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{{Short description|Swedish-language adventure book.}}
{{dablink|This page is about a novel by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson. For the Viking ships, see [[Longship]].}}
{{dablink|For the 1963 film, see [[The Long Ships (film)]].}}
{{About|the novel by Frans G. Bengtsson|the 1963 film loosely based on the book|The Long Ships (film)|Viking ships in general|Longship|other uses|Longship (disambiguation)}}


{{More citations needed|date=January 2012}}
'''''The Long Ships''''' or '''''Red Orm''''' (original Swedish ''Röde Orm'') is a best-selling [[Swedish language|Swedish]] novel written by [[Frans Gunnar Bengtsson]] 1894-1954. The novel is divided into two parts, published in 1941 and 1945, with two books each.
{{Infobox book
| name = The Long Ships
| image = File:TheLongShips.jpg
| caption = First English-language edition (1954)
| author = [[Frans G. Bengtsson]]
| title_orig = Röde Orm
| cover_artist = Gunnar Brusewitz
| translator = Barrows Mussey<br />[[Michael Meyer (translator)|Michael Meyer]]
| country = Sweden
| language = Swedish
| publisher = [[Norstedts]]
| pub_date = 1941–1945
| english_pub_date = 1943
| pages = 603 <small>(total pages)</small>
}}


'''''The Long Ships''''' or '''''Red Orm''''' (original Swedish: '''''Röde Orm''''' meaning ''Red Orm'', lit. ''Red Serpent'' or ''Red Snake'') is an adventure novel by the Swedish writer [[Frans G. Bengtsson]].
It is one of the most widely read books in Sweden, topping the charts of most loaned books at Swedish libraries for many years. The first part was translated to English by Barrows Mussey as ''Red Orm'' in 1943, but later editions and newer translations by [[Michael Meyer]] use the title ''The Long Ships''.
The narrative is set in the late 10th century and follows the adventures of the Viking Röde Orm - called "Red" for his hair and his temper, a native of [[Scania]]. The book portrays the political situation of Europe in the later [[Viking Age]], [[Caliphate of Córdoba|Andalusia under Almansur]], Denmark under [[Harald Bluetooth]], followed by the struggle between [[Eric the Victorious]] and [[Sweyn I of Denmark|Sven Forkbeard]], Ireland under [[Brian Boru]], [[Anglo-Saxon England|England]] under [[Ethelred the Unready]], and the [[Battle of Maldon]], and then the [[Byzantine Empire]] and its [[Varangian Guard]], [[Kievan Rus]] and its neighbors the [[Pechenegs|Patzinaks]] - all before the backdrop of the gradual [[Christianization of Scandinavia]], contrasting the pragmatic [[Norse paganism|Norse pagan]] outlook with the exclusiveness of [[Islam]] and [[Christianity]].<ref>[http://blog.theparisreview.org/2010/06/28/the-fly-leaf-the-long-ships/ The Paris Review]</ref>


The novel is divided into two parts, published in 1941 and 1945, with two books each. It used to be one of the most widely read books in Sweden.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}} The first part was translated into English by [[Barrows Mussey]] as ''Red Orm'' in 1943, but later editions and newer translations by [[Michael Meyer (translator)|Michael Meyer]] use the title ''The Long Ships''. The book has been translated into at least 23 languages.
The book has been translated into at least 22 languages: [[Afrikaans]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[English language|English]], [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Faroese language|Faroese]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]].

The language of the novel is modeled on the [[Norse saga]]s, making the best of its faculties for wisecracks and comic understatements, and historic names, people and events are woven into the fiction. Bengtsson might also have had some influence from [[Eric Linklater]]'s ''The Men of Ness'', which book he had translated into Swedish in 1933. The 1963 [[United Kingdom|Anglo]]-[[Yugoslavia]]n movie ''[[The Long Ships (1963 film)|The Long Ships]]'' is loosely based on the book.

The Swedish writer [[Sven Stolpe]] reports that somebody asked author Bengtsson "what intentions he had with The Long Ships." To which Bengtsson responded that he had no particular intentions. "I just wanted to write a story that people could enjoy to read, like the [[Three Musketeers]] or the [[Odyssey]]."

==Setting==
The book is set in the late 10th century and follows the adventures of Orm ("serpent"), called "Red" for his hair (and his temper), a native of [[Scania]]. The story portrays the political situation of Europe in the later [[Viking Age]], [[Andalusia]] under [[Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir]], [[Denmark]] under [[Harold Bluetooth]], followed by the struggle between [[Eric the Victorious]] and [[Sweyn I of Denmark|Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark]], [[Ireland]] under [[Brian Boru]], [[Anglo-Saxon England|England]] under [[Ethelred the Unready]], the [[Battle of Maldon]], all before the backdrop of the gradual [[Christianisation]] of Scandinavia, contrasting the pragmatic [[Norse paganism|Norse pagan]] outlook with the narrow-mindedness of [Islam]] and [[Christianity]].

==Plot summary==
;Book 1
The first book covers the years 982 to 990. While still a youth, Orm is taken captive by a [[Viking]] party raiding the sheepfold of his father's farm in [[Skåne]] after an unprofitable campaign among the [[Wends]]. The party consists of three ships, some 180 men, led by Krok. Orm is accepted as a crew member and makes a lifelong friend of Toke Greygullson. They sail south, along the coast of the [[Frankish Empire]]. During an encounter with a party of Danes from [[Jutland]], they collect an escaped prisoner, Salaman, an Andalusian Jew. Salaman guides them to the castle of the [[Kingdom of León|Castilian]] Margrave who had betrayed him. The Vikings sack the castle and take the spoils to the ships, Salaman returning to his own land. As they sail off, they are attacked and defeated by an Andalusian fleet, and Orm together with Krok and seven others are captured and made slaves.

They serve as galley slaves for more than two years, during which time Orm becomes left-handed (due to his position on the rowing bench), and Krok dies killing their hated supervisor. Thanks to the intervention of Salaman, the surviving eight Norsemen are made members of the slave-bodyguard of [[Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir|Al-Mansur]]. They nominally convert to Islam and take part in Al-Mansur's campaigns in the [[Marca Hispanica]] for four years. Raiding [[Iria Flavia]], the burial place of [[Saint James the Great|St. James]], Al-Mansur charges the Norsemen with shipping the captured bell of the Christian church back to [[Córdoba, Spain|Cordova]]. On their way back, they encounter and slay the killers of Krok, and are forced to flee Andalusia, taking the bell with them. They cross to [[Ireland]], and learning that [[Brian Boru]] had gained the upper hand over the Norse there, continue directly to the court of [[Harold Bluetooth]].

Harald had recently converted to Christianity, and they present him with the bell of St. James, upon which Harold invites them to celebrate [[Yule]] with him. Both Orm and Toke are wounded in [[duel]]s during Yule. After reconvalescence, during which he meets Ylva, daughter of Harold, and presents her with a golden necklace given to him by Al-Mansur, Orm returns to Skåne. Toke abducts an Andalusian slave-concubine of Harald's and continues back home to [[Blekinge]]. The one-eyed Rapp, another of Orm's companions from Andalusia, stays with him, being an outlaw in his home district.

;Book 2
After King Harald dies in exile, and [[Styrbjörn the Strong]] in the [[Battle of the Fýrisvellir]] (moved to 991 in the book, historically probably taking place a few years before), Orm and Rapp join a Viking party raiding England under [[Thorkell the High]], participating in the [[Battle of Maldon]]. The Norsemen set siege to the church of [[Maldon, Essex|Maldon]], and after negotiation with two English bishops agree to accept payment of [[Danegeld]]. The chieftains agree to be baptized, and travel to [[Lundenburgh|London]] for the occasion. Orm, having learned that Harald's daughter Ylva is staying in London, agrees to be baptised, and Poppo, former bishop of Harald, joins them in Christian matrimony. Orm, Ylva, Rapp and the priest Willibald leave London for Denmark, and collect the necklace Ylva had hidden in [[Jellinge]], now Sweyn's stronghold. Sweyn's men discover them, and fleeing, Willibald wounds Sweyn with a stone throw.

;Book 3
Fearing Sweyn's revenge, Orm moves to a neglected farm, his mother's inheritance in [[Göinge]], northern Skåne, near the border with [[Småland]]. During the following years (992 to 995), Orm prospers , and Ylva gives birth to twin girls (Oddny and Ludmilla), a son, Harald, and later to another son, Svarthöfde (Blackhair in the Michael Meyer translation). Orm beats off a treacherous attack sponsored by Sweyn, and Willibald advises against killing the surviving attackers, forcing them to be baptised instead. At the [[Thing (assembly)|thing]] between the men of Göinge, [[Värend]] and [[Finnveden]], Orm renews his friendship with Toke who has gained wealth as a fur trader in Värend. Rainald, a Christian priest who had come to the thing with Orm to be exchanged for a priest enslaved by the Värenders, disrupts a fertility ceremony, causing the death of a priest of [[Frey]]. He is given to the women of Värend as recompense.

;Book 4
The year 1000 passes without Christ returning. In 1007, with Orm now forty-two, Orm's brother Are returns from the east, blind, mute and mutilated. He succeeds in telling of his fate with the help of [[Younger Futhark|runes]]: He had left Skåne in 978 and served in the [[Varangian]] guard of [[Basil II]]. Are participated in raid on a [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgar]] castle at the mouths of the [[Danube]] with the aim of capturing the gold treasure of the [[Samuil of Bulgaria|Bulgar king]]. The emperor's treasurer made away with the gold, heading for [[Kiev]], and Are pursued him. He succeeded to recapture the gold and hide it in the [[Dniepr]], at the cataracts south of Kiev, but was later caught and mutilated, and with much luck made his way home to Denmark. Orm decides to travel to the [[Kievan Rus]] for the gold, and together with Toke and the Värend chieftain Olof (who is promised Orm's daughter Ludmilla upon their return) mans a ship. They travel by way of [[Visby]], reaching the Dniepr via the [[Daugava]] and [[Beresina]]. They find the treasure, but are attacked by [[Pecheneg]]s, and Orm's son Svarthöfde is captured. Orm pays a high ransom, but enough of the treasure remains to liberally reward his entire crew. They return to Skåne safely, just four days after Orm's farm had been attacked by outlaws led by the former priest Rainald who have abducted Ludmilla and other women. Orm heads a [[punitive expedition]], the women are freed and Olof slays Rainald. From then on, Orm and Toke live in peace and plenty as good neighbours, and Svarthöfde Ormsson becomes a famous Viking, fighting for [[Canute the Great]]. The story ends with the statement that Orm and Toke in their old age "did never tire of telling of the years when they had rowed the Caliph's ship and served my lord Al-Mansur."


==Characters==
==Characters==


===Main characters===
'''Orm and his family'''
*Orm Tostesson: The son of a Scanian chieftain.
*Åsa: Orm's mother. The family matriarch.
*Toke Grey-Gullsson (''Toke Grågullesson''): An adventurer from [[Blekinge]] who joined Krok's company. He becomes the lifelong friend of Orm.
*Father Willibald: A priest assigned as physician to King Harald's court.
*Ylva Haraldsdotter: King Harald's daughter with an [[Obotrite]] slave-girl. Later Orm's wife.


===Secondary characters===
<U>Orm</U> (''Orm'' is the Swedish word for ''Snake'') is the protagonist of the book, the youngest son of a rich and high-born freeholder. He is a descendant of King Ivar Vidfamne, a fact that he is very proud of. Orm is called "red" for his hair color. At the beginning of book one, he is still in his teens but already strong and dangerous to wrestle with. From the beginning, he shows prowess in battle, and even in his middle age, at the age of 45, he kills two berserks with the handle of a broomstick. He is also clever and resourceful, though a bit of a hypochondriac. His martial prowess is shown in many fight scenes, his astuteness when negotiating for the hand of Ylva in London and also when he participates as one of the judges at the [[thing]] in Göringe. His ability to make friends is demonstrated by the fact that the raiders who take him prisoner at the beginning of the book soon forget that he is a captive and begin to regard him as a comrade. Orm has a sharp mind and adapts easily, even in difficult situations. As a slave on a [[Moorish]] galley, he soon learns Arabic, which proves very useful and is one reason why his comrades begin to regard him as their chief after Krok's death. Orm thinks before acting, but when angered he is very dangerous. He has a dry sense of humor and is gifted in poetry.
*Krok: The leader of the expedition to Spain.
*Rapp: A member of the expedition, then a galley slave with its other survivors. Later a retainer of Orm.
*Gudmund: A landowner who has a tense relationship with Orm.
*Olof Styrsson: An experienced chieftain from [[Finnveden]].
*Ludmilla Ormsdotter: Orm's restless daughter. Betrothed to Olof.


===Recurring characters===
<U>Odd</U> is Orm's older brother. Odd is squat, tough and deliberate in speech. He loves sailing and pillaging, and during the winters, he pines for the summer, when it will once more be time to go a-viking. Accordingly, he is in a bad mood during that time of year and often bickers with his mother. When Orm comes back home from Spain, he learns that Odd has died on one of his journeys.
*Solomon the Jew: A [[Sephardi]] silversmith rescued by Krok's company.
*Lady Subaida: The young daughter of a [[Kingdom of León|Leonese]] [[margrave]]. This is the name given to her after she becomes a concubine of Almanzor.
*The [[Erin]] Masters: Two jester brothers (Felimid and Ferdiad) from Ireland.
*Rainald: A [[Lotharingia]]n priest sent to Scandinavia to replace a priest held as a [[thrall]].
*Mirah: An [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian]] slave-girl at King Harald's court. Also Toke's future wife


==Plot==
<U>Are</U> is Orm's other brother. In his youth, he made two women pregnant while their husbands were away, which caused a great to-do in the neighbourhood and forced his father to pay out sizeable reparations. Many people laughed at him because of that, which made him moody, and finally he killed one man who had jested too much about his dexterity, after which he fled from home and joined men travelling east. He and Orm meet in Book 4, when Are comes back from Constantinople, blind, tongueless and without his right hand. Despite this obstacle, Orm devises a way for them to communicate and Are tells him the secret of Bulgarian Gold.
[[File:Map Almanzor campaigns-en.svg|thumb|200px|Orm and his Viking companions follow Almansur in his campaigns against the Christian kingdoms of the North.]]
The first book covers the years 982 to 990. While still a youth, Orm is abducted by a [[Viking]] party led by Krok and they sail south. They fall captive to Andalusian Muslims and serve as [[galley]] [[saqaliba|slaves]] for more than two years, later becoming members of [[Almanzor|Almansur]]'s bodyguard for four years, raiding [[Santiago de Compostela]] under his command. They return to Denmark to King Harald Bluetooth's court where Orm meets Ylva. Orm later returns to Scania with Rapp. Orm and Rapp join a Viking party raiding England again after a brief period of peace in that area following the reconquest of the [[Danelaw]] in the mid-10th century by King Edgar, Ethelred's father. Orm joins a party led by [[Thorkell the High]] in England and when he learns that Harald's daughter Ylva is staying in London, gets baptised and marries Ylva. They move to a neglected farm, his mother's inheritance in [[Östra Göinge Municipality|Göinge]], northern Skåne, near the border with [[Småland]]. During the following years (992 to 995), Orm prospers, and Ylva gives birth to twin girls (Oddny and Ludmilla), a son, Harald, and later to another son (though possibly from Rainald), Svarthöfde (Blackhair in the Michael Meyer translation). Meanwhile, Orm also gets busy in converting the heathens in the district, with the help of Father Willibald.


The [[year 1000]] [[Millennialism|passes without Christ returning]]. In 1007, with Orm now forty-two, his brother Are returns from the east after serving the Byzantine Empire, bringing the news of a treasure ("[[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgar]] gold") he had [[buried treasure|hidden]]. Orm decides to travel to the [[Dnieper Rapids|Dnieper weirs]] in [[Kievan Rus]] for the gold, and together with Toke and the Finnveding chieftain Olof mans a ship. They recover the treasure and return home safely. But on their return they encounter an unexpected crisis at home - Rainald, the rather ridiculous failed German Christian missionary, had become a renegade, turned into a Pagan priest of the old Norse gods and the leader of a formidable band of robbers and outlaws, and causes great havoc before being finally overcome. Following this final crisis and from then on, Orm and Toke live in peace and plenty as good neighbours, and Svarthöfde Ormsson becomes a famous Viking, fighting for [[Canute the Great]]. The story ends with the statement that Orm and Toke in their old age "did never tire of telling of the years when they had rowed the Caliph's ship and served my lord Al-Mansur."
<U>Orm's two other brothers</U>, who remain unnamed have suffered tragic fates. One died when he tried to ride a bull after having drunk a surfeit of beer and the other was washed overboard during his first Viking voyage.


==Writing process==
<U>Toste</U> is Orm's father. He is a rather wealthy man and a fine sailor, who would rather die fighting, than "die on straw like a dog". He makes regular summer raids to Ireland. Like Odd, he dies before Orm comes back home from Spain.
[[File:Bengtsson, Frans G med son ur VJ 1943.jpg|thumb|left|Frans G. Bengtsson in 1943]]
The Swedish writer [[Sven Stolpe]] reports that somebody asked author [[Frans G. Bengtsson]] "what intentions he had with ''The Long Ships''", to which Bengtsson responded that he had no particular intentions. "I just wanted to write a story that people could enjoy reading, like ''[[The Three Musketeers]]'' or the ''[[Odyssey]]''."


The research for the book was based largely on [[Snorri Sturluson]]'s ''[[Heimskringla]]'' and other old Icelandic literature, but also on medieval chronicles and contemporary research, and historic names, people and events were woven into the fiction. The language of the novel is modelled on the [[Sagas of Icelanders|Icelandic sagas]]. Early in his career, Bengtsson had held a romantic view on the saga literature, promoting an elevated, almost sacral prose in translations, but when writing ''The Long Ships'' he instead made use of the saga's faculties for wisecracks and comic understatements. The main characters were written as likable anti-heroes, far from the romantic view of Vikings.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.svd.se/arkiv/2012-02-09/63|title=Det våras för Bengtsson och hans vikingar|last=Lönnroth|first=Lars|date=2012-02-09|work=[[Svenska Dagbladet]]|language=Swedish|accessdate=2019-05-08}}</ref> Like the sagas, the book relies on verbs and nouns to drive the narrative, with only a minimum of adjectives and descriptive passages. In essays, Bengtsson expresses disgust with "[[psychological realism]]" in the literature of his day where the thoughts and feelings of the characters are discussed explicitly rather than indicated by actions and outward signs. In the Swedish original of ''The Longships'', the grammar is deliberately slightly archaic.
<U>Åsa</U> is Orm's mother. She is a strong woman and a diligent husekeeper, but has a fierce temper when crossed. Orm is the apple of her eye, and she spoils him, always ensurign that he gets the ebst food.


Joan Klein noted that "Within the 10th Century plot, the book's Viking protagonists never heard of [[history of the Jews|Jews]], and have a completely open mind about them - and when encountering a Jew who allies with the Vikings and leads them to treasure beyond their dreams, they are duly grateful (...). However, one can hardly overlook the fact that the book was actually written in a very specific part of the 20th Century - [[Sweden in the Second World War|during the Second World War]], a time when Nazi Germany was involved in [[The Holocaust|a horrific persecution and massacre of Jews]], while the [[Nordicism|Nazis claimed the Viking heritage]] for their monstrous version of German and Germanic Nationalism. Bengtsson in effect throws the Viking heritage back in the Nazis' face" <ref>Dr. Joan Klein, "A Distant Mirror - Historical Writing as a Method of Slyly Commenting on Contemporary Issues" in George Whitley-Smythe (ed.) "A Round-Up of Recent Essays in Twentieth Century Cultural Issues"</ref>
<U>Ylva</U>, King Harald Bluetooth's daughter, is a beautiful young woman, merry but also temperamental and argumentative. She falls in love with Orm, and after many trials of fate they get married.


==Adaptations==
<U>Ludmilla Ormsdotter</U> is one of Orm's twin daughters. Like her father she has red hair, and, like her mother, is playful and adventurous.
The 1964 British-Yugoslav film ''[[The Long Ships (film)|The Long Ships]]'' (starring [[Richard Widmark]] and [[Sidney Poitier]]) very loosely based on the book, retaining little more than the title (of the English translation) and the Moorish settings. In the 1980s, there were plans for a large-scale Swedish screen adaptation. The film was supposed to be directed by [[Hans Alfredson]] and star [[Stellan Skarsgård]] as Orm and [[Sverre Anker Ousdal]] as Toke. The project was cancelled for financial reasons, but Alfredson's script was reworked into radio theatre which was broadcast in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sfi.se/en-gb/Swedish-film-database/Item/?itemid=14741&type=MOVIE&iv=Comments|title=Falsk som vatten (1985): Kommentar|language=Swedish|work=[[Swedish Film Database]]|publisher=[[Swedish Film Institute]]|accessdate=2012-01-27}}</ref>


A [[comic]] adaptation by [[Charlie Christensen]] in [[comic album|album format]] was published in four volumes between 2000 and 2004, covering the first book in the series.
<U>Oddny Ormsdotter</U>, the other of Orm's twin daughters. Although she has red hair too, she is, unlike her sister, gentle and calm.


Swedish author Mikael Westlund published his debut novel ''Svarthöfde'' in 2002, which expands on the brief summary at the end of ''The Long Ships'', giving the further adventures of Orm's son Svarthöfde (Blackhair) and the sons of Sone. As with Bengtsson's novel the language has an archaic flavor, leavened with humor, and several historical figures appear.
<U>Harald</U>, Orm's son, is named after Ylva's father, Harald Bluetooth. He is a quiet, well-behaved boy, more interested in farmign than in adventures abroad.


In 2011 the Swedish production company [[Fladen Film]] announced they had acquired the film rights for the book, and that an adaptation was under development.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Macnab|first=Geoffrey|date=2011-05-16|url=http://www.screendaily.com/news/europe/swedes-plan-huge-long-ships-franchise/5027617.article|title=Swedes plan huge Long Ships franchise|work=[[Screen International|Screen Daily]]|accessdate=2011-01-27}}</ref>
<U>Svarthöfde</U> (Blackhair) is Orm's other son. He goes with Orm to find the Bulgarian Gold. In Book 3 it is implied that Ylva has slept with the renegade Christian priest Rainald, who like Svarthöfde (and Ylva) has black hair, further implying (though not clearly) that Rainald fathered Svarthöfde. He is also described as "his parents' most beloved child". (Two additional children are born to Orm and Ylva after him.) He later joined his cousin King Canute in the [[Battle of the Helgeå|battle of Holy River]].


In May 2014, during the press conference of Swedish film company [[Film i Väst]] at the [[2014 Cannes Film Festival]], Danish film producer [[Peter Aalbæk Jensen]], from the Danish film company [[Zentropa]], founded by [[Lars von Trier]], said that he was going to produce an adaptation of the novel.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wennö|first=Nicholas|date=2014-05-17|url=http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/film-tv/skarsgard-med-soner-blir-rode-orm/article|title=Skarsgård med söner blir Röde Orm|work=[[Dagens Nyheter]]|accessdate=2014-08-13}}</ref> Aalbæk said that he had [[Stellan Skarsgård]] in mind as playing the old Röde Orm and his acting sons [[Alexander Skarsgård|Alexander]], [[Gustaf Skarsgård|Gustaf]], [[Bill Skarsgård|Bill]] and [[Valter Skarsgård|Valter]] playing Röde Orm at various stages in his life. This adaptation is planned to be split into two films and also as a TV-series in four parts. [[Hans Petter Moland]] from Norway will be directing. Stellan Skarsgård has expressed interest in acting in the film if the script is good.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2014-05-17|url=http://www.svd.se/kultur/vikingasagan-rode-orm-blir-film_3570532.svd|title=Vikingasagan "Röde orm" blir film|work=[[Svenska Dagbladet]]|accessdate=2014-08-13}}</ref> Filming was expected to start in [[Västra Götaland]] in 2016, however Film i Väst decided to end their collaboration with Aalbæk and the film project was cancelled.
'''Orm's friends'''


In 2017, the [[Royal Danish Theatre|Royal Danish Theater]] made a screenplay based on ''The Long Ships'', to be played not in the theater, but atop the recently built [[Moesgaard Museum|Moesgård Museum]]. The play was held atop a giant constructed wooden stage resembling a crashed Viking ship with a dragon's head and was based on the second part of Bengtsson's book, after Røde Orm returns to Denmark with the bell.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kglteater.dk/en/whats-on/season-20162017/drama/red-serpent/|title=Red Serpent|website=Det KGL Teater|language=en|access-date=2017-05-06}}</ref> The play was directed by [[Henrik Szklany]] with [[Andreas Jebro]] playing Röde Orm (Røde Orm in Danish). In 2018 the show was brought to Ulvedalene in [[Dyrehaven]] park.
<U>Toke Greygullson</U> is Orm's best friend. He is not only a fearsome fighter but also has a vivid sense of humor. He is a good poet, composing poems at will. He is very cheerful and never loses his good spirits; even when enslaved on a galley he commposes and sings humorous songs. He loves to have a drink, which gets him into many trouble at times, since even he admits that "beer makes him a different man, and wine does that too". Toke is courageous and daring, and sometimes he acts without thinking about consequences, when for example he elopes with one of King Harald Bluetooth's women, an Andalusian girl named Mirah.


In 2020, [[Royal Dramatic Theatre]] presented an adaptation of ''Röde Orm'' featuring [[Emma Broomé]] as Orm, [[Lennart Jähkel]] as both Krok and king Harald and [[Karin Franz Körlof]] as Ylva. Though awarded with rave reviews, the production was cancelled early due to [[COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden|COVID-19]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://via.tt.se/pressmeddelande/antligen-premiar-for-rode-orm?publisherId=1706167&releaseId=3282634|title = Äntligen premiär för Röde Orm &#124; Dramaten}}</ref>
<U>One-eyed Rapp</U> is also a good friend of Orm, who lives with him in Göinge after their adventures in Spain. Rapp is a skilled craftsman and a good fighter. In battle he is skilful with an axe.

<U>Krok</U> is the leader of Vikings that sailed out in the very beginning of Book One, and he is the one who during the sheep-stealing raid in Skåne knocks Orm out and takes him captive, thus enlisting him in his (Krok's) crew. Krok dies at Malaga by a sword after killing a brutal overseer. Krok's strength is matched by few. He is very good at speeches and always finds a way to cheer his crew up or calm them down, as circumstances dictate.

<U>Olof Summerbird</U> is a young chieftain who joins Orm on his quest for Bulgarian Gold. He is very rich, having spent much time in the East among the Byzantines. Very intelligent, bold and strong, he falls deeply in love with Orm's daughter, Ludmilla. He eventually marries her after first rescuing her from brigands and subsequently converting to Christianity.

<U>Salaman</U> is a Jewish silversmith from Andalusia. He also prides himself on being a skilled poet. Krok's men rescue him during their voyage, and later he helps them by getting them out of galley enslavement.

'''Kings, Princes and Rulers'''

[[Harald Bluetooth]], King of the Danes.

[[Sweyn Forkbeard]], the son of Bluetooth, who starts a rebellion in which he ultimately defeats his father.

[[Eric the Victorious]], King of the Swedes.

[[Styrbjörn the Strong]] is Eric's nephew, who tried to battle his uncle, but was defeated and killed.

[[Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir|Al-Mansur, the Victorious]], de facto ruler of Moorish Iberia, featured in Book 1.

[[Ethelred the Unready]], King of England, featured in Book 2.

==Politics==
{{Unreferenced|date=July 2007}}
For a book written in Sweden during the [[Second World War]] — when Sweden's neighbors [[Denmark]] and [[Norway]] were occupied and quite a few Swedes tended to accommodate themselves to [[Nazi Germany]] in various ways — there was an obvious political significance to depicting a Jew as the ally and comrade in arms of Vikings, who moreover persuades the Vikings to help him get his revenge on the Gentile who had wronged him, and who later is instrumental in seeing to it that they become members of the Caliph's guard instead of galley slaves. When Salaman is first introduced to the reader, the Viking who interrogates him and then reports his story to the other Vikings stresses that Christians often persecute Jews and break their word to them because they claim that the Jews killed the Christian god.

Although [[Skåneland]] has been Swedish since 1658, it was firmly Danish for many centuries prior to that year. Acccordingly, Orm and his comrades regard themselevs as Danes, and are eprceived as Danes by everyone else.

The book is written in a strong spirit of tolerance to all religions - pagan, Jewish, Muslim or Christian. Although Orm becomes a Christian, he remains on the best of terms with Toke - a stubborn pagan married to a Muslim wife.


==See also==
==See also==
* [[1941 in literature]]
* [[Swedish literature]]
* [[Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks]]


==References==
* [[Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks]] (taken by Orm in book 4)
{{Reflist}}


==Editions==
==Editions==
* Norstedts (1983), ISBN 91-1-791702-6.
* Norstedts (1983), {{ISBN|91-1-791702-6}}.


;English translations
;English translations
*''Red Orm'', Barrows Mussey (trans.), C. Scribner's sons (1943).
*''Red Orm'', Barrows Mussey (trans.), C. Scribner's sons (1943).
*''The Long Ships : A Saga of the Viking Age'', Random House (1954).
*''The Long Ships : A Saga of the Viking Age'', Random House (1954).
*''The Long Ships'', [[Michael Meyer]] (trans.), Collins (1954), HarperCollins (1984), ISBN 0-00-612609-X.
*''The Long Ships'', [[Michael Meyer (translator)|Michael Meyer]] (trans.), Collins (1954), HarperCollins (1984), {{ISBN|0-00-612609-X}}.

{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Ships, The}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Ships, The}}
[[Category:1941 novels]]
[[Category:Book series introduced in 1941]]
[[Category:1945 novels]]
[[Category:1941 Swedish novels]]
[[Category:Swedish novels]]
[[Category:1945 Swedish novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 10th century]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 11th century]]
[[Category:Swedish adventure novels]]
[[Category:Fictional Vikings]]
[[Category:Harald Bluetooth]]
[[Category:Novel series]]
[[Category:Swedish novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Novels set in the Viking Age]]
[[Category:Novels set in the Viking Age]]
[[Category:Novel series]]
[[Category:Kievan Rus' in fiction]]
[[Category:Fictional Vikings]]
[[Category:Swedish historical novels]]
[[Category:Novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Swedish-language novels]]
[[Category:Fictional treasure hunters]]

[[Category:Fictional slaves]]
[[ar:السفن الطويلة (رواية)]]
[[Category:NYRB Classics]]
[[de:Die Abenteuer des Röde Orm]]
[[pl:Rudy Orm]]
[[Category:Buried treasure]]
[[Category:Picaresque novels]]
[[sv:Röde Orm]]

Latest revision as of 15:56, 10 October 2024

This article is about the novel by Frans G. Bengtsson. For the 1963 film loosely based on the book, see The Long Ships (film). For Viking ships in general, see Longship. For other uses, see Longship (disambiguation).
The Long Ships
First English-language edition (1954)
AuthorFrans G. Bengtsson
Original titleRöde Orm
TranslatorBarrows Mussey
Michael Meyer
Cover artistGunnar Brusewitz
LanguageSwedish
PublisherNorstedts
Publication date
1941–1945
Publication placeSweden
Published in English
1943
Pages603 (total pages)

The Long Ships or Red Orm (original Swedish: Röde Orm meaning Red Orm, lit. Red Serpent or Red Snake) is an adventure novel by the Swedish writer Frans G. Bengtsson. The narrative is set in the late 10th century and follows the adventures of the Viking Röde Orm - called "Red" for his hair and his temper, a native of Scania. The book portrays the political situation of Europe in the later Viking Age, Andalusia under Almansur, Denmark under Harald Bluetooth, followed by the struggle between Eric the Victorious and Sven Forkbeard, Ireland under Brian Boru, England under Ethelred the Unready, and the Battle of Maldon, and then the Byzantine Empire and its Varangian Guard, Kievan Rus and its neighbors the Patzinaks - all before the backdrop of the gradual Christianization of Scandinavia, contrasting the pragmatic Norse pagan outlook with the exclusiveness of Islam and Christianity.[1]

The novel is divided into two parts, published in 1941 and 1945, with two books each. It used to be one of the most widely read books in Sweden.[citation needed] The first part was translated into English by Barrows Mussey as Red Orm in 1943, but later editions and newer translations by Michael Meyer use the title The Long Ships. The book has been translated into at least 23 languages.

Characters

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Main characters

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  • Orm Tostesson: The son of a Scanian chieftain.
  • Åsa: Orm's mother. The family matriarch.
  • Toke Grey-Gullsson (Toke Grågullesson): An adventurer from Blekinge who joined Krok's company. He becomes the lifelong friend of Orm.
  • Father Willibald: A priest assigned as physician to King Harald's court.
  • Ylva Haraldsdotter: King Harald's daughter with an Obotrite slave-girl. Later Orm's wife.

Secondary characters

[edit]
  • Krok: The leader of the expedition to Spain.
  • Rapp: A member of the expedition, then a galley slave with its other survivors. Later a retainer of Orm.
  • Gudmund: A landowner who has a tense relationship with Orm.
  • Olof Styrsson: An experienced chieftain from Finnveden.
  • Ludmilla Ormsdotter: Orm's restless daughter. Betrothed to Olof.

Recurring characters

[edit]
  • Solomon the Jew: A Sephardi silversmith rescued by Krok's company.
  • Lady Subaida: The young daughter of a Leonese margrave. This is the name given to her after she becomes a concubine of Almanzor.
  • The Erin Masters: Two jester brothers (Felimid and Ferdiad) from Ireland.
  • Rainald: A Lotharingian priest sent to Scandinavia to replace a priest held as a thrall.
  • Mirah: An Andalusian slave-girl at King Harald's court. Also Toke's future wife

Plot

[edit]
Orm and his Viking companions follow Almansur in his campaigns against the Christian kingdoms of the North.

The first book covers the years 982 to 990. While still a youth, Orm is abducted by a Viking party led by Krok and they sail south. They fall captive to Andalusian Muslims and serve as galley slaves for more than two years, later becoming members of Almansur's bodyguard for four years, raiding Santiago de Compostela under his command. They return to Denmark to King Harald Bluetooth's court where Orm meets Ylva. Orm later returns to Scania with Rapp. Orm and Rapp join a Viking party raiding England again after a brief period of peace in that area following the reconquest of the Danelaw in the mid-10th century by King Edgar, Ethelred's father. Orm joins a party led by Thorkell the High in England and when he learns that Harald's daughter Ylva is staying in London, gets baptised and marries Ylva. They move to a neglected farm, his mother's inheritance in Göinge, northern Skåne, near the border with Småland. During the following years (992 to 995), Orm prospers, and Ylva gives birth to twin girls (Oddny and Ludmilla), a son, Harald, and later to another son (though possibly from Rainald), Svarthöfde (Blackhair in the Michael Meyer translation). Meanwhile, Orm also gets busy in converting the heathens in the district, with the help of Father Willibald.

The year 1000 passes without Christ returning. In 1007, with Orm now forty-two, his brother Are returns from the east after serving the Byzantine Empire, bringing the news of a treasure ("Bulgar gold") he had hidden. Orm decides to travel to the Dnieper weirs in Kievan Rus for the gold, and together with Toke and the Finnveding chieftain Olof mans a ship. They recover the treasure and return home safely. But on their return they encounter an unexpected crisis at home - Rainald, the rather ridiculous failed German Christian missionary, had become a renegade, turned into a Pagan priest of the old Norse gods and the leader of a formidable band of robbers and outlaws, and causes great havoc before being finally overcome. Following this final crisis and from then on, Orm and Toke live in peace and plenty as good neighbours, and Svarthöfde Ormsson becomes a famous Viking, fighting for Canute the Great. The story ends with the statement that Orm and Toke in their old age "did never tire of telling of the years when they had rowed the Caliph's ship and served my lord Al-Mansur."

Writing process

[edit]
Frans G. Bengtsson in 1943

The Swedish writer Sven Stolpe reports that somebody asked author Frans G. Bengtsson "what intentions he had with The Long Ships", to which Bengtsson responded that he had no particular intentions. "I just wanted to write a story that people could enjoy reading, like The Three Musketeers or the Odyssey."

The research for the book was based largely on Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla and other old Icelandic literature, but also on medieval chronicles and contemporary research, and historic names, people and events were woven into the fiction. The language of the novel is modelled on the Icelandic sagas. Early in his career, Bengtsson had held a romantic view on the saga literature, promoting an elevated, almost sacral prose in translations, but when writing The Long Ships he instead made use of the saga's faculties for wisecracks and comic understatements. The main characters were written as likable anti-heroes, far from the romantic view of Vikings.[2] Like the sagas, the book relies on verbs and nouns to drive the narrative, with only a minimum of adjectives and descriptive passages. In essays, Bengtsson expresses disgust with "psychological realism" in the literature of his day where the thoughts and feelings of the characters are discussed explicitly rather than indicated by actions and outward signs. In the Swedish original of The Longships, the grammar is deliberately slightly archaic.

Joan Klein noted that "Within the 10th Century plot, the book's Viking protagonists never heard of Jews, and have a completely open mind about them - and when encountering a Jew who allies with the Vikings and leads them to treasure beyond their dreams, they are duly grateful (...). However, one can hardly overlook the fact that the book was actually written in a very specific part of the 20th Century - during the Second World War, a time when Nazi Germany was involved in a horrific persecution and massacre of Jews, while the Nazis claimed the Viking heritage for their monstrous version of German and Germanic Nationalism. Bengtsson in effect throws the Viking heritage back in the Nazis' face" [3]

Adaptations

[edit]

The 1964 British-Yugoslav film The Long Ships (starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier) very loosely based on the book, retaining little more than the title (of the English translation) and the Moorish settings. In the 1980s, there were plans for a large-scale Swedish screen adaptation. The film was supposed to be directed by Hans Alfredson and star Stellan Skarsgård as Orm and Sverre Anker Ousdal as Toke. The project was cancelled for financial reasons, but Alfredson's script was reworked into radio theatre which was broadcast in 1990.[4]

A comic adaptation by Charlie Christensen in album format was published in four volumes between 2000 and 2004, covering the first book in the series.

Swedish author Mikael Westlund published his debut novel Svarthöfde in 2002, which expands on the brief summary at the end of The Long Ships, giving the further adventures of Orm's son Svarthöfde (Blackhair) and the sons of Sone. As with Bengtsson's novel the language has an archaic flavor, leavened with humor, and several historical figures appear.

In 2011 the Swedish production company Fladen Film announced they had acquired the film rights for the book, and that an adaptation was under development.[5]

In May 2014, during the press conference of Swedish film company Film i Väst at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Danish film producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, from the Danish film company Zentropa, founded by Lars von Trier, said that he was going to produce an adaptation of the novel.[6] Aalbæk said that he had Stellan Skarsgård in mind as playing the old Röde Orm and his acting sons Alexander, Gustaf, Bill and Valter playing Röde Orm at various stages in his life. This adaptation is planned to be split into two films and also as a TV-series in four parts. Hans Petter Moland from Norway will be directing. Stellan Skarsgård has expressed interest in acting in the film if the script is good.[7] Filming was expected to start in Västra Götaland in 2016, however Film i Väst decided to end their collaboration with Aalbæk and the film project was cancelled.

In 2017, the Royal Danish Theater made a screenplay based on The Long Ships, to be played not in the theater, but atop the recently built Moesgård Museum. The play was held atop a giant constructed wooden stage resembling a crashed Viking ship with a dragon's head and was based on the second part of Bengtsson's book, after Røde Orm returns to Denmark with the bell.[8] The play was directed by Henrik Szklany with Andreas Jebro playing Röde Orm (Røde Orm in Danish). In 2018 the show was brought to Ulvedalene in Dyrehaven park.

In 2020, Royal Dramatic Theatre presented an adaptation of Röde Orm featuring Emma Broomé as Orm, Lennart Jähkel as both Krok and king Harald and Karin Franz Körlof as Ylva. Though awarded with rave reviews, the production was cancelled early due to COVID-19.[9]

See also

[edit]

References

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  1. ^ The Paris Review
  2. ^ Lönnroth, Lars (2012-02-09). "Det våras för Bengtsson och hans vikingar". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  3. ^ Dr. Joan Klein, "A Distant Mirror - Historical Writing as a Method of Slyly Commenting on Contemporary Issues" in George Whitley-Smythe (ed.) "A Round-Up of Recent Essays in Twentieth Century Cultural Issues"
  4. ^ "Falsk som vatten (1985): Kommentar". Swedish Film Database (in Swedish). Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
  5. ^ Macnab, Geoffrey (2011-05-16). "Swedes plan huge Long Ships franchise". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
  6. ^ Wennö, Nicholas (2014-05-17). "Skarsgård med söner blir Röde Orm". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
  7. ^ "Vikingasagan "Röde orm" blir film". Svenska Dagbladet. 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
  8. ^ "Red Serpent". Det KGL Teater. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  9. ^ "Äntligen premiär för Röde Orm | Dramaten".

Editions

[edit]
English translations
  • Red Orm, Barrows Mussey (trans.), C. Scribner's sons (1943).
  • The Long Ships : A Saga of the Viking Age, Random House (1954).
  • The Long Ships, Michael Meyer (trans.), Collins (1954), HarperCollins (1984), ISBN 0-00-612609-X.
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