While many of us were still grieving about the end of the History Channel’s epic Vikings series, Netflix threw us a lifeline and announced that it would be working with the same creators to make a sequel, Vikings: Valhalla. This new series will be set 100 years after the current show and will tell the…
It was not just Viking men, but also Viking women, that were known and feared as ferocious warriors. Of all the Viking shield maidens whose stories have been preserved, Freydis is probably the most ferocious. The daughter of Erik the Red, she travelled to Vinland in the Americas where she terrified the natives. She was…
Almost as famous as Viking warriors are the Nordic runes, evocative symbols that have a feel of magic about them. Indeed, the Vikings themselves thought that these symbols, that they also used for the mundane such as commerce and politics, carried magical powers. Read on to learn more about the origins of the Nordic runes,…
Modern culture has very firm ideas about what the Vikings looked like, well encapsulated by their presentation in the show Vikings. Tall, blonde, burly, with long beards and a bit dishevelled from their hard life as warriors. On television Viking style includes hair adorned with braids and beads, eyes covered in warrior’s kohl, and faces…
As well as being warriors that terrified and raided their neighbors, the Vikings had a rich culture with elaborate religious beliefs, sophisticated literature, stunning art, and, of course, traditional music. Our knowledge of Viking age music, like our knowledge of the traditional music of many cultures, is limited. We do not really have any idea…
Death was an essential part of life for the Vikings. A warrior people, death on the battlefield was common and considered an honorable and even desirable end. Living before the epoch of modern medicine, for the Vikings disease could be rampant and minor accidents fatal. Death also meant significant changes in the lives of the…
If we believe popular culture, the Vikings were very fashionable people! But when we take away the glamour added for the television cameras, what do we really know about Viking clothes? Farmers and warriors living in some of Europe’s colder climates, Viking clothes were comfortable, warm and functional. But that doesn’t mean that they didn’t…
Many stories of terrifying Viking warriors have come down through history. Their ferocity in battle is legendary. But what often makes one set of warriors more successful than another is not their greater ferocity, but their superior technology when it comes to weapons and fighting techniques. The Vikings themselves understood the importance of their weapons.…
The Vikings have a reputation as fierce and bloody warriors that burned and pillaged their way through Europe in the 9th and 10th centuries. The surviving evidence suggests that their reputation is well deserved, and that just the sight of a Viking warrior could strike fear into the hearts of their enemies. But to rise…
Ragnar Loðbrók Reality or Fiction? – By Arith Härger 1.Was Ragnar Loðbrók a real historical figure, or a fictional heroic character? We need to take into consideration two main aspects when we deal with historical sources concerning legendary heroes: In the case of Ragnar we have to take in mind that all the things that…