History Summarized: Vikings

Grab your swords and hop in your longboats, because it's time to learn a thing or two about the Vikings!

*This video was shortened from its version as originally posted.

This video was produced with assistance from the Boston University Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.

Thanks to patron Karl Erik L Hoftaniska for suggesting this topic!

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[finnChitwood]

in the words of a brilliant icelandic magazine: “viking was a seasonal, temporary occupation, not an ethnicity.”

[kangaskhan]

5:43
King of France: Paris is a beautiful place and I hope it stays that way forever
Vikings: *hello would you like to talk about our lord and savior Odin*

[narri]

no mention of the Varangian Guard or my favorite ancient graffiti, the runes in the Hagia Sophia, that basically translate to "Halvdan Carved These Runes" or "Halvdan was here"

[nickschlack]

Fun Fact: The Vikings were a surprisingly hygienic people, bathing every Saturday and even bleaching there hair blonde to prevent the spread of lice while the rest of Medieval Europe bathed much less often.

[disartster]

So, Blue has awesome hair, is incredibly smart, does fencing for hobby AND can sing? #BlueForNextDisneyPrince

[ayesha]

5:00 I love the Viking ships! I only realized how intense they really were when in the show Vikings, Aelle says something to the effect of 'They have ships that can both go across the ocean and up a river?'

How cool is that! I bet other peoples didn't even think such a small kind of ship could cross an ocean.

7:31 ...Damn. He missed home by a mile, and then some.

[ajaxmaye]

Blue: "Let's you and I pretend that none of this ever happened. K? Cool!"

Me: "I don't think so, Bluevakin."

[samlocke]

Even when Christianity tried to convert vikings, I would say the vikings got the last laugh out of it. In that sort of "Sure buddy, we'll totally be Christians" sort of way.

[izzy]

Damn. The Vikings were badass. Smart AND savage! That's one hell of a combo. Also, I would KILL to have Blue sing some Skyrim songs.

[Tetsulot]

Please upload a video where you you sing Dovahkiin

[ladylucario]

Who else wants blue to sing the full song? I love his singing voice. Both he and red are really good.

[GenkiGanbare]

"Stamford Bridge was the last huzzah of the Viking Age"
Varangian Guard: *sad raiding noises*

[konradkruk]

Um.. actually about Rus - it was not a colony, but an east Slavic kingdom, well proto-kingdom . Scandinavians were a key part of noble society primarily because of trade roots . Also there's half-legendary story of "Summon of Varyags" (I don't know official English translation but in Russian it's called "Призвание варягов") summary of this story - In the time of turmoil the Slav people summoned a Scandinavian nobility to rule over them . We don't know very much about it, because we have only one historical manuscript that describes this period in the history of Rus ("The Tale of Past Years") . But it definitely wasn't a colony

[JoseRamirez-ksnv]

I love how both of you and Shad shouted each other out in a video lol the whole reason I discovered this channel was from a Shad video

[thetorivor]

Swedish Pagans, Marching ashore! Forged in Vallhalla, by the hammer of Thor!

[thomasgaita]

But how could the Vikings sail around England when it's so small? After all, it's only a city.

[alexandrapedersen]

Excuse me, did you just make Scania, Halland, and Blekinge part of Viking-age Sweden? My Danish pride is hurting. Well, more than usually.

[MoiraMcGill]

A viking (or vikingr) simply refereed to a sea traveller. It didn't mean "raider". The fact that they did raid places was beside the matter and due to their views of innangarðr and utangarðr.
Innangarðr (literally meaning "inner a complicated word) consisting of everything they knew, respected, and thought to be civil.
It's the "inner circle" while utangarðr was the "outer circle". It was the opposite, the "outside" of everything, and this made it right for the taking (to them) because they didn't view them as "civil", or in the favour of their deities(?)*
The nordic people were very clean compared to hydrophobic European and had much more equal right when it came to the sexes, and even slaves, so I honestly can't blame them for finding Eurpoeans to be "uncivil" despite their polished appearances. Not to mention they made themselves needlessly uncomfortable x.x

*though, as a pagan myself, believe "mythology" were merely abstract stories/explanations about life and the universe that evolved over time (through the warping of the original) until it was completely misunderstood later on - like with most mythologies. If interested, I do have some proof for this. And, yes, I know you make brief mention of this.

As a lover of ancient languages and beliefs (and their connections to the modern) I felt I should give that distinction.

[marcopohl]

a. why would we want to forget the intro ever happened? you sung it pretty well in my opinion!

b. nice shout-out to shad. he did the same for you, so i guess this has just come full circle :)

[okaminodin]

Yay!! Vikings!! *sings "We are here, to drink your beer..."*