The History Channel’s TV show Vikings has been largely responsible for a significant increase in popular interest in our Norse ancestors. Centering on the Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his family, the show lifts the veil on the Viking world of the 9th and 10th centuries. But, while the History Channel always endeavors to make…
What do you think of when you hear the name William of Conqueror or also called Guillaume Le Conquérant in French? King of England after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. True. French leader as the Duke of Normandy. Also true. Viking Warrior King ? This one is true as well. A descendant of the…
We often imagine the Vikings as having a work-hard, play-hard culture. They gave their all on the battlefield, and afterward celebrated with nights of heavy drinking of mead and beer, out of large drinking horns ideal for drinking games! That is actually not too far from the truth. The Vikings did mark their victories with…
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…
If you know much about Viking history, you have probably come across the name Leif Ericson, the icelandic explorer. A son of Erik the Red, he was more than you typical Viking warrior. Leif Ericson was the 1st Viking explorer that visited North America, and also the man that brought Christianity to Greenland. With such…
Almost as famous as Viking warriors are the Nordic runes, evocative symbols that have a feel of magic about them. Even modern Viking use them as tattoos. 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…
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…
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…