Viking Hygiene: The Evidence of Better Habits

A 13th-century English chronicler complained that Danish men were stealing English wives by … bathing. Every Saturday. Many scholars say Vikings kept cleaner habits than their neighbors: they washed their faces and combed their hair and beards daily, and bathed once a week. Others aren’t so sure. So where did the legend of the tidy Viking come from, and how much of it holds up?

John of Wallingford

John of Wallingford (d. 1258), writing in the 1200s, described the St. Brice’s Day Massacre of Danes in England in 1002, and explained why he thought it justified:

The Danes made themselves too acceptable to English women by their elegant manners and their care of their person. They combed their hair every day, bathed every Saturday, and even changed their garments often. They set off their persons by many such frivolous devices. In this manner, they laid siege to the virtue of the married women and persuaded the daughters, even of the nobles, to be their concubines.

In other words, the chronicler thought the Danes deserved their fate for charming English women.

However, Wallingford’s account, which is so often quoted as proof of Viking hygiene, is not without its detractors. In 1854, Translator Joseph Stevenson said that the chronicles attributed to Wallingford should be read carefully and the “facts” therein should only be accepted with corroborating evidence. Biographer William Hunt took the criticism one step further, saying the chronicler exaggerates and inserts so many misconceptions that the work is “historically worthless.” Historians even question whether Wallingford was the author of the work. Still, the idea of Viking hygiene presented in this account is widespread today.

Scholar Alcuin and Viking Hygiene

Alcuin gave the English their best account of the attack on Lindisfarne. In letters to English kings after the Viking attack, Alcuin pointed out that the nobility was following the ways of the Vikings. He said God’s punishment was to send more Viking raiders against the English, and he chastised the English for wanting to look like the pagans. “Consider the dress, the way of wearing the hair, the luxurious habits of the princes and people. Look at your trimming of the beard and hair, in which you have wished to resemble the pagans.”

Viking Literature and Afterlife Beliefs

The Poetic Edda agrees. Reginsmal advises starting the day ‘combed and washed,’ and Havamal (st. 61) says a man should ride to the assembly washed and fed, even if his clothes are poor, and feel no shame.

Some writers suggest Vikings also groomed with the afterlife in mind: the dead went to Valhalla or Hel with their clothes and weapons, so why not their best appearance? It’s an appealing idea, but no Norse source says so directly.

One grooming rule does come straight from the myths. Snorri Sturluson warns that the ship Naglfar is built from dead men’s untrimmed nails, so anyone who dies with long nails adds material to the ship that will carry the enemies of the gods at Ragnarok. Trim your nails, and you delay the end of the world.

Archaeological Evidence

The archaeological evidence seems to support much of the accounts of good Viking hygiene. Graves often include combs. Archaeologists have also found earwax scoops, toothpicks, wash bowls, and tweezers for personal hygiene.

Ibn Fadlan and Viking Hygiene

The Arab envoy Ibn Fadlan, who met Scandinavian traders (the Rus) on the Volga in 922, saw it differently. He describes the morning wash in detail:

“Every day, early in the morning, one of the slave girls brings in a large dish of water and gives it to her master, who washes his hands, face and hair in it. Then he combs his hair over the dish with a comb, blows his nose and spits in it. No dirt is removed from the water. When the first has finished, the slave girl carries it to the next, who does the same, after which she carries it from one to another until it has been all the way round. Every one of them blows his nose and spits in it and washes his face and hair in it.” (Ibn Fadlan. Translated and sourced from the Vikingeskibs Museet).

Author Elisabeth Wheatley’s Research

Author Elisabeth Wheatley researched the Vikings for her fantasy romance book series, Wrath and Weeping. As part of her marketing, she explored myths that people believe about the Vikings, including about how hygienic they were. Her conclusion was it’s complicated. The Vikings bathed in public, and the English women noticed. So, yes, the Vikings bathed, but that doesn’t mean the British didn’t. Wheatley cites Gabby Bell’s video as a starting point for her opinion about the Vikings and their bathing. Gabby’s video does state the Vikings would bathe more regularly than other Europeans, but that wasn’t the main reason women were attracted to them.

Viking Hygiene Habits

So, were Vikings cleaner? The combs in their graves, the Saturday baths the English noticed, and the Eddas’ advice to go ‘combed and washed’ all say they cared. Ibn Fadlan’s shared washbowl says their idea of clean wasn’t ours. Both can be true. Which way does the evidence tip for you?