so...
were Vikings actually good warriors or were they shit?
Seems like they are either romanticized as LE EPIC BERSERKER or shat on as poor inbred farmers - I'd like a neutral opinion based on facts and not muh ancestry.
Did they actually wear horned helmets?
Were they proficient in battle?
Why did they end up adopting Christianity?
Did the average Sven have access to chain mail?
Did they really use axes as weapons? Why are they often depicted with one handed swords+shields then?
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de.wikipedia.org
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It's really weird how autistic nordics flood this site while nobody irl gives a fuck about vikangz or their countries.
what does this have to do with my questions Hans?
Also, I'd argue that what you said is false, given that nowadays "normies" are really fond of a series called "Vikings" and Scandinavia is often touted as a great place as a whole to live.
Anyway, please stay on topic.
Well here is what they did in Northern Portugal
>Came to coastal towns and raid
>Went up the rivers, kidnapped the local Lords daughters
>After doing that they demanded a huge ransom in gold and silver, which they got
>However they enjoyed the land and didn't want to go back
>Local lord gives them work as bodyguards
>They integrate, work as bodyguards and in blacksmiths and marry local women (or some women they brought)
>Adopt Christianity
There were very few coming here though, not in huge numbers like France or England.
Scandinavian countries are without a doubt the most beloved countries in the world, don't be butthurt Hans only because you have to carry the burden of eternal guilt.
Literally no one hates Scandinavia outside of Jow Forums and Jow Forums.
huh Vikings raided Portugal?
I thought they stopped in France/England.
How much damage did they cause?
And what Lords used them as bodyguards?
I was aware of the Varangian Guard but didn't know they were hired as bodyguards in Portugal.
List of great viking victories:
>raping defenseless Baltic women and then running away
>conquering confused feudal English coastal villages and then adopting their language
>conquering confused French coastal villages and then adopting their language
>conquering primitive Slavic tribespeople and then adopting their language
>beating up Irish monks and burning their books
>losing wars against themselves
>becoming "elite warriors" for the Byzantines which just happened to coincide with the war that caused the Byzantines to stop existing
In Galiza and Northern Portugal and even fought Moors in Lisbon I think.
vortexmag.net
There were two types of Vikings, the peasant gang and the militia/huskarl
And yes they did use axe. Sword was seen as a rich/nobility weapon
Galician villagers armed with pitchforks led by a bishop were able to defeat those legendary Norđmanđr warriors of Óđinn. Vikings are a meme.
They were also able to defeat Frankish knights and lay siege on Paris
Vikings were mostly merchants to begin with, that conjuncture forced to become looters or warriors when it was useful or possible, but their main goal was always to just get wealth
>Did they actually wear horned helmets?
no and only the richest, the jarl and kings wore actual helmets
>Were they proficient in battle?
depends against who
they used long swords and axe with little armour, mostly a bunch of animal skins, leather, sometimes even naked
their small ships with short hulls allowed them to get into rivers and move fairly quickly and their light equipment made them much more mobile than the ones they attacked (for example the first vikings raids on the Seine). They just went unpredictably in every village around or on their way to their goal (a rich city) and overwhelmed local troops
>Why did they end up adopting Christianity?
depends which one you're talking about
viking settlers in the neustrian coast were introduced to french culture and adopted their religion and customs
>Did the average Sven have access to chain mail?
no
>Did they really use axes as weapons?
yes
>Why are they often depicted with one handed swords+shields then?
because they did not all used the same weaponry
if anything the sword+ shield was most common
>Did they actually wear horned helmets?
no, thats a meme from some german opera
>Were they proficient in battle?
they managed to sack paris, seville, pisa, conquer 3 out of the 4 anglo-saxon kingdoms and conquered england twice. the frankish emperor was so impressed by them that he decided to give them normandy, hence the name "northman"dy, as long as they swore fealty to him. the norwegian jarl hákon the powerful and the danish king harald bluetooth also managed to stave off an invasion by the holy roman empire at the danveirke in northern germany, which was reinforced by wends and frenchmen. they weren't elite soldiers of any kind, they were farmers. some ended up abroad in the varangian guard, which according to wikipedia was "an elite unit of the Byzantine Army"
>Why did they end up adopting Christianity?
it varies from place to place. mostly it was due to kings going abroad, then becoming christians and later try to convert their own kingdoms. vikings were first and foremost traders, after being raiders, and who want to trade with a bunch of heathens?
>Did the average Sven have access to chain mail?
not really, most of them wore either leather or cloth
>Did they really use axes as weapons? Why are they often depicted with one handed swords+shields then?
spears would be the easiest to come by, followed by axes, as axes dont need much work to make in comparison to a sword. swords were mostly for rich people
>>becoming "elite warriors" for the Byzantines which just happened to coincide with the war that caused the Byzantines to stop existing
the varangian guard probably didnt exist by 1453 as the last mention of them was in 1259
>overwhelmed local troops
not what i meant
local troops never knew what to do as they were to slow to intercept them before they leave the village they plundered
Well this just makes balts, brits, french and slavs seem downright incompetent and utterly incapable of self defense
Normandy was given as a leverage for beseiging paris
All though they were tame in the invasions in my land, mostly settling more than raiding they must have done something right to be romanticised.
Think about it, think about mythical troops from history.
>Spartan Phalanxs and Hoplites
>Roman Legions
>Vikings
>Landsknecht
>Conquistadores
>Redcoats
>Grande Armée
>Why did they end up adopting Christianity?
Because of increased pressure from the from countries to the south and to ensure against a crusade the king of Denmark adopted Christianity as the official religion of Denmark. Christian missionaries were permitted into the country and the less organized asatro got pushed out over the next few centuries.
Vikangs went as far to raided Turkey/Greece
ingvar the far-travelled apparently reached persia
Viking isn't a mythical troop military troop and should not be thought as much. They method of raid and settlement is dates back to the Roman republic. They various germanic migrations are major Viking raid by another name. But it was only in the feudal age they became the Vikings due to their raids on monastery towns
They're still romanticised here in West, like the others.
>the frankish emperor was so impressed by them that he decided to give them normandy
that's not what happened
first there was no emperor
and the western French king Charles the Simple after defeating the viking leader Rollo at Chartres made him Count, got him baptized and vassalized him by homage then gave him the delta of the Seine so that he might stop future viking incursions so that he may concentrate of getting Lotharingia without having to deal personally with the vikings
"impressed" more like pissed off if anything
>were Vikings actually good warriors or were they shit?
They usually got btfo when facing anybody other than farmers and monks
>Did they actually wear horned helmets?
No
>Were they proficient in battle?
Yeah, but again they usually were beaten when facing actual armies (although they usually weren't aiming to be facing actual armies)
>Why did they end up adopting Christianity?
Combination of social advantage and true belief. Norsemen who settled near Christians often converted as they got along better with their neighbours. Pagans couldn't really defend their beliefs, whereas Christians could
>Did the average Sven have access to chain mail?
All mail is made of chain. Many probably didn't
>Did they really use axes as weapons? Why are they often depicted with one handed swords+shields then?
They used both axes and swords, usually with shields. Shields are were really important at the time, practically everyone in Europe was using them.
yes, there are much media made about that viking era except it gives the impression that this is the only time they did it
violent migrations out of scandinavia has been happening since the classical greeks started to record people around that area, anglos, saxons, langobards, goths, etc are all "viking" in the people sense yet are not considered viking themselves simply due to the lack of dichotomy between the raiders and the raided (ie, no one to first person record how violent they were towards men of learning)
>hide behind some walls because a few naked northerners are waiting outside
>they eventually leave to raid in burgundy
ah yes what a great """victory""", the franks truly showed the vikings who was boss by hiding in paris then giving away a large chunk of land to them
such immense butthurt as the one witnessed ITT can only be generated by success on the battlefield
You don't need to tell me about Germanics tribes invading m8, my area got VISIGOTHED and SUEBIED.
Who was even living there before Visigoths? Random Romanized people? I know next to nothing about Iberian history prior to the Visigoths
technically every country in western europe and some easter, has been germanic-ized, even north africa
celto-iberians and some neo-carthagenians
they could go up rivers etc. with their narrow long boats
>tfw you wuz vikangz
my norden brodas
>were Vikings actually good warriors or were they shit?
Viking is a therm given to raiders. The origin of the name may be related to people who lived closed to rivers, near the sea and did not practice farming.
>Did they actually wear horned helmets?
Yes, during the bronze age. But not after that when they became know.
>Were they proficient in battle?
Probably because it was the only thing they did, different from the average Norse who farm the land.
>Why did they end up adopting Christianity?
They cease to exist when Christianity became popular.
>Did the average Sven have access to chain mail?
Yes, not only this but they had steel. Some historians argue that they brought the steel from the Byzantines and Arabs (who the norse people had a long history of trade).
>Did they really use axes as weapons?
Axes and lances where the cheapest weapons to be made. Yes, everyone used axes and lances.
Stop to think that they where a isolated group of people that emerge from a cave during the dark ages. The vision of the Nordic people as barbarians is simple due the paper of religion in keep history at the time that those events occur.
A mix, Iberia was large and mountainous before the Romans "united" it.
Northwest and North had Celts, the bagpipe type.
NorthCenter they were Basques, nobody really knows where they came from.
Center had Celto-Iberians.
East and South had Iberians.
Plus there was Greek colonies before, and Carthaginian.. and Phoenician.
tl;dr fuckfest
Iberia was rich in metals necessary in the antiquity.
Most people don't take in count the importance of mines when dealing with historical maps and reason why they fought for.
>were Vikings actually good warriors
it's a meme
viking age ended after 1066
As far as i know there were an imporntant raid in Seville, after that moors started to hunt vikings and built a huge navy. Some of the vikings the remainded in land and were unable to escape became slaves or converted to islam and started selling cheese.
Your country was created by "Vikings".
They traded with moors for centuries.
WE
You seem offended ?
>>hide behind some walls because a few naked northerners are waiting outside
it didnt go like this
Rollo isolated the city and was effectively starving it by plundering every village in the surroundings and blocking resupply paths.
Burgundians and French troops finally arrived from the South and ended the siege. IIRC atfer that there was a battle in a valley and then on a hill where they fled and there they've been defeated.
>>they eventually leave to raid in burgundy
not immediatly
But the goal of getting rid of the viking problem was to being able to concentrate on conquering the east
>ah yes what a great """victory"""
yes it was a good victory
>the franks truly showed the vikings who was boss
yes
>by hiding in paris
in Paris?
>then giving away a large chunk of land to them
as i said, Rollo was not a viking anymore, he pledge loyalty and submission to the king just like in every homage and become a direct vassal
everyone won in this deal
>Did they actually wear horned helmets?
No
>Were they proficient in battle?
Who are they? Vikings? Northmen in general?
>Why did they end up adopting Christianity?
Same reason the rest of Europe did I guess
>Did the average Sven have access to chain mail?
Vikings prefered lamellar armor
>Did they really use axes as weapons?
Yes
>Why are they often depicted with one handed swords+shields then?
Some wore that too
the cheese thing is made up
In the Iberian Peninsula the Viking assaults are centered in the peninsular north (Galicia and Asturias) kingdoms that were at war against the Muslims who conquered it by the disastrous Visigothic policy. They arrived as the Portuguese comrade says to Lisbon, they also went to Seville where after a victory before the Muslims they were massacred in the flight for monopolizing so much booty (If you have seen the Vikings series come out in the assault of Algeciras)
Later on, with the years in which they lived, the northern kingdoms faced these invasions, even by peasants.
The most important kidnapping in the peninsula was when they kidnapped the King of Navarre, going up the entire Ebro river (something incredible that neither in Zaragoza the main city of the Ebro would notice his passing through there) and obtaining a great rescue in gold and jewels.
In case someone is interested :)
Well, this is mostly inaccurate information.
Viking is a word to describe a Scandivavian (Danish, proto-Swedish...) raider. So not all Danes were vikings, just the warrior types.
And they had mostly quite good equipment, especially if they managed to do couple of successful raids. They were mostly equipped the same way as any soldier of the period would: Helmet was the first and perhaps the cheapest piece of equipment a soldier would have. Then mail armour, which were very common at the time. Simple and quite effective. But you are right about the horns in their helmets. Mostly a product of a fiction.
About their weaponry, swords would not likely be the most common ones, since they were most expensive due to the high amounts of metal that had to be used. Bows and axes, yes, but the most common weapon, like in most of the history, was the spear. Cheap to make, easy to carry, easy to use, can be used with a shield.
meh, you can find skyr in some villages close to Guadalquivir river, if is made up or not i dont know
>were Vikings actually good warriors or were they shit?
Yes, they were actually good warriors. Why would Byzantine emperors form the Varangian guard of them if they weren't?
It is well known how well they fought all the Arabs, Bulgarians and others in Byzantine ranks.
>Viking is a word to describe a Scandivavian (Danish, proto-Swedish...) raider. So not all Danes were vikings, just the warrior types.
i don't see how that's against what i said
I know viking isn't synonym with scandi
>Helmet was the first and perhaps the cheapest piece of equipment a soldier would have. Then mail armour, which were very common at the time.
I've read that those were mostly only wore by the richest so i'm confused now
i trust you for the rest i don't know much about it
They were not better or worse. They were just normal people living next to the Roman empire. They had cities and crops aswell. They weren't stupid.
Brazilians actually love viking culture. I even have a viking beer mug.
Well
1. No, they didn't wear horned helmets, they did only during ceremonies
2. Don't know really, looking at what they did I'd guees so, but there aren't many accounts about their battle tactics
3. Mainly political reasons, some converted out of genuine faith though
4. No, they were too expensive for the average soldier
5. They used axes and swords, also spears were common
6. Don't know
Might be that some of the Lords were like
>look at me I'm so cool and awesome that I can wear this silly helmet which can be easily knocked off from my head :D
but mostly the image of an average soldier wearing one is made up by artists.
we all know vikings drank out of horn
pic is how they lived. They even had horses and animal husbandry. There are some archeological sites here and reconstruction of old villages.
constant in-fighting civil war and even weather drove them out of scandinavia in search of loot land and fame, it was not the romans or christians that raided the norse settlements
they might not be dumb but they were desperate
They were here, this I know.
t. Genes
>There are some archeological sites here and reconstruction of old villages.
In Germany?
Where?
And from mugs made out of their enemies' skulls. Hence the word for toasting, "Skål!".
what do you mean
you're retarded
It's not viking, but I guess the culture of germanics in mid height was very similar
>Did they really use axes as weapons? Why are they often depicted with one handed swords+shields then?
hurr did greek hoplites really used xiphos as a weapon? Why are they often depicted with spear and a shield then?
Which they were at that time, it’s not like they were a country user, just a cluster of villages and small towns :^)
They had kings. It's just not really written down somewhere who followed whome.
then how the fuck you know they had kings?
Because of tribal knowledge, gold finds and things. It's just not always in detail what areas they governed.
this is a list of kings
de.wikipedia.org
also from roman reports and negotiators who traded with them
They were niggers that knew how to sail.
poles are funny
always eternally butthurt for no reason
>be retarded
>someone points it out
>LE BUTTHURT LE BUTTHURT AM I DOING IT RIGHT GERMAN MASTER? XD PLEASE CALL ME A BASED SHITSKIN
just don't talk about european history it's clear you have some retarded view fueled by 80's movies and shit video games
It would be better if he made another "tfw no gf" or brainlet wojak thread instead of one discussing something international related, right?
Vikings conquered england.
Vikings were extremely potent, which is why its called AGE OF VIKINGS.
Vikings raided and conquered everything they even settled in a andalusian town after sacking seville and killing moors.
The power of Europeans with European Culture God and Society.
Heil Odinn
Svolder was Viking on Viking
Brissarthe ended with the Franks fleeing
Marton was a Viking victory
Basing was a Viking victory
Brunanburh had only one Viking king in it and he survived. They also had Christian Scots and shit on their side
Stamford bridge ended with the Anglos losing half of their army and sentencing their kingdom to be ruled by Frenchmen for the next centuries
I read somewhere that they also reached to have subsaharan slaves too if thats any help.
>Did they actually wear horned helmets?
No that's a myth
>Were they proficient in battle?
Yes actually Vikings had their own martial arts, they were just never written down so we have no clue about them
>Why did they end up adopting Christianity?
The Danish crown converted them I believe
>Did the average Sven have access to chain mail?
No, not usually
>Did they really use axes as weapons? Why are they often depicted with one handed swords+shields then?
They used both quite frequently, axes are great weapons as they are very cheap and easy to produce and they double as a tool so it was a very popular choice, they also used swords and shields a lot as well which was mainly the richer bjorns
>it's a wiki-warrior gets baited by the Viking meme thread
found Mohammed
>were Vikings actually good warriors or were they shit?
They were good when fighting civilians who they took by surprise, but bad when actual armies showed up to confront them.
>""""""""""great"""""""""" heathen army
Memes aside, they had lasting impact on the British Isles.
>Raided Ireland enough to cause a reformation of Irish nobility and military.
>Hurt the Picts badly enough that they were able to be taken over by Dal Riata, forming Alba, precursor to Scotland.
>Installed a client Anglo Saxon king in England and pressed him for tribute.
>Backed out of defending England when William started sabre rattling, allowing the Norman conquest.
>Titles like Earl, derived from Jarl are still used in Britain.