Vikings Tv Series Historical Evaluation

Vikings were Norse seafarers, mainly speaking the Old Norse language, who raided and traded from their Northern European homelands across wide areas of northern, central, eastern and western Europe, during the late 8th to late 11th centuries.
Facilitated by advanced sailing and navigational skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Following extended phases of exploration, expansion and settlement, Viking (Norse) communities were established in diverse areas of north-western Europe, European Russia, the North Atlantic islands and as far as the north-eastern coast of North America.
Popular, modern conceptions of the Vikings often strongly differ from the complex picture that emerges from archaeology and historical sources.

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[JuanCarlos-sqvf]

The reason they go with little or no clothes is because all nords have 50% frost resistance

[tiffsaver]

I laughed my head off when you mentioned how they always act surprised when they get their own women pregnant... classic truth.

[aaronseet]

"we'll read a history book"

Boy oh boy you'll be shocked by the sheer (horrifying) number of people who just watch TV/movies and regard them as facts.

[v.sandrone]

Roland has strange metabolism. He wears warm clothes in Francia but less clothes in Scandinavia.

[swedishmetalbear]

I actually know one of the people who excavated the Swedish city of Birka and who directly studied
and recreated textiles found there. My other half is also studying textile history at Uppsala university and is well learned in the field.. You are 100% correct in what you say. They generally wore very fine Linen close to their bodies and in summer this was probably common (The temperature would be as it is today and during summer here. The medium temperature might be 20, but it can reach into the 30’s like in Italy. And because of the long sunlight hours in summer it is warm around the clock, even at night.

The richer even had silk.

(people are still unsure how they got the silk and from where) But there is a strong possibility that the Norse had their own ties to the orient and silk road and were doing their own trading before even Marco Polo did. (Archaeological DNA finds of mummified corpses of caucasians found in northwestern China seem to support this theory.) And some people here in Scandinavia and Finland as
also seem to have some DNA mixed with far east asian populations.

During cold weather they wore wool, skins and furs over their linens. There is even evidence that they felted wool for clothing. And as you said. Bright colours would be common. Dyeing was very common. In particular blue, red, green, yellow and orange.

There is also the myth that they were poor. There is no evidence that they were poor. Population was quite low. But the people were probably quite rich anyway.

Now to the metals. Armor was probably more common than some people believe. The grounds here in Scandinavia is quite rich in metals. Iron, copper, gold and silver are more common here than the rest of Europe. I have myself held iron nails taken up from the ground made by a blacksmith in Birka 1400 years earlier. So people going out on viking raids. Were probably sponsored armor.

Also.. Berzerker. Is from the norse word ”bärsärk” (still used in the swedish language).. The word in itself means. ”To wear armor....” Bära = wear/carry and särk is an old word for armor (probably chain mail). Hence ”armoured warrior”. Not to lose you mind. This ties in with archeological finds that I was saying earlier. Armour was much more common than in mainland Europe. It was easier to get. Probably cheaper than on mainland Europe. And probably has something to do with that they were a lower population with more resources than other parts.. Probably even the ”farmers” had to learn to somewhat fight and defend themselves when they were younger because of sparce population.

On a side note. It is also likely that most people could read and write using the runic system which was used at the time. Meaning there was some sort of ”schooling” going on.

Pretty interesting for ”barbarians”... Don’t you think?

[TheSkaarup]

Im from Denmark and I approve this message, the series does damage the truth and because the world simply dont know and now they really dont know the real facts anymore.. its good that you can bring some sense to the table...

[wolffe]

It's still more historically accurate than that BBC documentary that had black Norman warriors and clergy.

[foreststalkerbrothers]

Vikings series suprised me quite a bit.

With that ammount of time-missplaced armor and equipment i almost expected norsemen to have muskets

[Jaeger_Bishop]

*Doing homework, sees Metatron upload on his dashboard* Well...it's kinda like homework, this guy's a teacher after all.

[solomonkain]

It always irritated me that quite literally no one on the show, ever wore a helmet. Correct me if I am wrong... Shield walls, mighty lords etc, no helmets.
Plus, a lord/King such as Ragnar going around wearing silly clothes that did not represent his power. I mean he doesn't have incredible chain Armour, boots, rings, fancy helmet etc.

[JoelAdamson]

I did not want to watch this show for years. Being an Anglo-Saxon history buff, I just thought it would be too full of historical problems for me to enjoy. My wife convinced me to watch it and BOOM! The characters were great, the conflict was so touching, and the acting is fantastic. One of my favorites.

[gripen-swe]

Finally someone pointing out the Burgonet Helmets. That was a major error and a ridiculous descision by the film-makers. As you said, it's a Renaissance/early modern helmet, not even Medieval. As an example: musketeers, pikemen, arquebusiers, cuirassiers/cavalry and rodeleros, i.e Conquistadors, Landsknechts, soldiers from the 30 Years War and the English Civil War, would have been the ones using this type of helmet.

[OrkarIsberEstar]

"The gods are protecting them" sounds like plot armor to me.

[Dyrlingur]

My forefathers have lived in Iceland for over 1000 years, I have over 1000 year old pure Icelandic blood through my veins. I am so happy with this truth. Thank you very much.

I remember your videos when I watched you a lot when I was watching Spartacus and you were talking about your home country Italy and the Roman history. You were the one who got me interested in the tv show "Rome" 2006 if I remember the years right. 2006-2007. Your videos were of course not from 2006 :D However your interest in your heritage is great as I am proud of my Nordic heritage. I am literally over 1000 year old pure blooded Icelandic human being. With probably more than 1000 year older purer blooded Nordic on top of my Icelandic heritage.

I am not sure how youtube made me loose your channel! The greatest truth is of course they had armor. They were known to fight only when they knew they would win. As in, if they believed they would lose. They would not fight. So it´s true, they were not running around like some extremists calling out Allah Akbar and dying after one or two kills. They did everything to be the superior force, the force that would win the battle. Survive the battle. They never just "ran with it", trusting the Gods. They trusted themselves and their tactics. You are spot on, on so many things. Like Ragnar and Rollo living on the same timeline. So far from the truth. They were not brothers. They never even met. The mail vs leather. Helms vs skulls. Death vs life. I like how you literally got everything right!

Well done!

[lonewanderer]

Saddest thing for me is the History Channel badge these dramas are released under. This gives viewers the false impression that any historical accuracy or due diligence is paid by researchers and producers. The falsehoods portrayed then become "fact". Essentially this is re-writing history for no good reason and turning it in to Fantasy-Sci-Fi genre.

[MattsGreatHall]

It would be amazing if there was a show that was completely historically accurate in terms of weapons, costumes, etc., but the show is very watchable nonetheless. I think it's in the same category as Game of Thrones--very entertaining for what it is. Good analysis, brother!

[Erik-vpbm]

As I usually say, "I can recommend Vikings, it's a great show, just try not to learn too much about vikings from it".

[Luziferrum]

About the helmets: Lack of helmets is a problem in almost every movie set in medieval or ancient times. There are exceptions however (like Troy ). The excuse, that the audience needs to be able to recognize their hero, does not convince me, because in historical times the soldiers also needed to identify their leader. This however did not keep their leader from running across the battlefield with no helmet on. Instead we see horsetails, feathers, polished gold an silver on historical helmets, even bright coloured paint. And then there are also banners of course, which are also rarely portrayed in the way they functioned on a battlefield.
CONCLUSION: Give everybody head protection, even if its just leather or wood or a turban and give the fanciest, most flamboyant helmet to the hero. He can still take it off during dialogues.

[boonekeller]

Metatron, Shadiversity, and Skallagrim.
Killers of misinformation

[wraith]

"Double katana wielding ninja orcs" 🤣😂😅😁😁🤣😂😁🤣😂😁😅😅😅