I believe there are documents in the tomb of one of the dragon priests referring to a battle between Nords and a bastion of dragon worshippers. IIRC, mention is made of Nord battlemages. So we know that there was a time when a group of Nords practiced magic and presumably valued it. Perhaps this was a matter of necessity when facing crafty dragon priests.

On the other hand, according to the Five Songs of King Wulfharth (well, the sixth):

"And the Ash King, Wulfharth, hoary Ysmir, went and made peace with the Orcs in spite of his Nordic blood, and they brought many warriors but no wizards at all."

This makes it sound as if Wulfharth was in need of wizards. If so, the deficiency is nothing new.

"Any magic not Temple magic is thought a bit funny, at best, and black and evil at worst. All the houses have their mages, of course, and each village will have a hedgewizard or two, but not respectable-like. And conjurers and necromancers and such, well, we put them right up on poles where they belong. Of course, now, the Telvanni wizards, they're different -- like the Altmeri sorcerors, private in their towers and private in their affairs. Don't know much about them, and don't want to, sir. You don't want to meddle with them. That's all I know." -- Alvur Relds