David M. Krueger
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816696918
- eISBN:
- 9781452952444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816696918.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Chapter Five places rune stone enthusiasm in the context of Cold War religious fervor. Starting in the 1950s, activists used the Viking myth to claim the U.S. had Christian origins. As academic ...
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Chapter Five places rune stone enthusiasm in the context of Cold War religious fervor. Starting in the 1950s, activists used the Viking myth to claim the U.S. had Christian origins. As academic critiques of the artifact mounted, locals linked their defense of the stone with efforts to propagate the Christian faith.Less
Chapter Five places rune stone enthusiasm in the context of Cold War religious fervor. Starting in the 1950s, activists used the Viking myth to claim the U.S. had Christian origins. As academic critiques of the artifact mounted, locals linked their defense of the stone with efforts to propagate the Christian faith.
David M. Krueger
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816696918
- eISBN:
- 9781452952444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816696918.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The introduction describes the origins of the Kensington Rune Stone and the culture that was built up around it by its defenders. It discusses broadly the class, racial, and religious distinctions ...
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The introduction describes the origins of the Kensington Rune Stone and the culture that was built up around it by its defenders. It discusses broadly the class, racial, and religious distinctions that influenced beliefs among Minnesotans regarding the rune stone.Less
The introduction describes the origins of the Kensington Rune Stone and the culture that was built up around it by its defenders. It discusses broadly the class, racial, and religious distinctions that influenced beliefs among Minnesotans regarding the rune stone.
David M. Krueger
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816696918
- eISBN:
- 9781452952444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816696918.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Chapter One outlines the immediate aftermath of Ohman’s discovery of the Kensington Rune Stone in 1898 and also situates the rune stone in the history of Scandinavian immigrant fascination with ...
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Chapter One outlines the immediate aftermath of Ohman’s discovery of the Kensington Rune Stone in 1898 and also situates the rune stone in the history of Scandinavian immigrant fascination with Pre-Columbian Vikings in North America. The runic myth anchored the immigrants in the American landscape while it maintained an emotional link the homeland.Less
Chapter One outlines the immediate aftermath of Ohman’s discovery of the Kensington Rune Stone in 1898 and also situates the rune stone in the history of Scandinavian immigrant fascination with Pre-Columbian Vikings in North America. The runic myth anchored the immigrants in the American landscape while it maintained an emotional link the homeland.
David M. Krueger
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816696918
- eISBN:
- 9781452952444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816696918.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Chapter Three describes how civic boosters fashioned the rune stone into a symbol to unify small-town residents in their defense from external cultural critiques. At several public events featuring ...
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Chapter Three describes how civic boosters fashioned the rune stone into a symbol to unify small-town residents in their defense from external cultural critiques. At several public events featuring the rune stone, locals projected Olof Ohman as the quintessential “real American,” whose virtues exemplified the best of Midwestern life.Less
Chapter Three describes how civic boosters fashioned the rune stone into a symbol to unify small-town residents in their defense from external cultural critiques. At several public events featuring the rune stone, locals projected Olof Ohman as the quintessential “real American,” whose virtues exemplified the best of Midwestern life.
David M. Krueger
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816696918
- eISBN:
- 9781452952444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816696918.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Chapter Two demonstrates the appeal of Viking myths to Minnesotans who embraced the artifact as proof that the conquest of the American West was blessed by God. The rune stone is examined in light of ...
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Chapter Two demonstrates the appeal of Viking myths to Minnesotans who embraced the artifact as proof that the conquest of the American West was blessed by God. The rune stone is examined in light of efforts to publicly memorialize deceased settlers following the Dakota War of 1862.Less
Chapter Two demonstrates the appeal of Viking myths to Minnesotans who embraced the artifact as proof that the conquest of the American West was blessed by God. The rune stone is examined in light of efforts to publicly memorialize deceased settlers following the Dakota War of 1862.
David M. Krueger
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816696918
- eISBN:
- 9781452952444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816696918.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The conclusion considers the role of Viking origin myths for American culture in light of the revival of rune stone enthusiasm in the twenty-first century.
The conclusion considers the role of Viking origin myths for American culture in light of the revival of rune stone enthusiasm in the twenty-first century.
David M. Krueger
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816696918
- eISBN:
- 9781452952444
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816696918.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Myths of the Rune Stone tells the story of how white Midwesterners created, adapted, and propagated a myth that Viking missionaries had visited their region and were “massacred” by local Indians ...
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Myths of the Rune Stone tells the story of how white Midwesterners created, adapted, and propagated a myth that Viking missionaries had visited their region and were “massacred” by local Indians prior to the explorations of Christopher Columbus. Popular enthusiasm for this story developed as a local expression of American exceptionalism that both affirmed and challenged status quo assumptions about the formation of the United States as a nation and what it means to be a “real American.” The narrative of a primordial, white, Christian sacrifice staked an exclusive claim to the landscape, shaped collective identities, and generated social power for groups that viewed themselves as “under attack.” In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, locals persisted in their belief in this Viking origin myth, using it advance their ethnic, racial, civic and religious goals. Although such myths are often thought to be the exclusive provenance of Scandinavian immigrants, Myths of the Rune Stone demonstrates their appeal to a diverse cross-section of residents, including Catholics and the descendants of Yankee pioneer settlers.Less
Myths of the Rune Stone tells the story of how white Midwesterners created, adapted, and propagated a myth that Viking missionaries had visited their region and were “massacred” by local Indians prior to the explorations of Christopher Columbus. Popular enthusiasm for this story developed as a local expression of American exceptionalism that both affirmed and challenged status quo assumptions about the formation of the United States as a nation and what it means to be a “real American.” The narrative of a primordial, white, Christian sacrifice staked an exclusive claim to the landscape, shaped collective identities, and generated social power for groups that viewed themselves as “under attack.” In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, locals persisted in their belief in this Viking origin myth, using it advance their ethnic, racial, civic and religious goals. Although such myths are often thought to be the exclusive provenance of Scandinavian immigrants, Myths of the Rune Stone demonstrates their appeal to a diverse cross-section of residents, including Catholics and the descendants of Yankee pioneer settlers.
Alexandra Sanmark
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474402293
- eISBN:
- 9781474435260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474402293.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter builds further on the idea of the constantly shifting and evolving thing site, examining in detail the modifications that took place in assembly site location and features from the late ...
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This chapter builds further on the idea of the constantly shifting and evolving thing site, examining in detail the modifications that took place in assembly site location and features from the late tenth and eleventh centuries until the end of the Middle Ages in Scandinavia. Alterations in the tenth and eleventh centuries are most clearly seen in the rune-stone rich areas of the Mälaren region of Sweden and most of the evidence presented here relating to this time period is therefore from this area. The changes observed at this time can, however, be expected in other geographical areas too, bearing in mind the major societal shifts, such as urbanisation and Christianisation, that seem to have been driving them forward. Further changes in the following centuries, connected with to building of parish churches and cathedrals as well as urbanisation, are also investigated. The most striking pattern to emerge in the late Middle Ages is the gradual merging of top-level assemblies, trade and episcopal sees in the towns.Less
This chapter builds further on the idea of the constantly shifting and evolving thing site, examining in detail the modifications that took place in assembly site location and features from the late tenth and eleventh centuries until the end of the Middle Ages in Scandinavia. Alterations in the tenth and eleventh centuries are most clearly seen in the rune-stone rich areas of the Mälaren region of Sweden and most of the evidence presented here relating to this time period is therefore from this area. The changes observed at this time can, however, be expected in other geographical areas too, bearing in mind the major societal shifts, such as urbanisation and Christianisation, that seem to have been driving them forward. Further changes in the following centuries, connected with to building of parish churches and cathedrals as well as urbanisation, are also investigated. The most striking pattern to emerge in the late Middle Ages is the gradual merging of top-level assemblies, trade and episcopal sees in the towns.
