"Vikings" (History Channel)

A comment from the website...correcting the record about Vikings who always get a bad rap. I call myself a viking*...and am so considered by those who know me. So it's important to me that they get it right...and this person does an admirable job.

_________________________________


The author of the article should be commended for writing it but seems herself to be in the "Vikings as brutes" camp as far as "what's the first thing you think of when you hear the word 'viking'". Here's a penny education on the Viking Age:


1. Viking is a verb not a noun. It's 'to explore' or 'to go on expedition'.

2. The 'vikings' from Norway, Sweden, Denmark etc were the greatest explorers in the history of mankind. There is a reason there are blond haired fair skin natives in Spain and even Turkey...because there were 'vikings' that made it there and stayed there. While 'classic' American history up until a couple decades ago credits Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci discovered America (North America) there is definitive proof that 'viking' explorers found it centuries before them.

3. The Poetic Edda, the huge collection of Sagas, the Prose Edda are some of the greatest writings in the history of the world. Skaldic verse is a unique and brilliant form of poetry unique to the Norse.

4. To go along with being great explorers the 'vikings' built the greatest ships in the world, bar none. The longboats, or Dragon boats were faster, leaner, tougher and of shallower draft which allowed them not only to go in the open ocean but also up shallow rivers.

5. Warriors. People tend to think of them only as 'barbarian' because when they did make war they did far too good a job of it. Truth is, most of them, other than the Thanes and Jarls and their standing troops, were just normal people aka farmers, craftsmen etc that just happened to live in a culture where everyone could also fight to defend the village. The tag of 'barbarians' was given by the lesser cultures that got crushed when they did get invaded because giving or expecting quarter was a mostly foreign concept during the Viking Age (there were expections when 'hostages' were taken and exchanged or forfeited as 'weregild' or payment.)

Anyway, I hope this History channel series is accurate, and I hope it is successful Ragnar Lodbrok (Hairy Britches) was a real person and is considered a hero.

_________________________________


*Actually, I jokingly refer to myself as a 16-year-old, male viking. Ever since I quit smoking I've been in constant motion, my energy level is through the roof...and I've inched a few notches up on the aggression scale, and there have been moments when my libido has not been exactly in line with what is seemly for a woman my age....so "viking" seems to fit.

As a result, half the people I know alerted me to this new series on History Channel. It started last night...sorry I'm late.

/Gunslinger