Category: Legacy
I’ve been doing this for a long time, which means some of my content is, well…a bit old. That doesn’t make it useless, though, so I’ve made a special place for it here in this delightful category.
-
Vikings in England: the Danelaw and the Unready
Despite King Alfred’s best attempts, he did not rid England of the Vikings permanently. Although he gave them a fight, pushing their ‘Great Army’ away from England, there were still many Danes who settled northeast England, primarily in the kingdom of Northumbria. The story after King Alfred then unfolds as king after king addresses this problem,…
-
Vikings in England: the Great Army vs King Alfred
THE ARRIVAL of the ‘Great Army’ in England marked a turning point, “transitioning from seasonal raiding to a more permanent Viking presence in England.” ‘Great Army’ is a term that has been translated from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which uses the term micel here. The leaders of this Danish army were the legendary sons of Ragnarr Loðbrók: Ívarr hinn Beinlausi (the Boneless) and Halfdán Ragnarsson. CONTENTS:I.…
-
Vikings in England: Early Raids
Beginning as early as the 780s, England was among the first places to be hit by Viking raids. The earliest of these attacks lasted up until around 822, followed by a period of settlement in the 840s and the arrival of the “Great Army” in 865. Unlike with Francia, the Vikings would end up being…
-
Vikings in France: Rollo and Normandy
With Francia consumed by desperation, a Viking by the name of Rollo found his way into French royalty; Normandy, and an impressive genealogy to follow, was born. CONTENTS:I. The Treaty of Saint-ClairII. RolloIII. Normandy I. THE TREATY OF SAINT-CLAIR: The “Great Army” left Francia after a troublesome famine in 892. This was not the end of…
-
Vikings in France: Messy Politics
If you think this year’s U.S. election is bad, let’s just talk about the messy politics of post-Charlemagne Francia (France) for a moment. CONTENTS:I. CharlemagneII. A Divided KingdomIII. The Great ArmyIV. Impact I. CHARLEMAGNE: Francia was, during this period, at its height during the reign of Charlemagne (768-814 CE). Under his reign, Francia experienced a great deal…
-
Vikings Abroad
Originally, I had planned to immediately jump into the realm of raids by discussing France. However, There are some things that are worth noting before we get into the fine, lovely, and often messy details. The nature of this lesson is really to cover miscellaneous concerns, mostly in chronology, motivations, and level of organization. CHRONOLOGY…
-
The Age of Settlements
“Iceland was first settled from Norway in the days of Haraldr the Fine-Haired, son of Hálfdan the Black, at the time…when Ívarr, son of Ragnarr loðbrók, had St. Edmund, king of the Angles, killed; and that was 870 years after the birth of Christ, according to what is written in his [Edmund’s] saga.” (Ari Þorgilsson…
-
Viking Age Warfare
Prepare yourself, for our ships are nearly ready to sail west. In this lesson, we will be briefly discussing the foundations for future raiding: warfare. How did they fight? How organized were they? What was the scale? What advantages did they have? It would be foolish to assume that these northmen just washed ashore and…
-
Notes on the Word ‘Viking’ in Old Norse
Anonymous asked: how did vikings called themselves (is it different by country/area?)? the term, “Viking” came later after the viking age (if I recall this well). This is a wonderful question, because the term “Viking” is now a convoluted mess of our own creation. The “Vikings” never addressed themselves as “Vikings” in the sense of ethnicity. It was…
-
Visuals and References for Viking Age Crafts
Anonymous asked: I am more visual and I cannot find or I find but I cannot tell if they are realistic or not for the actual viking crafting styles, I don’t mind modern replicas for examples, but can you find and show more visual photos of crafts, or link a site/blog which has relatively really good…
-
Viking Age Weaponry
I originally had included this together with “Viking Warfare,” but, upon writing up that lesson, I realized that they should be split. So, next week we will begin out prelude into the raids. For now, we will bridge our way from art to war with the art of their weapons. Although we will not be covering…
-
Viking Age Crafts
I have mentioned craft and production quite a bit now, as we have talked about Viking towns and commerce. The Vikings did not only trade things they stole, nor did they only have raw materials to offer. If not already convinced by their ships, the Vikings were tremendously skilled when it came to their art…
