Sources

This is going to be the messiest post I make, but it's where I'm putting all the sources I'm using.  Sorry it's not going to be the best bibiography, but I forget how to MLA all that shit and I'd rather spend time reading about Vikings than figuring out how.  <3

Alcuin's Letter to Aethelred

http://historyonline.chadwyck.co.uk/getImage?productsuffix=_studyunits&action=printview&in=gif&out=pdf&src=/ehd/ehd00189/conv/ehd00189.pdf&IE=.pdf

Information on Sunstone Find

http://www.utaot.com/2013/03/06/scientists-think-they-have-found-the-mythical-sunstone-vikings-used-to-navigate-warships/

Kormakksaga
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/265/265-h/265-h.htm#link2HCH0010

Gísla saga Súrssonar'
http://sagadb.org/gisla_saga_surssonar.en

Ynglingsaga
http://omacl.org/Heimskringla/ynglinga.html

Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1150/1150-h/1150-h.htm

Ragnar's Saga (Translation by Chris Van Dyke)

http://www.turbidwater.com/portfolio/downloads/RagnarsSaga.pdf

Anglo Saxon Chronicle (Part 2)
http://omacl.org/Anglo/part2.html

Interesting take on Shieldmaidens
http://sciencenordic.com/don%E2%80%99t-underestimate-viking-women

Talks about reanalyzing bones
http://bonesdontlie.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/viking-women-a-reinterpretation-of-the-bones/

A Synopsis of Byzantine History
http://books.google.com/books?id=vGE8Xq832A0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=true

Some smart lady I'm in love with and, I find, is a great jump-off point for more info
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/

The Flateyjarbok
https://archive.org/stream/flateyjarbokens00unkngoog#page/n44/mode/2up

The Temple at Uppsala
http://www.germanicmythology.com/works/uppsalatemple.html

Adam of Bremen's account of Sacrifice
http://scandinavian.wisc.edu/mellor/myth/pdf_files/AdamBremen.pdf

The Heimskringla's Saga of St Olaf
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Heimskringla/Saga_of_Olaf_Haraldson/Part_II

The Great Courses: The Vikings:
A lecture given by Professor Kenneth Harl.  Available on Audible and highly recommended.

The Vikings by Michael Gibson

The Vikings by Neil Oliver

Viking Age: Everyday Life During the Extraordinary Era of the Norsemen by Kirsten Wolf (heeeey, we share a name!)

The Norse Myths retold by Kevin Crossley Holland

The Oxford Illustrated History of The Vikings by Peter Sawyer

The Viking Saga by Peter Brent

The show Vikings on the History Channel

102. Wrath of the Northmen

I'm going to start this post by talking about Flóki--another historical figure.  His real-life counterpart is Flóki Vilgerðarson, who was born sometime in the 9th century.  I think it's sort of funny that all the characters lived about the same time, but the show decided to pick them all up and drop them back 100 years just for the hell of it.

Anyways, he heard there was a great land to the west, so he packed up his family and livestock and decided to sail across the sea and settle there.  In the middle of the journey, they become lost so Flóki releases three ravens.  One of them doesn't return, so he follows it and finds Iceland.

Just like in the show.  Love the detail.  Except doing this is how the real man was given the nickname Hrafna-Flóki. (Raven Flóki)

Once there, he HATES it.  The winters are cold, all of his livestock dies and when they try to leave, the current pushes them back so they're forced to stay another winter.  To explore the surroundings, Flóki climbs a nearby mountain (likely Nónfell) and sees a fjord packed full of ice.  In his anger, he declares the name of this land Iceland and leaves, never to return.

His statue, unfortunately, has no guy-liner.

In the show, Flóki is a master ship-builder and supposedly built the first ship to navigate the open waters of the Atlantic.  Vikings is correct in that these ships were invented in the late 8th century.  This is the year that builders realized that a long, oaken keel would be strong enough to hold the ship together, but if they used green and unseasoned timber, it would be flexible enough to move with the water.  The mast and keel were usually make of oak, which would be imported from Denmark, and the rest made of whatever wood was available in their region.

We have a couple ships from the 9th and 10th century that have been excavated.  The more relevant find is the Gokstad Ship, which was the final resting place for a man and all his treasures.  It was uncovered in 1880 and found to be in beautiful condition.  

As you can see, the ship sat very low in the water.  The deck could be removed (in case they needed to bail water out) and sometimes there would only be an inch of wood between the sailor's feet and the deep ocean.  However, this design allowed the ship to ride the waves smoothly, rather than fighting against them.  It allowed the ships to travel along rivers or beach closer to shore than any other ships.  It was possible (and common) for the sailors to beach the vessel, pick it up and carry it to another river.  Most importantly, it made the ships fast.  It could sail up to 70 miles in a day, if the weather worked with them.  In fact, Ragnar Lothbrok sailed from Scandinavia to Paris in a little over three weeks.  That was faster than they could move their army to fight him!

And before you say, "But you said Rollo sacked Paris!"  They both did.  Ragnar in 845 and Rollo in 885.  

The one thing that the show missed out on was the building of the ship.  It wasn't done by one man, though there was likely a leader who knew what he was doing better than the other men.  Shipbuilding was as much a communal effort as the raiding themselves.  In fact, shipbuilding was part of the training for later fights.  A crew would cut, haul and shape at least 12-13 large, oak trees (as well as any other materials they use).  They would work as a team to create the ship, knowing that it had to be strong and perfect, or it would mean their lives were in danger.  It was a chance to practice with their axes and a chance to work their muscles with heavy lifting and throwing.  Once on the ship, they slept on furs in the middle of the cold ocean, constantly wet and spending all of their waking hours rowing.

Basically, by the time they landed in your town, they were fit and trained enough to mess your shit right up.

There is one part of the whole bonding experience that I'd like to address... and only because it's the single scene in the entire series that I can't watch.  Seriously... there are a couple people coming up who are going to get straight-up Blood Eagled and I'm going to have an easier time watching that than this shit...

The booger bowl.

Goddamned Vikings washing their face in another man's spit.  Ugh.  I'm feeling the queasy coming up just thinking about it.  But this is something else that was recorded by a historian--Ahmed Ibn Fadlan.  He travelled to a few Rus Viking villages and wrote one of the most comprehensive guides to Viking culture that we have.  Seriously... could have left out the loogies, though.  

Ibn Fadlan was best portrayed as an Antonio Banderas who can't handle this shit

So.  They've built the ship, washed up and started sailing.  You'll have to forgive me for the weird transition here, but Lagertha tells a story while they're sailing and I think it's important to talk about it.

As the Vikings sail through a storm, Lagertha gathers the children around and tells them the tale of Thor and the Midgard serpent.  He used a ox head as bait and fished for Jörmungandr.  The serpent bit and there was a large struggle during which Thor's companion freaked out and cut the line.  Whatever, go watch the scene, Kathryn Winnick tells it better.

Why is this important?  Well, besides a cool insight to Viking religion and lore, this scene is one of the four images historically thought to be on Ragnar's shield.  The first poet (or skald) to become famous in his craft was Bragi Boddason in the 9th century.  He wrote a poem called the Ragnarsdrápa, which describes the shield.  

Just another sweet detail that the History Channel didn't have to throw in, but did anyways because they rock.  I like to think of it as an apology for 'Ancient Aliens'.

And then we get to the fun part of the episode.  The sack of Lindisfarne.

Well... fun if you're not a monk in 793.

We know quite a bit about the sack because of how outraged literate people were about it.  Letters were written back and forth, histories all over mention it and it was the scope of the fear that it instilled that makes this sack the true start of the Viking Age.  Again, there was an attack at Portland Bay years before, but I'll talk about that next episode when they make references to it.

The monks in the show see signs in the storm, which is partly true.  The English scholar Alcuin mentions a clear sky raining blood.  The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that monks saw dragons flying in the sky.  It says:

In this year fierce, foreboding omens came over the land of the Northumbrians, and the wretched people shook; there were excessive whirlwinds, lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. These signs were followed by great famine, and a little after those, that same year on 6th ides of January, the ravaging of wretched heathen people destroyed God's church at Lindisfarne

Sound familiar?

The attack was horrible.  It was a complete slaughter.  Monks were thrown into the sea-dead or alive or just killed where they stood.  A few sources I've found say the younger monks were raped and sold into slavery, but I'm holding off on confirming that because it's not mentioned in contemporary sources I've found.  There are records of monks of noble birth being kidnapped for ransom, though whether ransom was collected or the boys were killed, I can't find.  The real raid at Lindisfarne was, surprisingly, worse than what we see in the show.  Ragnar (or whoever was really in charge of the attack) wasn't a good guy.  Alcuin, that scholar I mentioned earlier, describes the attack thus:

Lo, it is nearly 350 years that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race, nor was it thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made.  Behold, the church of St. Cuthbert spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all it's ornaments; a place more venerable than all in Britain is given as a prey to pagan peoples/  And where first, after the departure of St. Paulinus from York, the Christian religion in our race took its rise, there misery and calamity have begun.  Who does not fear this?  Who does not lament this as if his country were captured?  Foxes pillage the chosen vine, the heritage of the Lord has been given to a people not his own; and where there was the praise of God, are now the games of the Gentiles; the holy festivity has been turned to mourning.

He then goes on to say that it's completely the fault of the Brits for being sinful and they should stop drinking or it'll happen again.  So good job there with that whole victim-blaming bag.

Aethelstan (possibly named after Kind Aethelstan, but I'll talk more about him if it becomes relevant) is frightened and tries to convince Cuthbert (who died 106 years before the sack, but whatever) that end times are coming.  He hides in the chapel during the raid and tries to save a book.  This may be a nod to the Lindisfarne Gospels--a GORGEOUS illuminated manuscript that was spared during the sack.  Well.. mostly spared.  The Vikings did rip off the jewelled cover and a few pages may have been lost in the process.  Still, what we have now (and what is in the British Museum) is absolutely lovely.  Medieval art was the shit, yo.

 Pictured: The shit.

Unlike the show, the book stayed with the monks who survived the raid and brought to a safer location, along with the relics of St. Cuthbert.  The cover was replaced in the 19th century.  If you are interested in that sort of thing, I highly recommend watching The Book of Kells.  It's not about the Lindisfarne Gospels, but a book that went through a very similar journey during the viking raids on Iona.  It's animated, it's lovely and there's Irish accents all around.  Also, I think it's on Netflix.

That's all I've got for today!  Episode 3 ought to be coming soon, mostly because I'm having so much fun with this.  Please comment, question, contradict or add whatever discussions you like!

101. Rites of Passage

The first episode opens up in 793 in the Eastern Baltics.  Two men are fighting against a better-armoured but less skilled army.  We find out that they are Ragnar Lothbrok and Rollo--two brothers who raid together in search of glory... and uh.... wait a fucking minute.

Manly hugs of blood and sweat and manliness.  Mmm.

Ragnar Lothbrok and Rollo (or Hrolfr, which is his birth name) weren't brothers.  They didn't even live around the same time.  Ragnar died in the year 865 while being young enough to go raiding (yet old enough to have an ungodly amount of children).  Rollo was born in 846 and died in 911.  I mean.. I guess they could have been brothers, but I don't see Rollo getting all deliciously beefy by age 19 when his brother kicks it.  Anyways, there's the more important elephant in the room here... these men lived well after the show's date.

So we're already dealing with some anachronism here.

Now, I'm not too worried about it, myself.  Ragnar is a man who is probably more fiction than fact.  His exploits have been chronicled in histories like Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and The Saga of Ragnar with The Saga of Ragnar's Sons.  In a nutshell, Ragnar leads raids on France, pisses off the king of England and eventually becomes the king of Denmark.  Today we honor him with this amazing TV show and giving his name to the mascot for the Minnesota Vikings.

You're welcome. 

The show touches on a few of his legends.  When Ragnar and Bjorn are camping out in the fjords, he tells the story of how he met his wife, Lagertha.  His tale comes strait out of the Gesta Danorum.  She was a powerful shieldmaiden who fought alongside Ragnar and impressed him.  He sent many messengers to her house to try and woo her and she pretended to have fallen in love with him--though in her heart she wasn't interested.  When she heard he was coming to see her, she set a bear and a dog at her door to keep him away.  He killed them in the manner he described and thus won her heart.

We have another nod to one of his legends through his name, Lothbrok.  Lothbrok isn't a family surname, it's the nickname that he received when he won the heart of Thora Townheart.  Ragnar saw her when he was only fifteen years old and became absolutely smitten with her beauty.  At the time, as teenaged boys are wont to do, he was making a set of armour out of hides dipped in pitch.  The pants were still incredibly hairy and must have looked ridiculous enough to draw attention.  He put them on to go woo the girl, but found out there was a giant snake guarding her.  Ragnar fought the snake and succeeding in killing it while many  men had failed before, because his pants were too thick for the snake to bite through.  Instead of entering the house and claiming his prize, however, he decided to leave before anyone could see him.  Luckily, he left the head of his spear in the body of the snake.

I'm just tickled pink by any legend that basically compares Ragnar to Cinderella.

Anyways, Thora's father called a Thing and tried matching the large, heavy spearhead to the spearshafts of the men who attended.  Finally, he matched it to Ragnar's, made a comment about his stupid pants (which stuck forever.  Nicknames, amirite?) and gave Thora to Ragnar for them to live happily ever after.  Or... at least live until he decided he wanted to woo another lady and she conveniently died of an illness.

Enough about Ragnar, who's the other dude hugging it out after the battle?

Rollo came from either Norway or Denmark, depending on who you ask as historians from both countries claim him for their own.  What isn't contested is that he raided the northern coast of France and even made his way down the Seine to siege Paris.  He was defeated... but seriously, how many Vikings can say they managed to make it all the way to Paris to give those cheese eaters a what-for?  King Charles eventually signs a treaty with him and makes him the Jarl of Normandy. (so named because of the Northmen who raided and settled there)  His descendants become the Dukes of Normandy and eventually the Kings of England.  For being so darn special, we gave him his own little statue in the holiest of places... Fargo, ND.

"A neighboring Jarl has offended me... fetch the woodchipper."

Unlike his not-brother, there aren't as many legends about Rollo because we have more information about him from more reliable sources, pointing to him being definitely a real person.  Also, I'm fairly certain that all of the interesting things he did are going to be in the show at some point, so I'd like to shy away from possible spoilers.

So back to the episode!

Bjorn and Ragnar are on their way to a Thing.  There they will dispense justice for crimes committed, Bjorn will receive an arm ring and they will discuss where to raid in the summer.  To be honest, I loved this part because it was mostly correct!

Except for the arm ring.  Really, arm rings were only given to seasoned warriors as a reward for their service.  Gold isn't easy to come by, especially in a small town like Kattegat where they haven't been raiding and trading with anybody rich enough to get them those stores of gold.

But that's besides the point.  A Viking Thing is a periodic gathering of free men (and occasionally women).  All decisions must be made by the general assembly and the Jarl usually has no say over the outcome.  The only person with real authority is the Law Speaker, who happens to be conveniently in Jarl Haraldson's pocket.  The Law Speaker would recite the relevant rules and punishments for the crime committed and the assembly would vote on what punishment is given.  Well done, history channel, it looks like you've studied some history!

Then Bjorn completes his rites of passage and becomes a man.  To be honest, I haven't found any sources saying exactly when this would happen.  It's generally about the age of puberty... some boys would raid as young as 12 and some would when they were 15.  When you live in a violent age where most men would be expected to fight, it's probably more important to wait for physical maturity than an arbitrary age.  But if anybody has any sources contradicting me, I would love to see them!  Leaaaarning.

Ragnar interrupts the Thing with his goals of sailing west.  This angers the Jarl and seems to excite the assembly, but he doesn't say how he's going to do this thing that nobody's done before.  (Ignoring, of course, the raids on Portland Bay four years before.)  But he and the audience know that he's going to use a sunstone.

The sunstone is also a real thing, though it probably wasn't used at this time and we think it was used in a very different manner.  It's a type of spar that you can find in Iceland.  You put a single black dot on one side and hold it up to the sun, watching the shadow.  You'll see two dots until you rotate the stone and it's pointing at the sun.  The two dots will converge into one and you'll know where the sun is at noon.  Perhaps a difficult concept to explain on a TV show, and we're not entirely sure that's how it was done anyways since the only sunstone we've found (outside of legends and sagas) was on an Elizabethan warship, not a Viking longboat.

That's where I'll leave it for today.  There's so much going on in this episode and I could talk about it for HOURS but then that wouldn't leave any content for the next post.  If you have any subjects that you would like me to talk about or expand on, please let me know in the comments!  Also, reviews reviews reviews!  Give me your thoughts on what I've said.  Until next time!