Ah what a lovely maid it is! by Elmer Boyd Smith
The giant Thrymr stole Thor’s hammer Mjolnir and said he would give it back if Freya agreed to marry him. Thor initially asks Freya but she grows incredily angry at the suggestion so the gods decide to dress Thor as Freya.
Freya’s cats look on, I assume they find it hilarious.
(Source: vikingmyths)
The Kylfings (Old Norse Kylfingar; Finnic Kylfingid; Hungarian Kölpények; Old East Slavic Колбяги, Kolbiagi; Byzantine Greek Κουλπίγγοι,Koulpingoi; Arabic al-Kilabiyya) were a people of uncertain origin active in Northern Europe during the Viking Age, roughly from the late ninth century to the early twelfth century. They could be found in areas of Lapland, Russia, and the Byzantine Empire that were frequented byScandinavian traders, raiders and mercenaries. Scholars differ on whether the Kylfings were ethnically Finnic or Norse. Also disputed is their geographic origin, with Denmark, Sweden and the Eastern Baltic all put forward as candidates Whether the name Kylfing denotes a particular tribal, socio-political, or economic grouping is also a matter of much debate. They are mentioned in Old Norse runestone inscriptions, sagas (most notably in Egil’s Saga), and poetry (such as Thorbjorn Hornklofi’s poemHaraldskvæði), as well as Byzantine records and Rus’ law-codes, in which they (along with another Scandinavian group, the Varangians) were afforded significant economic and social privileges. According to the sagas, the Kylfings opposed the consolidation of Norway under Harald Fairhair and participated in the pivotal Battle of Hafrsfjord. After Harald’s victory in that battle, they are described in the sagas as having raided in Finnmark and elsewhere in northern Norway and having fought against Harald’s lieutenants such as Thorolf Kveldulfsson. Holm (1992) considers Egil’s saga to equate the Kylfings with the Finnic ethnicities, i.e. Kvens and Karelians. In the 14th century, when the Swedish kings began to direct their attention northwards and encourage Swedish colonization in Norrbotten, there were regulations that the Finnish Birkarls and the Saami peoples were not to be interrupted in their traditional activities. In addition, there are many medieval sources that present Lapland as being dominated by Finns. A large part of the Karelians were under Novgorod which was included in what Icelandic sources called Kylfingaland, and thus the Kylfings could have been Baltic Finnish tribes under Novgorod.
The Norslunda Runestone, bearing runic inscription U 419, which mentions the personal name Kylfingr
Finnic peoples
The eastern shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, proposed by proponents of a Finnic origin for the Kylfings as that group’s homeland
The Kylfings have also been identified with the Votic people. Carl Christian Rafn, Edgar V. Saks, B. Briem and Sigurður Nordal have proposed Kylfings to have been the Norse name for the Votes. The reason is that the ethnonym Vadja(laiset) can be associated with the wordvadja (modern Estonian vai’) which means “stake”, “wedge” or “staff”, which corresponds to Old Norse kolfr. Vadjalaiset would consequently be translated into Old East Norse as kolfingar, which in Old West Norse (Old Icelandic) would be umlauted as kylfingar.
Estonians have also been identified as Kylfings.
Barði Guðmundsson identified the Kylfings as an East Scandinavian, possibly Swedish, tribe that infiltrated northern Norway during the late ninth century. Guðmundsson connects the Kylfings with the Germanic Heruli who were active throughout northern Europe and in Italy during the fifth and sixth centuries. According to Guðmundsson, many of these Kylfings may ultimately have emigrated to Iceland during the ninth and tenth centuries.Other scholars have assigned a Danish origin to this tribe. Some scholars have considered the Kylfings of Egil’s Saga to be a “conquering Germanic people”, or the Swedish king’s tax collectors. Holm (1992) considers such suggestions to be anachronistic due to the fact that the Swedish kings lacked any interest in northern Fenno-Scandia during the ninth and tenth centuries, and not even the later law of Hälsingland mentions any Swedish settlement north of Bygdeå in southern Västerbotten. Pritsak identified the Kylfings as a “professional trading and mercenary organization” that organized expeditions northward, into the Saami lands, as distinct from other Varangian and viking groups whose expeditions focussed on lands to the west and east of Scandinavia. This interpretation is supported by such historians as Stender-Petersen. A number of runestones in Sweden contain the personal name Kylfingr, which may or may not be connected to the Kylfings as a group. A few historians have hypothesized that the Kylfings were a West Slavic people related to the Pomeranians. Under this interpretation, the Slavic termKolbiag may share common origins with such place-names as Kołobrzeg (formerly Kolberg), a town on the Pomeranian Baltic coast, and Kolpino, a settlement near modern St. Petersburg.
Runestone Sö 318, containing the personal name Kylfingr
Other suggestions
The fortress of Fyrkat in Denmark.
The Viking fortresses of Trelleborg, Aggersborg, Nonnebakken, and Fyrkat played a decisive part in the battles for power at the end of the 10th century. During the Viking Age, both defence and warfare involved ships, although it is still uncertain whether and how the Danish Viking fortresses were associated with the contemporary royal naval power. “The King’s Fortresses“ project attempts to answer this through archaeological investigations and excavations in the vicinity of the fortresses. Archaeology has contributed greatly to the understanding of Viking lifeways. Viking houses were built with timber, stone, and turf. In this class stratified society, large chiefly estates with good pastureland and large boathouses were the homes for local earls. Inside the houses were central fireplaces for warmth and cooking. Remains of cauldrons and steatite vessels, together with other artifacts such as whetstones for sharpening knives and loom weights from the upstanding looms that women used to weave fine woolen clothing, offer glimpses of domestic life. Implements for farming, hunting, and fishing along with animal bones from middens provide information on activities involving subsistence as well as those involving economy and trade. Charcoal pits, molds, slag, and recovered implements point to highly skilled craftsmanship in metalwork while the Viking ships and their surviving wood ornaments are a stellar example of woodworking. At Oseberg and Gokstad in southeastern Norway, excavations of sunken Viking ships undertaken in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century revealed beautifully crafted sledges and wagons. Fine gold jewelry and inlaid silverwork from finds throughout the Viking world also show a high degree of craftsmanship. Chess games, horse fights, and wrestling were all part of Viking daily life, and finds such as the Lewis chessmen—beautifully carved figurines of walrus ivory—show the Vikings applying their talent as artisans to their entertainment as well as their livelihood. Military settlements such as Trelleborg in Zealand, Nonnebakken at Odense in Fune, Fyrkat near Hobro, and Agersborg near Limfjorden were all situated to command important waterways that served as lines of communication. The layouts of these camps reflect influences of symmetry and precision of the Roman castra. The Vikings were organized in bands called liý, a kind of military household familiar in western Europe. A chieftain might go abroad with just his own men in a couple of ships, but more commonly he would join forces with greater chieftains. These were often members of royal or noble families, styling themselves as kings or earls, and they frequently seem to have been exiles—for example, unsuccessful rivals for the throne—who were forced to seek their fortune abroad. Such men were often willing to stay abroad to serve Frankish or Byzantine rulers as mercenaries, to accept fiefs from them, and to become their vassals. They thereby became a factor in European politics. Vikings were frequently employed by one European prince against another or against other Vikings.
(Source: warandgame.com)
I should probably explain myself.
The term Viking, to Scandinavian and / or an academic studying Norse history and culture has a very specific meaning.
I Dont resent the term as such, it existed.
There is a football team in Minnesota called “The Vikings”, thats just fine.
If you call your neighbur “the viking” because he´s big and blonde i have no problem with that either (even though real vikings where short by our standards and often black haired).
The only time it bothers me are in tutorial texts. “How did the vikings build their houses?”, answer, they didnt, builders did.
The Norsemen where called several things depending on who (among themselves or others) did the calling.
The population in Scandinavia and places occupied by Scandinavians where called “Norse” or “Norsemen” (as in people from the north).
The modern equivalent is “Scandinavian” or the name of a nation (so i do not generally call myself “Norse”, and defenetly not viking…..i am a “Swede”, a thousand years ago i would have been a “Geat” since Sweden and the Geats where not yet united).
Thus, vikings where Norse but most Norse where not vikings.
Norse society had every profession a rather rural medieval society anywhere else did.
Some of our toughest cultural heroes, like Beowulf, where never vikings.
1: The term viking reffers only to people that “went in viking”, that is people who took to the sea as merchants, pirates, explorers and so on.
Norse people launched whole invasions without employing fleets. Germanic peoples (including the Norse) have always been renowned for their equestrian skills and horses. Thus cavallry was not at all unusual. These where warriors, clansmen (and later soldiers and knights), but never vikings (unless they got the money for their horse through a viking career earlier).
The majority of warriors would have been footsoldiers and archers in a normal clan skirmish (the clans where called “Aettir”), spears and axes being the normal weapon.
About 7% of the Norse population had anything to do with vikings….ever.
The term is flimsy at best since other people too launched similar boat attacks with the same ferocity. Difference is the others did not hit monastairies (in a mostly Catholic world where the Pope had a lot of political / military power).
Being a “viking” was not considered “finer” in Norse society, your acomplishments, regardless of how , where what counted. Being a successful merchant or horsedealer would have been just as fine. A landowner was in high regard.
Having said that, you COULD rise to political power where you lived after returning from a successful viking expedition ( = with riches and / or new land ).
The word “viking” WAS used in the Norse language ( as in “My son went in viking with Gunnar”) but disapeared only to be resurected by romanticists in the 19th century.
The viking of popular myth never existed. The viking that DID exist where exactly like any other Norsemen.
I just want terms to be used correctly to avoid further myth and confusion.
Thus “We found a viking ship outside England” would be correct.
“We found a NORSE village in Denmark” would be correct.
Norsemen travelling east (essentually vikings) where called Varangians (“Var” = Oath / pledge - “Gengi” =walking / companion).
They settled whole towns in todays Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
One famous Varangian was Rurik who founded Novgorod as his capitol. Rurik
was accepted by the east Slavic and Fenno - Ugric tribes living in the area as ruler.
Another one named Oleg did the same founding Kiev.
In Norse (the language) the area was known as “Gardariki”.
Another name for the Norsemen was “Rus”, later giving name to Russia and it´s people.
In Finnish, Sweden is called Routsi, in Estonian Rootsi. It is theorized this comes from Roslagen that was a very active area during the time (acording to Danish scholar T.E.Karsten, “Roslagen” might have to do with rowing (Ro-to row. Slagen-the beats).
The Rus are mentioned allready 859 AD .
The Rus founded the Rus Khagnate and later the Kievan Rus.
Gall Gael and Gallowglass
The The Gall Gael (Norse Gaels) are Norsemen (generally Norwiegian) who settled in Scottland and became part of Gaelic society.
Sometimes referred to as Scoto-Norse, Irish-Norse, Hiberno-Norse and so on.
Their heritage can still be found in Scottish Clan names as MacIver (Ivarsen), MacAuley (Olofsen).
The Gallowglass where mercenaries of a mixed Norse / Gaelic stock that lived together as one people. You might say that the Gallowglass came from the Gall Gael (Like the vikings where from the Norsemen).
To a Scandinavian with an interest in his heritage, all the “viking craze” is at best a bit funny, at worst an outright affront close to racism.
My culture had more than Klingons with boats.
“Academics at Dundee University have helped recreate the face of a Viking woman whose skeleton was unearthed in York more than 30 years ago.
The facial reconstruction was achieved by laser-scanning her skull to create a 3D digital model.
Eyes were then digitally created, along with hair and a bonnet, to complete the look.
The project was part of a £150,000 investment at York’s Jorvik Viking Centre.
The Dundee academics were brought in by the centre’s owners, the York Archaeological Trust, as part of a project to bring York’s Vikings to life.
The female skeleton used was one of four excavated at Coppergate in York.
The reconstruction process was carried out using specialist computer equipment which allowed the user to “feel” what they were modelling on screen. The anatomy of the face was modelled in “virtual clay” from the deep muscles to the surface.
Dundee University researcher Janice Aitken took the digital reconstruction and added the finishing touches.
‘Research capabilities’
She explained: “I use the same sort of software as is used to create 3D animations in the film industry. I digitally created realistic eyes, hair and bonnet and added lighting to create a natural look.
“It is very satisfying knowing that the work we create at Dundee University will be seen by thousands of visitors to Jorvik and being part of a process which can so vividly help people to identify with their ancestors.”
The reconstruction now features in York Archaeological Trust’s new Investigate Coppergate exhibition, which examines the Vikings’ diet and investigates the diseases from which the Vikings suffered.
The exhibition also looks at the final battles of the Viking age in York that heralded the end of the Viking era and the coming of the Normans.
It features skeletal remains showing battle wounds and a full skeleton with evidence of severe trauma, alongside discussion about how they died.
Sarah Maltby, York Archaeological Trust director of attractions, said: “Archaeological research capabilities have moved on considerably since the original Coppergate excavations which took place over 30 years ago.
“The new exhibition areas mark a shift in how archaeological finds are analysed and the techniques available to researchers.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-13064786
