Conference turris::scandia

	"Viking" is an activity, not a name for a group of people.  Many
of the old norse sagas refer to people 'going Viking'.  Its anology in
English would be raiding.  It has in recent times come to be associated
with the people who did it, thus a Viking is someone who went Viking
(someone who Vikes?  :) :) ).

Mark

  Re: .1:
  
  While I agree that 'viking' has seen use as a verb as described, 
  I think you have your chronology backwards: The people came first,
  *then* the reference to (a subset of) their activities.
           
  I would direct your attention to the etymology supplied for the
  word, 'Viking' in Webster's Third New International Dictionary
  of the English Language Unabridged, 1976.
  
  "...[old Norse vikingr, probably from vik small inlet, bay + ingr
  - ing - more at WICK (creek)]"
  
  I submit that the term 'Viking' originally meant the equivalent
  of "creekling" or the people dwelling on the creek.
  
  Now, in Sweden, the term 'vik' does not mean just any creek,
  but a special kind of creek - actually an inlet to the sea, as
  I said in .0.  I have been taken and shown one so I have a visual
  image of just what a 'vik' is - even if I find it difficult to
  describe.
                                                                  
  Neil

  Webster's also describes the Old Norse "vik" as a verb meaning
  "to move" or "to change."  Thus 'Viking' may be interpreted as
  equivalent to the English, "rover" or "wanderer."  This is certainly
  consistent with practice at the time of the Vikings whereby some
  of the sons (those who hadn't any land holdings, or lost them
  in family disputes) would take off for parts unknown - to 'go
  a'viking' as mentioned in .1.
  
  I will persist, however, in my opinion that the term Vikings  
  should not be used exclusively to mean Scandinavian raiders and 
  plunderers.
  
  Neil
  
  

  Here are some excepts from a Fact Sheet/ Denmark entitled,
  "The Vikings in the context of their age."  It was written
  by Thorkild Ramskou, the Keeper of the Viking Collections 
  at the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen.

  What happened in Europe in [the period 800-1050 A.D.] can be 
  studied in written contemporary sources, which tell of plunder-
  ings, ruined abbeys, etc., but in fact these disasters were
  only the sad consequences of the struggle to dominate trade,
  that everlasting reason for war even today.

  But it is easy to surmise that the observations found in foreign
  literary sources are seldom objective.  Raiders and conquerors
  have never been, and never will be, popular.  Our ancestors are
  not described in friendly terms.

  Of course there were hard-bitten men among the Vikings, more or
  less like the ones shown on the tourist posters.  But in order
  to understand them properly, it is necessary to know the archae-
  ological finds in Scandinavia and the contemporary literature
  that has mostly been preserved in Iceland and Norway.

  The greater part of this consists of oral traditions mainly 
  written down in the 12th and 13th centuries, and dealing with
  both the history and religion in Scandinavia from about the 
  9th century onwards.  The archaeological finds show us the
  Vikings dressed rather like other people.  They followed the
  fashions of Paris, wearing long woolen trousers and a shirt
  or either wool or silk, a fact proved by fragments that have
  been found in their tombs.

  In his belt the free man carried a sword, which except for
  the hilt was frequently of Frankish origin.  In a number of
  men's tombs, small scales have been found: unnecessary things
  for a pirate, who in theory take what he can lay hold of, yet
  indispensable to a merchant, since, coins being hardly ever of
  exact weight, it was necessary to weigh them when settling
  accounts.

  On his shoulders the Viking wore a mantle of silk or wool, and
  on his head a fur cap.  His horse, which was as richly equipped 
  as its master, with harness mounting of gilded bronze and iron
  stirrups with silver inlay.

  Women's costume corresponded to the men's, being made of silk,
  flax, or wool and embellished with the indispensable jewelry,
  large fibulaes and bracelets of silver or gold.  On the woman's
  belt hung the keys of the house, indicating that she was respon-
  sible for the home; when her husband was away on business 
  journeys she would administer the farm.  In short, men and 
  women enjoyed equal rights.

  It was the natural conditions which impelled the Vikings to
  become sailors, but they worked the plow with the same
  expertness as the tiller.  They knew every country and were 
  well used to welcoming strangers of all nationalities and
  religions.  

  The epic poem call "Havamal" (the statement of the sublime God)
  shows that the Vikings had a code of decent behavior.  Among
  other things, it says that it does not matter that one's clothes
  are simple if they are kept clean.  

  There were bathing establishments in connection with farms, and
  contemporary English chronicles tell in amazement of the 
  pleasure the Danes found in bathing.  A host would offer his
  guest a bath and give him the best place in the house, so that
  he would feel at home.

  As for drinking, moderation was to be recommended.  To refuse
  drink was impolite, but it was wrong to get drunk, and the 
  next day one would regret the follies one committed while
  drunk.  It was sensible to go to bed before getting so far,
  and nobody would blame you for doing so.

  It is forbidden to start arguing with anybody.  One's only 
  right is to defend oneself or take revenge if attacked or 
  insulted.  

  The Vikings judged people more by their personalities than by
  their social status.  Everybody had nicknames.  The Vikings
  had only one true name of their own, and so it was necessary
  to distinguish a certain man named Svend the son of Harald
  from Svend the son of Bj�rn, for example.

  Alternatively, a man would be given a surname according to
  his characteristics: Harald Bluetooth and Svend Forkbeard are
  well known examples.  Sometimes a place name was added to the
  real name: Harald of Greenland cannot be mistaken for Harald
  of the Vik (a province in Norway).

  A woman called Thora was surnamed "Sun of Lunde," thus showing
  that she was beautiful and that she lived at Lunde.  This was
  flattering, but "Gudrun Nightsun" is more notorious and we can
  guess that the lady in question would be a woman of easy 
  virtue who would sweeten the life of a foreign merchant during
  the long nights of winter.  Her surname not only implies 
  contempt but also facetiousness, indicating that, although her
  behavior brought disapproval, people winked at it.

  Vanity was never spared.  For example, a certain Thorkild was
  so fond of clothes and jewelry that he was called Thorkild 
  the Magnificent.  

  Poets were highly esteemed; the Scandinavians loved their 
  mother tongue, and bards knowing the language and able to 
  express themselves eloquently, were richly rewarded by their
  patrons.  Poor Audun, however, was unlucky to be nicknamed
  "the bad bard" when it was discovered that he had borrowed
  some lines from another poet.  Haldor, who wrote poems 
  containing lots of words, was called Rhyme Smith.

  But there were also surnames which indicated respect, like
  Ari the Wise, Bjarnhardt the Intelligent, and Bart the 
  Learned in Law.  Star Oddi was able to calculate the calendar
  from the position of the stars, and of course he had knowledge
  of navigation, which indeed to the Vikings was indispensable.

  Constipation Hedin probably had a gastro-intestinal problem.
  Eystein Badfart was not exactly airtight; nor was his 
  contemporary, Breakwind Eustein.  While we are on this part
  of the anatomy, we also have Bard the Arse and Amund the 
  Wag-Arse.

  With these examples I hope to have shown that these is not a
  great deal of difference between the Scandinavians of today
  and the good old Vikings of before 1066 and all that; though
  it is easy to understand how the Vikings frightened the 
  chroniclers of their time.  These historians were mainly 
  monks shut up in their monasteries, terrified of the 'heathens'
  without knowing or understanding them.  

  Occupying troops, whatever their nationality, will never be
  popular.  Those who have handed down their version of history
  to posterity knew the Vikings only from the raids on which
  they were themselves the victims, but it is as unfair to 
  judge nations by individual actions as it is to draw con-
  clusions from fragmentary evidence.  It is necessary to carry
  out serious studies.

    Located in the Oslo suburb of Bygd�y, this museum contains a
    priceless record of life and death in Viking times.  The collection
    is based on viking burial ships unearthed earlier in this century, 
    and on the artifacts discovered with these ships.
    
    The featured display is of the famous Oseberg Ship, the most perfectly
    preserved viking ship in the world - an incredibly beautiful design
    achievement!
    
    The museum is open from 10:00 to 18:00 in summer; 11:00 to 15:00
    in winter.  Admission is less than US$1.
    
    Neil

    On the subject of museums, I should also mention the (relatively)
    new Viking Museum at York in England. As a result of extensive
    archeological excavations of medieval Viking settlements in the
    York area, this museum has been built to show the results. Large
    parts of the museum are underground, built around the actual
    excavations, and recreate the "sights and sounds" of the original
    settlement.
    
    If you are in the general area it is a "must see" experience. (general
    area can be a loose term: there are good fast trains from London,
    making a day trip to York feasable.)
    
    /. Ian .\
    
    PS if you are also a train buff visit the railway museum in York
    too.

    Sorry if Im repeating something in a later note, but NEXT UNREAD
    from note 1.0 onwards leads to such things  :-)
    
    Couldn't agree more about York  ( J�rvik , if I remember correctly)
    One other very good Viking Ship Museum is in Roskilde in Denmark.
    Its only about � hour from Copenhagen (sorry english spelling all
    over!). There are (bits of) 3 or 4 boats and a film about the discovery
    and excavation of them. Very interesting!
    
    Greetings from Munich, Rob Beardsworth

    Re: .2 and .3 especially:
    
    In Icelandic (a language that has remained virtually unchanged for at
    least the last 1000 years) the word 'vikungur' simply means "seaman." 

    
�    < Note 12.8 by TLE::SAVAGE "Neil, @Spit Brook" >
�                            -< Vikings were seamen >-
�
�    Re: .2 and .3 especially:
�    
�    In Icelandic (a language that has remained virtually unchanged for at
�    least the last 1000 years) the word 'vikungur' simply means "seaman." 
�
 
    Well, actually, I'm not familiar with `vikungur' but v�kingur is
    literally one who is from the v�k (bay) or (as usually is the case, lives
    and makes his livelyhood there).  Sj�madur is literally (and in
    everyday usage) a seaman.  There is a theory that the name v�kingur
    actually means those that raided the people living there (in the v�k).
    It is my impression that the Scandinavians more or less agree on
    this theory...
    
    As an aside, it is entirely ok to `say' one is, f.e., a Reykjav�kingur
    if he is from Reykjav�k, although more common is borgari (as in
    Reykjav�kurborgari), because that means citizen of Reykav�k (sort of
    like Bostonian). Although actually, when people ask you where you are
    from (hvadan ertu?) one doesn't say "I'm a citizen of X" or "I'm a
    Xian", one replies "I'm from X". Written and spoken languages are
    different everywhere, it appears. 
    
    oh well,
    
    	�g bid eftir til ad hafa ISO LATIN-1 till thess ad geta skrifad
    	� islenzku! 
                   
    	cheers,
    
    		\rikki

    Re: .9:
    
    I have no quarrel with your scholarship, Rikki. But I think I owe
    everyone a bit of explanation about mine.
    
    On pages 1345/1346 of Volume 1 of The Europa Yearbook are listed
    periodicals published in Iceland. The editors appear to have been very
    careful getting the characters right [for example, �rval (Digest)], so 
    I believed it safe to trust their accuracy on the following entry:
    
>>  Vikungur (Seaman): Barugata 11, Reykjavik; 10 a year            
    
    Now, I have no Icelandic dictionary (only a Swedish one for which the
    translation for viking is viking), so I have no way of independently
    confirming the English equivalent.  Perhaps this is literary license?

    
    It's possible that it's an archaic spelling;  I'll look into my
    �slendingas�gur to see if I can find it.  I'm curious what this
    entry in the book really is... It just lists an address and a count
    (of what -- vikings?) 
    
    Oh well, the only old spelling I'm familiar with is v�kingr.  This
    is really interesting, though; I've also a popular book on viking
    history, maybe it'll have some thing too.  I thought I looked up
    vikungur in my I-E dictionary, but'll try that again also...
    
    BTW - �rval is a publication like a cross between LIFE magazine
    and Reader's Digest.  

    Re: .11:
    
>                                               I'm curious what this
>   entry in the book really is... It just lists an address and a count
>   (of what -- vikings?)                     
    
    The count presumable indicates the number of issues per year; that is,
    Vikungur comes out in print ten times a year. 

    Group soc.culture.nordic

    From: [email protected] (Lyle Davis)
    Subject: The things you learn!!
    Organization: People-Net [pnet12], Del Mar, CA

    Things I didn't know . . .
        . . . until I read "The Norse Myths" by Kevin Crossley-Holland . .

    The word Viking, meaning "bay-men" or "fighting men" or "settling men",
    refer collectively to the Danes, Norwegians and Swedes, and for the
    "Viking Age" which describes the period 780-1070.

    (Also, I had not known until going to Norway in 1988 that "Viking" is
    pronounce "Veeking", not with a long "I" as we Americans pronounce it).

    Why did the Vikings go on their raids?  Scandinavia was       
    overpopulated and the system of primogeniture forced younger sons into
    trying their fortunes overseas.  Then, the expanding trade routes     
    attracted Viking merchants and pirates.

    The Viking ships, clinker built (with iron rivets linking the
    overlapping planks) were both beautiful in line and very pliable in
    rough waters.  Propelled by oarsmen, perhaps fifteen or sixteen on
    either side in a fighting ship, sitting in an enclosed deck, and by a
    square sail, they would set off on their explorations and raids.  The
    warriors colorful shields would hang in a row over the railings.

    The Rus, or Swedish Vikings, were the ones that gave their name to what
    we know today as Russia.  At one time, the Emperor of Russia had his
    own guard comprised exclusively of Vikings.

    An Arab diplomat and diarist, Ibn Fadlan, described the Vikings he
    encountered on the Volga in 922:

    "I saw the Rus when they arrived on their trading mission and anchored
    at the River Atul (Volga).  Never had I seen people of more perfect
    physique; they are tall as date-palms, and reddish in color.  They wear
    neither coat nor mantle, but each man carries a cape which covers one
    half of his body, leaving one hand free . . .  Each woman carries on
    her bosom a container made of iron, silver, copper or gold - its size
    and substance depending on her man's wealth."

    Sailing west, the Vikings (mainly west Norwegians) colonized Iceland in
    the late ninth and early tenth centuries.

    While the Vikings had ferocious reputations as warriors, in truth, they
    were for the most part, leaders of peaceful lives, hunting, fishing and
    above all farming, for most of the time.  Both in Scandinavia and where
    they settled the social structure was based on three strata: earls or
    warriors, peasants, and serfs.

    The serfs had a bad time of it.  They were manual laborers and were
    never free.  In the eddaic poem "Rigsthula" Thrall and his wife Thir
    and their nineteen children would have lived in a single stinking hut,
    made with timber or with turf and clay, shared with such animals as
    they possessed - - cattle certainly, perhaps sheep or goats or pigs,
    and maybe a cat or a dog.  No patron god guarded the lives of these
    most luckless members of the community.

    The great majority of the Norsemen, however, undoubtedly belonged to
    the peasant class whose patron was Thor.  They were smallholders and
    freemen.

    The early Vikings probably had a daily diet that included wholemeal
    bread made of rye; oat and barley porridge; fish (especially herrings);
    the meat of sheep, lamb, goat, horse, ox, calf, and pig; cheese,
    butter, and cream; and for drink, beer, mead, and (among the wealthy)
    wine.

    "Rigsthula" gives an elaborate picture of the fine halls, refined lives
    and sophisticated activites of the aristocratic third class, the earls
    or warriors whose patron was Odin.

    The Vikings tended to be fatalists.  This predilection is well noted by
    Skirnir in the Norse Myth "Skirner's Journey":  "Fearlessness is better
    than a faint heart for any man who puts his nose out of doors.  The
    length of my life and the day of my death were fated long ago."

    UUCP: uunet!serene!pnet12!lyled
    ARPA: [email protected]
    INET: [email protected]                                                

And then there were the Danish vikings. When they weren't 
fighting with the Norwegian vikings they were busy raiding 
and/or colonizing England and Ireland. (Thus the danelaw in
England.) 

I've always speculated over the name England as it is made up of 
2 Danish words which in turn give a good description of the 
English countryside:

       ENG = Danish for Heath or Moor

       LAND = Danish Country

       ENGLAND = Danish for the country of the heath? or moors?

Also, concerning the vikings serving in foreign imperial guards: 
It was the Byzantine Emperor of Constantinople who used vikings
in his praetorian guard. Viking artifacts and such have been
found in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey). (National Geographic 
touched upon this in its article on the Rus a while back.)

    Re: .14:
    
    >  And then there were the Danish vikings. . . .
    
    Reply .4 to this topic is devoted to these.

    I must pick a nit here.
    
    "England" comes frome Angle-land, (not eng-land); however, be not
    perturbed from a Danish-patriotic viewpoint, because...
    
      Where did the Angles come from? (You guessed it, Jylland, or Jutland
    to you English-speakers)
    
    More details on this can be found in the conference ANTIQUITY (don't
    remember the exact node name but I think it is SX4GTE. I'll check);
    there is a base-note (no 65) "Origins of the English peoples" that
    will really fill in on the details.
    
    As to emperors of the Rus. The first Tsar was Rurik, a Swede, who
    first established a Viking (or Rus) dominated society in Novgorod.
    Igor (Inge, his brother or son) made himself leader of Kiev, which
    became the first "Russian" kingdom).  More about this in the conference
    STKCSC::HISTORY, for all you history fans.  In other words, you
    are both right (.-1 and .-2); the "Varangian Guard" was in
    Constantinople (Miklagard), but in truth, the first tsars and their
    retinues were also Scandinavian (in this case Swedish).
    
    The term "Rus" exists today inthe form of "Roslag" (area north of
    Stockholm) and in "Ruotsi", the Finnish name for Sweden.
    
    Mauritz
    

    ref .16
    
    The correct conference for older history is...
    
          SX4GTO::ANTIQUITY  (erroneously given as "SX4GTE...")
    

    Mauritz
    

    
    From: [email protected] (Mats Winberg)
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    Subject: Re: Swedish Vikings?
    Date: 8 Feb 91 12:37:48 GMT
    Sender: [email protected]
    Organization: Ericsson
 
    [email protected] (John Ruckstuhl) writes:
 
    >My Swedish office-mate claims several times each day that he has Viking
    >blood, in order to explain his unusual behavior.
  
    >Since he is not credible, I ask the readers for a short history lesson.
    >I will enjoy both historically accurate responses and culturally biased 
    >amusing responses.
 
    >Best Regards,
    >ruck
    >--
    >John R Ruckstuhl, Jr
    University of Florida		[email protected], uflorida!ruck
 
 
   The Viking Age in Scandinavia started around 800 A.D and ended in the
   mid eleventh century. To be exact, one often dates  the beginning
   of the age to the attack on the Lindisfarne monastery in 796.
   The end in the West is dated to 1066 when Harald Haardraade of Norway
   was defeated by Harold Godwinsson at Stamfordbridge in England. In
   the east the end is ca. 1040-50 with Ingvar den Vittfarnes ill-fated
   viking journey which ended in disaster somewhere in Caucasus.
 
   From the start the viking journeys were private enterprises for
   trade and looting. These objectives were often mixed, you traded
   with the strong and robbed from the weak. As the political
   unification proceeded in the Scandinavian countries, the kings
   and 'jarls' took command over huge fleets of Viking ships and
   embarked om combined trading and political expeditions. The Viking
   influence in England, Ireland and Normandy grew from ca. 900 and onwards
   to the point where they imposed themselves as kings (G�nge-Rolf
   in Normandy, Sven Tvesk�gg, Knut den Store (Canute), Torkel H�ge
   in England among others). There were also emigration from Scandinavia
   to England, Ireland and Normandy.
 
   This side of the Viking Age is well-known in the Anglo-Saxon world,
   naturally. That there was an equally strong push eastward from 
   Sweden into Russia, Ukraine, and down to Greece is obviously not
   known. Indeed the the word "Russia" is said to stem from the word
   'rus' which meant 'men from Roslagen' which is a county in Uppland,
   Sweden. 
 
   The Swedish Vikings travelled the rivers into Russia and established
   kingdoms and strongpoints in Kiev and Novgorod among other places.
   They also travelled all the way down to Constantinople (Istanbul
   nowadays, Miklagaard to the Swedes). In Miklagaard they often
   served as bodyguards to the byzantine emperors. As foreigners they
   were more trusted upon i.e they were not likely to be involved
   in the intrigues of the byzantine court. In Sweden the bodyguards
   were called 'vaeringar'.
 
   Some of the Swedes may even have travelled all the way to Baghdad,
   there are some evidence of that in Arabic annals.
 
   To give some culturally biased information, I just want to point
   out that there are indications that the Swedes even back then
   were considered to be the most important people of Scandinavia.
   When the Norwegian, Danish and Swedish kings met at the connecting
   borders near present days Gothenburg, it was only the Swedish king
   who remained sitting on his horse, so that he was above the others.
   And Snorre Sturlason takes great pain to connect Harald Haarfagers
   ancestry with that of the Ynglinga dynasty, a swedish dynasty.
 
   If you still don't believe that the Swedes were more than "Vikings-
   wannabees" come see our thousands of rune-stones from the Viking
   Age of which Norway and Denmark have but a few. We are even today
   finding new ones, when the new freeway to Arlanda Airport was
   built last year, the construction workers found a stone which
   was raised in honor of one of the participants of Ingvar den
   Vittfarnes journey. This stone will be placed at the departure hall
   in Arlanda.
 
   I will conclude by reciting my absolute favourite stone
   'Hoegbystenen', which in my opinion shows what a violent, turbulent
   time it was a thousand years ago:
 
 
	Gulle, a good farmer sons had five
	Asmund, mighty warrior fell at Fyris,
	Kare in Bornholm,
	Halvdan in a duel,
	..... in Greece,
	Also dead is Bue
 
 
   (Fyris is a place near Uppsala, where the battle between king
   Erik Segersaell and his nephew Styrbjoern took place ca 990.
   Styrbjoern lost both the battle and his life since he in the
   beginning of the battle started laughing at his enemies old-fashioned
   way of warfare. He got a spear through his throat. Sens moral:
   Never laugh at your enemies, even if they seem harmless to you.)
 
   
*********************
Mats Winberg
[email protected]
********************
                                                  

   From: [email protected] (N.O. Monaghan)
   Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
   Subject: Re: Early Viking "history" books (Re: History quarrels)
   Date: 3 Sep 91 14:25:01 GMT
   Organization: Computer Science, Heriot-Watt U., Scotland
 
    In article <[email protected]> [email protected]
    (Laszlo C Balint) writes:

   >Does anyone has some clue, how big part of Viking history was written
   >(originally) by Icelanders? Were they all guests of Norwegian (and
   >perhaps Danish and even other Viking) kings? All the books, I have
   >seen so far, are full of "according to the book of X Yson from
   >Iceland, written in 12??"-type references and almost nothing else.
   >
   >BTW are these orignals translated (at least partially) to English, or
   >should I learn Icelandic (:-) to read these?
 
    Most Scandinavian sources do in fact come from Iceland. 
 
    A few English translations are:
 
   The Confederates and Hen-Thorir: tr Hermann Palsson (Edinburgh, 1975)
   Egil's Saga: tr Hermann Palsson and P. Edwards (Penguin)
   Eirik the Red and other Icelandic Sagas: tr G. Jones (OUP, 1980)
   Hrafnkel's Saga and other Stories: tr Hermann Palsson (Penguin)
   Hrolf Gautrekson. A Viking Romance: tr Hermann Palsson & Paul Edwards
       (Edinburgh, 1972)
   King Harald's Saga: tr Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson (Penguin)
   Laxdaela Saga: tr Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson (Penguin)
   Njal's Saga: tr Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson (Penguin)
   The Poetic Edda: tr HA Bellows (New York, 1968)
   The Orkneyinga Saga: tr AB Taylor
   Orkneyinga Saga: tr Hermann Palsson & Paul Edwards (Penguin, 1981)
   The Saga of the Jomsvikings: tr NF Blake (London, 1962)
   Snorri Sturlusson. Heimskringla. History of the Kings of Norway: tr LM
       Holland (Austin, Texas, 1964)
   Stories from the Sagas of Kings: tr A. Faulker (Viking Society for
       Northern Research, 1980)
   The Vinland Sagas. The Norse Discovery of America: tr Magnus Magnusson and
       Hermann Palsson (Penguin)
 
    And the following has both texts and translations:
 
    Gudbrand Vigfusson & F. York Powell: Origines Islandicae (Oxford, 1905,
    2 vols)
 
    Nils.

    Beware that the following comments are not backed by authoritative
    citations. So some corroboration may be in order.
    


   From: [email protected] (Carsten S�rensen)
   Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
   Date: 28 Nov 91 10:19:27 GMT
   Sender: [email protected]
   Organization: Department of Computer Science, U of Copenhagen
 
 
    Norwegians conquered Scotland, Ireland, Iceland and Greenland. Sweden
    sailed down the russian rivers and founded Russia and attacked the east
    roman empire (Konstantinople), and became the vaerings of Miklagaard
    (elite-guard of Constantinople). "Rus" is said to be another name for
    swedish AND danish warriors and merchants in Russia.

    BUT Rurik who led the first "Rus" was a dane.  Regnar Lodbrog who
    conquered England the first time and raided Paris was a dane. (If his
    name is just a legend, it was still danes who did it). Horik who raided
    and burned the archbishops town Hamborg, was a danish king.

    The dukes of Friesland and Valland (in the Netherlands, Belgium and
    France) were danish rivals to Horik. The duke of Normandy was either
    danish or norwegian, but I think it is more reasonable to say he was
    danish. (Remember the DANEgeld). Harald, Bluetooth, Svend Tveskaeg, and
    Knud the Great, who conquered England the second time, were danish
    kings. Ogier le Danois, who was the greatest paladin of the frankish
    emperor, Carl the Great (or Carolus Magnus), was a danish prince.
 
    In a religious perspective you can see the same things: The major god
    in Denmark was Odin, god of war, wisdom, and magic, and the preferred
    god of kings. He was ancestor of the danish skjoldunge- dynasty. In
    Sweden Frey (Ing or Yngwe), god of growth, peace and wealth, was most
    common. He was the ancestor of the Ynglinge-dynasty. In Norway I am not
    sure, but I think Thor, god of peasants, viking rebels and adventurers
    was preferred.
 
                     Carsten Soerensen, true danish viking

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: [email protected] (Torgrim Andersen)
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    Date: 28 Nov 91 11:48:33 GMT
    Sender: [email protected] (NetNews Administrator)
    Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
 
 
    Looks like you forgot that Norwegian vikings went to New Zealand,
    France, Gardarrike=Russia and Turkey too!!  That  should settle it all.
    And when it comes to the most prefered gods in Norway they were Odin
    and Tor.  Odin as the most powerful and most  prefered.  Tor, not as
    you claim a god of the peasants, but actually the protector of Midgard,
    the greatest warrior of Valhall and a great warrior god in general. 
    Odin a more  intellectual and wise god, father of Tor.  Vikings chose
    to devote their souls to one of many gods early in their lives. The
    vikings chose Odin, Tor or Ty if they wanted to become warriors.  These
    gods were all common in the Nordic countrys along with Germany, Ireland
    and England.   The sagas of Snorri also tells about Norwegian vikings 
    slaughtering danes :-), but I guess that went the other way too.
   
 
    Torgrim, true NORWEGIAN viking with a TRUE viking name. *GRIN*

    From: [email protected] (Robert Lindh)
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    Subject: Old Viking game : Hneftafl (long)
    Date: 1 Apr 92 17:37:46 GMT
    Sender: [email protected]
    Organization: Ericsson
 
    (Quoted from the magazine of the Swedish Railways, Q1 1992. All
    translation errors from Swedish to English is mine. No, it is not a
    joke, despite the date of my posting. If it is a joke, I am not aware
    that it is.)
 
    Hneftafl - a game for Vikings.   By Jan Af Geijerstam.
 
    In the "Iceland tales", different games are described, among others
    hneftafl, "naevbraede". It was a game for chiefs; the name probably
    refer to that the game was a fight without weapons. According to the
    tales it was just as important to know hneftafl as to be able to fight
    with a sword. At the historic museum in Stockholm you can see 1000-year
    old gamepieces from rich graves in Birka, placed together with the
    necessities of life for the last journey into the realm of death. They
    were probably used to play hneftafl.
 
    Rediscovered after 100 years
    ----------------------------

    The rules of the game was for a long time unknown because all
    information disappeared when chess came to Norden. It was not until an
    english chess- historian connected the findings from Birka with two
    written descriptions, it became clear how the gamepieces should be
    used. One of the descriptions was in a manuscript from Wales from the
    16'th century, the other in Carl von Linne's notes from his lappish
    journey 1732; in his notes the lappish/same game was called tablut.
    Hneftafl demands acumen and skill, just as chess. If you cut out the
    gamepieces you can try the game of the Vikings yourself!
 
    (My description of the game pieces and the board on which they are
    placed: In the game, two groups of fighters meet, one group of grey
    game pieces and one group of red game pieces. The "swedish" group
    consist of one chief and  8 soldiers (gray game pieces, the game piece
    of the chief has an X on top). The "moskovit" group consist of 16
    soldiers (red game pieces). The board consist of 9 x 9 squares. I will
    call the rows A-I and the columns 1-9. The start position of the pieces
    is placed as in the picture below. c is 'castle', rc is 'red camp', gs
    is 'grey soldier'. The grey chief is in the castle. The red soldiers
    are placed one in each 'red camp'.
 
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I
1				rc	rc	rc
 
2					rc
 
3					gs
 
4	rc				gs				rc
 
5	rc	rc	gs	gs	c	gs	gs	rc	rc
 
6	rc				gs				rc
 
7					gs
                                                               
8					rc
 
9				rc	rc	rc
 
    I hope my 'tabulators' work even after sending this article. End of my
    description of the board.)
 
    The chief in the castle
    -----------------------

    Hneftafl is played by two players, one "swedish" and one "moskovit".
    The swedish chief, with 8 grey followers, shall break out of an
    encirclement of 16 red moskovites. The chief, the grey game piece with
    an X, is placed on the center square with two grey soldiers in each
    point of the compass.The 16 "moskovites" are placed in groups of 4 on
    the campsquares furthest out in each point of the compass. The game
    pieces is moves like the rook/castle in chess, vertical or hori-
    sontal. They can not jump over other game pieces. "Swedish" will make
    the first move. You remove your opponents game pieces from the board by
    putting one of your own pieces on each side of the opponents game
    piece.
 
    (I suppose that means that either 2 or 4 of your own game pieces is
    needed to remove one of your opponents pieces. It is not clear from the
    article if 2 or 4 is needed - my comment. The description in swedish is
    "Man sl�r motst�ndarens pj�s genom att st�lla en pj�s p� varje sida om
    honom. Slagna pj�ser tas bort fr�n br�det.")
 
    The chief is without any arms and can not attack. "Swedish" wins when
    the chief has a clear path out from the board, that the "moskovites"
    can not block. When "swedish" discover such an possibility, he must
    warn his opponent. The chief can only be removed from the board if he
    is surrounded by 4 "moskovites", one in each point of the compass. Then
    they win. Exactly the same threat must only be repeated a maximum two
    times in a row. After that the attacker must find some other means of
    attack.
 
    The castle and the camp squares have special rules. No game piece is
    permitted to enter either the castle or any camp square, even if the
    chief and the "moskovites" have left them. The "moskovites" are
    permitted to move to another square within the same camp as long they
    have not left it. From there they can both remove other game pieces and
    be removed themselves. From the chief's point of view, the camp squares
    are hostile, even if the "moskovites" have left them. This means that
    when cornered adjacent to two camp squares the chief can be removed by
    2 "moskovites".
 
    Standard disclaimer: "Only my personal opinion, of course."

    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    From: Jakob Nielsen <[email protected]>
    Sender: [email protected]
    Organization: Bellcore - Bell Communications Research
    Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 17:26:59 GMT
 
    In article <[email protected]> raymond thomas
    pierrehumbert, [email protected] writes:

   >This all whets my appetite for history of the Viking era. Are
   >there any recommendations for good texts for a casual reader?
 
    Else Roesdahl: "The Vikings" (or such, cited from memory). The book is
    by a respected scientist and has been published in both Danish and
    English. I don't have any more info but saw the book in the museum shop
    of the National Museum in Copenhagen. The museum has just been
    renovated and is highly recommended for people with an interest in
    Scandinavian pre-history.

   --
   Jakob Nielsen, [email protected], fax (201)  829-2645
   Bellcore, MRE 2P-370, 445 South St., Morristown, NJ 09792-1910, USA

    The following from soc.culture.nordic expresses a point of view. I
    cannot attest to the accuracy of all, especially since I disaggree with
    the statement that the suffixes "vic", "wik" and "vik" mean trading
    place. [instead these mean a kind of small arm of tidewater indenting
    the coast, too small to be a bay but perhaps useful to construct a
    trading port).  See basenote and also reply .2.
    
    
    From: [email protected] (Till Poser)
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.china,soc.culture.nordic,soc.culture.usa
    Subject: Re: FURTHER THOUGHTS (Viking Savages)
    Date: 11 Aug 92 10:25:42 GMT
    Sender: poser@frzeus (Till Poser)
    Organization: Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron, Experiment ZEUS bei HERA
 
 
    [Significant Viking conquests:] How about England (866-1044)
    (1066-...)? Ireland (about the same period)? Normandy(896-...)? Island
    [Iceland] (860-...)? Apulia and Calabria(1059-1185)? The Kingdom of the
    Two Sicilias(1130-1185)? The Nowgorod Rus (850-...)? The Kiew Rus
    (944-...)? I grant You that that the  Normans/Vikings tended to conquer
    a country and form an independently ruling class there, instead of
    making it an appendage to either Danmark, Norway or Sweden (though it
    so happened with England under Knut, Harthaknut and Harold Harefoot).
 
    As for significant naval battles, well, since the demise of the Roman
    Empire and the waning of the Byzantine there were no significant navies
    around to  be defeated. However, the Viking Drakkars did very well
    indeed against both the Anglo-Saxon longboats and the Mediterranean
    galleys of the feudal Italian and the Muslim Spanish navies, such as
    they were. The fact that they reached the Americas should tell You that
    their ships were formidable indeed. At that time they were the only
    people in most of Europe and Asia who knew how to tack against the
    wind.
 
    It should be noted that, while Viking/Norman culture, i.e. Scandinavian
    culture of that time, might compare unfavourably with other cultures as
    to advanced conepts, technology and so forth, it was none the less a
    complex  and vigorous culture in its own right. It is also wrong to
    cast them as mindless savages and barbarians, drunk with blood- and
    battlelust, as seems to be the wont of some correspondents here. While
    the Vikings/Normans did go on raiding expeditions, they primarily were
    traders (vic, wik, vik, the suffix for so many towns in Scandinavia and
    Northern Germany stands for "trading place" rather than warrior or
    whatever) and had a long tradition of same (Evidence for Scandinavian
    traders in the Mediterranean have been found up to the time of the
    first Greek polis [cities]). Changing climatic conditions in the latter
    half of the last millennium and the subsequent population pressure
    forced the inhabitants of Scandinavia to look for new pastures.  But
    then, that happened to most North European peoples of that time.
 
       Till Poser         Internet: [email protected]
-F35- ZEUS DESY/Freiburg  Bitnet:   POSER@DESYVAX
bldg.1b-235, Notkestr.85  Hepnet:   VXDESY::POSER (13313::Poser)
   D-2000 Hamburg 52      Tel.: -49-40-8998-2004

    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    From: [email protected] (Per-Erik Martin)
    Sender: [email protected]
    Organization: Student
    Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1992 23:30:09 GMT
 
    In article <[email protected]>
    [email protected] (Carl E. Anderson) writes:     

    >	Breaking this law is how Hrolfr ganga got kicked out of Norway; he
    >of course went off to France and founded Normandy.
 
    I can't stop myself from an attempt to translate Alf Henrikson's (a
    Swedish historian) version of this incident, in his "Svensk Historia"
    (Swedish History):
 
    "Immeasurable importance for the future history of Europe had an
    expedition which a viking chief with the name Rollo launched at the
    Seine area during the last decade of the 9th century. The ruler of
    France at the time was the son of Charles the Baldheaded, Charles the
    Foolish, but he was at war with another potentate and got the idea to
    make the new intruders an allied against him. He therefore gave them
    the land around the lower Seine, which was virtually unpopulated after
    the continuous fightings, but wanted them to accept his sovereignty in
    excange. That way the duchy Normandy was created, it was founded the
    year 911 with Rollo as the ruling duke. According to a Normand annalist
    by the name Dudo he was a Dane of birth, but Snorre claims that he was
    a son of a jarl in Norway and was named Rolf, called `Walking Rolf'
    because he was so tall and heavy that no horse could carry him. Word
    stands against word, and the question about Rollo's nationality has
    been a Danish-Norwegian quarrel in this century, despite the fact that
    according to unanimous testimonies the new Duke were a big ruffian.
    According to the customary ceremony he would kiss the king's foot at
    the installation of his dukely position, but he left this to one of his
    officers who instead of humbly bending down in front of the king,
    grabbed the royal foot and quickly lifted it to his lips, with the
    result that both king and throne tumbled down in front of the grinning
    and giggling vikings. Never the less the king married his daughter
    Gisela to his new vassal, but the poor girl died of fright when her
    tall consort had two courtiers, who came to her with some message from
    her father, beheaded. He'd got the idea that they were spies."
 
    (A rather crude translation from the top of my head. Forgive me if I
    haven't got the historical names correctly in English.)
 
    --
     |\/|\/|\/| Per-Erik Martin,
     |  |  |/\| Department of Computer Systems, Uppsala University,
     |/\|  |  | Email: [email protected]

    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    From: [email protected] (Simon Tardell)
    Subject: Re: Wizard walking Northern Europe
    Sender: [email protected] (Usenet)
    Organization: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
    Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1993 16:07:22 GMT
 
 
    As the story goes, it was a freed Swedish slave by the name of Rurik
    that founded Novgorod. That is probably pure legend, though. What is
    certainly true is that there were viking trade posts along the rivers
    in present day Russia (just as there were in the westward direction).
    The name 'Russia' is said to be derived from the name of a Swedish
    province, Roslagen, just northwest of Stockholm, which was in the old
    days freed from the duty to set up an army in case of war (instead they
    had to man rowing long ships which gave the name). The finnish name for
    Sweden, 'Ruotsi', is said to have the same roots. I will not gurantee
    the accuracy of this, however.
    
   -- 
   Simon Tardell, Fysik, KTH, [email protected]              V�ga v�gra cgs!
   CERN, experience ATLAS

    From: November Issue of Nordic Times Online
    
    Viking Grave
    
    A rich heathen grave, excavated in Eastern Iceland in late September,
    may have been the final resting place of a Norwegian viking - probably
    from the Trondelag region of mid-Norway. The viking has been carefully
    removed from the gravesite by archaeologists, along with artifacts of
    rare quality - among them a bowl of Norwegian origin made from
    steatite.
    
    The hottest tip is that the remains are from the grave of one of the
    brothers Atli and Ketill Grautur, who arrived in Iceland from the
    Trondelag village of Verdal. Another interesting fact is that the bones
    were those of an exceptionally tall man, so those stories of viking
    giants could be true.