Why Did The Viking Age Begin ?

[@tomurg]

Denmark: We are going to build a wall and we are going to make the Franks pay for it

[@goblinslaya7328]

dead joke

[@PunkerTrottzEltern]

Yeahhhh problem is, there where no countrys back than, because of the thought of nationalisme is a pretty new thing from the 18 hundrets. Also the first wall is from around the jear 400, whene the Frankish empier was not even a thing. comming from the area and where at the Dannevirke when they found out. And jeah im fun at partys.

[@Maxibon2007]

Well…the Angles (who were from what is now Denmark) 300 year prior were doing the exact same thing to the Late Romans /Romano British, they then took over Britain, Christianised and the ones who remained “evolved” into the “proper” Vikings and started doing the same thing to them. Meanwhile the Welsh (the descendants of the Romano British) probably sat back muttering “how do YOU like it now!?”

[@kevcaratacus9428]

@@Maxibon2007 the saxon pirates were attacking Roman merchant ships along the English channel & north sea from the 200 s onwards until end of Roman Britain. Costing the empire so much the Romans had a new ships built & deployed to protect the cross channel traders. The 1st navy designated to protect the channel. People think the Vikings were something original, but like you said it was happening almost 500 yrs before the Vikings started raiding this island.

[@kevcaratacus9428]

@@Maxibon2007 the Welsh were a separate people with their own language already existed long before the Germanic tribes came to Britain. The Welsh English border wasn't anything like we have today . People from middle & even eastern England didn't all leg it to Wales when the saxons came . The Celts remained throughout the Roman ,saxon & Norman invasions, The regular people just adopted the new rulers ways & languages. Obviously thats a simplified version of a complex time . The main changers were at the top, the elite ( ruling ) classes .

[@rubinhoho3393]

Thanks for providing quality content for us all again!

[@historywithhilbert]

You're very welcome - thanks for the support!

[@110gotrek]

G E K O L O N I S E E R D

[@110gotrek]

Loved the video by the way c:

[@robinroos2254]

Z E G M A K K E R

[@silver_dem0n525]

Classic

[@possemis]

its not a History with hilbert video without the G E K O L O N I S E E R D meme

[@Frahamen]

N E E N

[@Rovarin]

In the Faroes they did a similar study on DNA as the one in Iceland. The results were similar to an extent, with male ancestry being 87% Norse and female ancestry being 84% Scottish/Irish.

[@princekrazie]

We are currently in year 1226 VE, Viking Era, which starts with 793, the raid on lindisfarne.

[@Skelstoolbox]

NICE... Best comment on youtube... I'm gonna use that measurement too from now on.. God wouldn't it have been great to live then? I'd raid in a second for riches and women instead of slaving away for min. wage my whole life.. few job prospects here..

[@Skelstoolbox]

@@modlio745 Me? What edge, the bleak future and lack of social mobility in many western countries is less of an edge and more like a cliff.

[@SynValorum]

@@modlio745 In the Dark Ages you can be King for a day! Traveling poet by night! And dead by highwaymen before sunrise!

[@modlio745]

@@SynValorum This sounds like the lyrics for a really good song.. I'm gonna steal this now, thnx : )

[@Elenrai]

@@modlio745 "little to desire" One. Word. Honesty.

[@Dominator046]

"Post down in the comments if you'd like to see a more specific video-" YES. ON ALL THINGS.

[@MrHedning]

I heard another reason and that reason was revenge on the Christians when Charlemagne entered Saxony. He waged war against the Germanic Saxons in the northeast, forcing Christianity upon them where around 4,500 Saxons were executed in 782.

[@shanekonarson]

MrHedning that’s the exact reason.

[@bugzyhardrada3168]

Im pretty sure judging by the scale of it all, Its deeper then just that and larger then we think

[@berserkerstrommortsgreb3131]

Massacre of Verden.

[@Galadrian70]

exactly

[@curtisderbyshire1541]

All Germanic should have fought together

[@mexicanshawarma5971]

the viking age ended in the battle of Stamford bridge not the battle of Hastings

[@frederikfoss4594]

Yep!

[@donfelipe7510]

You could argue that the Normans were the culmination of the viking age. Christian, literate but still war like and expansionist. Really the viking age lasted until the end of Norman royal dynasties around Europe.The battle of Stamford Bridge may have broken Danish and Norwegian power however Hastings was not the end of anything but the beginning of a viking golden age.

[@Buildbeautiful]

Of course the viking era did not end after the battle of stamford bridge what made you think that

[@donfelipe7510]

​@@Buildbeautiful I suppose it depends of what constitutes the "Viking Age." By 1066 raiding in longships, viking in the strictest sense, was more or less a thing of the past in Northern Europe. Towns and cities were more heavily fortified and armies much better organised and able to repel raiders. Also by this time Scandinavia had largely become Christian so attacks on monasteries and churches which were the hallmarks of the early "Viking Age" had ended. However that said the Normans raised not only men for small scale raids but whole armies, England wasn't raided in 1066 it was invaded and conquered. The "Viking Age" for me ends with the assimilation of various ethnic groups like Danes, Norse and Normans into the country and instead of seeing such people as foreign invaders with a strange religion and language they were just people to be ruled.

[@sleepinggiant1484]

@Tony Trojak Norman's may have been decendants of Vikings but they adopted frankish or French customs, religion etc. They were fierce nights and not Viking raiders that pillaged ans plundered. Not quite the same. 1066 and the end of the Anglo saxons rule. The Norman's influence is undeniable in both England and France.

[@Justaguy5678]

"This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals." - Vikings

[@FurryManPeach]

So to touch upon the hypothesis of trade implications regarding the Frankish, perhaps the raiding of Lindisfarne could be drawn from the fact that both the Saxons and the Frankish were Christian at this stage, and so were drawn together through that religion, as opposed to the pagan religion, and also were trading together so colluded to freeze the Danes out of trade, at which point the Danes decided to just take what they wanted? Possible?

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

What if the Virgin Islands remained Danish

[@historywithhilbert]

They wouldn't be virgin for much longer?

[@caolanfeely4317]

History With Hilbert what if whilhelmus never existed

[@boze77wolf]

@@caolanfeely4317 The anthem or the prince?

[@caolanfeely4317]

Sinnermatic well I guess both

[@boze77wolf]

@@caolanfeely4317 He was the figurehead of the revolt against the Spanish. Without the break away from Spanish control the Dutch golden age wouldn't have happend. The Netherlands wouldn't become the savehaven for Portugese jews who run from Spanish inquisition and held the seamaps to the east. The VOC would never existed. The Dutch colonies never seized. The more than 200 years that the Netherlands was the only western country who was allowed to trade with Japan would have never taken place.

[@JamesAce]

loving it. just came back from being 1/2 months in north norway.. gotta love your timing

[@sindreherstad8739]

Hope it was nice :)

[@hglundahl]

7:06 Obviously Icelandic names Njáll and Brján are Irish Niall and Brian, with somewhat shifted syllable structure.

[@gemino4910]

So you're telling me the viking age was the incel uprising?

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

When the exact opposite of feminism creates incels too. *insert sad pepe*

[@salahgamal5516]

@@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin imbalance creates incels

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

@@salahgamal5516 i kno

[@lovinglydull]

Makes sense. For centuries beforehand, armies were made up of what is basically weaponized incels.

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

@@lovinglydull Yeah, apparently merovingians did the same

[@jackmarston2141]

This is probably my favorite source of viking history out there. I am a 29 year old with hardcore ADHD, but I love Viking history. Your way of teaching is extremely helpful.

[@jgr7487]

I was wondering how long it would take for Hilbert to make a reference to the Netherlands or the VOC. it took 8:51

[@donfelipe7510]

I think like most aspects of history the beginning of the "viking age" has many causes. Overpopulation, gender imbalance, technological shift in ship building and sense of religious persecution by a united Christendom against pagans are all valid points. I would suggest also that climate change had guiding hand in these events. Around the mid to late 9th century there were long periods of drought around the world. in Egypt the crops failed for ten years (c. 850AD) and essentially ended Egypt's previous role as the agricultural powerhouse of the Eastern Mediterranean. Also around this time the same climatic event forced Turkic steppe nomads from east of the Caspian sea to seek better pastures and brought them into conflict with the Armenians, Byzantines and the Arab Caliphates. I believe a general warming climate while destabilizing and disastrous for the areas further south may have had the opposite effect further north like in what is now France, England and Scandinavia, keeping the ice and snows away for more of the year and allowing better and more diverse harvests. It has been documented that grapes for wine production were able to be grown in Sweden while Western Europe generally began to surpasse the Eastern Mediterranean as the most wealthy and influential lands in Christendom. A more stable prosperous economy would also allow for expansion such as the Frankish conquest of the Saxons which may have sparked Danish aggression. The consequences of climate change on migration and the fortunes of nations are far reaching indeed. I'm aware that my dates for the drought in Egypt don't correspond to the beginning of Viking raiding however I think climate change takes time and may have been in the process of changing for decades or even centuries before. I would welcome peoples thoughts, I'm not well read on these things although I am aware these theories are out there. The KZbin channel History Time has some interesting in depth videos on these subjects.

[@emsnewssupkis6453]

Yes, it was warming up rapidly to the Medieval Warm Age. Made travel easy.

[@rogermarlin3758]

Yes climate change and over population is what mainly did it.

[@magnusorn7313]

the medieval warm period was regional to the Atlantic just as the roman warm period was which enabled the roman empire to flourish, im sure it may have affected other places as well to a degree and completely different things could have been taking affect as well but globally temperatures would have changed slightly if at all

[@emsnewssupkis6453]

@@magnusorn7313 HAHAHA. Right. Yup. HAHAHA. Any and all excuses to pretend we have no global climate...wait! Ahem.

[@emsnewssupkis6453]

Oh oh, the reply was parked in the wrong place, Magnus Orn. Sorry about this. Sometimes happens on You Tube comments.

[@Roikat]

Charlemagne supposedly made the landlubber mistake of destroying the Frisian fleet of 3000 ships around 780 after defeating the Frisians on land, which one can assume would have left a North Sea naval and merchant marine power vacuum.

[@NolanJohnson423]

Thank you History with Hilbert for the awesome content these videos are so exciting

[@regular-joe]

I'm like the guy who commented on another of your videos - I'm starting to sing loudly (and imaginatively - don't know the words!) every time you play the Dutch anthem. Good fun.

[@SuperFunkmachine]

The ship question is bit false as earlier ships could sail around the coast of germany, even the bronze aged Dover Bronze Age Boat could of done that with ease.

[@jamesharris6893]

Even early Celtic coracles got around pretty well, even cross channel, etc.

[@mpgnz73]

Agreed. It's been stated that the Jutes likely sailed along the Frisian islands which they used as a launching pad into Kent and the Isle of Wight. There's no reason the Vikings couldn't do the same. The emergence of a ship capable of sailing directly to England is a red herring.

[@iainb1577]

Glad to see you back.

[@Woeschhuesli]

I have wondered about this for ages, thankyou. It‘s difficult to find out about pre-Viking Scandinavian history in a coherent manner, I find.

[@lordcommander3224]

Romans basically said, "There exists lazy Germans way up north".

[@franklinarchambault5397]

the way I heard it lack of land so the outcast and outlaws went a Viking and if not it sound like the best one to me

[@mattaffenit9898]

The reason I believe more strongly - look south. The Franks and Norse did _not_ get along. At all.

[@joshuag4624]

Great video. What should have also been mentioned is the Indo European long standing tradition of the Mannerbund, in which young men are cast out to raid. In that sense the Viking age was merely a continuation of an ancient practice. Also, there’s no consensus on whether the earlie Anglo-Saxon invaders had sails on their boats, with no archeological evidence for it. Any sailer would know that having a sail isn’t the same as sailing. Just as the Roman, rowing there ships would have been standard practice with the Roman only using their sail to help them when the wind is favourable as a supplement to rowing. It could have well been the case that adding a sail onto the traditional north Western European Clinker boat added trading, which as you say was prevelant between the North Sea peoples, and now more frequent long distant raids to the ability for Danes and Norsemen to act out the tribal tradition of the Mannerbund

[@zackflora6165]

That would make sense as the VA started as an Eastern push toward Novgorod and became known as "rowers"

[@spacecat5517]

I'd be interested if you did a video on the scandalous topic!

[@xiphactinusaudax1045]

which one?

[@hazzmati]

It's funny cuz in the show Vikings they are talking as if there is nothing to the west of Scandinavia but myths. It makes no sense for the scandinavians not to know Britain they probably started trading with them long before the viking raids

[@_robustus_]

Maybe their ships really sucked before Floki.

[@grubbybum3614]

Hey Hazz, I see you in Tyrannicon videos. He he he, huh...

[@hazzmati]

Grubby bum hey man that’s cool. Haven’t watched or commented in a good while though. Tyr’s cool but I don’t like how he has put half his content behind a paywall. And he doesn’t do the throthgae voice like before anymore.

[@grubbybum3614]

@@hazzmati yeah, he should put more focus on doing the old voice. He has a video everyday now though, including darksouos. I think the stuff behind pauwall was just extra content that wouldn't have been uploaded to KZbin anyway, so I got no problem with that.

[@Randi-k6m]

"they probably started trading with them long before the viking raids". Well more than that. The Jutes and the Angles that settled in England hundreds of years before were Danes, and the Saxons shared borders with the Danes. It really amazes me that it seems historians think that the Scandinavians had forgot how to sail to England.

[@ewweg]

A norwegian king visited north jutland and heard of the teutons success in the south, do to uniting the 3 tribes in north jutland. And so he stated uniting all the tribes in scandinavia to stop all the infighting for resources and instead fight people far away for resources. He started by uniting everyone under the danes (~500 AD) since warry little was left of the teutons and svir after fighting the roman empire, and norway was too split. Only the remains of the svirs refused uniting under the danes, and wanted to go their own way, but agreed to stop the infighting. This is where they started implementing detachable sails for extremely far seatravels. People seems to forget or doesn't know that Denmark was the trading centerpoint between north/east and west europe since 40.000 BC, and had a lot of tradingrouts to the middle east since 2000 BC. Even the germanic tribes originated in scandinavia around 500 BC, and that migration-age was the predecessor of the viking age, vikings just used better boats and was closer related/connected.

[@danoization]

Charlemagne killing pagans had nothing to do with it?

[@charlesthegreati9794]

I know right...

[@hypercomms2001]

I thought the Viking Age started was because of Kirk Douglas... !!

[@jbussa]

When you send your guests home so you can settle in for a History with Hilbert video. lol

[@lmclm1755]

What about the earlier raids in Paignton in Devon and in Dorset c.780 or thereabouts?

[@NefariousKoel]

Dowries had a deeper basis than just being a payment to the husband by the father/family. There was a more basic human nature which caused it. Historically, men were expected to take care of women in nearly all ways. The father at first. Then her husband once that duty was passed to him. Obviously male children were more physically fit for the hard labor, hunting, and other such productive activities so heavily relied upon at the time. The males were expected to leave the household, after entering adulthood, and do so to support themselves. Whereas females would often stay at home, expected to be taken care of by the father indefinitely - until they found, or were arranged, a husband. It's no wonder the dowry became a custom in so many cultures as their parents often wanted to transfer that caretaking burden on someone else (a husband) ASAP.

[@grubbybum3614]

I see someone's read 'The Human Zoo'...

[@NefariousKoel]

@@grubbybum3614 - Actually, I haven't read 'The Human Zoo'. Just realized, for awhile, that women were naturally given extra protection & care by the men. Ingrained in human nature. Dowries were obviously just one evolved societal facet of that. One of many. Unfortunately, those natural tendencies have been used, in modern society, to vilify men as wicked oppressors in some circles. When their natural instinct was usually to protect.

[@VoiceInTheCyberness]

It is hard to believe that the environment could allow a population explosion but the Avars and possibly other tribes from The East were looking for a home, this to me seems more plausible

[@carolusrex5305]

Yes please do one on the mass shooting hypothesis. It sounds very interesting. 👍🏻

[@Giamesh]

The Walrus Ivory trade was very important. As the Umayyad caliphate took control over Spain in the early 700s, the traditional sources and trade routes for ivory was blocked for the Europeans. Scandinavians had access to walrus ivory and traveled further and further to the North and West to hunt the walrus. And discovered new land. Then they traveled South and East to sell it. Along the same routes the raiding also started.

[@berserkerstrommortsgreb3131]

Massacre of Verden. Retribution.

[@styrbjornulfhamr9404]

The sail wasn’t a reason - Angles & Jutes came from modern Denmark on ships without sails. The tipping point was the retaliatory strike on English monastaries because the monastaries provided the source of many monks & priests in the expanding ‘crusades’ of Charlemagne against the pagan Saxons and Frisians, who were allies & trading partners with the Danes. The Danes were not strong enough to attack Charlemagne, so they retaliated by attacking the monastaries. This horrified the Carolingians who would sometime pay ransoms for captured monks & priests as well as buy back bibles & relics stolen by the Vikings. This stopped the forced conversion of pagans, but word quickly spread that there was opportunities to be exploited abroad and the raids expanded, eventually transforming into colonization. There were many factors that came together and made the Viking age what it was, but the casus belli that sparked it all was Charlemagne who massacred pagan Saxons who would not convert to Christianity. You can research the Massacre of Verden when 4,500 Saxons were massacred. It is also interesting to note the many writings of English monks who lamented the fury of the Northmen as a punishment from God. These monks understood the retalitory nature of the early raids, and knew about the massacred pagans. Paybacks a bitch.

[@Leffe123]

Great video

[@jonaseliasson5502]

Dear Hilbert, you are right about almost everything but missing one thing. You are right about the better sails for the ships, but there was also the keel. A far more important feature. The deeper and stiffer keels of the eighth century not only make the ships stronger, but meant better navigation possibilities in adverse winds. That is the prevailing west wind in the North Sea. The problem was to get to England. Go back was OK.

[@paladin_83]

Love this period in history. Please, keep it going!

[@micahistory]

Having more men than women is never a good idea. It causes tension and increases competition

[@formgrya6927]

IDK man that sounds like a capitalist's wet dream.

[@micahistory]

@@formgrya6927 haha but no

[@apropercuppa8612]

Micahistory 2 But having more women means more nagging and headaches. We’re fucked either way.

[@shawnrileywest2826]

Agreed

[@isladurrant2015]

There are societies that manage ... normally two brothers/one woman in isolated mountainous countries.

[@OpossumSupremacist]

As an American, I'd be intrested in hearing your take on the issues we are having now. I think it would be nice to hear a European opinion that isn't just "just ban all weapons" or just restrict civil rights even more.

[@SynValorum]

Just go to the forest man, it'll all be okay from there.

[@magnusorn7313]

i mean regulations would be a nice start, i mean technically you can still get a gun without a permit in most states and you dont have to carry amo separately, thats a bit fucked

[@Ozzianman]

2 years late, but still gonna reply. Something most Americans do not seem to realize is that they have a illusion of a choice in politics. The Democrats and the Republicans are two sides of the same coin. The parties have for the most part, the same policies with a few exceptions here and there. While other parties do exist, the power and support the two main parties wield is so immense, the independent parties might as well not exist. The American political system, to me, seems like it has been constructed to (or manipulated to) split the people. Coalition government? Unheard of. Cooperation between the parties? Blasphemy! The us against them mentality which is permeating the US political environment and seemingly civilian life is depressing to me. To be fair, rural and urban US are two very different worlds with different needs, so I understand that they may differ a lot in their point of views, but the hate man... The casual, everyday animosity between democrats and republicans is shocking to me, both parties are just as guilty in encouraging this hate, guilty of this political hooliganism/tribalism/whateverismfitshereism. Little attempt at understanding where someone is coming from with their point of view. I wish there were more outsiders who could understand the Norwegian language, thus being able to follow Norwegian politics and share their point of view. Having an foreigners perspective is nice. With that, I want to share a bit about Norwegian politics. All in all, Norwegian politics is in a healthy state. Political propaganda are nowhere close to being as intense as it is in the US, and politicians across the political spectrum are friendly to each other, or at least polite. Mostly because they may shop in the same places, train at the same gym, share the same route to work etc... Politicians in general, even the career politicians, are normal people. Most of us do not care about who voted for what as long as we use our vote. At least in my social circle, not using your vote is looked upon as it mean you do not care about the society you live in. Voting blank is completely fair as it simply means you have deemed no party represents your views well enough, or you forgot about the election, realized it's the last voting day as you notice there is an oddly long queue in the otherwise empty community centre and could not decide what party to vote for (I have previously been in that situation...). In the current ongoing election, we have 9 major parties and around 10 minor parties. With this many parties, coalition governments are the norm.

[@thelucas1146]

I love that in nearly every video you play my national anthem 🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱

[@NashTheGreat]

Not your's, but your people's.

[@blacktemplar9499]

It begun when I went on a holiday to England

[@Brembelia]

Do both videos: the over population, and any parallels between the Viking Age and today's male crisis. More videos is always the better idea. Thanks!

[@hglundahl]

11:43 So, Franks made a probable trade sanction against Danes, and then a near Apocalypse of Vikings started for Frankland and England?

[@katienewell7350]

Hi Hilbert! I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of that Max Adams quote - you said it was from a talk he gave, do you know which one? It sounds like it'd be super useful for my dissertation!

[@VelMa-opinion]

So I've developed this fiendish obsession with history, and I've given lots of thought in addition to some serious study of known factual evidence. It seems to me, that the "Viking age" was in part started by these two things: a) instead of choosing chieftains by valour in combat (and personal combat) Scandinavians had picked up the idea of inheritance, of both chieftains and land rights; b) because the inheritance fell on the eldest son, younger sons were forced to find their own fortunes. There's clear suggestion that the Viking raiders were wealthy to begin with (weapons of iron, boats), and trained, so they thought rather than be subject to their own family, they'd take a risk. Add this to what you suggest, combined with the idea that they didn't hit upon Lindisfarne upon having crossed the North Sea, but were likely sons of people who had much more convenient access to British coast.

[@JohnnyLodge2]

If the north germans could sail to england why wouldn't the Danes be able too?

[@jimmielindstrand9773]

Could you maybe do a video on the Vendel period?

[@Hfil66]

There seem to be a number of studies that indicate more unmarried men lead to higher levels of violence, both inward violence within the community and outward violence (e.g. raiding or warfare).

[@8bitgubben]

please make the video about the parallels between the viking age and today, would be very interesting

[@BListHistory]

Keep it up man :)

[@erikgranqvist3680]

Most likley is that the raids started due to a number of reasons that converged into a few important points of decission.

[@fredklier]

Do the video of the current Era end the parallels with the viking age I really like your take on the subject.

[@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo]

the Danes raided Friesland long before Lindisfarne. And before that, the Wikings raided eachother.

[@SynValorum]

That explains the DUTCH!!!

[@age3801]

Didn't the anglo-saxons came from Danemark? Is possible they were still in contact with the relatives tribes from the regions they came form.

[@user-gj1np9rp4d]

Yes, they came from Northern Germany southern Denmark And Frisia. The one who stayed behind became Saxony and then got conquered by Charlemagne.

[@modlio745]

@@user-gj1np9rp4d 'Ludvi[g]'? How the hell are everyone getting these rune usernames?

[@Randi-k6m]

According to old writings the brothers Hengist and Horsa from northern Jutland (Denmark) were invited by the English king to help against the threat from the Scots after the fall of the Roman Empire. They led the Angels (from the southern part of Denmark) the Saxons (from today’s northern Germany and most likely also some Frisians from the Netherlands. Hengist is considered to be the first king of Kent. Whether their names quoted in old writings are the real names, is debated. But the Jutes definitely came to England at the same time as the rest of the “gang”, in the 5th century, 250 years before the Viking Age started.

[@c.i.a8359]

@@Randi-k6m There was no such thing as English back then. The English were the anglo saxons.

[@Randi-k6m]

@@c.i.a8359 You are right.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

I love the Vikings and Leif Erikson Day, hinga dinga durgen

[@whiteeagle9769]

This is the fake avery

[@adamroodog1718]

Anglo-Saxons complaining about the danish. Hahaha

[@fastertove]

A major problem with the EU is the presence of 4 different velfare models within it's borders: Continental (Bismarckian), Anglo-Saxon, Nordic and Mediterranean... But the close trading relationsship is great

[@fastertove]

@peace leader Sure, but countries in Europe have a very different history. What economy and welfare model to choose? - how to choose the politicians? - what language?... What culture do you think should rule them all? :-) ... IMO, what we probably need more than central European government is a new and more modern version of UN.

[@Randi-k6m]

@peace leader Your vision is definitely not my vision, I find it totally repulsive. I want my near democracy. Do YOU allow your next door neighbour to rule over your household.

[@JohnMacbeth]

@peace leader No fucking thank you.

[@micahistory]

I never realised trade could have been a case for this to start

[@Embracehistoria]

Eric Bloodaxe is my favourite Viking.

[@peterharrald2024]

Eric was one of my rellies

[@somtimesieat2411]

0:00 when the Vikings sailed across the sea, comets crossed the skies that night, must have known something wasn't right

[@Vektordeformacio]

Nice PowerPoint, Hilbert

[@5amH45lam]

I'd be interested to hear the over-population story, as it's something I wasn't familiar with. Great videos, BTW. Thanks for the upload. 👍

[@jasonknox9596]

Hey! I can't find the link for the publication Could somebody help me out? I'm planning to write my dissertation about the Viking age it would be really important Many thanks

[@Timbo5000]

It was a counterattack/payback for Christian expansion into pagan lands, if you ask me. Perhaps some other factors intensified it. Pagan tribes were hostile with eachother frequently, but an organised Christian empire actively looking to convert and conquer you is a whole other cup of tea so I imagine they felt seriously threatened at the least.

[@diegonatan6301]

This "theory" is based completely on the imagination of its creators, it is pure fiction and has zero base in reality, it is just a neo-pagan invention, so the neo-pagans could play victim (with other certain political groups that like to play victim) against the always opressive Christians.

[@shorewall]

@@diegonatan6301 I think you are being too defensive. I'm a Christian, but you must look at history objectively. Everybody was fighting everybody, and conflict begets conflict. The Christian Charlemagne expanded into Pagan territories, just as later on, Crusaders like the Teutonic Order expanded into the Pagan Baltics.

[@grubbybum3614]

@@shorewall who were these strong "Christian conqueres" during that time? Centralised Europe was so weak, maybe one or two missionaries sailed north, but I can't see how they exerted enough pressure for the Vikings to want "revenge"...

[@Timbo5000]

@@grubbybum3614 It's not revenge per se, it's more aggression caused by a hostile empire being right at your doorstep. You can either wait for the more or less inevitable invasion or attempt to distort your enemies. If a group of people feels encroached upon by a hostile force, this is what I would roughly expect them to do.

[@magnusorn7313]

@@grubbybum3614 look into written accounts of how christians conquered saxony dont overlook the 4500 sacrificed pagans

[@chariotrider9716]

Did he put the meme page in the description? I don't see it.

[@historywithhilbert]

You're right I forgot but updated now. Here it is: facebook.com/theblacksteedofWidukind/

[@Kallikukurinn]

Please do a video about Overpopulation during the Viking Age

[@jbussa]

yes I'd like to hear more

[@grubbybum3614]

Yes plz.

[@ThaliaVitalis]

Super interesting to hear the different theories and what you think of them! Pls more about the Vikings, so fascinating! WILHELMUS....... 🇳🇱

[@jamesharris6893]

curious-- you talked a lot about the emergence of the vikings ships. but in many ways, the Angles, Saxons and Juts seem to be "very early vikings,' granted that except for the Juts, these peoples came from north Germania or what became the Netherlands and Friesland,for the most part. but these people also crossed the north sea or the channel to get to Britain. some literature on Saxon boats suggests a construction not very different from viking craft. I'd appreciate some more learned commentary on this. what was the significant difference, if any between viking and Saxon watercraft??

[@Ghost-vi8qm]

Thalia are you Dutch?

[@pew-pew2224]

There is something I think that people tend to miss and that is the fact that Scandinavia at this time seems to have a very militarized society from the start. It seems that Scandinavians during the Roman empire and maybe later usually made a lot of money being axillary troops/mercenaries for others. This combining with the "weak kings" argument(that seems to be that Europe was in a period of relative peace so it spent less of defenses then previously) would mean that you had a lot of people getting rich by being mercenaries. This would mean that you had societies with well trained armed men that hold power who no longer could find any income. So raiding would solve this problem and could be another driving force for the viking age.

[@lievenpetersen]

Might as well call your channel "Comparing history to the Netherlands. With Hilbert"

[@anotherelvis]

I wonder if the Norse vikings still remembered the migration age. The probably knew that they were related to the Franks and the Goths who had created empires in Europe.

[@tilldeathcomes6611]

The Goths are from Sweden so I'm sure they knew, same with Lombards in north Italy & the Vandals ( extinct ) in north Africa

[@tilldeathcomes6611]

& the Anglo Saxons being from today's Denmark & Northern Germany

[@swevixeh]

Sure they did. Look up the Rök runestone in Sweden (geatland) from ca 800 AD which mentions the Goths and Theoderic the great at length. Why would they have been discussed, let alone on a massive, expensive runestone, centuries after their existence unless the locals felt a connection with them?

[@christophedel2642]

So interesting greetings from Normandy

[@klyanadkmorr]

Alcuin of York "OmG how can you dress like those nasty Vikings!" Locals, "They FKING RAWK r METAL!!"

[@RestlessRebel]

I am having flashbacks of Orkney

[@tommy-er6hh]

Are you going to do a simlar video about the start of some of the germans from Sweden (goths, vandals, others) Denmark (cimbri, tutones) into the south? - oh, yes on the other video, btw. Q: btw, what is the address of that reading you mentioned? I don't see it.

[@historicalminds6812]

Excellent video Hilbert, do you think you would be interested in doing one about the Indo-European Expansion? Also didn’t climatic factors play a role in the origins of the Viking age, such as the Medieval Warm Period?

[@raphmaster23]

There's speculation that the Charlemagne Saxon slaughter started the viking age.

[@matthewread7220]

Please do that video on the gun stuff, love your chanel mate.

[@masonlemons6389]

Great vid, is it old news that this is the metatron?

[@ShermerIllinois]

We Vikings Are Happy Vikings

[@tonymultani]

It was Floki who built the long ships for the Vikings

[@noahtstapp]

I like to think the reason was fighting the same people over and over, Knowing that they have no valuables and trying to sail elsewhere

[@Kitiwake]

Interesting.... Latest findings is that the population of Ireland was falling at the start of the norse invasions and that they reversed this trend.

[@marinagutierrez3487]

Your voice is very relaxing, you could make ASMR videos

[@StarLord_2307]

No

[@goatmansasquatch1485]

Tits

[@_robustus_]

Hilbert, whats up with that rune stone you’re using as a subliminal message?

[@jesperburns]

I like how you cycle through accents.

[@hoegild1]

Oh my where to begin... The theory about a shortage of women is just moronic. There was no "one child policy" in the viking age, and women was valued just as high as men- and there had been a extensive slave trade going on since the Roman times, so you could just import some women along the usual traderoutes. Ship building... the Jutes invaded England hundred of years before the viking age! The whole idea of a starting point for the viking age is completely misunderstood! Peoples from scandinavia has invaded mainland Europe since Republican Roman times! Danes made a huge profit as mercenaries in the Roman armies for hundred of years! The viking age did not "begin" with the attack on Lindisfarne, what happened was, that the attacks was intensified, and most important... documented. And, as the raids was succesful, they became better organised, better funded and better led. Succes fuels succes. And when the ships got perfected, they gave the Scandinavians a HUGE tactical advantage, that didnt disappear until the Cog was invented in the 1300 hundreds.

[@magnusorn7313]

"so you could just import some women" not if you are embargoed by all of christian europe, you would 1 have a lack of slaves to buy as there the market is smaller 2 not have enough income coming onto the country to afford it

[@magnusorn7313]

"The viking age did not "begin" with the attack on Lindisfarne" no it did, vikigngs existed before, yes, viking raids existed before, yes yest the viking period is characterized by an intense increase in the frequency of these raids what people want to know is why it became so frequent

[@davemather138]

when is a better question. because lindesfarn wasnt the first viking raid... i think the vendel era was when it really began

[@dnstone1127]

Worst thing about the Vikings was their offspring the Normans.

[@AdmiralBonetoPick]

Normans were okay. They helped rescue Sicily.

[@MistressQueenBee]

Yes please, regarding consensus count for continuing population theory. Consensus for mass shooting theorizes? I am from the Great State of Texas. We do not need more exposure to the pain of "mass shooting". We are aware of both sides of that fence.I vote No.

[@lluvik2450]

Interesting to see how sophisticated their society actually was. I always had this idea that they were scavengers and whatnot. I knew they weren't but that is still the way i pictured them. Turns out they actually had quite an established society

[@horisontial]

Hey Hilbert. I would love to see that video on why the overpopulation theory is problematic in Scandinavia. Many tribes and peoples have to my knowledge lived on the Danish isles and Jutland in the last few millennia and have migrated due to competition from other tribes, such as the Danes. I thought the most supported theory was that the younger sons and bannermen (for a lack of a better word) of the nobility sought west because of lack of new land to expand into and lack of possibility at home.

[@yaroon2850]

Did an influx of Frisian shipbuilders ( fleeing their territory because of the Franks and the rising sea levels ) into Denmark cause a shipbuilding revolution that made these viking raids into Britain possible? The shift from rowing to sailing happened in Nordic countries around that time too.

[@yaroon2850]

More on the transition from rowing to sailing in Nordic culture here: www.abc.se/~m10354/publ/soc_sail.htm

[@docquanta6869]

Just a quick point, you use bride price and dowry interchangeably in the video but these are not the same thing. A dowry is when the brides family pays a price to the new husband. A bride price is when the new husband pays a price to the brides family.

[@yaroon2850]

Hoi Hilbert, At 13:45 in your video you cite Alcuin of York's letter as if he was referring to "Scandinavians", whereas the text on screen just says "pagans". Was the term "Scandinavia" even used in 793? Some historian once said that "Scandinavia" begins in Harlingen (Friesland, NL), at the statue of the stone man (Stenen Man). In that context, Scandinavian / pagan hairstyles may include Frisian hairstyles. Being a Frisian yourself, you know very well that the Frisians were the coastal, seafaring cousins of the Jutes, Angles and Saxons. Frisian traders crossed the North Sea (a.k.a. Mare Frisicum) long before the viking age. Probably, Frisian ships were used in the Anglo-Saxon migration, but Frisians didn't settle in Britain in large numbers themselves. (they sailed right back home to heit and mem) Frisians were stubbornly pagan, just like the people that later became known as Vikings. Paganism caused conflict with the stubbornly Catholic Franks. Many male pagan Frisians may have fled North, which may be one explanation for the imbalance of the sexes. So... If Alcuin was complaining about Scandinavian / pagan hairstyles, he could as well have been referring to the hairstyles of Frisian traders.

[@michaelross4735]

The battle of Largs( 1263 ) all but crushed any lingering Viking power in Scotland for good

[@phil..rubi123]

Of course they knew about Britain since long before. The Anglo-Saxons were Scandinavians..... well at least those from Anglia and Jutland. Also if you read the Beowulf you will se how clear the Scandinavian/Danish roots of the Anglo-Saxons were. It’s cristal clear.

[@phil..rubi123]

I also want to add that (this is for you Hilbert) the Anglo-Saxons also had a strong Frisian heritage. The Frisian islands and lands stretches from modern day Denmark to modern day Netherlands. The Frisians are like the border culture between Scandinavians and West Germanic peoples. So I see them as Semi-Scandinavian :)

[@dieallgemeinheit2247]

Just out of curiosity - I've read that in the Germanic cultures there was the practice of "Muntgelt" - where the husband to be pay a price to free (The current German word "freien" still stems from that) his future wife from the "Vormundschaft" of her father. I know that this practice remained intact for a long time in northern Germany and we learned that this was changed over time after christianization. Could you, maybe, check these practices? Pretty please :)