Viking Hairstyles: Is Ragnar’s Haircut Historical?

Ragnar Viking hairstyleLately, I have been receiving a lot of questions concerning Viking hairstyles, all inspired by Travis Fimmel’s fancy haircut in The History Channel’s Vikings. A recent blog post Ragnar Lothbrok’s Viking Style by Nancy Marie Brown inspired me to delve deeper into the matter. The present article will quote the original sources on Norse male hairstyles during the Viking Age, then it will give a translation and interpretation of each, and finally it will offer a few thoughts on whether Ragnar’s haircut in Vikings looks historically accurate.

We have two witnesses as for the hair of the Norsemen in early Middle Ages:

  • Leo the Deacon (born ca. 950). In his History, written about AD 989—992, Leo describes how John I Tzimiskes (Byzantine emperor) met Sviatoslav (prince of Kievan Rus) in July 971. Whether Leo himself was present at the meeting, is unclear.
  • Ælfric of Eynsham (also born ca. 950). In his Letter to Edward, written about AD 1000, partly in rhythmical alliterative prose, Ælfric speaks about English people who adopt heathen Danish customs, which he considers to be shameful.

Till the present day, there is only one edition of the original Greek text of Leo the Deacon’s History: Leonis Diaconi Caloënsis Historiae Libri Decem: Et Liber de Velitatione Bellica Nicephori Augusti. Bonnae: Impensis Ed. Weberi, 1828. The Greek text was edited and translated into Latin by Carl Benedict Hase (a new critical edition was prepared in the 1970s by N. Panagiotakes but it was never published). On pp. 167—168 of this 1828 Bonn edition we read the following description of Sviatoslav:

Καὶ ὁ Σφενδοσθλάβος δὲ ἧκεν ἐπί τινος Σκυθικοῦ ἀκαθίου παραπλέων τὸν ποταμὸν, τῆς κώπης ἡμμένος καὶ σὺν τοῖς ἑτέροις ἐρέττων, ὡς εἷς λοιπῶν. τὴν δὲ ἰδέαν τοιόσδε τις ἦν· τὴν ἡλικίαν μεμετρημένος, οὔτε εἰς ὓψος παρὰ τοῦ εἰκότος ἠρμένος, οὔτε εἰς βραχύτητα συντελλόμενος· δασεῖς τὰς ὀφρῦς, γλαυκοὺς ἔχων τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, τὴν ῥῖνα σιμὸς, ἐψιλωμένος τὸν πώγωνα, τῷ ἄνωθεν χείλει δασείαις καὶ εἰς μῆκος καθειμέναις θριξὶ κομῶν περιττῶς. τὴν δὲ κεφαλὴν πάνυ ἐψίλωτο· παρὰ δὲ θάτερον μέρος αὐτῆς βόστρυχος ἀπῃώρητο, τὴν τοῦ γένους ἐμφαίνων εὐγένειαν· εὐπαγὴς τὸν αὐχένα, τὰ στέρνα εὐρὺς, καὶ τὴν ἄλλην διάπλασιν εὖ μάλα διηρθρωμένος· σκυθρωπὸς δέ τις καὶ θηριώδης ἐδείκνυτο. θατέρῳ δὲ τῶν ὤτων χρύσειον ἐξῆπτο ἐνώτιον, δυσὶ μαργάροις κεκοσμημένον, ἄνθρακος λίθου αὐτοῖς μεσιτεύοντος. ἐσθὴς τούτῳ λευκὴ, οὐδέν τι τῶν ἑτέρων ὑπαλλάττουσα ἢ καθαρότητι. ὀλίγα γοῦν ἄττα περὶ διαλλαγῆς τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐντυχὼν, παρὰ τὸν ζυγὸν τοῦ ἀκατίου ἐφεζόμενος, ἀπηλλάττετο.

The fragment of text highlighted in red is the most important as for the hairstyle, but no less controversial as well. In a recent English edition of Leo the Deacon’s work it is translated as follows: “He shaved his head completely, except for a lock of hair that hung down on one side” (Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century: The History of Leo the Deacon. Introduction, Translation and Annotation by Alice-Mary Talbot and Denis F. Sullivan with the assistance of George T. Dennis and Stamatina McGrath. Dumbarton Oaks, 2005, p. 199).

The problematic word here is θάτερον, which, quite paradoxically, can be translated both “on one side” and “on both sides”. C. B. Hase in his first Latin translation preferred the latter variant: “Capite item erat admodum glaber; nisi quod ad utrumque latus cincinnus dependebat” (p. 157). Steven Runciman (A history of the First Bulgarian Empire. London: G. Bell & Sons, 1930, p. 213) when he sums up the description of Sviatoslav by Leo the Deacon, supports it: “From his shaven head fell two long locks”.

My translation of the passage in question is as follows:

Sviatoslav came by the river, in a Scythian boat, wielding an oar and rowing with his companions, like one of them. To speak about his appearance, he was of medium height, neither tall nor short. He had bushy brows, light blue eyes, turned-up nose, thin beard (variant: bare chin), and thick, too lengthy moustache. His head was shaven clean. Some of his hair fell on one side (variant: on both sides) of his head, showing the high rank of his kin. He had a solid back of the head and a broad chest. His other limbs were proportionate. He looked gloomy and wild. He wore a golden ear-ring in his ear: it was decorated with two pearls and a carbuncle between them. He had white clothes that differed from those of his companions only by its cleanness. He talked to the monarch briefly about the truce, seated on the bench for oarsmen, and then departed.

In what ways can this text be helpful to determine what the Viking Age Norse hairstyles were? There are a few problems to be mentioned:

  1. Prince Sviatoslav represented the third generation of Varangians in Russia. His father Igor and grandfather Rurik had Scandinavian names (Old Norse Ingvar and Rørik respectively), whereas his own name was of Slavic origin (composed of two roots meaning ‘holy’ and ‘glory’). More than a century elapsed between AD 862, when Rurik first came to Russia, and 971, when John I Tzimiskes met Sviatoslav. How much of the Norse tradition did the prince actually keep? Is it appropriate to call his hairstyle (whatever it was) Viking, Norse or even Varangian?
  2. About 20 years elapsed between the above-mentioned meeting and the time of Leo the Deacon’s book’s composition. It is not known whether he was present at the meeting personally or just retold the story.
  3. For Leo, Sviatoslav represented Scythians. Leo’s description of the Russian prince has some parallels with Priscus’ description of Attila, which he could use as a model. Can we trust the minor details of his story such as hairstyle?
  4. The actual meaning of the passage on Sviatoslav’s hair is unclear: it might be interpreted as saying about a single lock of hair or two locks on both sides of the shaven head.

Taking into account all that, the witness of the Byzantine author seems to be rather shaky. Now to his Anglo-Saxon contemporary. Ælfric’s text was published several times. Check the excellent work of Professor Mary Clayton: Letter to Brother Edward: A Student Edition. Old English Newsletter, 40 (3), pp. 31—46.

Ic secge eac ðe, broðor Eadweard, nu ðu me þyses bæde, þæt ge doð unrihtlice þæt ge ða Engliscan þeawas forlætað þe eowre fæderas heoldon and hæðenra manna þeawas lufiað þe eow ðæs lifes neunnon, and mid ðam geswuteliað þæt ge forseoð eower cynn and eowre yldran mid þam unþeawum, þonne ge him on teonan tysliað eow on Denisc, ableredum hneccan and ablendum eagum.

The text highlighted in red describes the hairstyle. Like Leo the Deacon’s description, it is not unproblematic: the word ablered is a hapax legomenon, that is the word, which is attested only once in the whole of the Old English literature. It seems to be connected with the word blere ‘bald’ and its suggested meaning is ‘bare of hair’.

My translation of Ælfric’s text is as follows:

I also say to you, brother Edward, since you asked me about it, that you do something unrighteous abandoning the English customs, which your fathers held, and loving the customs of the heathens who did not give life to you, showing that you despise your race and your elders by the vices such as dressing yourself as a Dane, with bare neck and blinded eyes.

Bayeux tapestry

The Bayeux embroidery depicting the events of AD 1064—1066, which led to the Norman conquest of England, yields an interesting witness as for the bare necks. Norman warriors look like the backs of their heads are indeed shaven, which may endorse the interpretation of the word ablered in Ælfric. However, one should keep in mind that what later became Normandy was founded by Rollo in AD 911, a century and a half before the Battle of Hastings. The same question as the one regarding Sviatoslav arouses: how much of the original Norse tradition could these people keep by 1066? At the same time, Ælfric’s testimony, if correctly interpreted, is the most valuable: he expressly points to the fact that the customs he describes are Denisc. People who were the source and the model for such practices believed they were Danes and were described as such by the Anglo-Saxons. But what exactly is Ælfric talking about? He mentions dressing, not hair (tyslian is a rare verb meaning ‘to dress’) and then points to the necks that are “bare of hair” (ablered). What is the logical connection between dressing and hair? It is to note as well that a bare neck is not the same as a bare back of the head. Any short haircut leaves the neck bare, one does not need to shave the back of the head for that.

Do all the three witnesses — Leo the Deacon, Ælfric of Eynsham and the anonymous authors of the Bayeux embroidery — represent one and the same tradition? My opinion is that they actually may do so. If we accept the “two locks” interpretation of Leo’s text, we easily bring it into correlation with Ælfric: indeed, if one shaves much of the neck, the rest of the hair may look like two long locks of hair that fall on both sides of the head.

However, Leo might misunderstand what others told about Sviatoslav, Ælfric’s ablered may mean something different or be a scribe’s error and the Bayeux warriors’ hairstyles may have no connection with the previous two sources. But even such a hypercritical analysis leaves us with a confirmation that at least Normans did have bare backs of the heads in the 1070s, when the Bayeux embroidery was created.

In view of the sources considered above, does Ragnar’s hairstyle in The History Channel’s Vikings TV series look historical? I don’t believe so. His neck is not “bare”, which is a prerequisite for any interpretation of the sources: whether Sviatoslav had a single lock of hair or two of them, his hair did not fell on the back of his head (note that Leo characterizes the back of his head as “solid”, which also confirms that it was shaven). Ragnar’s hair is braided, which also seems to be unlikely. At the same time, Ragnar’s son Bjorn and many other characters of the series have haircuts that correspond to the Norman tradition: the backs of their heads are shaven (even though the fringe is not long enough to state that their eyes are “blinded”).

Michael Hirst, the creator of Vikings, is reported to say: “In the end, how the f*** do you know what the Vikings looked like!”. I agree. We don’t know it for sure. Like much of the historical research, it’s all about suggestions.

Images: Ragnar, by EvaJaneelis. All rights reserved. Bayeux embroidery, fragment, by Urban. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence.

54 comments… add one
  • Alec

    Would it not be logical that if you braided those two locks of hair on either side of the head together they would come together as a braid running down the back of the head. Assuming that people had different haircuts back then, which would be odd otherwise or at least changed their hair style every once and while.

    • Viking Rune

      Hello Alec. Interesting suggestion. However, you either braid them or you have two locks, which is not the same hairstyle.

  • Andy

    Rollo is generally recognized as being a Norwegian viking chieftan. His father is said to be Rognvald Eysteinsson who was the first Jarl of Orkney in 894AD. His mother is said to be Hilda Hrolfsdatter, daughter of Hrolf Nefja. His grand mother is said to have been Ascrida “Countess of Oppland” in Norway. He has family links with the places of Throndheim, Romerike and back to the Kings of Kvenland where King Fornjotur is said to be his oldest traceable relative circa 280AD.

    I live in England and having short hair in winter is bad enough here, so pratically I do not think in reality that the people who lived in the far North, Norway, Finland, would have had their heads shaven. But the vikings who were given lands by Charles the Simple King of France, land which became “Normandy”, from “Normandia”, did so it appears shave the backs of their heads.

    • Viking Rune

      Hello Andy. Thank you for sharing this.

  • Abigail McDonald

    Hi, I would like to use the information used in this article in one of my assignments for university. Please can you tell me the authors name and the date it was written so I can reference you.
    Thanks Abi

    • Viking Rune

      Hello Abi. I emailed you the details.

  • Justin Wyrd Abel

    This is my hypothesis from my own studies. Two locks are lengthy bangs (blind eyes). The backs of the head were shaved with the bangs and front longer for the Danish fashion. This fasion became a cropped, but “bare-necked” variant we see in the Bayeux. Think of river Phoenix’s wild hair in his cameo as Indiana Jones, imagine the back shaved, and you have your Danish pirate.

    • Viking Rune

      Thank you, interesting.

  • Devan

    The swedes were not the Norse who went viking on Lindisfarne, they were Norwegians, and the Danes came to the British Isles shortly after. The Swedes went viking to the east.

    • Viking Rune

      Hello Devan. Some of the Swedes could join their Norwegian relatives or friends in their raids to England. However, as it seems, Vikings from Sweden mainly travelled to the east.

  • Colin

    About the whole Ragnar and Rollo and when did they live and where did they raid part. As far as I’ve read about this, both of them are more myth than they are history. Ragnars name appears in stories spread over hundreds of years, just as Rollo. They might not even have been brothers, or not even existed at all, or there where many man carrying these names doing brave stuff. Hard to tell I guess.

    About the hairdresses, when I go outside right now, I see a thousand of different haircuts, couldn’t it be there was no such thing as “a viking haircut”?

    Last, I think the series are following the book about the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrock pretty well, but as I said before, as far as I know, it’s more of a legend or myth than it is history. But it might give a pretty nice impression of what live could have been back than.

    • Dan Behr

      Hi,
      I have read that the Irish glibb hairstyle of the AD1500s was a decendant of the Norman styles taken over by Strongbow in AD1166.

      This would indicate longevity in hairstyles as the glibb only ceased when banned by the English overlords.

      There is arguement as to the gibb being a fringe or dreadlock in style.

      Cheers

    • matt

      Ragnar is really more famous because of his sons who in turn some of the most famous and brutal vikings to have ever lived but again is disputed whether Ubba, Ivar the boneless, Bjorn ironside, Halfdan and Sigurd snake in the eye were actually all related.

  • Sabina Lea

    As somewhat stated by someone above. We can only speculate if this was a common hairstyle, or if this was even a period hairstyle in that time frame. The author is only talking about one or two hairstyles they can find in writings, but again, that does not cover all hairstyles. If the shaving was popular at this time, I would say this could have definitely been feasible. We can’t rule out what we don’t know. And again, like someone has stated, look at the hairstyles we have now. Numerous, numerous hairstyles all over the world. That’s exactly how it was back then too. So, could this potentially be his actual style….maybe. :)

    • Viking Rune

      Hello Sabina. Early medieval cultures allowed much less diversity than we have now, and the ways people dressed and cut their hair were much more stable. So yes, other ways might exist, but they rarely deviated from what was generally believed to be decent and acceptable, unlike today.

  • Ginny Ayotte-Prunty Nielsen

    I have been researching Ragnar and Rollo Loftbroak, also Viking History. My Paternal grandmother was from Sem, Roren outside of Tonsberg, Norway. Both she and my dad died much too young to teach me much about Norway except to sing the National Anthem in Norwegian. Yes, We love our land???
    Are Ragnar and Rollo Swedes, Danes, Norwegian or other? Norway was so back and forth under the Swedes and Danes that it is all getting confusing to me.

    Thank you Tak!

    • Viking Rune

      Hello Ginny. Ragnar was a Norse leader, but his place of birth is not known. So he (and his relatives) belong to the common Scandinavian lore and we cannot say if they were from communities living on lands that are now Sweden, Norway or Denmark.

    • The Finn

      During Viking times, there was no real Norway, Sweden or Denmark yet. Danish Kingdom only later got official hold of Norway, Faroes and Greenland, the same way as Kingdom of Sweden claimed ownership of Finland. In 1814 Norway was given to Sweden after the Napolean war. Around the same time Russian Empire took Finland from Sweden.

    • The Last Viking

      Ragnar was Swedish, or what you could call Swedish. Specifically his location of birth is unknown, but his death is known as well as his paternity. That is, King Sigurdr Ring of Sweden or Sviþjod.

      Did he have a brother named Rollo? Almost certainly not. Do not be so naïve as to take a fictional TV show based loosely on history as fact. That is what corrupts the legitimate facts of history.

      And just to clarify, Ragnar Lodbrok was NOT at Lindisfarne simply by logical deduction of chronological facts. He died in 865, the raid at Lindisfarne occurred 792. Do the math.

      And further information about Ragnar is that he is known as Ragnarr Sigurdrsson until the marriage of his second wife Thora/Þora Borgarhjortr. With Lagertha his first wife he allegedly had one son and two daughters, that is a Fridleif and two girls without recorded names. Then with his second marriage to Thora he had another two sons, Eirikr and Agnar before she died of illness and he took a third wife. Aslaug. She gives him 4 sons, Ivar, Hvitserk, Ragnvald and Sigurdr. This whole list thus omits Bjorn and his brother Hastein. Bjorn later becomes king of Sweden and perhaps suggests that he was not a son, but a bannerman or even simply a man who claimed heritage to inflate his legitimacy. It wouldn’t be the first time that someone made false claims of regal heritage.

      In any case, there’s no mention of Bjorn partaking in the invasion of The Great Heathen Army circa 867. And also take note that there is mention that Ragnar died in 845, not 865. While that younger date might implicate he was at Lindisfarne, it seems illogical that Sigurdr the infant would stir up fervor for an invasion to avenge the father a full 20 years after the murder. Needless to say he wouldn’t be an infant at 20+.

      • filip

        The Last Viking, which books would you recommend as a good viking study and which for good story’s? ?

        Cheers

  • Jane Pillars

    I seem to recall that “Rollo” aka Robert I of Normandy, was called the Viking wanderer, Rollo the Walker”….I have attached a web site that explains the Viking, Rollo. The Baldwin Project, http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=lansing&book=barbarian&story=rollo

    History, especially so far back, is a hard to pin point what is truth, assumption or what is down right wrong. I am glad that more and more is being discovered of Vikings and maybe we will get a better, unbiased, information on this culture.

    Also, we all know hairstyles come and go in a culture. Look at our own, how will we be seen by the future generation, if our written history is destroyed or not yet found? If they found a grave of a punk rocker, would they assume we all had mohawks, that were dyed different colors? We will never really know how they ALL wore their hair, but I am sure that they just might be different from what is written or depicted in the few tapestries or ink drawings of the dominate culture of that time. No one wears the same hairstyle now and I would assume the same through out history. The show Vikings, has always called by the writer etc.., Historical Fiction..So, with that description of the show, they will take some liberties with the story line, costumes, makeup, and hair. I really would like to find out what sources they have used in creating this show, because, as being a historian myself, I am always searching for more information on the Scandinavian culture.

    • Viking Rune

      To be sure, artists have to be granted some liberty. In general the show seems to be rather accurate as for historical details.

      • reniam

        No… It is way off historically.

        I could make a list, but the opening premise that the North Men didn’t know about the “lands to the west” in the 8th century was laughable since they had been trading with them for a couple of centuries by that point.

    • MarcusW

      Perhaps most vikings had a similar hairstyle as they were warriors. Just as other warriors the last 200 years often has had similar hair code.

    • John Morgan

      I also noticed that the author’s translation said something of wearing a lock (or two) of his hair to one side (or both) as denoting the appropriate rank or status of his kind. This would seem to me to indicate very few would wear their hair in this style. It would be like a citizen wearing the rank of a Major or General.

  • Joe Putnam

    Just an observation; you said “Normandy was founded by Rollo in AD 911”, but the Vikings series on TV seems to suggest that Rollo was among the raiders of Lindesfarne which took place in 794, or thereabouts. Was Rollo very, very old when he founded Normandy, was Normandy founded by a different Rollo apart from the brother of Ragnar, or is there an anachronism here somewhere?

    • Viking Rune

      Rollo who founded Normandy was born about 846. His origin is a matter of dispute. Rollo was the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror.

    • Ben

      There is no solid evidence to suggest that Ragnar or Rollo were on the Lindisfarne raid. Keep in mind that while the show seeks to follow the saga of Ragnar Lodbrok much of it is stylised to work better as a TV drama. I mean they completely ignored the existence of his second wife.

      • reniam

        There’s no evidence at all. The Lindisfarne raid was almost certainly carried out by Danes, or possibly Swedes.

        • Rambukk

          You probably mean danes or norwegians. the Swedes went eastward. Also remember that the term dane could mean anyone from scandinavia, not just people from denmark, same goes for the term northman etc. This all makes it even harder to determine who did what.

    • reniam

      My goodness. The Vikings TV series isn’t actual history. It’s not even clear if Ragnar existed, let alone his brother being the founder of Normandy.

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