Viking ship vanes – metal wind vanes mounted on ships – were iconic symbols of status and craftsmanship during the late Viking Age. These vanes, often gilded so they glittered in the sun, served not only a practical purpose in catching the wind but also conveyed the power and prestige of their owners. In particular, a number of surviving vanes decorated in the Ringerike style (an 11th-century Norse art style) showcase elaborate animal-and-serpent motifs known as the “Great Beast.” This article explores the historical context of Viking ship vanes, their function, symbolism, and construction, then delves into the Ringerike style vanes with the Great Beast motif. We examine how these vanes likely served as chieftain’s insignia and compare their imagery to similar motifs in contemporary art (including coins from Viking York). Finally, we highlight notable surviving examples – the vanes from Heggen Church, Källunge Church, and Söderala – and discuss the evolution of their style, with the Söderala vane representing the most advanced design. Also show is a recreated vane at the Viking Museum in Haithabu/Hedeby in Northern Germany.
Viking Ship Vanes: Function, Symbolism, and Construction
Viking ship vanes (Old Norse veðrviti) were functional wind indicators mounted on longships, but they also carried deep symbolic weight. In Norse sagas, golden vanes atop a ship’s prow signaled the presence of a king or chieftain: when people saw a vane “glinting in the sunlight, they knew a chieftain, or a king was approaching.”
Indeed, these ornaments were marks of high status, not merely weather instruments. A finely crafted vane would catch the wind and the eye, announcing the leader’s ship from afar. Contemporary accounts describe such vanes as important trophies – for example, enemy leaders might seize a foe’s vane as spoil of war, underscoring its role as an insignia of authority. Structurally, Viking vanes were typically made of bronze or copper alloy and often gilded. They took the form of a flat, broadly triangular plate mounted on a vertical shaft or pole. Many were openwork designs or had engraved patterns, allowing wind to pass while reflecting sunlight off polished metal. Edges could be curved and sometimes perforated with small holes, possibly for attaching ribbons or tassels that fluttered in the breeze. The combination of shiny metal and movement would have made the vane visually striking. Size could vary, but the more splendid examples were large enough for a warship’s prow or mast. Scholars note that a vane of great size and splendor likely adorned only a substantial longship (e.g. a king’s dreki or dragon-ship). Functionally, the vane did indicate wind direction, but its symbolic role was paramount – they were “not only simple indicators of the wind’s direction” but badges of honor and identity. After the Viking Age, many of these ship vanes found second lives atop church spires. As Norse society converted to Christianity, the prized vanes of earlier warships were sometimes removed and mounted on churches as weathercocks. This reuse in medieval churches (as happened with the vanes from Heggen, Källunge, Söderala and others) is the reason a few have been preserved into modern times. It also reflects continuity: the vane remained a protective and celebratory symbol, now watching over a Christian community instead of a Viking fleet. In their new context on church towers, the vanes were often fixed in place or modified, but their ornate designs and shine continued to impress viewers on the ground.
The Ringerike Style and the “Great Beast” Motif
By the late 10th to mid-11th century, Viking art had developed the Ringerike style, named after the Ringerike district of Norway. This style evolved out of the earlier Mammen style and flourished roughly c. 1000–1070 CE. Ringerike art is characterized by flowing ribbon-like lines, foliate tendrils, and dynamically posed animals. Common motifs include spiraling vines, intertwined beasts, and gripping tendrils, all arranged in semi-symmetrical compositions. Creatures are depicted with profile heads, almond-shaped eyes, and stylized spiral hips. The overall effect is more linear and plant-like than earlier styles, foreshadowing the later Urnes style but with its own robust energy. One of the most iconic Ringerike motifs is the “Great Beast.” Art historians use this term for a large four-legged animal – usually a lion- or wolf-like creature – shown in combat or entwined with snakes. The Great Beast typically has a powerful, sinewy body with its limbs and tail woven into knotwork, often biting or being bitten by a serpent. This motif likely originated in late 10th-century Scandinavia; for example, the large Jelling stone erected by King Harald Bluetooth (~965 CE) features a lion-like animal entwined by a snake, an early form of the Great Beast design. In Ringerike art, the theme was refined and repeated on numerous runestones and metalworks in the 11th century. The composition usually shows the great beast and the serpent in a kind of mythic struggle, bodies interlacing in elaborate patterns. Scholars have proposed various meanings for the Great Beast motif. One interpretation is that it represents a struggle between good and evil or between divine and chaotic forces – essentially a Viking artistic take on the age-old hero-beast combat theme. The motif appears on monuments associated with rulers (the Jelling stone, commissioned by a king, and a London runestone for a Viking noble) and on objects linked to leaders (like the ship vanes). Its recurrence suggests it was seen as an appropriate emblem for power. In any case, the design is highly iconographic – instantly recognizable and laden with meaning. One scholar noted that this rendering of the “Great Beast” provided “the literal prototype for all single, large, lion-like animals” in Viking art thereafter, underlining its influence. Notably, similar animal-and-serpent motifs are not confined to runestones and vanes; they also appear in other media of the Viking age. For example, Viking-age coins from the Norse-ruled city of York often eschewed portraits in favor of powerful symbols. Some issues display iconic images – standards, weapons, or animals – as assertions of authority. While the exact Great Beast motif isn’t known on those coins, the concept of using a striking emblem (such as a standard or a raven on Viking York coinage) parallels the use of the beast-and-snake imagery on ship vanes. Both served to broadcast power and affiliation in a largely illiterate society through vivid imagery. In the same period, elaborately interlaced animals and snakes decorate stone crosses and metal fittings in Viking-settled parts of the British Isles, showing a shared artistic vocabulary. All these instances point to a common visual language of the 11th century Viking world, where a dramatic beast entangled with serpents was a potent symbol recognized across regions.
Ringerike-Style Ship Vanes and Chieftain Insignia
When Viking craftsmen applied the Ringerike style to ship vanes, the result was a spectacular fusion of art and maritime display. The broad metal surface of a vane was an ideal canvas for engraving and piercing in the Ringerike fashion. Surviving vanes from the 11th century show that Norse smiths decorated them with intertwined beasts, serpents, and swirling foliage – turning a practical object into a work of art. Importantly, the Great Beast motif is featured on several of these vanes, suggesting it was deliberately chosen to adorn the ships of chieftains or kings. In other words, the vane itself became a kind of heraldic emblem for the leader’s ship. Functionally, a vane on a Viking longship had parallels to a battle standard. Just as a king in medieval times might have rode under a banner with a lion emblem, a Viking jarl’s ship sailed with a gilded beast on its prow. The sight would have been impressive: a dragon-headed longship with a gleaming bronze vane above, etched or cut with a writhing lion and serpent. Little wonder that sources emphasize how these vanes commanded attention – they were standards of leadership at sea. When fleets gathered, one could likely pick out the commander’s ship with the ornate vane it bore. The vanes may have also held spiritual or talismanic significance. Some researchers argue that the animal motifs (lions, dragons, eagles, snakes) on the vanes were “high-status animals of predation,” perhaps intended to invoke protection or victory. The imagery of a strong beast triumphing over serpents could be seen as an omen of the leader’s prowess overcoming chaos. There is even a theory that Viking weathervanes doubled as navigation instruments in open sea voyages– but whether or not that was true, it’s clear their primary role was symbolic and ceremonial. Over time, as these vanes were transferred to church towers, their symbolism likely shifted toward the Christian sphere. Yet even then, their original motifs remained visible. Medieval churchgoers looking up at a former ship’s vane would still see the interlaced lion and serpent. In any case, the artistic beauty of the Ringerike vanes ensured they were preserved and esteemed across the ages.
The gilded Heggen weathervane (c. 1000–1050 CE) on display in Oslo. Originally mounted on a Viking longship and later on Heggen Church, it is decorated in an early Ringerike style. The vane’s form – a triangular copper-alloy plate with a sculpted animal at the tip – and its engraved scrollwork exemplify how Viking vanes were both functional and highly ornamental.
Notable Examples of Ringerike-Style Ship Vanes
Only a handful of authentic Viking ship vanes have survived to the present day. Among them are three outstanding examples executed in the Ringerike style: the vanes from Heggen (Norway), Källunge (Gotland, Sweden), and Söderala (Hälsingland, Sweden). Each was discovered at a church (having been reused as a weathercock), and each features the characteristic great beast or related animal motif. Examining these vanes provides insight into the evolution of the style – from relatively simpler designs to increasingly elaborate openwork compositions.
The Heggen Vane (Norway)
The Heggen vane is one of the best-known Viking ship vanes and the oldest of the Norwegian finds. It dates to around 1000–1050 CE and was originally mounted on a Viking longship, then later placed atop the spire of Heggen Church in Buskerud, Norway. Cast in a gilded copper alloy, the vane is roughly semi-triangular with a curved lower edge. At its tip is a three-dimensional animal figure (often described as a stylized deer or stag). The broad body of the vane is decorated on both faces with engraved and partially openwork Ringerike-style designs. Notably, the Heggen vane depicts dynamic animal battles: on one side, it shows a large eagle entwined with a snake, the eagle’s wings outstretched as it fights the serpent coiled around it. On the other side (Side A according to researchers) there appear to be one or two lion-like beasts, also confronting serpents. The engraved lines are filled with typical Ringerike spiral motifs and tendrils, although the background metal was mostly left intact (unperforated) on this vane. This gives the Heggen vane a bold silhouette that would catch the sun brilliantly. As an artifact, the Heggen vane illustrates the early Ringerike style applied to a ship ornament. The animals have the trademark spiral hip joints and almond eyes of Ringerike art, but the composition is relatively straightforward: each side focuses on a single encounter (eagle vs. snake, lion vs. snake). The figures are recognizable and almost narrative in their combat pose. This suggests an intermediate stage between the Mammen style (with more naturalistic beasts) and the later, more abstract Urnes style. The choice of an eagle and lion – both apex predators – for the design reinforces the vane’s role as a chieftain’s standard. These creatures, “high-status animals of predation,” symbolized strength and dominion. When mounted on a longship’s prow, the Heggen vane would have signaled to all that a powerful leader was arriving under the proud emblem of the great beast. Today, the vane is preserved in the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo (inventory C23602) and is admired as a masterpiece of Viking metalwork.
The Källunge Vane (Gotland)
Discovered at Källunge Church on the island of Gotland, the Källunge vane is another Ringerike-style ship vane, likely dating from the early to mid-11th century. It is now housed in the Gotlands Museum in Visby. Like the Heggen vane, the Källunge vane is made of bronze and was gilded, though much of the gilding may have worn off over time. Its shape is comparable – a rounded triangular plate – and it too features an animal figure at the peak. The artwork on the Källunge vane, however, shows some variations in motif. According to analyses by scholars, one side of the Källunge vane depicts two large serpents intertwined in a symmetrical battle, each serpent biting the other’s tail. This “biting serpents” design forms an endless knot, possibly symbolizing eternity or a balanced struggle. The other side likely carries the more usual motif of a quadruped beast entwined with a snake (similar to Heggen and Söderala). In fact, one source notes that a lion entwined with a serpent appears on the reverse of the Källunge vane, akin to the Söderala vane’s design. If so, the Källunge vane cleverly presents both aspects of the Great Beast motif – one face with the classic lion vs. serpent, and the other face reducing it to two serpents in eternal contest. Artistic details on the Källunge vane are firmly in the Ringerike style. Photographs show elaborate interlaced ribbons and foliate patterns filling the spaces around the main creatures. The engraving is finely done, and there are likely some openwork sections as well. The edges of the vane have small holes along the curved margin, a feature also seen on the Söderala vane, which may have held rings or pendants originally. Overall, the Källunge vane seems to represent a middle stage of the Ringerike style: more interlaced and stylized than Heggen, but not as completely transformed into filigree as Söderala. It demonstrates the rich artistic exchange in the Viking world – Gotland, as a trading hub, frequently blended influences. The presence of a Ringerike-style object on Gotland shows that mainland Scandinavian art spread widely. For the Viking who once owned it, this vane would have been a prestigious object, likely identifying him as a person of rank (and perhaps invoking the protective power of the woven serpents and beast).
The Söderala Vane (Hälsingland, Sweden)
The Söderala vane (c. 1050 CE), found in Söderala, Sweden. This copper-gilt vane is richly ornamented in openwork Ringerike style, depicting an intertwined dragon-like great beast and serpents. A small animal figurine (possibly a lion) perches at the top. The Söderala vane represents the culmination of the Viking-era vane design, with its intricate artistry and advanced style. The Söderala vane (Swedish: Söderalaflöjeln) is often considered the most spectacular and stylistically advanced Viking ship vane known. It was discovered in the early 20th century in Söderala, Hälsingland (eastern Sweden), where it had been used as a church weathervane in post-medieval times. Upon study, it became clear the vane was far older than the 18th-century church – on stylistic grounds it is dated to circa 1050 CE. It now resides in the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm, with a replica on the church. The Söderala vane is made of gilt bronze and measures about 70 cm in height. Its design and craftsmanship mark the high point of Ringerike art on these vanes. The shape of the Söderala vane is similar – a roughly triangular plate with a curving lower edge – but it is more fully realized as openwork than earlier examples. Much of the surface is cut away into an intricate lattice of intertwining creatures and spirals. The main decorative element is a large winged dragon-like beast whose sinuous body fills the vane, its forelimbs extended and neck arched. This creature has the profile head of a Norse dragon or lion (with a crest running along its head), a slim body, and wings, which is unusual and suggests a blend of lion and bird features – essentially a fantastical Great Beast. Wrapped around it are two serpentine animals: one smaller creature coils around the dragon’s forelegs, and another legless serpent twines around its body. The three animals – the great beast and the two snakes – are fully integrated into a single interlaced composition, along with extra spiral and vine motifs. The entire scene is so intricately interwoven that it becomes a tapestry of ribbons; yet the design is still legible enough to pick out the dominant dragon figure. Around the perimeter of the plate, small holes indicate where decorative elements might have hung or where rivets attached the vane to its rod. Interestingly, the Söderala vane also had a separate small animal figurine that fits onto the top of the plate. This figurine (now reattached in displays) is shaped like a tiny animal, possibly a lion or some mythical creature, standing as if heralding atop the vane. Earlier vanes like Heggen and Källunge also feature animals at the tip, so this was clearly a traditional feature (likely symbolizing the beast “guarding” the standard). On Söderala’s vane, the figurine adds a three-dimensional element to an otherwise flat openwork piece. Stylistically, scholars note that the Söderala vane’s ornamentation leans toward the Urnes style in its complexity – the “open-work pattern” is reminiscent of Urnes art – but the form of the animal and overall composition firmly belong to the Ringerike style. In other words, it represents a very developed Ringerike style at mid-11th century, on the cusp of the next artistic era. The dragon on the vane is strikingly similar to carvings on certain mid-11th century Swedish runestones, reinforcing the dating. It’s possible the vane’s maker was aware of Christian art as well, perhaps seeing the dragon and serpent as emblematic of Biblical themes (St. Michael and the dragon, or the devil as a serpent) — yet they rendered it in the traditional Norse manner. As the culmination of Viking vane design, the Söderala vane underscores how these objects had evolved from simple wind indicators into elaborate symbols of lordly identity and divine protection. Its advanced craftsmanship suggests it was made for a prominent leader, possibly a jarl or petty king in Sweden, at a time when Viking-style art was at its height. That it was kept and later sold rather than lost indicates it was treasured through the centuries. To stand on the deck of a longship beneath this glittering, dragon-adorned vane must have been an awe-inspiring experience – both for the Viking crew and for any onlooker who beheld the ship from afar.
Conclusion
The Ringerike-style ship vanes of the Viking Age are remarkable artifacts at the intersection of functionality, art, and symbolism. In their heyday, these gilded vanes spun atop the masts or prows of great ships, proclaiming the presence of chieftains and kings. They combined practical use (showing wind direction) with rich symbolic meaning – the gleaming “weather flags” of Viking leaders, emblazoned with lions, dragons, eagles, and snakes. The use of the Great Beast motif on these vanes highlights how important imagery was in Norse culture for conveying authority and invoking mythic narratives. Whether seen as a royal emblem, a protective charm, or a scene from legend, the motif gave the vanes an iconographic power recognizable even on coins and stone monuments of the era. Through the surviving examples from Heggen, Källunge, Söderala and a few others, we can trace an evolution of artistic style. Early vanes like Heggen’s still had relatively solid plates and clear animal figures, while later ones like Söderala’s became ever more intricate openwork fantasias of intertwined beasts. The constant was symbolism: a fearless beast at battle, an image well-suited to a seafaring warrior chief. After the Viking Age, these vanes were literally and figuratively given to the church – repurposed as weathercocks and interpreted in new lights – yet they remain as shining testaments to the creativity and prestige of Viking craftsmanship. Academically, they offer valuable insight into Viking art styles and social practices; for the general admirer, they are simply stunning objects that bring the world of longships and sagas a bit closer. As we gaze upon a Ringerike style vane in a museum today, we can imagine the flutter of its pendant ribbons and the glint of its golden beast against the sky, heralding the approach of a Viking lord over a thousand years ago. The Tribe may attempt to recreate one for our Viking Boat the Sae Ulfr. Authentic and True.
Photo of a recreated Chieftain’s Ship Vane at Haithabu/Hedeby by the Chieftain.
The gilded Heggen weathervane (c. 1000–1050 CE) on display in Oslo. Wikimedia
The Söderala vane (c. 1050 CE), found in Söderala, Sweden. Wikimedia
SOURCES:
Fuglesang, S.H. Stylistic Groups in Late Viking and Early Medieval Art. In Figure Types in Viking Art, University of Oslo, 1980. (Details Ringerike style characteristics)
Eide, I.B. “The Weathervane from Heggen: Approaching a Discrete Artefact from the Nordic Middle Ages.” Collegium Medievale 35 (2022): 149–177.
Museum of Cultural History, Oslo – Object C23602, Heggen weathervane description (exhibit text)
Swedish History Museum, Stockholm – Söderalaflöjeln (Söderala vane) catalogue entry and conservation report
Wilson, D.M. The Vikings in the British Isles: Personal Ornaments and Weapons. London: British Museum, 1966. (Notes on Viking York coins and symbols)
Markussen, J.L. “The Anatomy of the Ringerike Style.” (jonaslaumarkussen.com, 2022)
Explains Ringerike motifs, including the Great Beast.
Medievalists.net, “The Snake Motif in Viking Art: 10th–12th Centuries” (2015)
– Discussion of lion-and-snake imagery on runestones and vanes.
World History Encyclopedia – “Heggen Weathervane” and “Weathervane in Ringerike Style” (photos and summaries)
Jónsson, F. Runestone from St. Paul’s Churchyard, London (illustration, 11th c.) – an example of the Great Beast motif in Viking stone art
Blindheim, M. Ship’s Vanes and Church Weathercocks in the Viking Age (Bergen, 1983). (Comparative study of Heggen, Källunge, Söderala vanes and related finds)
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