Those of us who loved the History Channel’s Vikings series and watched it more than once on Netflix were devastated when it came to an end (even if the final season wasn’t quite as good as the ones that went before). Netflix, knowing when it was onto a good thing, promised us a new series…
One of the incredible things about the Vikings is how much of the world they discovered, more than 500 years before Christopher Columbus landed in America while looking for India – someone took a major wrong turn on the way! Meanwhile, the Vikings not only raided across mainland Europe by land and sea, but they…
When you read the Viking sagas one of the things that you will notice is that the Vikings seem to have drunk, a lot! Sharing alcohol played an important role in the social customs that cemented social hierarchies and political alliances, which is why drinking features so prominently in so many Viking stories. You can…
In modern stories of the Vikings, Norse warriors tend to be presented as enormous and towering over their European neighbors. But were the Vikings really taller and stronger than other people living in Europe at that time? The short answer is actually yes! When the Vikings first landed in England at the end of the…
The Vikings are known for having been excellent sailors. The superiority of their ships allowed them to dominate their corner for Europe for centuries. They discovered new lands, such as Iceland and Greenland, which were otherwise known to Europeans. They also made it to the Americas half a millennium before any other European. But without…
As you know, our passion here at VKNG is Viking-inspired jewelry and creating authentic pieces that are true to the Viking style and ethos, while being more than just replicas. So, a very important question to us, and I’m sure many of you, is what jewelry did the Vikings actually wear? Materials Jewelry was commonly…
While we usually think of the Vikings as travelers and raiders, they did not in fact live on their longboats or in military camps. The majority would have spent most of their lives in villages, not too dissimilar from the English and French villages that they were raiding and conquering. While the exact composition and…
The Vikings believed in many different types of divine beings. There were gods, giants, light elves, and other beings that don’t seem to fit into any of these categories. The Vikings believed that they were all more than human and assigned them similar attributes and powers. And thanks to plenty of unclear sources and interbreeding…
The Viking runes are a fascinating topic for historians and mystics alike. As well as being a system of writing that reveals fascinating snippets about the lives of the Vikings, the Vikings believed that the Norse runes also had magical properties, exploited by Viking runemasters, and also used by modern diviners. Let’s take a look…
While Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir, also known as Gudrid the Far-Travelled, may not be one of the most famous Viking women, she certainly is an important one, especially for those living on the western side of the Atlantic. She was the mother of the first Viking, and the first European, born in the Americas. Her personal story,…