Viking Age Expert Answers Viking Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED

[@Steveofthejungle8]

I’d love to see an expert about Native American history on this series!

[@kimfrankenwewe]

Oldamerican would be super cool aswell

[@TheeJcc]

Yes please!

[@adamb.8112]

That seems more complicated because each tribe has its own history.

[@TheeJcc]

@@adamb.8112 Well each Viking Group had its own history. The Vikings of modern day Finland and Eastern Russia don’t have the same history as those in modern day Iceland and North America.

[@adamb.8112]

@@TheeJcc That’s a good point. I guess it just depends on how much they want to summarize in the length of videos they post.

[@mrxxin]

wired please NEVER stop making these - specifically the ones about medieval civilizations and scientific experts. i'm OBSESSED and have learned so much

[@IrisGlowingBlue]

+ They are so NEAT

[@MsCarotty]

also please expand it to more than western Europe civilisations coz the world is HUGE

[@deeznutz8320]

Even though their 'historians' are complete frauds😂

[@deeznutz8320]

​@@MsCarottyYeah talk about the mud huts in Africa much more fascinating than the industrial revolution

[@MakerBoyOldBoy]

Vikings never existed. Norse people would go raiding or their original verb we now call "viking". The movie Northman authorities agree is the only film which correctly gets it right. All of the rest are entertaining fantasies in silly costumes.

[@titoyeeto3869]

"How violent were the vikings" "Yes"

[@ZT1ST]

"According to their enemies."

[@thomaswillard6267]

​@@ZT1ST"And their descendants"

[@_TheDudeAbides_]

"who defeated the vikings" "no"

[@Schmorgus]

@@_TheDudeAbides_ Well... 1066.

[@dwux1627]

​@@SchmorgusWell, he is kinda right because the Vikings defeated the Vikings...😅 The Christians defeated them with the help of other Vikings. That was their biggest flaw, the absence of unity, especially in Norway.

[@Typosflair]

I love how she was asked a Viking question on her UK citizenship test. Probably knowing infinitely more than the person evaluating it.

[@MrCameroncee]

​​@@KurtFrederiksen brit here; it's not that the citizenship tests are trying to further any sort of narrative. The issue is citizenship tests aren't updated very frequently and sometimes historical information can be slightly outdated (the irony). Viking history isn't a huge topic when concerning all of British history (like the citizenship test attempts to represent). Alfred the great is one of the most accomplished rulers in what is now called the UK and defeating the vikings was considered to be his greatest feat as king, it's not deeper than that. Hopefully when the test is updated it incorporates what we now know about Cnvt and the period in general.

[@Ylyrra]

@@MrCameroncee The citizenship tests aren't THAT old. Canute (as it was then) has been on school history curriculums and history books aimed at kids since at least the 70s and probably to the dawn of post-war secondary schooling. Citizenship tests in the UK were a recent invention and what went on them ABSOLUTELY was a huge pile of "patriotic" political grandstanding, as was everything about their introduction.

[@MrCameroncee]

@@Ylyrra relatively speaking they are not up to date. I appreciate there may be some crossover with history, school texts books and these tests but that doesn't mean that the people involved in the formation of the questions were/ are experts in the fields they choose to formulate questions for. I suppose you can make the argument that some effort may have gone into 'rewriting history' to make England/ Britain look better, I just personally don't attribute to malice what can be attributed to ignorance. Unless I saw evidence for it, I'd be open to changing my mind.

[@33d672]

@@MrCameroncee Scandinavian here. Ofcourse history has been rewritten to make England look better (with malicious intent)! The truth is, we were alot more mercifull and honourable than english, but english historian wrote history like we was savages

[@MrCameroncee]

@@33d672 do you have any evidence for this?

[@bodan1196]

The swedish word for saturday is _lördag_ , which basically means "the day you wash", or "washingday".

[@Gerdienator]

I can confirm that. In Danish its "Lørdag", and I indeed shower every Lørdag

[@Plague_Doc22]

@@Gerdienator This is why us Sweds are viewed as the best scandis lol jk

[@xaesteria]

Similar in Icelandic! Laugardagur means "pool(or body of water) day"

[@staviken2544]

@@Gerdienator same in norwegian

[@snorriarinbjarnar3738]

Same in icelandic "laugardagur"

[@bobmalibaliyahmarley1551]

There are some Viking runes carved in stone in the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, basicly saying: ''Halvdan was here.''

[@luciedupont6477]

There is also l'anse aux Meadow in Canada where there are ruins

[@legitbeans9078]

Why are these only 20 mins long. Make them an hour and we will watch them all

[@zyxw2000]

Complain to Wired Magazine. I wish they were longer too.

[@SammyRebbo]

Or even just multiple videos.

[@realitycheque69]

Agreed!

[@djionmustard5921]

@@legitbeans9078 look up Jackson Crawford he’s a former professor (Colorado Boulder, UCLA, UC Berkeley) of Old Norse language and culture and posts videos for free on KZbin and they are amazing

[@bonniepatterson9485]

Forever.

[@Uncle_T]

I do love how in the show Vikings Uppsala is on a mountain next to a Norwegian fjord when it's actually inland in eastern Sweden on pretty flat ground, not a single mountain or fjord to be found. That's basically the level of "realism" they went for.

[@gregscott7304]

Can confirm

[@thomaslinville1508]

I'd assumed they were in Sweden any time they were in Uppsala lol

[@Plague_Doc22]

Stuff like this ruins the show for me. Being a Swed I notice these things too easily.

[@MrsDarcie]

I live near Gamla Uppsala where this took place in the series. I laughed at where they placed the temple 😆 Sure there's a slight hill there but not near anything like the mountain shown in the show.

[@Efreeti]

Right next to? I assumed they had traveled for a couple of weeks to get there.

[@RooZvonBooZ]

Shout out to the guy who complained the Vikings were bathing and changing their underwear too often 😂

[@KayJay01]

The first incel? 😂

[@shanubag6785]

He was pissed bcoz the Vikings were getting more chicks than they could 😂

[@srensen3081]

@@KayJay01 might just be lol

[@KasumiRINA]

@@shanubag6785 he could take a shower, but nope, he decided to write comments about it instead! Gotta respect the dedication to the lifestyle at least.

[@Outside85]

I do wonder if this is the kind of source Monty Python looked at and decided the dark and middle ages of England involved everyone rolling around in mud and whatever else was left in it.

[@sommersnow79]

This woman is remarkable! I would absolutely have no problem applying the word "expert" to her. Far too many people think they are experts who simply and clearly are not. Kudos to her!

[@doglover31418]

I recommend her books - The River Kings & The Bone Chests

[@sommersnow79]

Thank you, I will look into them!

[@loksterization]

I agree, totally impressed with her knowledge and way of handling questions to the point and accurately. 10/10

[@1973sonvis]

People often talk about the Vikings' use of violence, but few talk about the fact that they had laws, rules and a legal system that regulated their domestic society.

[@Galdring]

that depends who you're talking to. I think most educated people know that modern western legal systems are based on danelaw

[@yksikaksikolmen]

And most was farmers

[@MrKorton]

In the Icelandic Sagas the only people who were "vikings" were those who raided so the vast majority of the population weren't "vikings".

[@huggze9415]

and most people didnt plunder cities but traded because that was easier

[@drilled4798]

Still more civilized than the average american

[@FATxAZZxGONExCRAZZZY]

I'm Danish and we are indeed proud of our heritage :) As mentioned the pride is based more on the accompishments of the explorers, traders and craftsmen than the violence. Though it would be dishonest to not mention the battle/raiding tactics of the vikings as well as the known places where bands of vikings were hired in as mercenaries. My favourite viking tidbit is the "Halfdan was here" inscription in the Hagia Sophia in modern day Istanbul, Turkey.

[@studentstudent5044]

The Swedish Vikings went to the middle east, not the danes or norwegians

[@Only_white_lives_matter]

You proud because your ancestors were patriarchal misogynistic rapists?😂

[@mustplay7212]

@@studentstudent5044 not entirely correct. norwegians did travel to what is now Turkiye and served as the varangian guard (i know i misspelled it)

[@leenpels7646]

​@@studentstudent5044 It wasn't that basic. Loads of Danes and Norwegians also went east, same as loads Swedes also went west.

[@Real-Grandpa]

@@leenpels7646 he's obviously heard some uneducated swedish friend of his make the statement or something

[@themarcusismael13]

LOL at the section about bathing. Even in the time of the Vikings, men were flabbergasted that women preferred men who took the time to be clean and presentable.

[@abstract5249]

Vikings bathed just once a week and still got the ladies. I shower twice a day and can't get a girl to just look at me😂

[@reffyfikserting]

​​@@abstract5249 but do you wash your hands after visiting the toilet? 😏

[@TomiTapio]

Medieval Christian belief "arghhhhh bathing gets you disease! Bathe once a year!"...

[@TomiTapio]

​@@abstract5249you need wealth, or battle prowess...

[@safs3098]

@@abstract5249 once a week was the norm around the world back then

[@tug_nuggets]

I love the more historical tech support episodes....Any chance of a Japanese historian episode???

[@Ennugia]

But maybe skipping that one awkward chapter.

[@asapthiccdadyletsgetit935]

@@Ennugianah I don’t think they would skip it, if there are questions asked in good faith and not by angry nationalists. Having said that, I also see that this series focuses more on old things when it comes to history, and Japan being Japan, I imagine many people will ask about samurai, ninjas, geishas and warlords.

[@gfhit7520]

@@asapthiccdadyletsgetit935 also Japanese history is so vast that it should probably be a more focused episode like Medieval Japan, or the Japan of the Shoguns etc.

[@dongquixote7138]

No, go away, weeb.

[@SheringtonMalta]

Metatron would be a good place (channel) to start.

[@Jmvars]

As a Sami, the way the Sami people were depicted in Vikings was horrific. For some reason, they spoke of a "Sami king" which never existed, the leader of each individual Sami group was the shaman. They couldn't even make that simple change.

[@johnevergreen8019]

I’ve been learning about the Sami recently and it seems they are treated very similarly to how European colonists and later American settlers treated the Native Americans

[@VonArmagedda]

@@johnevergreen8019 More or less, yes

[@nenasiek]

​@@johnevergreen8019yeah cause that used to be the norm, conquer or be conquered. U can read up on african or asian history before europeans took over and see the same things too.

[@paintedhorse6880]

​@nenasiek No it was quite different. Same with the native Americans. Yes they got conquered like countless others. But never before was an entire continent wide racial genocide ever attempted.

[@samolofsson2401]

​@@paintedhorse6880there is plenty of evidence of whole tribes of people being killed of or enslaved in history including in North America before European settlers made it there so it has been tried before Genghis khan for exemple killed off like 1/3 of the Eurasian population, the sad part for native Americans was that modern firearms was a thing so it became easier to kill alot of animals and people in a short time frame, but Im willing to bet had modern firearms existed 1000 years ago alot more genocides would have happend.

[@muskatDR]

"This has been viking support" sounds like an old phone support line "Viking support. If youve been raided press 1"

[@magnushjort3258]

i am born in denmark, and they showed denmark in the vikings show. that was the first time i saw a mountain in denmark.

[@hansemannluchter643]

You should visit Himmelbjerget, it's enormous!!

[@solbeltracando120]

I love this comment, it def deserves more visibility. The simplest yet funniest way to describe the TV Show’s accuracy😂😂😂❤

[@janaliljeteg9621]

I live in a viking village in Sweden, so if anyone wants to build on virgin ground they have to check so there isnt finds in the ground, we also have a church with rune markings and viking burial mounds.

[@semoremo9548]

The pregnancy question baffles me because, you could say the same thing about other cultures as well during the time period? Vikings are not exactly unique in that sense. People back then typically had a lot of kids, and STD's were common as well, but you can say that for anyone, not just Vikings.

[@janemary8339]

Indeed pregnancy was seen as a natural phenomenon, part of life sort of thing. (including STDs probably). The reaction would have been "that's life."

[@semoremo9548]

@@janemary8339 It's still the same in many parts of the world, and even in western cultures, it was still that way at the time of my grandparents' time

[@odysseus0990]

Some countries got lucky with a herb or figured out a mixture (slight poison) that worked as a abortifacient. Italy had a plant but they cultivated it into extinction. Supposedly the common heart shape is based on it.

[@aaronwilloughby6776]

No one ever talks about the Viking landing near Weymouth that predates Lindesfarne by a few years. As it wasn't typically a raid, it gets forgotten :(

[@Pepespizzeria1]

Lindisfarne was a big one, Vikings had been raiding the UK for years prior, the people who know what they're talking about don't forget

[@GustavSvard]

The very bestest viking landing of all time though, that was at Chryse Planitia.

[@kittehgo]

Lindisfarne had a better press coverage

[@stellapolaris5372]

No one talks about Viking raids in Finland.... You know, the small pach of land between Sweden and russia, inhabited by a bunch of weirdos. Even Vikings didn't want to deal with Finns, they just passed by straigh to russia

[@Outside85]

@@stellapolaris5372 Back when Russia was much better... since there were barely any Russians in it.

[@Belnick6666]

Yea, Björn did not die like in the netflix show, Björn founded the first royal line in Sweden, Munsöätten/House of Munsö and Harald "Finehair" Halfdansson did not die in a battle, he died of old age of 80!!!! EIGHTY !!! at that time??? He was ancient and he also had 20 children, potentially more which he did not know of, but he did not die in a battle without an offspring like in the netflix show lol

[@OEFvet0311]

Don't forget about the graffiti in the Hagia Sofia "Halfdan was here."

[@hyperluke1034]

Some of this started to sound familiar and then I realized I read her book! I highly recommend “River Kings” to anyone interested in the archaeology of the period and some of the key historical points. Read on the beach this summer and found it easy enough to parse.

[@ValentinKnudsen]

the reason why you find more skeletons in Norway that show signs of violence probably has something to do with the fact that there were fewer resources and much less arable land in Norway compared to Denmark, which inevitably will lead to more internecine fighting

[@Supadrumma441]

These lack of resources is half the reason Vikings went on raids in the first place and no one is just going to hand over their resources without a fight. It always amazes me how surprised people are with how violent humans can be. We have always been a violent species and we still are, we just delude ourselves into thinking otherwise.

[@ValentinKnudsen]

​@@Supadrumma441 how do you know it's half the reason? when the vikings left on journeys it was about much more than just looting and killing you know. yes, all societies were violent. but people have a tendency to be kind to their own because they depend on each other and those skeletons is most likely norwegians killing other norwegians but if resources are small that is when they start fighting among themselves.

[@Supadrumma441]

@@ValentinKnudsen Because I read. You should try it.

[@ValentinKnudsen]

@@Supadrumma441 haha right:)

[@gehrkegehrke2000]

Less resources? Norway has oil! What´s better than that?

[@dianed2759]

This is fascinating. Cat Jarman , thank you. I’ve learnt something new today 👋

[@tb18761]

Yeah. The Vikings tv shows are as historically accurate as braveheart.

[@VonArmagedda]

What, you mean that the scots didn't wear kilts 300 years earlier than they should, or wore blue facepaint like the picts during roman age? Next you'll probably tell me the princess Isabelle of France wasn't an adult, but a ten year old girl!

[@Pepespizzeria1]

You can always tell when a new video on braveheart comes out everyone becomes a Scottish historian 😂

[@33d672]

@@Pepespizzeria1 The same with any video on vikings, suddenly every brit and american on earth is an expert about us

[@Pepespizzeria1]

@@33d672 you're not a viking, a viking was a way of life that is extinct now, your ancestors may have been but most were, vikings were wayfarers which meant they travelled about, ironically enough if you're native Scandinavian now your ancestors probably weren't because they stayed put

[@33d672]

@@Pepespizzeria1 When I Said ”us” I meant Scandinavians not Vikings, as vikings simply was a verb, to go raiding, like a ’job’. Most brits/americans fail to recognize this, as only maybe 1% went viking. Most were farmers.

[@liketheroman]

Her podcast, The Rabbit Hole Detectives, is a joy. Informative, and so funny. Wonderful chemistry with Charles Spencer and Richard Coles.

[@sharonkaczorowski8690]

I discovered and fell in love with the sagas as an undergraduate many decades ago…still love them.

[@mace8873]

As for what the Vikings called themselves, I have no idea about the Norwegians and the Swedes, but the Danelaw was called just that by the 11th century, so I can only assume we Danes called ourselves Danes at that point, at least if we were dealing with non-Danes. As for wether or not Vikings called themselves Vikings, well, in Old Norse the word "víkingr" refers to a person, the word "víking" is an activity as mentioned, but in any case, there's a chambered cairn on Orkney, where many people have come by over the centuries, several have left their messages on the walls, one of these messages reads "A Viking wrote this" above the door, written in futhark runes. There's a documentary about it somewhere around here, but I can't remember the title. And as a Dane, I'm not proud of all the destruction and pain we caused, to be totally honest we must've been a bunch of real assholes if our victims are to be trusted, but I am quite proud of our technological advances, at that time nobody built ships like we did, and despite the fact we used the narrower ones to make hit and runs on unsupecting villages and towns far inland, the technology that enabled us to do just that, aswell as sail all the way to what is modern day Canada and the US, is astonishing, they _really_ knew what they were doing. Oh, and Viking artwork is _awesome._

[@DanishGuyy]

I agree. Harald Bluetooth wrote Denmark and Danes on the Jellinge runestones in 960 and foreign litterature also mentioned Danes. So the identity seems obvious in that matter :)

[@soffa93]

swedes were named (suiones) by tacitus in 98 AD, so yeah

[@ericjsmoczynski4374]

The Vikings were no more violent than any other civilization that had the means to conquer. Conquest was the way of the world. Feeling guilt about it is ridiculous.

[@somebodysomewhere358]

Interesting, Germans say Wikinger

[@fordhouse8b]

hey, at least you didn’t kill each other quite as much as the Norwegians did. I wonder if that’s anything to do with how Norway came to be ruled by Denmark? Maybe Danish rule brought some welcome stability, and law and order?

[@pynn1000]

This was excellent, thanks Wired and Cat Jarman.

[@prodigalsorcerer1415]

Danish here. Not much new info to me other than I must admit that the Norwegians were probably more hardcore than the rest of us. And now look at them... Jokes aside, this is a very good breakdown. Jarman clearly knows her stuff.

[@martavdz4972]

A nation´s general character can change completely. We Czechs were an expanding nation in the Middle Ages, now it´s unthinkable to us. Also recommend Ian Hislop´s documentary on the British "stiff upper lip". Turns out the Brits actually used to be a very emotional nation! That would explain the crazy history of Henry VIII and his court life. They became more reserved as a reaction to the French Revolution.

[@akvavit0]

Best and most accurate viking show is called hem till midgård.

[@katta1972gmailcom]

😂😂😂

[@Green__Ghost]

Balders balle!

[@mepmop-m610]

Lıll snorre

[@madselmvig1457]

Monty Pythons Eric the Red.

[@konstantinapapaioannou4306]

Thanks, I'll look it up.

[@trevormatthews7981]

In Ireland the second most common surname is Doyle. It is linked to the Vikings and “dark foreigner or dark and tall”

[@durthacht]

Dr Cat Jarman is brilliant, and History Hit is poorer without her.

[@deeps6979]

I think I'm gonna need a deep dive into these nicknames.

[@teamLewis44]

Haha in school when I was bullied apparently they were just giving me Viking names 😂

[@nathandrake5544]

I want to know the story behind Colbine Butterpenis

[@balsyprick6764]

@@teamLewis44 Yes, except back then you would be forever known as Eric Pisspants if you messed up even once lmao

[@MadsThorlund]

Just to clarify, all scandinavian countries kept the "son of" and iceland even kept the "daughter of" as surname to this day.

[@oyuyuy]

No, only Iceland uses patronymic surnames. Common surnames ending with -son/sen etc. sound patronymic but are not - and they exist everywhere.

[@Elfenohr]

Patronymics are only used in Iceland and are optional in the Faroe Islands. Denmark has reintroduced optional patronymics in 2006 but they are hardly ever used.

[@KayJay01]

There's a lot of misunderstandings regarding the difference between "patronymics" and "patronymic surnames" in this comment thread. Iceland uses patronymics, which is not the same as a patronymic surname. It's not the same as our understanding of surnames, but rather a title/description. Your name was "x", and you were son/daughter of y. Only the x part would be your name, the rest was just a description. Think of it the same way "King Charles III" has two descriptions, he's the third king with the name "Charles". But his name isn't "King" or "III", that's just to identify him. In a similar fashion, a patronymic wasn't your name, but an identifying mark. You were "Name", son/daughter of "Other name"; "Name Othernameson/dottir". This system is still in use in Iceland, in which the son of Jakob will be called Name Jakobson, but not Jakob's son's son. He will have a different patronym. Notice how patronyms are not hereditary? For example, "Stefan Jakobsson" might have a son and daughter, Robert and Julia. They won't be called Robert Jakobsson and Julia Jakobsson, but Robert Stefanson and Julia Stefansdottir, because they are "Robert, son of Stefan" and "Julia, daughter of Stefan", respectively. Patronymic surnames however, are hereditary. If you're a swede named Julia Jakobsson, it's likely your father or mother was also a Jakobsson. And Julia is neither a son nor is her father necessarily named Jakob. Somewhere down the line *someone* was Jakob's son, and thus had the patronym Jakobson, but eventually they started using their patronym as their surname and thus passing it hereditarely. Therefore their patronymic turned into a surname; which we call a patronymic surname.

[@oyuyuy]

@@KayJay01 You're the only one who's confused here. And you're wrong about 'patronymic surnames' too - they aren't inherently hereditary, they can also be strictly patronymic.

[@KayJay01]

@@KurtFrederiksen … that’s literally what I said.

[@It_Puts_The_Lotion_On_Its_Skin]

“The great world tree, Yggdrasil, trembles to its roots, the sons of Muspel gird the field…”

[@nickeandersson3435]

🤘

[@robpolaris7272]

The “Tree of Life” is one of those concepts like The Flood that seems to be in every culture around the world, even those that had no known contact.

[@It_Puts_The_Lotion_On_Its_Skin]

@@robpolaris7272 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇨🇦 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 🫡

[@Powersnufkin]

Yggdrasil is never mentioned as a tree of life in primary sources.

[@didrikmesicek4825]

Hearing this live is quite the experience

[@starscott22]

Stellar timing. I was just reading about Vikings yesterday & have been wanting to learn more 😊 Thank you wired!

[@yogalandawellnessyolandati7654]

The evidence of Vikings traveling through the Great Lakes and living in Minnesota blows my mind and it’s so exciting!

[@MarilynBurkman]

I am Swedish by blood and was always amused by so many Swedes in Minnesota in accordance with the joke : the Swedes had to look long and hard for a place where the weather was as shifty as in Sweded😂

[@torasaurusss]

I like that for some other experts they prepared props on the table but here there's only a skull replica

[@thedanishcatgirl3205]

Are we proud of the raids? No but the Viking age and the people who lived in it did so much more than just that. All cultures have violent ugly parts that their modern day people aren't proud of. It's not our fault that media much like many old sources would much rather focus on the fighting than the trading, the discoveries, the womens rights, or just the culture in general.

[@martavdz4972]

Actually, not all countries. Like Switzerland. Also, Finland, Slovakia and Slovenia. But this might have been simply because they didn´t have their own countries for most of history, so we don´t know what they would have done, had they had the opportunity to decide independently. Completely agree on the rest. I read "The Red Orm" and it was so much more than fighting. Travelling to Constaninople, the trade, the family, the diplomacy.

[@lisadistefano1367]

Love these videos. Where can I find out what the next videos will be about and ask questions?

[@Zerbey]

Fascinating insight into my own family's history, at some point a Norse viking decided he liked Northern England and settled there, then a few centuries later I came along. I wonder what his hopes and dreams were.

[@slowpacegames2452]

For you and your family to one day live and thrive where he settled his family, one would hope. 🙂

[@Zerbey]

@@slowpacegames2452 That's the hope of everyone I think.

[@ndexer]

Nordic* Norse is a langauge. (As she explained in the video)

[@martavdz4972]

Nice that you think about it this way. I´m a product of Turkish raids in Central Europe. Zero weddings or settlements here. "The Turkish war" carried about the same meaning as "the plague". Definitely no hopes or dreams in that part of my ancestry. (This is also the reason for the massive islamophobia in Central Europe btw. Not that I´m defending it, I´m actually interested in Turkish and Touareg culture. But for centuries and centuries, the only adequate reaction to "muslims approaching" needed to be "close the gates and hide the women and hope a couple of us survive to tell the tale". The church in my town is specifically built to double as a fortress against Turks. And unlike with Vikings, this lasted until a couple centuries ago, so the collective memory is still there.)

[@7cougar0]

I always wonder how they collect these questions. Is there a survey you can take or something?

[@alexanderkowal5710]

Twitter?

[@7cougar0]

@@alexanderkowal5710 Sure, twitter (or X). But the way questions are asked (like ending with wtf or lol) suggests more asking someone then searching in say google.

[@sfowler1017]

The WIRED staff searches Twitter

[@7cougar0]

@@alexanderkowal5710 Yes, Twitter (or X?). But the questions are not like in say google, I mean they are often ending in wtf or lol.

[@7cougar0]

@@alexanderkowal5710 Yes I know it says Twitter (or X?). But the questions or often ending in wtf or lol, suggesting it's not a search like in google but more a personal question.

[@donny5530]

How come all the viking nicknames sound just like reddit usernames?

[@tomeng9520]

Bcoz reddit copy viking nicknames.

[@peachyjoon6673]

i guess humans really are the same regardless of what time we live in

[@holdermeddk]

Besides being happy with your answers, it made me very happy to hear you say Knud and Canut

[@infin8mas]

So vikings were more like the Norseman TV series !

[@teamLewis44]

I love that series!

[@anttitheinternetguy3213]

Im an amateur historian, but to my sense norsemen tv wasnt so far off. People have always been people and humor, awkwardness and duality of humans were just as prevelant and it is today. And people were aware of it

[@MrVvulf]

Although the Norseman was a comedy series, in some ways it was more accurate than many other shows. Norseman incorporated the fact that slavery was a core component of Norse life at the time. Slaves were a vitally important part of the economy, and taking slaves was a major reason for raiding.

[@TomiTapio]

Bath every Saturday = LÖRdag. -- moon day, Tiw's day, Wodins day, Thors day Freyas day Friday, then bath day and sun day

[@_oaktree_]

These videos are the only good use of Twitter these days. Also, love that we're still calling it Twitter

[@KasumiRINA]

I am periodically checking volunteer accs for Ukraine there, tho basically everything moved to Telegram, OSINT (other use of Twitter) is impossible to follow now since there's rate limits and you can't view chronologically without logging in. So good luck checking on Oryx, I use our own sources like Deep State and both sides hardware losses calculating TG channel. STILL would be nice to read analysis on raw data. Like correctly deducted russia running out of (enough) APCs in warehouses leading them to use golf cards and bikes.

[@JohannesB-ij9eo]

A very good watch! Full of facts and without a ”modern” take of history. Well done!

[@almost_harmless]

In our defense, we didn't have TV's back then.

[@vsznry]

I wanted Bjorn's explorations of the Med to continue & see how that changes the Vikings. We kinda got it in Valhalla. The Last Kingdom is also a great show. The Grimfrost is a great Bespoke brand & community celebrating Viking-inspired products.

[@marquanjay8852]

Was there ever a man named Thorkell that went around uppercutting horses?

[@Frennarp]

Thorkell the tall (Þorkell inn hávi) was indeed a jomsviking. There is a runestone called Orkestastenen which tells of him. Now, there is nothing there about uppercutting horses like the Thorkell we know and love, but lets say that he did for the sake of everyone's happiness.

[@stayhungry1503]

On the question of human sacrifice could be added that at least one swedish king was supposedly sacrificed to the gods: The luck of the king is the luck of the land,[2] and Domalde's rule was marked by bad crops and starvation. The first autumn, the Swedes sacrificed oxen at the temple at Uppsala, but the next harvest was not better. The second autumn, they sacrificed men, but the following crops were even worse. The third year many Swedes arrived at Gamla Uppsala at the Thing of all Swedes and the chiefs decided they had to sacrifice the king. They sprinkled the statues of the gods with his blood (see Blót) and the good harvests returned.

[@tsunamininja]

Legends say there was some guy named Thorfinn that had no enemies.

[@greywolf7577]

He traveled all around the world and everywhere he went, people raised their glass and said "Aayy! Thorfinn!"

[@ricktownend9144]

Thank you, Cat - really fascinating. Several years ago I made a highly enjoyable visit to Norway, and discovered how many modern English words have Norse roots. I met many people who looked very like the stereotypical Viking, but they were all very mild-mannered - some even introspective - and most were interested in psychology; none behaved in any aggressive manner at all! So, what happened to the Viking spirit? Re the compass issue, I can imagine how they managed without one. Even getting to North America the open-sea journeys would be a series of 'hops' (Norway > Shetland > Faroes > Iceland > Greenland > Baffin Is. > Labrador) none more than a day's travel (Google suggests 19km/hr for average speed of a long-ship). And they probobly travelled mainly in the summer, so it would have been daylight all the way - a definite advantage for people who lived near the polar circle.

[@thursaiz]

Hilarious that the Sagas are "historical fiction" because they were written hundreds of years after the Vikings were around, yet The Bible is taken literally despite it being compiled hundreds or thousands of years after the supposed events and has been heavily edited and changed by various Kings in Europe.

[@jenniferhill1882]

Some people realise the Bible is pure fantasy.

[@jonnor6883]

Oh I think you need to read some bible history, and I don't mean the book but research around the bible. The bible is made of 2 parts, the old and the new. The old was compiled around 500 BC and some texts added later. The new is different. First texts appeared just a few decades after death of Jesus and the canon was completed in 3 century. No kings have altered the texts, but with reformation did they go back to the old Hebrew and Greek texts, and translated the Bible. Of course will every translation be some sort of alternation of the original text. The problem with the Sagas is that they are written much later, often by order of the Norwegian kings. So they depict what the kings wanted. Also was many written by people with a christian mindset. So yes, you can't trust them. If you also look at the Sagas will you see that they have resemblance to other old European stories. You will for example find parts that resemble Homer

[@enscroggs]

RE: Viking navigation. Jarman leaves out an important discovery, the Uunartoq Disc, an artifact found at a Norse site in Greenland in 1948. The Uunartoq Disc is an example of a sun compass. Using such a device, skilled Viking navigators could hold a course on a desired latitude. This is how they reached and settled Iceland, Greenland, and North America -- voyages that took their ships far out of sight of land for many days.

[@ReidMerrill]

Blackredguard jump scare

[@silenttoxic707]

Learning they made it to Baghdad is definitely going to be a rabbit hole, thanks for that lol

[@briangoldberg4439]

Interesting. So we don't know enough about the Vikings to say that they were as violent as was thought, but they also might be a lot more violent than we ever thought!

[@gordonmacdowell8117]

KZbin needs more excellent content like this.

[@SwagimirLenin]

BRG SPOTTED?!?!?

[@dennislloyd494]

I had to go to transcript as I thought at 1:03 you said 'Thorbjorg sh!t breath'!

[@CathSidhe-fr7rd]

Hi Cat! Miss you on Gone Medieval (but love Eleanor of course!), so it's nice to see/hear you again

[@liketheroman]

Her podcast The Rabbit Hole Detectives is a joy! Listen if you can

[@semoremo9548]

16:00 This question is actually fascinating. It clearly shows that, while all human societies have been concerned about keeping themselves clean and taking care of themselves, ideas around what cleanliness is have always been varied and have changed and continue to change over the years. Reminds me of this recent online discourse over cleanliness and the so called "cleanliness olympics" and how people see others who have different cleanliness standards and views as lesser than or even outright morally and ethically worse than.

[@KasumiRINA]

Yes, Muslims specifically consider namaz to be standarts of being clean, and anyone who doesn't follow it is not doing enough. For modern Americans, showering every day is considered the norm, even though it damages the hair and makes you more dirty daily since body adapts to the constant damage by releasing more oils. But then during hot summers we had in Odesa, showering ONCE per day would sometimes make you literally drip sweat around you, so it's all relative.

[@Victtimus]

These ancient skeletons got brighter teeth than me while still in ground.

[@or2ak]

No sugar

[@michael3088]

or coffee

[@Green__Ghost]

Or tobacco

[@kristin123a]

They were like 25 years old

[@KasumiRINA]

@@michael3088 RIP now we know why they dead.

[@leminjapan]

Born in Norway, moved to England. She is literally the perfect Viking researcher

[@SathReacts]

OLAF THE WITCHBREAKER goes hard!

[@kevindunn2663]

I think a lot of cultures had some names based off of their professions. Smith, Baker, Miller, Butler, Mason, Fowler etc.and then the other ones were based off of their family names like Erickson, Nielsen, Johansson, Anderson, Larsen would be equal to Thompson or Johnson for anglos

[@gayeinggs5179]

Mine is a Viking. Name and did my DNA and am 14 percent Viking !

[@halla359]

@@gayeinggs5179 Viking is not an ethnicity. Not all scandinavians were viking....

[@leoperidot482]

Name me one ancient culture that didn't resort to human sacrifices to appease their gods.

[@djionmustard5921]

Vikings aren't Ancient

[@evg3nius]

brother, we aint talking ancient. we are talking early medieval sort of things. A large parts of Europe were christian at that point and large parts of middleast \ Africa were muslim. FYI neither christians nor muslims practiced human sacrifices.

[@thomaswillard6267]

​@@evg3niusNo, they just established secular reasons people should kill each other /s

[@waterlily85]

@@evg3nius The church murdered 40-60 thousand people during the witch trials. Seems pretty similar to me.

[@KayJay01]

​@@evg3nius 1. There is no evidence of human sacrifice in viking culture. The mentioned incident in the video could have been a massacre just as much as it could have been a sacrifice. 2. By the very definition of a religious sacrifice, i.e the murder of other people to please the Gods, wouldn't any massacre of heretics or non-believers count if it was "the will of God"? And thus, I'd argue Christianity and Islam are actually the top two religions in terms of humans killed to please their deity. Just because the ritual is foreign to you, that doesn't make it worse or less moral. Christianity and Islam are just as morally bankrupt as Norse Paganism when it comes to the sanctity of preserving life.

[@kristintrisha2616]

This was really interesting. Please have Cat come back.

[@kimfrankenwewe]

Literally love this series

[@carriel3054]

The Viking River Cruise ads I'm getting are a nice touch ;)

[@RobiTheophilus]

Perfect. Just in time for the Elbaf Arc. 🏴‍☠️👒🌞

[@mrthisbetterstick7776]

Ibn Fadlan (Ibn means "son of"), and the Vikings passed around 1 bowl of water for everyone gathered to wash in, spit in, etc. So The 13th Warrior actually took RL accounts, plus legends, and brought them to life together into one. great. movie.

[@teza2922]

I am Swedish and learned a bit of our ancestors' beliefs and history. There was little difference in where the Vikings went, raped and plundered. Gotland is a Swedish island and certain parts of now Sweden went to England/Iceland and certain parts of Sweden went to Russia and Eastern Europe.

[@balsyprick6764]

Yes, and also the England runestones are one of the more numerous group of runestones that exists in Sweden second only to the Greece runestones. But there were no lines in the sand as is today. The chieftains back then actually had to travel far and wide to gather men and support for their raids.

[@dags123]

It's probably more correct to say that Norwegian Vikings went north and west, to Iceland, Greenland and Vinland. Swedish Vikings went east down the rivers and ended up as Rus. The Danish Vikings went to the British isles. That is a generalization of how is was, though. When it comes to slavery, yes that was big business for the Vikings, but so was it for the rest of the world as well. Slavery was not invented by the Vikings.

[@33d672]

@@balsyprick6764 Greece has 30 runestones, Sweden has 2,000. What are you talking about?!?

[@balsyprick6764]

@@33d672 @33d672 What are you talking about? The runestones mentioning voyages to the byzantine empire are just collectively called 'the greece runestones'....use google and please inform yourself.

[@teza2922]

@@33d672 Yes , the runestone thing i agree with you , Sweden have more :). There is no country in the whole world that has as many rune stones as Sweden. Denmark and Norway also have many and there are scattered in different parts of Europe, Asia but no one has as many as in Sweden.

[@terfalicious]

Always the best topics and interesting presenters - THANK YOU!

[@andershansson2245]

Gotta love KZbin's autogenerated translations, for example: patronymic = "Patron nimic", Eirik = "IC", "Breman" = Bremen...

[@_TheDudeAbides_]

How come you used them if you listened to her aswell? Can't get much clearer than her.

[@mikegibson3388]

The craftsmanship of Viking sailing vessels is impressive. Ocean going longships that are adept at navigating rivers due to their shoal draught. Good way to get around.

[@Bernieo153]

It’s annoying that The Faroe Islands🇫🇴 are almost always overloooked. Föroyar was settled long before Iceland. It was a Faroese viking, Naddoddur, who was the first norseman to Iceland.

[@veronicajensen7690]

the reason they are overlooked it they didn't really seem to do much after settling in Faroe Islands or there isn't much writings about them, what I mean is Iceland is mentioned because Erik the red settled there and later traveled to North America Greenland and Canada , and due to Icelandic Sagas , that said I would certainly like to know more about Vikings in Faroe Islands , I don't even know what the dna is , Iceland is a mix of Norwegians and Scots

[@Bernieo153]

@@veronicajensen7690 Didn’t do much? You haven’t read Færeyinga Saga, have you?

[@yoyobase4638]

Oh shut it

[@Bernieo153]

@@yoyobase4638 “oh shut it”… Why? What exactly is your problem with my comment? It provides additional information about viking history. You clicked a ‘viking history’ related video. And you decide to post “oh shut it”. Are you just bored so you post a completely pointless comment?

[@Helblind]

Cat was great! Glad to see and archaeologist focusing on accuracy, not politics.

[@chrishughes3405]

You call that a syphilitic skull? Hold my beer...

[@mvonwalter6927]

The last bit on DNA is perfectly stated and is what everyone who obsesses about this needs to hear.

[@RuniLavaOlsen]

As a Faroese person, I'm disappointed by most videos talking about this sort of stuff. This video mentions vikings crossing the atlantic and also mentions Icelantic as the language closest to olde norse. No mention of the closeness of Faroese to olde norse, neither any mention of vikings landing on the Faroe Islands. I think it's misleading and naive. Both Icelantic and Faroese are similarly close to old norse, yet different languages, with different alphabets. The Faroese Løgting, formed by vikings, is perhaps even older than the Althing in Iceland. Just doing my Faroese duty here.

[@rullvardi]

As a Swede, I feel you-we, and Danes, often get overshadowed by Norwegians in media just because they have more of the stereotypical "Viking" scenery, with the mountains and fjords. In Sweden we have mountains and fjords but nothing to the scale of them in Norway.

[@PiscesEnfp]

Please, do an episode with a Celtic culture specialist as well❤

[@freespeechforall99]

Two great points: 3:29 and 19:16

[@freespeechforall99]

Too bad YT censors free speech so I can't explain them. Basically, they're about genetics vs identity

[@Bob-v6h8t]

@Grimfrost just casually making an appearance was some smooth marketing.

[@pb51-d8f]

Is there any indication that the Vikings were tattooed as they’re portrayed in the tv shows and movies.

[@thomaswillard6267]

Not really. Their peers used body paint, a group of maybe vikings ('Rus'in the account of Ahmad ibn-Fadlan) had body markings, but we have not found anything indicating the Norse themselves had tattoos.

[@pb51-d8f]

@@thomaswillard6267 thank you, I thought I read that there was no hard evidence showing that did not tattoo themselves.

[@nicechock]

@@thomaswillard6267 nah. the translation says paintings. not tattoos likely just paint of warpaint

[@Wut3225]

It’s always possible that some may have had tattoos but we can never know unless their body turned up in a bog etc like Ötzi.

[@VeraKraft-f6i]

@@Wut3225 oetzi has tattoos

[@LynxLord1991]

An actual expert for once speaking on the Norse people Thank the Allfather. Great job Cat

[@dzwadziescia]

"son of Thor or whatever" - Viking Expert

[@CantStopScrollingHelp]

So excited for this one!!!! I've been waiting so long for it.

[@kimfrankenwewe]

Life goal: to be invited to one of these Interviews

[@zyxw2000]

On what subject are you an expert?

[@Steven-tl8fs]

Then you have to be an expert at something.

[@kimfrankenwewe]

@@zyxw2000 Not one yet but I wanna become one, maybe something with cultures or languages

[@kimfrankenwewe]

@@Steven-tl8fs yeah that's what I mean with life goal

[@zyxw2000]

@@kimfrankenwewe That's great, to be ambitious . I hope to see you on Wired some day. :-)

[@DeVolksrepubliek]

17:26 for the Black Red Guard question

[@robertgreer7223]

Grimfrost asking the important questions they already know the answer to lol

[@laylahassomethingtosay]

"One of my favorite graves..." is a fun new way to start a sentence ( 12:49 )

[@opensourceq]

BlackRedGuard jumpscare

[@freyawildesciencefictionau8156]

As someone of Norwegian descent, I can attest to some of this. One of my great grand parents was Tona's Daughter, she didn't have a last name. Common in Setesdal area.

[@Achmedsander]

In Ibn Fadlan's description of a viking rus funeral there was some sacrifice done.

[@gerardvila4685]

I was going to say this too. Ibn Fadlan, an Arab traveller, witnessed the funeral of a Viking chief in somewhere like Ukraine. IIRC it was a slave girl of the deceased who was given the "honor" of joining him in the afterlife. She was strangled.

[@nenasiek]

He is sadly referenced alot even tho we know writers back then didnt care about modern ethics, like telling the truth. It was more about making other look worse.

[@ponli7532]

@@nenasiek given that multiple travelers mentioned human sacrifice, including the Christian missionary I think the probability that it was done is higher than it was not. There is a disturbing trend in modern history teaching to ascribe anyone who wrote down something a long time ago as a probable liar until proven otherwise, I find this to be highly destructive of our understanding of history. These are not court proceedings, I will take their word for it until someone else contradicts it. I think this trend is mostly propagated by historians who have nothing original to add.

[@thedanishcatgirl3205]

He does have the advantage of not being an enemy but he still has biases. Like the fact the most was written down later, or that what an Arab considers cleanliness and what Medieval Europe considered cleanliness was quite different. In the sacrifice part he might have exaggerated to make a good story to tell about the savage Vikings.

[@nenasiek]

@@ponli7532 im not disputing human sacrifice, im pointing out that u shouldnt belive everything he wrote. Im swedish im fully aware of the human sacrifice part whitin scandinavia and among the rus. I personally find his description of the men "cleaning" themselfs in eachothers snot to be strange considering scandinavians were known to be clean freaks (for the time)

[@BeckaBN]

'Much of early medieval society was violent' and shows the Normans... descendants of the Vikings 😂😂

[@evg3nius]

Yeah I'd say they were some of the most violent, but its not like the rest of Europe and world were pacifists either