent site on the Vikings (and from whence some of the illustrations come) can be found here (in German): http://www.langstrofsche-stubentiger.de/heimdallserben/wikinger/wikinger28.htm

Copyright 2009 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction in any form is permitted without my express written permission.