I really doubt about it that they did..an enemy could easily grab those horns causing a disadvantage in man to man fight..I dont think they were that stupid
What often goes unsaid is how expansive the Scandinavian culture was to begin with before the famous raids and trade routes even began. Denmark, Northern Germany, and The Russian coast were all Part of the Scandinavian culture. They had the same gods, customs, trade routes and ambition to grow and expand their people as a whole.
Awesome fact: viking is not a people but a "profession"/activity. They were called Norsemen in general and had their own nationalities. This fact should totally have been there.
Plus in 1066 the English widowed the homelands of the Vikings, who under Harold Hadarah invade England at Stanford Bridge and it took all that time until the 1700's for the population of Scandinavia to recover the population ratios of individuals, to the level of population if we had not slaughter them to such an extent. They came over in six hundred ships and left in only twenty six, while the rivers were still running with the blood of their fallen. It is often said the Vicious Vikings or is it the Excessively Psychopathic English? You will have to make your own judgement on that one.
Yeah but the vikings where still out raiding and gathering horses etc. so they where hit before they where in a properly formed shield wall. and let's face it one beserker held the saxons up for hours so they could try to get formed not long enough however.
Actually Norsemen/Norse refers only to Norwegians. Swedish Vikings would have called themselves Geats/Götar if they lived in Götaland (modern day Sweden), Swedes/Svear if they lived in Svealand (Sweden), Danes/Daner if they lived in Skåneland (historically danish but Swedish since 1658) or Goths/Gutar if they lived on Gotland (part of Sweden today).
The Saxons called them Norsemen in general and as I previously stated they each had a nationality. I had no idea what the names were!Thanks for making this even more informative 😉
We are Norsemen, a viking was a badit if you read the King Sagas. But to go viking, is to travel and discover new land to settle. It's almost like settlers in the wild west and a gunslinger would be a viking. Viking can come from a word Vik(bay), those why traveled beyond the Vik, viking. Or a man who fight at the sea, like a pirate. The Viking-era was named that because of the need for patriotism and a national feeling in Norway in the early 1800 when we lost the independence to Sweden. Viking was a lost word for centuries before that.
***** lol heck yeah, love to live life man, maybe it was just that Spaniard because I've never met anyone with chronic depression here or Spain, we like to party, Fado is a traditional/cultural music it's up beat with lots of spinning and quick foot movement, it's fun.
I'm Irish and I have a House Mouse. LoL!!! What an awesome video. I am truly intrigued by/with the Vikings and their culture. I recall going to Epcot, in Florida, when I was 8. Epcot had an amazing replication of several different countries. I was immediately fascinated with Norway. There was an amazing replication of a viking ship. There was a beautiful dining hall as well as figures representing the Gods. Ever since that trip I have always loved the Vikings as well as their culture.
Like the horned helmets. I also belive not many helmets have even been found either. We got one in Norway made around the 900th that is pretty complete.
Like what? Oh, and evidence and scholarly references please. I'm a bit tired of undefended generalizations, ya know. What makes your opinion more true then someone else's?
Yes, the Vikings were primarily raiders rather than conquerors. I really meant that conquest isn't something to be admired - but, given your choice of user-name, I probably won't get preachy about it. :)
***** Of course. All people fight over territory at times. I try to distinguish between honest land-brawling and top-down Imperialism, if you see what I mean. For instance, Viking leaders realised that people would come along with them to claim plunder or land. The Romans' and Normans' leaders, on the other hand, didn't attack to take plunder or land - they wanted control. That's Empire. Today, we have no land and no control. That's Capitalism...
Erlend Stang If you read my second comment, I wasn't saying the Vikings didn't settle or 'conquer' large territories. I was saying that, in most cases, they don't seem to have set out to do so - although Greenland might be an exception. The Danes/Vikings who ended up ruling most of England for a time clearly came to plunder (especially to plunder monasteries) but liked what they saw and eventually settled.
Actually the people from the western side of the Baltic sea (modern day Sweden) that settled in in the area of Ladoga (east north east of modern day st Peters Burg) was called "Rus" meaning "Rowers". Some researchers believe that they come from the area just north east of Stockholm known as "Roslagen" meaning "the law/jurisdiction of the Rowers". All Scandinavian seafarers was then called "Rus" by the other tribes living on the eastern side of the Baltic sea and along the big rivers - even in Finnish where Sweden is known as "Ruotsi" and in Estonian the word is "Rootsi". And in 839 the Frankish emperor Ludvig had people over from Byzantium which among them there were people on their way home called Rhos. When he asked who they were they told him they were Sueones (aka Svear aka Swedes - or more correct one of the tribes making up the medieval realm of Sweden and modern day Swedes). When Rurik, who was identified as a Rus, took control over the trade route from Ladoga down to Kiev and all the way down to Byzantium creating the kingdom of the Kievan Rus (as in "the Rus based in Kiev"). This kingdom was also known as "the land/home of the Rus", or "Rus(s)ia" in latin. When Ivan the Terrible was crowned "Tsar of Moscow" in 1547 he claimed the title "Tsar and Grand Duke of all Rus" to emphasize the ancestry of the Rurik dynasty of the long gone kingdom of Kievan Rus. The Muscovy population was Eastern Orthodox and used the Greek transcription of Rus', being "Rossia". For a while the names "Tsardom of Moscow" and "Russia" lived side by side but the name "Russia" won in the end as it implied sovereignty over all Rus (a claim for example Poland refused to acknowledge). Hence the modern name "Russia". So the name "Rus" was established before "Russia" and was used for Scandinavians in general but a group of Swedes in particular. Some of those people then moved to creating a kingdom that later a decedent used to claim the right to rule over more territory, creating modern day Russia.
The swedish vikings settled there and were called "the russ" by the byzantines which later got the land the lived on to be called "Russia". Of course there lived other people there too by the time the vikings settled there.
I am Icelandic and our biggest DNA Research company has found that Icelandic women are more than 51% Irish/British so it is now thought that the Vikings took their women from the British Isles before coming to Iceland.
Look how beautiful you are because of that, and look at the English.. You can say thank you for this to my ancestors, they're yours too :) But the first women they traveled with them. But most of the vikings was men, so they took more women. And!! Many of them was not forced, the vikings was clean and good looking men who comed their hair. So many English women liked a viking, they didn't need to "steal" them always.
Yes i think you are correct, i don't think they had to steal all of them. There was mixing between the Irish and the Vikings even before thy discovered Iceland so some of the Vikings who came to Iceland may have been half Irish.
At that time they didn't trade with 'heathens', and the heathens were the one of the last hold-outs of conversion. So sure they traded, just not with Vikings/Heathens, and not at that time. Because of that, some raided and some converted or paid lip-service to them: www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/religion_01.shtml
Proclivities Man I'm at that point where I have no idea whether anything in the past is either fact or fiction... You know the saying victors win the tale eh? Ah I don't know just confuses me.
Exactly, the winners tell the tale. That was my point, and that no religion is without its baddies (or extremists). Like Buddhism, great ideas, but there are even Buddhist extremists, believe it or not... Yeah, its all pretty confusing. Belief is a powerful thing.
No Danes are Scandinavian. In the video he explicitly says the Viking Age is defined by their raiding and seafaring history. Namely, it is a period of movement, trade and exploration (a profession) by a group of people. It says the Norse seafarers started the ball rolling and then the Danes joined in on the act of travelling, raiding, etc. That is what a Viking was, not an ethnic thing, though most (all?) Vikings were Scandinavian.
+jonybang they did drink beer made with cereals infected by Claviceps purpurea, a mushroom that produces a hacllucinogenic substance called ergotamine, before going to battle. Evidence has found supporting this. References: hpy.sagepub.com/content/24/1/15.full.pdf www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/lessons/fungi/ascomycetes/Pages/Ergot.aspx
bochafish Yea I've heard that theory quite a bit. I've also heard it's sort of like a meditational trans there's even a Wiki How on it. It's such an interesting subjecy
Saskia Freyasdottir Oh wow that's pretty cool what is your family's roots? And I have nothing to back this up but I'm wondering if it has anything to do with genetics maybe even a gift coming from the Neanderthals check out the Lion Man.. I'm pretty confident that the Lion Man is a early idolize form of a berserker. By the way I am a quarter German and I don't see having Neanderthal genes as a bad thing
There are plenty of big and strong men in Scandinavia compared to other regions. One option is also that they got a little drunk before fights. Also their religion granted them a place in Valhalla if they died in battle. I guess some of them even wanted to die so they went into rage mode.
Clearly not. Look what's happening to Norwegians (and Swedish people) in regards to immigrants. Why aren't they hacking them up instead of letting them do whatever?
I'm a direct decender of norsemen and native Sami norwegians according to professional DNA testing for exploring ethnic origins. 75% scandinavian, 19% Sami, 6% not relevant to this comment. And just to point it out, a gene pool this small might suggest some inbreeding over the years, but my family tree has only bright and healthy individuals. My adrenaline and testosterone levels are within the normal values every time it's tested (Once a, year, in context with me participating in several long term research programs). Neither I, nor anyone in my family, can relate to the berserker blood theory. It would have been only a limited amount of persons who had this, and most of them might have died in battle? It seems likely that most norsemen who travelled did so to trade or relocate. Poverty and possibly famine would push people to migrate, which explain settlements in britain. If those windy patches of yellow grass was better than Norway, it must have been unbearable to live here. The shrooms most myths refers to taste like death and gave me a calm and mellow meditation, btw. I can't imagine how one would kill others in battle in that state of mind. I've suggested to friends that this is a tale one would tell kids to scare them from eating it? Not a solid theory, but it feels so unlikely that berserking was a result from mushroom trips. Thank you for reading my thoughts on this :) Greetings from the oldest existing town in Norway.
chris oconnell I once, a couple decades ago, did a small amount of 'shroom. The "trip" was interesting - I was sitting at a table with my roommates, who were all talking about their own experiences while we waited for it to kick in. I had this kind of cerebral experience of mentally filing away their stories into mental filing cabinets. It was rather fun in a way; I was tripping on other people's recollections of their own trips. But what irritated me, and made me never touch the stuff again, was the "hangover" the next morning. I spent like 12 hours with one foot in reality and the other foot out, and it was very uncomfortable. Not at all worth the hour or two of the "high". That hangover was a bitch.
On 8:30 one text appears about Vikings, but it is illustrated with a picture of a painting. It was painted by the great Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy, and depicts not Vikings but cheaftain Árpád with his Magyars conquering the Carpatian basin, establishing Hungary (Magyarország). The title is "Honfoglalás", which approximately means "Conquest of the (new) Homeland".
Trade is just another form of raiding. They also (kind of) founded Russia. Or at least took control over the area. "Rus" may be a term for people from Scandinavia, from the other side of the sea, or "those who row".
Blue138UEF there's many theories on the name dude. 1 of which and that is the most prevelant is that Rus is from what was Finnish to mean the men that row or those that row which could be a clear reference to the Vikings. they did certainly found Kiev and expanded their territories east from there.
madscientistshusta hmm through that part might be the Tatars. Eskimos are of relation to the other nomadic Travers of the continent such as the Mongolians or the Sami of Scandinavia. If you look at Putin for a reference, the dude is clearly more Norse blooded than he is Slav or anything else.
Fun fact: Rus (not modern Russia, I mean the very old, small Russia) was a descendant of Vikings, with the lineage of Ruriks beginning from 862 to the XVI century, making Russia the descendants of Vikings as well as the 3rd Rome(a whole other story). So technically Russia is/was the Viking version of the Roman Empire.
Simon, just a couple of issues with this presentation: Vikings traded with Denmark. More correctly the Norse traded with the Danes as both cultures were considered Vikings. Women Vikings are more correctly Scandinavian women. As you stated in the video description Viking was an occupation, the Viking women were referred to as " Shield Maidens" maiden being the key word. The Scandinavian women who helped to settle were not warriors, but Farmwives . Referring to the people who went through Russia as Vikings is incorrect as they were Swedes and while their culture was similar they were not considered Vikings , but Rus , thus Russia got it's name. Berserkers and mushrooms, from personal experience with mushrooms, I highly doubt this theory. Mushroom use imparts a peaceful almost spiritual feeling, something that would not be of much assistance in battle. I find it entirely more plausible that alcohol was the drug of choice for warriors as we have all seen aggressive, combative drunks. English football holigans come to mind as a prime example.Tooth filing not likely Native North American influence, as you stated the evidence for tooth filing was found in Sweden. The Rus went east into Russia and then south to the Middle East , I know of no evidence that they came west to North America. That was the Norse and the Danes. Compass / Sunstone use at night. As there is no sunlight at night to cause polarizing effects in the Sunstones at night, mightn't it be that at night they sailed by the stars? As I stated before the Scandinavians who made it to the Middle East were Swedes and more properly called Rus. Dublin was settled by Vikings, yes but let's not forget York or any British settlement that ends in "by" (Whitby , Sommersby et al ) the suffix "by" is a Scandinavian term that means "farm". That about covers my issues, however,an interesting fact about the Rus in the Middle East that you missed is that to this day Runic graffiti can be found in the Habit Sofia in Istanbul. The Rus hired themselves out as mercenaries to the Byzantines and formed the Varangian Guard, which was the personal bodyguard troop to the Holy Roman Emperors. Cheers!
I see I might have done a better job of proofreading that post!.Oops! Oh well, it's too long and I'm too lazy to delete and go back and retype it for a few minor mistakes. Obviously holigans should be houligans and I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of grammatical errors there as well. Sorry
Your right about the Beserkers it is not mushrooms, its what is known as raising the tiger in Kung-Fu and in Buddhist combat. Its also known as raising Cain in the Western Marshal Arts. I through the marshal arts learnt how to turn on this very dark energy, which is not only disturbing and very powerfully destructive but you do go into a hypnotic state. Please feel free to correct me but did not the Vikings calling this mindset the power of Thor's hammer? It is also known as the 'RED MIST' and is commonly mentioned where I have even heard the police use this phrase for violent cases. The Chinese call it Chi. The vikings were very intelligent individuals with a very strong sense of self and so its no surprise, that their warriors perfected this state of mind when going into battle. This knowledge was not lost on the Germans either and was used to good effect by Arminius in the Totenberg forests and also later by the Waffen SS, which is why they earned a reputation for courage and brutality. I am always appalled by the myths given as facts by our so called learned historians. Its probably because the truth is to difficult and sets to many awkward presidents over such things as cause and effect.
+T Green Yeah, I seem to recall reading something about a type of self hypnosis, I have also read claims of contemporary accounts that describe them biting their shields, and behaving animalistic and enraged which is a great shield wall tactic. I mean if the guy across from you is frothing at the mouth his eyes are wide and staring while he rants and raves it just might have an effect on your morale.
National Geographic has stated that Vikings did at one point come into contact with Native Americans and may have even had a few skirmishes as well...so yeah number 6 is correct
LittleImpaler Caucasians inhabiting America. before the Indians. not possible. If so, they where not white. your color of skin depends on environment your lineage evolved in. cold creates white. heat creates darker skin. mixed environments depending on ratio of hot and cold creates it own tone. that's why every culture has their own refined color. Caucasians came from the mountain regions.
+TopTenz You said that the people who raided lindisfarne were probably norwegian, which is more than likely untrue because the people from iceland, sweden and norway raided and inhabited northern ireland, wales and scotland whereas danish people raided britian. But above all else, you shouldn't even call them ''vikings''. They didn't call themselves ''vikings'' as the word was used as a verb, not a noun. You even mentioned the origins of the word yet you still refer to them as a noun.. The word ''víking'' itself simply meant ''expedition'' and to go on an expedition you would say ''fara í víking''. A person who participated in a víking would call him/herself a ''víkingr''. The plural form of víkingr is ''víkingar''.
You're thinking of the Solutrean theory which links Caucasians to the first inhabitants of North America. Really interesting theory so check it out if you're bored sometime.
And my people weren't stuck in the Stone Age we went anywhere we want in we took what we wanted we held castles for anyone that would hire us during the Crusades a single North Longboat held a castle against an entire Islamic Army while the Incas and Mayas got slaughtered because they refused to become anything more than Stone Age pieces of s***
tip pullthemnow Yep. Definitely. Complex ocean travel, thriving trade, clear dental modification, psychological alteration for benefit in battle, as well as somehow acquiring and successfully forging a super steel of the time sure sounds like the work of dumb savages to me.
Here's a "viking fact" for you: The word viking (or vikingr) roughly means adventurer, which means that there are no "viking society" or "viking culture". The scandinavian people of that time were not "vikings", but only a select few that actually went on raids (also called vikingr) were then known as vikings. So were vikings just raiders? No, viking is a term to describe adventures and raiders alike. But viking and the scandinavian people at that time isn't the same thing.
I read in the book Every Day Life in the Viking Age that the word came from Vik meaning stream our outlet which is where the raiders would typically hide because their uniquely shallow boats would allow only them too.
The literal translation of the word 'Viking' may mean adventurer, but that in no way indicates the absence of culture. Uniquely shared innovation, shared common religious sentiments, subsistence practices, etc. indicate a cultural construction shared by a group of people through time and space....i.e. culture. Culture and cultural construction change through time and space with the introduction of new information and contact with other cultural groups. The work 'Viking' is a colloquialism used to describe a group of people with common behaviors and practices and beliefs.
Number 7 is very badly stated. There is no evidence that Vikings ate mushrooms to get high for battle, and while you say "there is a theory that.." most people take that as "they did" Also, "berserker" was much more likely to be the word used to describe a champion, who was rewarded with a bear hide cloak, because while people going "berserk" and charging into battle and killing several men before dying themselves was recorded, the term "berserker" was never used to describe those people, rather it was used very similarly to how "champion" is used in modern English.
that´s wrong actually, the Sagas multiple times describe those who rage into battle as Berserkers and particularly that berserker meant that in particular. You got the "Champion" from Lindybeige i´m assuming?
Wow i really enjoyed this video it really helped with my school homework and other test about Vikings I had to give this video a like because it was really helpful and bye!
Odin gained his strength while drinking mead as a child? Wait, What? In our folklore he sacrificed one of his eyes to gain knowledge. Had nothing to do with mead.
yeah there's lots of weird bits in this vid that make the whole thing kinda superficial and thrown together to fill time, without actual research... I'll hold my Valknut extra tight tonight.
The DANES, where the ones that invaded lindisfarne. WE were vikings too. We affected England more than any other scandinavian country. The swedes took russia and constantinopel i believe.
WE made them into vikings when we was training for real battle. We needed someone with no fighting skills to practise on before the real fighting started. But they learned quick and kicked our asses too, so we joined forces and ruled the north. :) Hehe Skål, mjød er godt!
So "The visuals" isn't an example? Besides, I don't owe you any explanation. I said my piece, it's up to you if you want to find out how Vikings really were. The information isn't obscure. Use sources directly on findings (wikipedia are fairly correct on this subject) rather than some second-hand account from a hack writer. Just search for "viking swords" (ulfberth) "viking society" etc. The Wiki page on Berserkers is dubious at best as it puts too much emphasis on the unlikely theory of "bear-serks" since bears always had a very different name; bjorn (björn, bjónn, bjóinn, bjørn). Bjorn/Björn/Bjørn were also used as birthnames and still are today. "Bare-serk" on the other hand is very likely because it's still pronounced "bar" (bær, ber) as in "Ber-serk". Travelling without heavy armor has many perks when going by sea, and also due to the way they utilized sneak attacks which lead to routing, as I already said. Just an example.
As far as you not owing me an explanation, I'm not at all concerned with how you spend your time on youtube. If you are going to leave "this is crap" comments on vids that claim to be educational with out even the slightest qualification of your comment, then expect to be challenged or don't leave the comment. That having been said, you can pat yourself on the back for actually contributing something that may have some relevance.
Corvo Attano valhalla is the pretty much viking heaven. valhalla is where vikings would end up if they died honorably in battle. there they would train during the day and at night odin would appear in the hall and hold a fest for the vikings.
Saskia Freyasdottir the Valkyries took half to Valhalla and half to Fólkvangr. one ruled by Odin the other by Freyja, both places the vikings prepared for Ragnarök. it is also believed that women, children, and any who did not die in battle(that where not sent to hel) would end up in Helgafjell. Helgafjell was said to be a peaceful afterlife.
When you die you go to hel, in hel you wait three days to be judged by the gods, the gods will judge you and decide where you will go and who's hall -if you are worthy enough- you'll go too, if you've been killed in battle or have lived an honer filled life you will be taken to valhalla, but in the end you can choose to stay in hel with you ancestors, at least this is what my grandad has taught me.
According to some Roman sources which I can't be arsed to search up the Germanic afterlife wasn't a "hell" and it is only after christianitys spread into central europe that Hel became "hell"
As an icelander i can confirm that the icelandic chieftains did not disappear due to a mini ice age, but rather that over time the more powerful families consolidated most of the territory for themselves, so their numbers decreased from 36 to 6, and then eventually after one of them pretended to swear fealty to Norway as part of a plot to kill the king, the country was plunged into a 40ish year civil war that ended with the last remaining chieftain swearing the country under Norway before dying without hairs.
DNA analysis and Icelandic history shows that a large proportion of the women that came to Iceland did not come from Scandinavia, but the British isles, especially from Ireland... so number 9 isent quite true. Well the teeth you showed in number 6 are far from scary. It is more likely they filed their teeth for aesthetic reasons, as the were quite the narcisist, and were known for their cleanliness and good hygiene. 3. that they got along well with the christians and wouldnt find a problem having them amongst their own is quite a long shot considering the written accounts from the period that says they treated christians badly. For instance, they would play a game where they would take munks, priest and other holies, tie them to a tree and shoot arrows at them. The point of the game, was to hit the man, but not to kill him, as they were eager to see if their God would truly save them.
I smell a Norwegian bias... Actually, Norway was populated by Teutonic tribes from the Jutland Penisula (Denmark). So to clarify the tribes went from "Denmark" to "Norway" in boats (under oar or sail power is debatable) so that would make the Viking Age not only earlier but mute all at the same time considering these peoples did not have a national identity at this point in history. So to say the "first" Vikings were Norwegians is a compleat misnomer.
fact 7 is a theory not a fact. il look for a source to where i read it, but the Berserker state was just psychological caused by physical wounds. It is believed that before a battle those who want to fight harder stabbed themselves. they knew they could possibly die from it so they gained insane adrenaline from it and wanted to make Odin proud before maybe dying thus they fought harder to prove themselves worthy of entering Vallhala
A more believable theory is that berserkers often suffered from PTSD, which they would trigger before battle, making them lose control over themselves and going into a murderous rampage. And the term berserker most likely comes from the fact that these warriors were wearing bear skins in order to separate themselves from the other viking warriors, like an elite-unit uniform..
It's also said that the whole notion of berserkers going on rampages is a total myth, only mentioned in the sagas as an act of dramatic fiction (as many other parts are). The berserkers themselves were really most likely just champions and duelists, retainers to the many lords of the Norse realm. Berserker is derived from "bear skin," and it would be common for hearthmen and household guards called "huskarls' to wear such skins over their armor.
I love mead! I lived not far from Lindisfarne which is some of the best I have ever had. Maine and started making a really good one and polish mead in the midwest is also very good.
At 08:45 there is a paining. The man on the horse is Árpád, leader of Hungarian people. (at the time of the occupation of nowadays Hungary) It has nothing to do with vikings or muslims....
Thanks Simon I love your videos; just you messed up on your pronunciation of viking, it to sound more like "Icky-Icky-Icky-Ptang-Zoop-Boing!" I hope this helps you in your future videos! :P (First Real comment)
I can't imagine that getting high off mushrooms would actually be beneficial to fighting. You've never tried hallucinogenics if you believe that it would help you fight. A buddy of mine who's deep into the lore suggested that the berserkers were essentially social outcasts; those who could not control their violent impulses. They were kept outside of the villages, but were brought along for raids, because they were ferocious, with little regard for their own life. Essentially disposable shock troops.
in scandinavia you are taught everything that gets you high is poisonous...idiots even end up in the E.R. thinking they´ll die of cubensis...amonita is somewhat unpredictable so you are best off alone in a forest somewhere taking those, will most certainly not kill you
As part of an international team of researchers, archaeologists at Aarhus University can reveal that a large part of Harold Bluetooth’s Viking army consisted of foreigners possibly from Poland.
Ever since living in Norway for 2 years, I have loved the Vikings so much. Did you know they had a queen that was from Mongolia or that they probably thought the Japanese how to make sushi?
Elena Anna We are now at 2017, and the first ships left the shores some 1300 years ago. I would dare to say that most of us here with European roots will have some relation to the Vikings.
Wow, that was really informative, thanks! I was trying to piece together their history with Ireland and viola! LOL. Love the bit about cats. And women shipmates. No mention of women warriors however... is the jury still out?
Actually, it's debated if the blood eagle method was even real. It's been mentioned several times that some of the tortures were likely made up by the church.
Jonathan the fact is Scandinavian men became sought after as husband's for Christian women because of their hygiene. In those days the Monks and Priests preached about " the stink of piety" this is because bathing was considered to be vain. Vanity being a sin in Christian theology, the Christians were forbidden from bathing. The Scandinavians being Pagan they were under no such restriction. Viking hygiene practices were continued into the twentieth century with the practice in North America of "Saturday Night bath night" in rural farming areas. No doubt you have seen this practice in some of the old cowboy movies.
+Aaron Flynn Dvereux Depending on the area of Britain the male population can be up to 60% Norse descent. Danish could not be tested as it is intermingled with Saxon from the continent. The BBC did a fantastic documentary on this subject called "Blood of the Vikings". Definitely worth watching if you can find it. I saw it when it was broadcast here in North American on the History Channel.
You ain't much of a "Scandinavian huntsman" if you don't know enough about the Scandinavian nature to know that there are several mushrooms growing out in the wild that can trigger hallucinations.
the mushroom he s talking about are called flugsvamp. i myself have eaten toppisar that gives you a similar effect to LSD. however i do not believe that they ate flugsvamp. because several people have tried it and all they get are shivers and cold sweat.
The painting you used at the muslim-viking connection is a painting of the Hungarians settling down and declaring their country. Just so you know, it's a romantic painting by Mihály Munkácsy dating 1893.
The Danes where vikings to, vikings where a term used to describe large or small groups og raiders from scandinavia, they were not a people, like ''yanks'' are not a people. Raiding have been a cultural trait in Norway, Denmark and Sweeden for a long time, we have found a large number of longships and viking relics in all of these countries, and we have alot of evidence to suggest that the Scandinavian countries had contact with each other long before the viking age. Please, dont insult my herritage.
There was nothing special about Japanese steel, it was rather mediocre. Also, there is evidence that the Vikings acquired ore from the Middle East or Far East through trade that they used to forge crucible steel swords, the quality of which was not exceeded until the Industrial Revolution.
True, glass work itself was not common within the viking culture. However as traders that favored glass beads and they are well known for wearing them, we find many glass beads cut in half or filed down and set in ring bezels. In fact it is not uncommon for the hole in the bead to be set in the upward position. I can show you may examples.
The picture in 8:44 is showing the Hungarian Conquist. The Árpád army defeated the Moravia, and conquered the accumulation of its open arms in the Nitra, and by autumn 900 the entire Carpathian Basin was subject to Hungarian authority. This picture is seeing inthe Hungarian Parliament.
Fact 10 is just stupid. Danes where Vikings and why Vikings where so good at sailing was becuse we raided Slavic lands since some say 400s-500s and most Viking tribes lived off fishing since so little of Norway could be farmed and Sweden was split betwin so many tribes Faming was really hard
Yet in Denmark that wasn't a problem and the Danes did majority of the raiding and conquest. The Danes did however have a population much greater than say Norway at the time.
About point 10-Trading: The Danes, Norwegians and the Swedes belongs to the same north germanic ethnic group, and all three of these people engaged in viking activity, so viking activities were not only a norwegian thing. Raindeers are not only found in Norway. They are abundant in Sweden and Finland as well. Last: Viking is not an ethnicity. "To go viking" Is more of an old expression for going on an expedition. The modern swedish word "Avvika" (To leave, to distance oneself) is a related word. The vikings called themselves "Northmen" or by their respective major tribes/folklands (Danes-Denmark, Geats-Sweden, Svear-Sweden, Nordmenn-Norway)
It's actually a modern myth that horn helmets are completely inaccurate. Yes the image of the horn helmet as we know it was designed for a Wagner opera, but the vikings, bronze and iron age people of Scandinavia actually used horned helmets for ritualic and religious purposes.
You're right, never for battle. It's just many people think it's a complete myth when it's not. Many figurines are found from that era with horned helmets.
Yes. And in reply (as a Danish-American with a child-fascination with Vikings, etc; and an Anthro background): Yes a later 19th C. Wagnerian Opera costume designer got the mistaken idea that Vikings wore horned helmets; (and popularized it). The horned helmets he saw in Danish museums were and are from the Bronze Age, long before Vikings. And they were worn only for leading ceremonies. So= wrong Age, wrong use. Plus, a side-horned helmet, practically speaking, would be awful in battle and poke shipmates on ship: One blow from a broadsword would slide down the horn and wham-cut into the wearer's head / and/or knock the horned helmet off. So... horned helmets looked cool in opera. But they're Bronze Age, not Viking Age and were Ceremonial.
I seriously doubt any scandinavian fighting man would've used A. Muscaria, since it would lessen his ability to fight. I trust this theory much more: Berserker was like an honorary title given to the best of the best warriors. Later their accomplishments were embellished as has been customary since the first tales of warriors up to modern movies. No mushrooms required.
you forgot that vikings didn't wear horns.
But they were horny?
still are...
Ive heard that Vikings from the area of Russia did, and that's how that notion spread..
They only used horns at ceremonies, and also only in ceremonies they consumed hallucinogenic mushrooms
I really doubt about it that they did..an enemy could easily grab those horns causing a disadvantage in man to man fight..I dont think they were that stupid
What often goes unsaid is how expansive the Scandinavian culture was to begin with before the famous raids and trade routes even began. Denmark, Northern Germany, and The Russian coast were all Part of the Scandinavian culture. They had the same gods, customs, trade routes and ambition to grow and expand their people as a whole.
Awesome fact: viking is not a people but a "profession"/activity. They were called Norsemen in general and had their own nationalities. This fact should totally have been there.
not just that but they are also cat lovers.
Plus in 1066 the English widowed the homelands of the Vikings, who under Harold Hadarah invade England at Stanford Bridge and it took all that time until the 1700's for the population of Scandinavia to recover the population ratios of individuals, to the level of population if we had not slaughter them to such an extent. They came over in six hundred ships and left in only twenty six, while the rivers were still running with the blood of their fallen. It is often said the Vicious Vikings or is it the Excessively Psychopathic English? You will have to make your own judgement on that one.
Yeah but the vikings where still out raiding and gathering horses etc. so they where hit before they where in a properly formed shield wall. and let's face it one beserker held the saxons up for hours so they could try to get formed not long enough however.
Actually Norsemen/Norse refers only to Norwegians. Swedish Vikings would have called themselves Geats/Götar if they lived in Götaland (modern day Sweden), Swedes/Svear if they lived in Svealand (Sweden), Danes/Daner if they lived in Skåneland (historically danish but Swedish since 1658) or Goths/Gutar if they lived on Gotland (part of Sweden today).
The Saxons called them Norsemen in general and as I previously stated they each had a nationality. I had no idea what the names were!Thanks for making this even more informative 😉
fact 11. calling the vikings, vikings is like calling us lawyers. it was a profession, not a group of people.
ben fleming: common parlance
We are Norsemen, a viking was a badit if you read the King Sagas.
But to go viking, is to travel and discover new land to settle.
It's almost like settlers in the wild west and a gunslinger would be a viking.
Viking can come from a word Vik(bay), those why traveled beyond the Vik, viking. Or a man who fight at the sea, like a pirate.
The Viking-era was named that because of the need for patriotism and a national feeling in Norway in the early 1800 when we lost the independence to Sweden. Viking was a lost word for centuries before that.
ofc you chop up a few on the way..
A víkingr was one who took part in a víking.
víking was used as a verb, not a noun and it means an expedition.
He was one the last vikings. He also go viking on the crusade.
No need to teach me history, learn Norwegian and come back then.
i am scandinavian so i just had to watch this
I'm from Dublin so I just had to watch this too 😂
I am from Serbia and I drink mead (and we called that drink exactly the same) so I just had to watch this.
I'm from Portugal so I had to watch this too, a round of drinks for my new friends!
Fishkiller20 you ruined the vibe
*****
lol heck yeah, love to live life man, maybe it was just that Spaniard because I've never met anyone with chronic depression here or Spain, we like to party, Fado is a traditional/cultural music it's up beat with lots of spinning and quick foot movement, it's fun.
I'm Irish and I have a House Mouse. LoL!!! What an awesome video. I am truly intrigued by/with the Vikings and their culture. I recall going to Epcot, in Florida, when I was 8. Epcot had an amazing replication of several different countries. I was immediately fascinated with Norway. There was an amazing replication of a viking ship. There was a beautiful dining hall as well as figures representing the Gods. Ever since that trip I have always loved the Vikings as well as their culture.
Erin Mclaughlin how exciting!
Fun fact: The Vikings named the native Americans "Skrælingar". this is because their language just sounded like "skrål" (gibberish)
Cool.
They're ones to talk.
Zz-M'dank Scoperz pffttt get outta here hahaha
Like barbarians were named such because their different language sounded like "baba" to the Romans.
For those really interested about norsemen, better read history books. Sadly the video contains several inacurracies, right from the start.
Like the horned helmets. I also belive not many helmets have even been found either. We got one in Norway made around the 900th that is pretty complete.
Like what? Oh, and evidence and scholarly references please. I'm a bit tired of undefended generalizations, ya know. What makes your opinion more true then someone else's?
Vikings are just cool.
Favourite conquerors? There's so much wrong with that concept, I don't know where to begin. ;)
Yes, the Vikings were primarily raiders rather than conquerors. I really meant that conquest isn't something to be admired - but, given your choice of user-name, I probably won't get preachy about it. :)
Wait, what about the Great Heathen Army that conqured most of england?
***** Of course. All people fight over territory at times. I try to distinguish between honest land-brawling and top-down Imperialism, if you see what I mean. For instance, Viking leaders realised that people would come along with them to claim plunder or land. The Romans' and Normans' leaders, on the other hand, didn't attack to take plunder or land - they wanted control. That's Empire. Today, we have no land and no control. That's Capitalism...
Erlend Stang If you read my second comment, I wasn't saying the Vikings didn't settle or 'conquer' large territories. I was saying that, in most cases, they don't seem to have set out to do so - although Greenland might be an exception. The Danes/Vikings who ended up ruling most of England for a time clearly came to plunder (especially to plunder monasteries) but liked what they saw and eventually settled.
The swedish vikings might also be the founders of Russia (they named it Russ hence the name russia)
Alexander Cederhammar That is actually true
It's supported by Rurik tsar dinasty.
Actually the people from the western side of the Baltic sea (modern day Sweden) that settled in in the area of Ladoga (east north east of modern day st Peters Burg) was called "Rus" meaning "Rowers". Some researchers believe that they come from the area just north east of Stockholm known as "Roslagen" meaning "the law/jurisdiction of the Rowers". All Scandinavian seafarers was then called "Rus" by the other tribes living on the eastern side of the Baltic sea and along the big rivers - even in Finnish where Sweden is known as "Ruotsi" and in Estonian the word is "Rootsi". And in 839 the Frankish emperor Ludvig had people over from Byzantium which among them there were people on their way home called Rhos. When he asked who they were they told him they were Sueones (aka Svear aka Swedes - or more correct one of the tribes making up the medieval realm of Sweden and modern day Swedes).
When Rurik, who was identified as a Rus, took control over the trade route from Ladoga down to Kiev and all the way down to Byzantium creating the kingdom of the Kievan Rus (as in "the Rus based in Kiev"). This kingdom was also known as "the land/home of the Rus", or "Rus(s)ia" in latin. When Ivan the Terrible was crowned "Tsar of Moscow" in 1547 he claimed the title "Tsar and Grand Duke of all Rus" to emphasize the ancestry of the Rurik dynasty of the long gone kingdom of Kievan Rus. The Muscovy population was Eastern Orthodox and used the Greek transcription of Rus', being "Rossia". For a while the names "Tsardom of Moscow" and "Russia" lived side by side but the name "Russia" won in the end as it implied sovereignty over all Rus (a claim for example Poland refused to acknowledge). Hence the modern name "Russia".
So the name "Rus" was established before "Russia" and was used for Scandinavians in general but a group of Swedes in particular. Some of those people then moved to creating a kingdom that later a decedent used to claim the right to rule over more territory, creating modern day Russia.
The rowers, the Russ, are called Russ because they came from Russland. Not because they founded the country
The swedish vikings settled there and were called "the russ" by the byzantines which later got the land the lived on to be called "Russia".
Of course there lived other people there too by the time the vikings settled there.
I am Icelandic and our biggest DNA Research company has found that Icelandic women are more than 51% Irish/British so it is now thought that the Vikings took their women from the British Isles before coming to Iceland.
Look how beautiful you are because of that, and look at the English..
You can say thank you for this to my ancestors, they're yours too :)
But the first women they traveled with them. But most of the vikings was men, so they took more women. And!! Many of them was not forced, the vikings was clean and good looking men who comed their hair. So many English women liked a viking, they didn't need to "steal" them always.
Yes i think you are correct, i don't think they had to steal all of them. There was mixing between the Irish and the Vikings even before thy discovered Iceland so some of the Vikings who came to Iceland may have been half Irish.
and sunstones have been found they were made of calcite
House Atreides
Yes?
Also, the Christians wouldn't trade with any non-Christians, so that's one of the reasons the Vikings raided them.
Christians traded with people all over the world...
At that time they didn't trade with 'heathens', and the heathens were the one of the last hold-outs of conversion. So sure they traded, just not with Vikings/Heathens, and not at that time. Because of that, some raided and some converted or paid lip-service to them: www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/religion_01.shtml
Proclivities Man I'm at that point where I have no idea whether anything in the past is either fact or fiction... You know the saying victors win the tale eh? Ah I don't know just confuses me.
Exactly, the winners tell the tale. That was my point, and that no religion is without its baddies (or extremists). Like Buddhism, great ideas, but there are even Buddhist extremists, believe it or not... Yeah, its all pretty confusing. Belief is a powerful thing.
Of course "Christians" traded with "non-Christians", I wonder where you get nonsense from.
You lost me the moment you used "often making contact with the Danes, the Vikings didn't raid them". Danes = Vikings.
No Danes are Scandinavian. In the video he explicitly says the Viking Age is defined by their raiding and seafaring history. Namely, it is a period of movement, trade and exploration (a profession) by a group of people. It says the Norse seafarers started the ball rolling and then the Danes joined in on the act of travelling, raiding, etc. That is what a Viking was, not an ethnic thing, though most (all?) Vikings were Scandinavian.
+jonybang they did drink beer made with cereals infected by Claviceps purpurea, a mushroom that produces a hacllucinogenic substance called ergotamine, before going to battle. Evidence has found supporting this.
References:
hpy.sagepub.com/content/24/1/15.full.pdf
www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/lessons/fungi/ascomycetes/Pages/Ergot.aspx
bear-shits?
if you look at the map in nr.5 i would conclude that he thinks that fennoscandia is scandinavia
jonybang too bad, it was very amusing..
From what I've seen the mushroom theory is usually commonly dismissed
Yeah, I hear pstd a lot.
bochafish Yea I've heard that theory quite a bit. I've also heard it's sort of like a meditational trans there's even a Wiki How on it. It's such an interesting subjecy
Saskia Freyasdottir Oh wow that's pretty cool what is your family's roots? And I have nothing to back this up but I'm wondering if it has anything to do with genetics maybe even a gift coming from the Neanderthals check out the Lion Man.. I'm pretty confident that the Lion Man is a early idolize form of a berserker. By the way I am a quarter German and I don't see having Neanderthal genes as a bad thing
Saskia Freyasdottir But what you said also makes a ton of sense
There are plenty of big and strong men in Scandinavia compared to other regions. One option is also that they got a little drunk before fights. Also their religion granted them a place in Valhalla if they died in battle. I guess some of them even wanted to die so they went into rage mode.
they didn't need mushrooms to go berserk... it's in the blood..
Clearly not. Look what's happening to Norwegians (and Swedish people) in regards to immigrants.
Why aren't they hacking them up instead of letting them do whatever?
maybe... but the thing is.. i don't care about that stuff.. :D
Of course. Anyone who has seen one of Robbaz' videos knows this. :-)
I'm a direct decender of norsemen and native Sami norwegians according to professional DNA testing for exploring ethnic origins. 75% scandinavian, 19% Sami, 6% not relevant to this comment. And just to point it out, a gene pool this small might suggest some inbreeding over the years, but my family tree has only bright and healthy individuals.
My adrenaline and testosterone levels are within the normal values every time it's tested (Once a, year, in context with me participating in several long term research programs).
Neither I, nor anyone in my family, can relate to the berserker blood theory. It would have been only a limited amount of persons who had this, and most of them might have died in battle? It seems likely that most norsemen who travelled did so to trade or relocate. Poverty and possibly famine would push people to migrate, which explain settlements in britain. If those windy patches of yellow grass was better than Norway, it must have been unbearable to live here.
The shrooms most myths refers to taste like death and gave me a calm and mellow meditation, btw. I can't imagine how one would kill others in battle in that state of mind. I've suggested to friends that this is a tale one would tell kids to scare them from eating it? Not a solid theory, but it feels so unlikely that berserking was a result from mushroom trips.
Thank you for reading my thoughts on this :) Greetings from the oldest existing town in Norway.
chris oconnell
I once, a couple decades ago, did a small amount of 'shroom. The "trip" was interesting - I was sitting at a table with my roommates, who were all talking about their own experiences while we waited for it to kick in. I had this kind of cerebral experience of mentally filing away their stories into mental filing cabinets. It was rather fun in a way; I was tripping on other people's recollections of their own trips. But what irritated me, and made me never touch the stuff again, was the "hangover" the next morning. I spent like 12 hours with one foot in reality and the other foot out, and it was very uncomfortable. Not at all worth the hour or two of the "high". That hangover was a bitch.
Mead is awesome! And goes great as a dessert wine or by itself in large, stoneware tankard. Skal!
And, homebrewed mead will give you the absolute worst hangover ever, guaranteed!
What exactly is Mead??? sorry I'm from Chicago...
+amistry605 Mead is an alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey.
Et, drekk ok ver glaðr. Skál!
its basically honey wine .
On 8:30 one text appears about Vikings, but it is illustrated with a picture of a painting. It was painted by the great Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy, and depicts not Vikings but cheaftain Árpád with his Magyars conquering the Carpatian basin, establishing Hungary (Magyarország). The title is "Honfoglalás", which approximately means "Conquest of the (new) Homeland".
Trade is just another form of raiding.
They also (kind of) founded Russia. Or at least took control over the area. "Rus" may be a term for people from Scandinavia, from the other side of the sea, or "those who row".
Blue138UEF there's many theories on the name dude. 1 of which and that is the most prevelant is that Rus is from what was Finnish to mean the men that row or those that row which could be a clear reference to the Vikings. they did certainly found Kiev and expanded their territories east from there.
duh, native Russian look like Eskimos, u can see them anytime they all lice in Siberia now. why do u think Russian chick's are areian
duh, native Russian look like Eskimos, u can see them anytime they all lice in Siberia now. why do u think Russian chick's are areian
madscientistshusta hmm through that part might be the Tatars. Eskimos are of relation to the other nomadic Travers of the continent such as the Mongolians or the Sami of Scandinavia.
If you look at Putin for a reference, the dude is clearly more Norse blooded than he is Slav or anything else.
If I look at Putin for a reference I start to think of that creature in J.K Rowlins stories, whats th name of that one ?
Sounds like Denmark.. Quitting when there is no more Beer left.
Ale, not beer
good to be from Norway
Are you Nordic or Somali
oslo 2000 that name
Atiruc nordic
ola ystebakk i nowe
oslo 2000 sant det da🤘🏼
Fun fact: Rus (not modern Russia, I mean the very old, small Russia) was a descendant of Vikings, with the lineage of Ruriks beginning from 862 to the XVI century, making Russia the descendants of Vikings as well as the 3rd Rome(a whole other story). So technically Russia is/was the Viking version of the Roman Empire.
russia is third rome that will never fall
Simon, just a couple of issues with this presentation: Vikings traded with Denmark. More correctly the Norse traded with the Danes as both cultures were considered Vikings. Women Vikings are more correctly Scandinavian women. As you stated in the video description Viking was an occupation, the Viking women were referred to as " Shield Maidens" maiden being the key word. The Scandinavian women who helped to settle were not warriors, but Farmwives . Referring to the people who went through Russia as Vikings is incorrect as they were Swedes and while their culture was similar they were not considered Vikings , but Rus , thus Russia got it's name. Berserkers and mushrooms, from personal experience with mushrooms, I highly doubt this theory. Mushroom use imparts a peaceful almost spiritual feeling, something that would not be of much assistance in battle. I find it entirely more plausible that alcohol was the drug of choice for warriors as we have all seen aggressive, combative drunks. English football holigans come to mind as a prime example.Tooth filing not likely Native North American influence, as you stated the evidence for tooth filing was found in Sweden. The Rus went east into Russia and then south to the Middle East , I know of no evidence that they came west to North America. That was the Norse and the Danes. Compass / Sunstone use at night. As there is no sunlight at night to cause polarizing effects in the Sunstones at night, mightn't it be that at night they sailed by the stars? As I stated before the Scandinavians who made it to the Middle East were Swedes and more properly called Rus. Dublin was settled by Vikings, yes but let's not forget York or any British settlement that ends in "by" (Whitby , Sommersby et al ) the suffix "by" is a Scandinavian term that means "farm". That about covers my issues, however,an interesting fact about the Rus in the Middle East that you missed is that to this day Runic graffiti can be found in the Habit Sofia in Istanbul. The Rus hired themselves out as mercenaries to the Byzantines and formed the Varangian Guard, which was the personal bodyguard troop to the Holy Roman Emperors. Cheers!
I see I might have done a better job of proofreading that post!.Oops! Oh well, it's too long and I'm too lazy to delete and go back and retype it for a few minor mistakes. Obviously holigans should be houligans and I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of grammatical errors there as well. Sorry
Your right about the Beserkers it is not mushrooms, its what is known as raising the tiger in Kung-Fu and in Buddhist combat. Its also known as raising Cain in the Western Marshal Arts. I through the marshal arts learnt how to turn on this very dark energy, which is not only disturbing and very powerfully destructive but you do go into a hypnotic state. Please feel free to correct me but did not the Vikings calling this mindset the power of Thor's hammer?
It is also known as the 'RED MIST' and is commonly mentioned where I have even heard the police use this phrase for violent cases. The Chinese call it Chi. The vikings were very intelligent individuals with a very strong sense of self and so its no surprise, that their warriors perfected this state of mind when going into battle.
This knowledge was not lost on the Germans either and was used to good effect by Arminius in the Totenberg forests and also later by the Waffen SS, which is why they earned a reputation for courage and brutality. I am always appalled by the myths given as facts by our so called learned historians. Its probably because the truth is to difficult and sets to many awkward presidents over such things as cause and effect.
+T Green Yeah, I seem to recall reading something about a type of self hypnosis, I have also read claims of contemporary accounts that describe them biting their shields, and behaving animalistic and enraged which is a great shield wall tactic. I mean if the guy across from you is frothing at the mouth his eyes are wide and staring while he rants and raves it just might have an effect on your morale.
FUCKING AUTOCORRECT!!!!! Habit Sofia? WTF?? Hagia Sofia.
You my good sir, did my work for me. Thank you
National Geographic has stated that Vikings did at one point come into contact with Native Americans and may have even had a few skirmishes as well...so yeah number 6 is correct
I remember reading about findings of Viking artifacts in Michigan.
Garrett Keenan How could they not. I read somewhere before Native Americans got there from Asia, there were already Caucasians inhabitanting the land.
LittleImpaler Caucasians inhabiting America. before the Indians. not possible. If so, they where not white. your color of skin depends on environment your lineage evolved in. cold creates white. heat creates darker skin. mixed environments depending on ratio of hot and cold creates it own tone. that's why every culture has their own refined color. Caucasians came from the mountain regions.
+TopTenz
You said that the people who raided lindisfarne were probably norwegian, which is more than likely untrue because the people from iceland, sweden and norway raided and inhabited northern ireland, wales and scotland whereas danish people raided britian.
But above all else, you shouldn't even call them ''vikings''. They didn't call themselves ''vikings'' as the word was used as a verb, not a noun. You even mentioned the origins of the word yet you still refer to them as a noun..
The word ''víking'' itself simply meant ''expedition'' and to go on an expedition you would say ''fara í víking''.
A person who participated in a víking would call him/herself a ''víkingr''. The plural form of víkingr is ''víkingar''.
You're thinking of the Solutrean theory which links Caucasians to the first inhabitants of North America. Really interesting theory so check it out if you're bored sometime.
I'm a Norwegian so I has viking blod, do I eat mushrooms? Yes.
Much love to all the Nordic countries ❤️
Since they had no written language most of this is moot, and most assuredly in error.
Elder Futhark was created in the 2nd century so.... your wrong they has written texts
Great yet isolated while my people trAveled the world
And my people weren't stuck in the Stone Age we went anywhere we want in we took what we wanted we held castles for anyone that would hire us during the Crusades a single North Longboat held a castle against an entire Islamic Army while the Incas and Mayas got slaughtered because they refused to become anything more than Stone Age pieces of s***
Ever heard of runes?
tip pullthemnow Yep. Definitely. Complex ocean travel, thriving trade, clear dental modification, psychological alteration for benefit in battle, as well as somehow acquiring and successfully forging a super steel of the time sure sounds like the work of dumb savages to me.
Here's a "viking fact" for you:
The word viking (or vikingr) roughly means adventurer, which means that there are no "viking society" or "viking culture". The scandinavian people of that time were not "vikings", but only a select few that actually went on raids (also called vikingr) were then known as vikings.
So were vikings just raiders? No, viking is a term to describe adventures and raiders alike.
But viking and the scandinavian people at that time isn't the same thing.
***** You have a good teacher then :)
I read in the book Every Day Life in the Viking Age that the word came from Vik meaning stream our outlet which is where the raiders would typically hide because their uniquely shallow boats would allow only them too.
In Sweden my last name is spelled Viklund. I have Viking DNA.
The literal translation of the word 'Viking' may mean adventurer, but that in no way indicates the absence of culture. Uniquely shared innovation, shared common religious sentiments, subsistence practices, etc. indicate a cultural construction shared by a group of people through time and space....i.e. culture. Culture and cultural construction change through time and space with the introduction of new information and contact with other cultural groups. The work 'Viking' is a colloquialism used to describe a group of people with common behaviors and practices and beliefs.
A lot of Scandinavian and Norwegians live here in Minnesota i have always been fascinated by this stuff.
Number 7 is very badly stated. There is no evidence that Vikings ate mushrooms to get high for battle, and while you say "there is a theory that.." most people take that as "they did" Also, "berserker" was much more likely to be the word used to describe a champion, who was rewarded with a bear hide cloak, because while people going "berserk" and charging into battle and killing several men before dying themselves was recorded, the term "berserker" was never used to describe those people, rather it was used very similarly to how "champion" is used in modern English.
Thank you.
that´s wrong actually, the Sagas multiple times describe those who rage into battle as Berserkers and particularly that berserker meant that in particular. You got the "Champion" from Lindybeige i´m assuming?
liskran Um..no, though I like some of his stuff. I urge you to show me one time in the Sagas where they use the word berserker as you described.
frogbear02 Egils Saga and Ynglinga Saga
I meant the sentence its self, not just the Saga.
Wow i really enjoyed this video it really helped with my school homework and other test about Vikings I had to give this video a like because it was really helpful and bye!
I know the guy that painted the very first image you showed!
(0:13)
What's his name? Credit artists!
whowantsabighug his name is Anders Kvaale Rue. he is Norwegian.
Is he slowly adding 10% gesturing to each video until we notice
What do I win for noticing? I want a forced awkward date with Simon
***** I couldn't possibly! I'm far too shy, can you just ask him to meet me behind the bike sheds after school?
Odin gained his strength while drinking mead as a child? Wait, What? In our folklore he sacrificed one of his eyes to gain knowledge. Had nothing to do with mead.
yeah there's lots of weird bits in this vid that make the whole thing kinda superficial and thrown together to fill time, without actual research... I'll hold my Valknut extra tight tonight.
The DANES, where the ones that invaded lindisfarne. WE were vikings too. We affected England more than any other scandinavian country. The swedes took russia and constantinopel i believe.
@Sigvald Nielsen Uh yeah.
You do realize that the vikings also came from Denmark right?
also Dyfllin i pronounced as Diplin
WE made them into vikings when we was training for real battle. We needed someone with no fighting skills to practise on before the real fighting started. But they learned quick and kicked our asses too, so we joined forces and ruled the north. :) Hehe
Skål, mjød er godt!
Zatras666 Well I'n not Danish... But Icelandic so Skál, mjöður er góður!
Óðinn I'm from Sunnmøre! The El-company here is named Tussakraft. Skål!
Zatras666 well i'm currently sitting in Oslo so Skál!
The vikings seem like A bunch of beasts, highly intelligent with massive balls and boldness.
A lot of quasi science and quasi history in this channel...
Something specific that is incorrect in this vid or do you just like farting out "blah blah blah" to see how many knuckle heads will agree?.
ZeroTheHero
Well at least you clarified your comment, though without a given example.
So "The visuals" isn't an example? Besides, I don't owe you any explanation. I said my piece, it's up to you if you want to find out how Vikings really were. The information isn't obscure. Use sources directly on findings (wikipedia are fairly correct on this subject) rather than some second-hand account from a hack writer. Just search for "viking swords" (ulfberth) "viking society" etc. The Wiki page on Berserkers is dubious at best as it puts too much emphasis on the unlikely theory of "bear-serks" since bears always had a very different name; bjorn (björn, bjónn, bjóinn, bjørn). Bjorn/Björn/Bjørn were also used as birthnames and still are today. "Bare-serk" on the other hand is very likely because it's still pronounced "bar" (bær, ber) as in "Ber-serk". Travelling without heavy armor has many perks when going by sea, and also due to the way they utilized sneak attacks which lead to routing, as I already said.
Just an example.
As far as you not owing me an explanation, I'm not at all concerned with how you spend your time on youtube. If you are going to leave "this is crap" comments on vids that claim to be educational with out even the slightest qualification of your comment, then expect to be challenged or don't leave the comment. That having been said, you can pat yourself on the back for actually contributing something that may have some relevance.
yay, my day is saved...
Loved the video. Keep up the good work, Simon.
... but what about paying the iron price and all them salt wives?
Please do more videos about Vikings, I love watching videos about them :)
valhalla wasn't viking heaven it's the hall of odin, one of many halls of the gods
Corvo Attano valhalla is the pretty much viking heaven. valhalla is where vikings would end up if they died honorably in battle. there they would train during the day and at night odin would appear in the hall and hold a fest for the vikings.
Saskia Freyasdottir the Valkyries took half to Valhalla and half to Fólkvangr. one ruled by Odin the other by Freyja, both places the vikings prepared for Ragnarök. it is also believed that women, children, and any who did not die in battle(that where not sent to hel) would end up in Helgafjell. Helgafjell was said to be a peaceful afterlife.
When you die you go to hel, in hel you wait three days to be judged by the gods, the gods will judge you and decide where you will go and who's hall -if you are worthy enough- you'll go too, if you've been killed in battle or have lived an honer filled life you will be taken to valhalla, but in the end you can choose to stay in hel with you ancestors, at least this is what my grandad has taught me.
If you die in battle, you go to Walhalla.
If you dies of old age or illness in your bed, you go to Hel
According to some Roman sources which I can't be arsed to search up the Germanic afterlife wasn't a "hell" and it is only after christianitys spread into central europe that Hel became "hell"
The amount of study you guys didn't put into this is incredible.
Well I think I can speak against the use of drugs on berserkergang. I, being of Viking decent, have gone berserk without any drugs involved
It's just a kind of severe anger problem that they happened to weaponize
years of shrooming made your berserks possible.
As an icelander i can confirm that the icelandic chieftains did not disappear due to a mini ice age, but rather that over time the more powerful families consolidated most of the territory for themselves, so their numbers decreased from 36 to 6, and then eventually after one of them pretended to swear fealty to Norway as part of a plot to kill the king, the country was plunged into a 40ish year civil war that ended with the last remaining chieftain swearing the country under Norway before dying without hairs.
passing this around. I know a few fans of vikings
I think this is a good video and I can understand not having more than ten facts, though I was hoping for something about Joms viking or viking kings.
DNA analysis and Icelandic history shows that a large proportion of the women that came to Iceland did not come from Scandinavia, but the British isles, especially from Ireland... so number 9 isent quite true.
Well the teeth you showed in number 6 are far from scary. It is more likely they filed their teeth for aesthetic reasons, as the were quite the narcisist, and were known for their cleanliness and good hygiene.
3. that they got along well with the christians and wouldnt find a problem having them amongst their own is quite a long shot considering the written accounts from the period that says they treated christians badly. For instance, they would play a game where they would take munks, priest and other holies, tie them to a tree and shoot arrows at them. The point of the game, was to hit the man, but not to kill him, as they were eager to see if their God would truly save them.
I smell a Norwegian bias... Actually, Norway was populated by Teutonic tribes from the Jutland Penisula (Denmark). So to clarify the tribes went from "Denmark" to "Norway" in boats (under oar or sail power is debatable) so that would make the Viking Age not only earlier but mute all at the same time considering these peoples did not have a national identity at this point in history. So to say the "first" Vikings were Norwegians is a compleat misnomer.
fact 7 is a theory not a fact. il look for a source to where i read it, but the Berserker state was just psychological caused by physical wounds. It is believed that before a battle those who want to fight harder stabbed themselves. they knew they could possibly die from it so they gained insane adrenaline from it and wanted to make Odin proud before maybe dying thus they fought harder to prove themselves worthy of entering Vallhala
You're aware the vikings were human beings, even the berserkers too right? thus they had a normal functional brain.
read the first text lines
Mark LSRP I did, and you completely lost me at the next ramble.
A more believable theory is that berserkers often suffered from PTSD, which they would trigger before battle, making them lose control over themselves and going into a murderous rampage.
And the term berserker most likely comes from the fact that these warriors were wearing bear skins in order to separate themselves from the other viking warriors, like an elite-unit uniform..
It's also said that the whole notion of berserkers going on rampages is a total myth, only mentioned in the sagas as an act of dramatic fiction (as many other parts are). The berserkers themselves were really most likely just champions and duelists, retainers to the many lords of the Norse realm. Berserker is derived from "bear skin," and it would be common for hearthmen and household guards called "huskarls' to wear such skins over their armor.
I love mead! I lived not far from Lindisfarne which is some of the best I have ever had. Maine and started making a really good one and polish mead in the midwest is also very good.
Just pointing out that the danes were vikings too
Some cultures would do body modifications to terrific their enemies. Like "look what I did to myself, imagine what I will do to you"
I like terrific enemies too
At 08:45 there is a paining. The man on the horse is Árpád, leader of Hungarian people. (at the time of the occupation of nowadays Hungary)
It has nothing to do with vikings or muslims....
TopTenz Should do video about the people who discovered the American conitent before Columbus. That would be awesome! :D
Honeybrew mead anyone?
World Eater me
Black-Briar.
Yasss! As long as it's not owned by Mave Black-Briar.
I'd be a lot warmer and a lot happier with a bellyfull of mead.
Love all the vikings clips. Such a good show
Thanks Simon I love your videos; just you messed up on your pronunciation of viking, it to sound more like "Icky-Icky-Icky-Ptang-Zoop-Boing!" I hope this helps you in your future videos! :P (First Real comment)
Yeah, I watched it, that's why I'm teasing you.
I can't imagine that getting high off mushrooms would actually be beneficial to fighting. You've never tried hallucinogenics if you believe that it would help you fight.
A buddy of mine who's deep into the lore suggested that the berserkers were essentially social outcasts; those who could not control their violent impulses. They were kept outside of the villages, but were brought along for raids, because they were ferocious, with little regard for their own life. Essentially disposable shock troops.
What was the mushroom? I wanna flip a car...
Amanita muscaria
in scandinavia you are taught everything that gets you high is poisonous...idiots even end up in the E.R. thinking they´ll die of cubensis...amonita is somewhat unpredictable so you are best off alone in a forest somewhere taking those, will most certainly not kill you
As part of an international team of researchers, archaeologists at Aarhus University can reveal that a large part of Harold Bluetooth’s Viking army consisted of foreigners possibly from Poland.
Poorly researched video. Why do I keep clicking on this 'Top 10' clickbait?
And I'm just sitting here munching pop-history without any thoughts of source criticism.
I will share this for sure! Very interesting!
who talks about the Vikings in a pink shirt?
Mike Jones a mans man that isn't a pussy and scared others will judge
SIMON DOES!!!!! SMDH
Ever since living in Norway for 2 years, I have loved the Vikings so much. Did you know they had a queen that was from Mongolia or that they probably thought the Japanese how to make sushi?
Any viking descendants here?
Elena Anna We are now at 2017, and the first ships left the shores some 1300 years ago. I would dare to say that most of us here with European roots will have some relation to the Vikings.
Wow, that was really informative, thanks! I was trying to piece together their history with Ireland and viola! LOL. Love the bit about cats. And women shipmates. No mention of women warriors however... is the jury still out?
i don't know why but i like more the Vikings than romans can't explain it😒
I Will Bury You 😬😬😬
The Romans are too similar with modern cultures (but with less technology), and we know a lot about them. Vikings are more mysterious.
What about the greeks
Watching from NEWFOUNDLAND
Vikings come from Denmark and expanded to the rest of the scandinavia so number 10 is a bit wrong but it's still a good video :)
Norway*
you forget that the Vikings came from Scandinavia ( Denmark Norway and Sweden) not solely from Norway.
vikings plus cats equals like button
Yes, vikings had cats, but they also had dogs and dogs were sometimes used on raids to attack people.
0:35 the Danes were also Vikings . . .
I watched vikings. then i come to this. U dont understand how hard i was smiling xD
I'm disappointed. Not once did you mention blood-eagling.
I mean, I wasn't really disappointed. I said that as a joke. But your reply made my day.
Actually, it's debated if the blood eagle method was even real. It's been mentioned several times that some of the tortures were likely made up by the church.
I love mead it tastes great :) knew the antibacterial properties but learned some new stuff about it too.
I guess the vikings never used to brush their teeth. (thumbnail)
I'm from Waterford Ireland so dose thatmean there is a chance that my ancestors are Vikings and great video
I'd say all people who are from the british isles have viking blood unless they moved to the islands in the 20th century and later.
Nobody really did back then
Jonathan the fact is Scandinavian men became sought after as husband's for Christian women because of their hygiene. In those days the Monks and Priests preached about " the stink of piety" this is because bathing was considered to be vain. Vanity being a sin in Christian theology, the Christians were forbidden from bathing. The Scandinavians being Pagan they were under no such restriction. Viking hygiene practices were continued into the twentieth century with the practice in North America of "Saturday Night bath night" in rural farming areas. No doubt you have seen this practice in some of the old cowboy movies.
+Aaron Flynn Dvereux Depending on the area of Britain the male population can be up to 60% Norse descent. Danish could not be tested as it is intermingled with Saxon from the continent. The BBC did a fantastic documentary on this subject called "Blood of the Vikings". Definitely worth watching if you can find it. I saw it when it was broadcast here in North American on the History Channel.
Im proud to be a Viking decendent from Norway
there are reindeer in Sweden too you know
btw vikings wouldt have been able to find any of these drug mushrooms since there are no mushrooms with such an affect in Scandinavia
Erik no its not
There is lots of them. they are called "toppisar"
You ain't much of a "Scandinavian huntsman" if you don't know enough about the Scandinavian nature to know that there are several mushrooms growing out in the wild that can trigger hallucinations.
the mushroom he s talking about are called flugsvamp. i myself have eaten toppisar that gives you a similar effect to LSD. however i do not believe that they ate flugsvamp. because several people have tried it and all they get are shivers and cold sweat.
8:31 its hungarian painting made by Mihaly Munkácsy and its called Honfoglalás... Wow that was unexpected place to find it... O.o
They were cool at a time when the world was young.
The painting you used at the muslim-viking connection is a painting of the Hungarians settling down and declaring their country. Just so you know, it's a romantic painting by Mihály Munkácsy dating 1893.
The Danes where vikings to, vikings where a term used to describe large or small groups og raiders from scandinavia, they were not a people, like ''yanks'' are not a people. Raiding have been a cultural trait in Norway, Denmark and Sweeden for a long time, we have found a large number of longships and viking relics in all of these countries, and we have alot of evidence to suggest that the Scandinavian countries had contact with each other long before the viking age. Please, dont insult my herritage.
Vikings are so underrated
pretty sure there are several swords taht are made of steel from the middle east as their steel were A LOT better than the viking's steel at that era.
There was nothing special about Japanese steel, it was rather mediocre. Also, there is evidence that the Vikings acquired ore from the Middle East or Far East through trade that they used to forge crucible steel swords, the quality of which was not exceeded until the Industrial Revolution.
True, glass work itself was not common within the viking culture. However as traders that favored glass beads and they are well known for wearing them, we find many glass beads cut in half or filed down and set in ring bezels. In fact it is not uncommon for the hole in the bead to be set in the upward position. I can show you may examples.
vikings making those churches pay taxes😂
The picture in 8:44 is showing the Hungarian Conquist.
The Árpád army defeated the Moravia, and conquered the accumulation of its open arms in the Nitra, and by autumn 900 the entire Carpathian Basin was subject to Hungarian authority. This picture is seeing inthe Hungarian Parliament.
Fact 10 is just stupid. Danes where Vikings and why Vikings where so good at sailing was becuse we raided Slavic lands since some say 400s-500s and most Viking tribes lived off fishing since so little of Norway could be farmed and Sweden was split betwin so many tribes Faming was really hard
Yet in Denmark that wasn't a problem and the Danes did majority of the raiding and conquest. The Danes did however have a population much greater than say Norway at the time.
Reed W Denmark is so flat they could support a greater population. Norway was mutch harsher
Also Denmark was much bigger back then.
salty? Danes are not real vikings
nomdreg Yes i am salty my Line go back to the Danes who settled in Germany/Poland around 900s
About point 10-Trading: The Danes, Norwegians and the Swedes belongs to the same north germanic ethnic group, and all three of these people engaged in viking activity, so viking activities were not only a norwegian thing. Raindeers are not only found in Norway. They are abundant in Sweden and Finland as well.
Last: Viking is not an ethnicity. "To go viking" Is more of an old expression for going on an expedition. The modern swedish word "Avvika" (To leave, to distance oneself) is a related word. The vikings called themselves "Northmen" or by their respective major tribes/folklands (Danes-Denmark, Geats-Sweden, Svear-Sweden, Nordmenn-Norway)
Stop it with the horned helmets! Stop it! Stap!!
It's actually a modern myth that horn helmets are completely inaccurate. Yes the image of the horn helmet as we know it was designed for a Wagner opera, but the vikings, bronze and iron age people of Scandinavia actually used horned helmets for ritualic and religious purposes.
yes but it was only for rituals never for battle. at least not until a while after the viking age
You're right, never for battle. It's just many people think it's a complete myth when it's not. Many figurines are found from that era with horned helmets.
Yes. And in reply (as a Danish-American with a child-fascination with Vikings, etc; and an Anthro background): Yes a later 19th C. Wagnerian Opera costume designer got the mistaken idea that Vikings wore horned helmets; (and popularized it). The horned helmets he saw in Danish museums were and are from the Bronze Age, long before Vikings. And they were worn only for leading ceremonies. So= wrong Age, wrong use. Plus, a side-horned helmet, practically speaking, would be awful in battle and poke shipmates on ship: One blow from a broadsword would slide down the horn and wham-cut into the wearer's head / and/or knock the horned helmet off. So... horned helmets looked cool in opera. But they're Bronze Age, not Viking Age and were Ceremonial.
I seriously doubt any scandinavian fighting man would've used A. Muscaria, since it would lessen his ability to fight. I trust this theory much more: Berserker was like an honorary title given to the best of the best warriors. Later their accomplishments were embellished as has been customary since the first tales of warriors up to modern movies. No mushrooms required.
Uhm... Danes are vikings too. >_>
he didn't say they weren't, he just said the first where from Norway...
I'm a native American I had to watch this I'm fastinated with the Vikings.
You speak too fast, which makes it difficult to watch at 2x speed (for non-native speakers, I mean)
But then it takes 11 minutes
ruanfernando well that's your problem not theirs
ruanfernando well then time to learn english
posaule wow. Thats just mean. I understand every word in this vid but it can be difficult if it's too fast. Learning another language is difficult
Proud viking descendant in the city of Jorvik, England!
ahhh the viking age, the one age where scandinavia controlled half the world
thanks for sharing
they filled their teeth "GLORIOUS"