I had promised Viking Boat Burials would be my next diary, but I’m breaking that promise in hopes of providing a break from the seemingly unrelenting bad news everywhere recently. I wish I could keep this diary violence free but the very topic kind of negates that possibility. This is intended to be a break from seriousness and maybe it will also illustrate that violence is endemic to the human condition.
This quiz is intended to be fun. There are some things you should know: some questions have more than one right answer. Some questions don’t have a definitively wrong answer. If you want to see how I think you would do in Viking society (not necessarily reflective of reality) write down your answers and we can add up the score at the end. Let us know how you did in comments! I’d also like to know what surprised you the most, what was the weirdest thing and what was the most interesting thing. That will help me see what interests you guys for future diaries.
One advantage to taking this quiz with me rather than on facebook is I don’t get all your personal information!
Usual disclaimers: I’m an amateur obsessive about European martial culture, not an academic, scholar or expert. I explicitly disavow any claim of European superiority. All cultures have value and merit, pluses and minuses. Links to other diaries about Vikings at bottom.
Okay, grab a pencil or pen and let’s go!
1. You are born into a Pagan Viking Scandinavian family. At the time you are given your name what type of religious ceremony takes place?
A. An animal is sacrificed (depending on your status it may vary: a rooster for the poor, a bull for the very wealthy).
B. An offering is made to the Gods in your name; often some item of metal: a brooch, a knife, a cloak pin or even a weapon.
C. You are sprinkled with water.
D. If you are male your foreskin is removed; if you are female a symbolic nick of the skin of the vagina is made.
2. How did you get your last name?
A. It is my family name and it carries with it my heritage back to the founding of my line by the Gods.
B. My profession gives me my last name
C. It is my father’s first name
D. If I am male it comes from my father; if I am female it comes from my mother
3. As a female in Scandinavian society are you allowed to own property?
A. Yes
B. No
C. I can inherit from my father and/or husband if there are no male heirs but when I marry it becomes my husband’s
4. You are a mighty leader and your fleet of Viking ships just completed defeating, routing and plundering one enemy and you intend to attack another. Your men are excited, victorious, ready and eager. However, your magician warns that the guardian spirits of the land you propose to attack are hostile. Do you:
A. Turn to a Christian priest to protect your forces from their spirits
B. Abandon the invasion and turn for home
C. Have your volva (sorceress) offer sacrifices and placate the land spirits before invading
D. Have your volva cast sticks to see if the invasion is favored or ill-omened
5. You have questioned another man’s honor and you find yourself in an informal duel, fighting for your life. You feel yourself getting exhausted. Can you ask for a break to catch your breath?
A. Don’t be silly! You are in a vicious brawl. It is live or die.
B. A brief break is taken so that everyone can catch their breath. This is understood to be part of custom.
C. Even if your opponent said, “hey why don’t you rest a minute; you look tired and there is no honor in killing a weak opponent” you wouldn’t take the opportunity because he’d kill you in a heartbeat.
6. You are the young daughter of a freeman; your father is a skilled leatherworker respected for his craft. Your mother manages the family’s small landholdings and livestock. An older man from a neighboring farm with roughly equivalent social status approaches your father and asks for your hand in marriage. Do you have any say at all in whether or not the marriage takes place?
A. Absolutely. In fact, I have the final word.
B. I must obey my father’s wishes in this.
C. Somewhere between the two choices above – I have a voice and it is listened to but it may not be the final word.
D. Depends solely on the dowry he is offering
7. While trading furs in the Baltic you encounter an Arab trader looking for amber. How do you react?
A. This man is dangerously different. You ignore and avoid him.
B. This stranger is offensive to your gods being dark skinned. You kill him immediately.
C. Maybe he wants to buy furs?
D. You are curious about this guy, interested in his clothing, his sword. You invite him and his interpreter to join you and your shipmates for a dinner and hope to hear interesting new tales.
8. Your husband is away, trading or raiding. What do you have authority to do in his absence?
A. Whatever is necessary for maintenance of the household, which includes the farm and business. You can buy and sell goods, slaves and livestock. You have the ability to make business agreements with other farms and traders.
B. Before he leaves, your husband will designate a male family member or trusted senior freeman servant to manage things.
C. You have a limited ability to do things necessary to get by in the short term; but you could not, for instance, purchase a new plot of land and hire servants or purchase thralls to run it.
9. You are a young boy and you are fascinated by the village sorceress. You tell your parents that you want to learn about the magic she does. How do your parents react?
A. These skills are helpful and useful in life. Learn all you can, but don’t neglect hunting, farming and learning weapons.
B. Becoming a spellcaster is a noble and holy art – you may be touched by the Gods. The sorceress is consulted about taking you on as an apprentice.
C. Your father knocks you to the floor with a violent slap on the face and your mother scolds you that that is a woman’s magic and unmanly.
D. Your parents are not pleased; they wanted you to go raiding, become rich and keep them in luxury as they age.
10. You are a young boy and you go out to play a game with the other boys. One of the older, bigger boys makes it his mission to humiliate you and embarrass you in front of all the kids with his superior physical strength. You go fetch an axe and split his skull, killing him. When you return home with the bloody axe, how do your parents react?
A. You slew an unarmed person. This is a great shame and you are cast out of your home
B. You are praised for reclaiming your honor so quickly
C. Your parents seize weapons and go to slay the boy’s family before that family can seek revenge
D. Your father must pay compensation to the boy’s family
11. You pray and sacrifice to Frey and Freja for a bountiful crop and prolific livestock this coming year. At the end of harvest and slaughter you are instead looking at a long, hungry winter. You react by:
A. Cursing the Gods general uselessness and stupidity, inattention to your prayers, calling them lazy, inattentive, promiscuous and every foul thing you can imagine without fear of divine retaliation
B. Make a last minute, last ditch sacrificial offering of your fattest pig, bull and stallion for deliverance, burning the meat so the gods may enjoy it and reward you for your generous gift
12. It is the middle of that long, hungry winter and suddenly there is a stranger outside your hall who claims to be lost, seeking food and shelter.
A. Drive him away. You don’t have enough to feed your own people!
B. Bring him inside, give him fresh warm clothes and food like the rest of the community, some mead or ale, ensure there is a place for him to sleep, and start planning on having another mouth to feed through this winter.
C. Give him a little food and drink, let him sleep with the animals and send him on his way as quickly as possible.
D. Kill him and distribute his belongings amongst your people. Look, this bastard had half a loaf of bread and some dried meat in his provisions! That can feed your people.
13. You are in the middle of a formal duel with a long-time neighbor over a slain servant. Your opponent signals he needs a break for a drink and the fight stops. He lays his sword beside him in the grass and kneels to drink from the stream. You walk up beside him and pick up his sword. What happens next?
A. You examine his blade and realize his sword is not well made. You return the sword to him telling him that his sword is flawed and tell him to wait a few minutes. You return with another of your swords, a fine, high quality weapon and give it to him so that the remainder of the fight can be on a more equal footing.
B. Hack the bastard’s head off with his own sword.
C. Throw the sword into the river and mock his carelessness
D. Return the sword to him and indicate you are ready to resume the duel.
14. You are a Pagan Viking and you hear a Christian king will pay good silver for men to fight against the invading Pagans but requires you to “take the cross” before you can serve him.
A. You go to the Pagans to warn them of what the Christian king is doing and possibly fight with them.
B. You take the cross. Couldn’t hurt to have an extra God on your side could it? Off to war!
C. Spiritual matters are serious things. You must learn as much as you can about this Christian God before making a decision one way or another.
D. Lie and say you have already become Christian. That way you get to fight and plunder, get the silver and never technically betray your Gods.
E. Lie and say you are already Christian but remain keenly aware you owe the Gods a large sacrifice when this adventure ends.
15. Regardless of gender, age or status, you anticipate an impending, dangerous conflict which may result in your death soon. You should:
A. Take steps to head off the conflict; it’s for the best of the community if you can maintain the peace
B. Prepare for the conflict. Everything that has ever happened or that will happen is carved and cannot be changed, and your only choice is how you face the events destined for you.
C. Instigate the conflict and get it over with. Waiting is for the weak.
16. Your husband has been gone in the local lord’s service for several months. You love him and are committed to your marriage with him. The children you have together challenge and enrich your lives. But it sure would be nice to have warm body next to you in bed on those cold winter nights; especially that young, handsome field hand you suspect of spying on you when you were bathing in the river.
A. You freely have sex with the young field hand with no concerns about pregnancy or reputation although it is understood that on your husband’s return the affair will end
B. You have sex with him cautiously, timing activities to avoid pregnancy. Your honor and possibly inheritance could be harmed if you have an illegitimate child although it would not be so terrible as to end your marriage and social standing
C. The penalties, social, marital and material are so harsh you abstain in fear.
17. On your journeys as a Viking in Turkey, Iraq or even Morocco, you encounter a person with black skin, something you have never seen before. When you return to your shipmates, how will you describe this person to them?
A. Depends on the gender; a female might be described as a sorceress; a male as some kind of spirit such as a dverger
B. A horrific abomination to be avoided at all costs
C. As a blue skinned person who is very interesting
D. As a miraculous thing
18. Would a Viking agree that a person consists of three parts: mind, body and spirit?
A. Yes, Vikings would recognize this description of a person
B. This would be an incomplete description because it omits the role of the family (ancestors and descendants) and the inner parts of the spirit
C. Mind, body and spirit were viewed as an undifferentiated whole
19. You are a gay man in Viking society. What is expected of you in order that you stay a member of Viking society?
A. That you abstain entirely from unnatural, unmanly sexual acts
B. That you marry, have children and keep quiet about any activities with male lovers
C. That you make sure you are in the active “manly” role – not the passive role.
D. Doesn’t matter what you do; you are a fuðflogi, a coward who fears women’s vaginas.
20. You are a young woman who is bored with the noble life, so you take spears, sword, shield and disappear into the woods and take up robbing people for money, often killing them if they resist. Lured on to greater things, you rob your grandfather’s grave mound and, after a chat with him, take his sword and use it as you become a Viking on the seaways, raiding and plundering. After a few years, this lifestyle loses its appeal. What are your options?
A. Start a new life under a different name, marry and have kids like the other soccer moms.
B. Return to your family, accept your punishment for the crimes you have committed and make repayments. You will be married off, but your value as a wife has decreased as has your status.
C. Return to your family. Your activities have increased your wealth and status allowing you to move up in the world.
D. Flee to a Christian country, convert and enter a convent.
21. You are a famous warrior because your fearless, reckless behavior in combat stands out from even other brave men. You wear no armor, just spear, sword and shield but you do have a bearskin you wear. Before battle you bite your shield and howl.
A. You are a berserker
B. You are a berserker and more than that, you are probably a shape-shifter who can become a bear or wolf if needed
C. You’re a goddamned fool for not wearing armor or a helmet. Stay in the shield wall or die!
22. As a professional warrior you go to battle wearing a mail shirt (chainmail), a helmet, two spears, a seax, an axe, a sword and a shield. How many OFFENSIVE weapons do you have available?
A. Four
B. Five
C. Six
23. You are a poor man who has gone to seek his fortunes in war. You fight well but die on the battlefield. Where do you go for your afterlife?
A. Valhalla! You were slain in battle, the Valkyries come for you and you are one of Odin’s Einherjar who will spend eternity (until Ragnorok) drinking, fighting and feasting with the best of them!
B. Thor will welcome you, a working class warrior, to his hall
C. Freyja may take you to Folkvangr, her hall.
D. Hel. You’re going to Hel, with the farmers, the fishermen, the weavers, the merchants, the thralls and everybody else. Nothin’ special about you.
24. You and your brother are legendary heroes and warriors with knowledge of the location of a huge amount of hidden treasure. Your brother-in-law makes war on you to gain the treasure. At the end, both you and your brother are captured. Because your brother-in-law is known for his cruelty, you are 100% certain the death by torture awaits you and your brother.
A. Give him the location of the treasure in return for a quick death without torture.
B. Offer the location of the treasure if your brother-in-law will give your brother a quick death rather than torture.
C. Ensure your brother is given a quick, honorable death before revealing the location of the treasure.
D. Trick the bastard into killing your brother quickly before your brother gives up the location of the treasure under torture. Then endure your horrific death in silence to spite your brother-in-law.
25. Your husband is kind of a dick, and has just killed your brothers in an unsuccessful attempt to learn the location of a hidden treasure. What do you ask of him?
A. Nothing, he has slain your brothers and he is dead to you.
B. Your honor and future lie with your husband. You ask to celebrate his victory over your brothers in battle with him.
C. You ask for your brothers to be buried as heroes, with full Viking funeral, burial mounds and ritual and you celebrate your husbands great victory with him
D. You leave your husband and mourn your dead brothers in the isolation of a forest
E. You ask for your brothers to be buried as heroes as part of your plan of revenge…
BONUS QUESTION: the blacksmith forge was the center of activity on cold winter days when everyone gathered to see him work around the warmth of the forge. True or False?
Answers!
Note on sources: I’ve linked to the index of Dr. Crawford’s YouTube videos so there are not dozens of videos below. Where possible I cite sections or verses. Viking Answer Lady is not an academic source but her research is thorough and I have not found any errors on her page (disputes in interpretation, yes, outright errors, no).
1. Believe it or not, sprinkling water on the infant was also a Viking custom! We don’t have details on what precisely was involved but it is referred to in several sagas, particularly Egil’s Saga (see sections 31 and 35. (Source: The Sagas of the Icelanders, Jane Smiley, Penguin, 2005).
A. 3 points
B. 2 points
C. 4 points
D. 0 points
2. Patriarchal ultra-testosterone driven society: your father’s first name is your last name. I would be Andy Andysson. Malia Obama would be Malia Baracksdottir. (Source: Dr. Jackson Crawford video: Forming Old Norse Last Names)
A. 3 points
B. 2 points
C. 4 points
D. 1 point
3. Woman, your property is yours. There are some exceptions and weirdness whereby a husband can get a wife’s property, but in general, a woman could own her own property as a single woman, in her father’s household, as a spouse, as a widow and so on. (Source: this is apparent in many different sagas but as a good summary visit The Viking Answer Lady: Courtship, Love and Marriage in Viking Scandinavia)
A. 4 points
B. 1 points
C. 3 points
4. Shit. The land-vættir (land spirits) oppose your invasion? Go home dude, while the going is good. Take your hundreds of ships, thousands of armed and ready men and leave. Now. Interestingly, this happened to King Harald Bluetooth (yes, Bluetooth technology is named after him, and unlike Erik Bloodaxe, where we can guess the name’s meaning, we don’t know the meaning of Bluetooth here). This is interesting because at the time Harald was a baptized Christian fleeing Pagan land spirits. The four landvættir from this incident are now regarded as the protectors of the four quarters of Iceland: the dragon in the east, the eagle or griffin in the north, the bull in the west, and the giant in the south. (Source: The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturlson “Heimskringla”: Saga of King Olaf Tryggvason Section 36).
A. 1 points
B. 4 points
C. 3 points
D. 2 points
5. It’s a fight to the death in the informal einvigi, unlike the more formal duel, the hólmgang. (Source: ugh. I’m going to be lazy and point you to the Viking Answer Lady: Hólmgang and Einvigi:Scandinavian Forms of the Duel but I’ve pieced this together from sagas mostly).
A. 4 points
B. 2 points
C. 3 points
6. There are conflicting accounts on how much weight a woman’s opinion had with regard to her marriage. The law did not require her consent and the social burden on everyone was to do what was best for the family. I suspect that c is the best answer – you have some say in who you marry, but your parents or siblings may be able to basically force you to marry against your will. But it was not cut and dried that you or your father had the final say. (Source: this is apparent in many different sagas but as a good summary visit The Viking Answer Lady: Courtship, Love and Marriage in Viking Scandinavia)
A. 3 points
B. 3 points
C. 4 points
D. 2 points
7. It’s pretty likely that in a neutral, safe trading environment, you would invite an Arab over to a meal. Yes, the trade possibilities were very important, but curiosity would be a huge factor. The first two choices are what current right-wing racists who claim to be Heathen think would happen, but as usual, the racists are dead wrong. Vikings were curious, not afraid of other cultures. Vikings were encouraged to interact and bringing someone completely new and different to trade or speak with might enhance your personal prestige (Source: The Viking Mind Messenger Lectures by Neil Price at Cornell University 2012 and Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia: A Tenth-Century Traveler from Baghad to the Volga River by Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, translated by Richard Frye, 2009).
A. 1 points
B. 0 points
C. 3 points
D. 4 points
8. Again, this isn’t 100% and it probably varied a bit, but evidence indicates that women would have had a great deal of latitude to transact business in their husband’s absence. They might have a son watch and learn, but mom would likely have the final say. Now that I have said this, I should note there are a lot of dissenting voices which disagree with this interpretation of things. However, I defer to my Source: Dr. Nanna Løkka who gave an informative lecture on Viking Women at Midgardsblot Heavy Metal and Viking Festival in Borre, Norway this past August. Yes, I’m citing a lecture given at a metal festival as a source.
A. 4 points
B. 1 points
C. 2 points
9. You’d likely get slapped if you were a boy wanting to learn female magic. There are a lot of hints that, in the area of magic, gender roles were very rigid. In the poem Lokesenna, Loki insults Odin by accusing him of practicing female magic, and in this poem Loki is breaking his social ties to the other Gods. This is not the only instance where men are insulted by the accusation of practicing female magic.
“Loki said (to Odin): ‘But people say you practiced womanly magic on Samsay, dressed as a woman. You lived as a witch among the humans – and I call that a pervert’s way of living.” ~ Lokasenna, stanza 23 & 24.
However, this apparently did not mean female magic was not valuable! Not at all! We have several instances where female fortune tellers, spirit talkers or those with other magical powers are regarded with great respect and awe by men and women alike. So, it is not like being a volva or sorceress was looked down on, but it was something men were not supposed to be doing. (Source: The Poetic Edda, Translated by Dr. Jackson Crawford, 2015; The Sagas of the Icelanders, Jane Smiley, Penguin, 2005 – specifically the Saga of Eric the Red section 4).
A. 0 points
B. 0 points
C. 4 points
D. 2 point
10. In Egil’s Saga this scenario plays out. Seven-year old Egil murders ten-year old Grim, who humiliated him in public. Egil is praised and told he will make a good Viking. Seven men died as a result the mini-feud this killing precipitated. It is possible that the wealth and status of Egil’s family shielded him from consequences. (Source: The Sagas of the Icelanders, Jane Smiley, Penguin, 2005).
A. 0 points
B. 4 points
C. 3 points
D. 2 points
11. Dr. Neil Price describes the relationship with the Gods as being one where you have to come to terms with them – on the terms of the Gods – but neither reverence nor blind obedience was demanded by them. Curse those lazy Æsir and Vanir out to your hearts content. (Source: The Viking Mind Messenger Lectures by Neil Price at Cornell University 2012).
A. 4 points
B. 3 points
12. A big chunk of the advice of Odin in the Havamal concerns how to treat your guests – in fact, those are the very first verses!!
“Hail to a good host! A guest has come inside, where should he sit? He is impatient, standing at the threshold, ready to try his luck. He needs a fire, the who has just come in, his knees are shivering. Food and dry clothes will do him well, after his journey over the mountains. He needs water, the one who has just arrived, dry clothes, and a warm welcome from a friendly host – and if he can get it, a chance to listen and be listened to.” ~ Hávamál verses 2 - 4
Hospitality was a key tenet of Norse culture. Over and over it comes up in the myths and sagas. It is never expected that you give a stranger so much that you starve, but it is expected that if you have something on your plate, the guest will have something very similar; if you have ale, your guest has ale. If you have clean, dry clothing and your guest is soaked and caked with mud – let him have dry clothes. This obligation is reciprocal. For example, if your guest only stays a day or two, local news and tales may suffice to pay for lodging. If he stays a month, he has to help gather firewood and go hunting or fishing. (Source: The Poetic Edda, Translated by Dr. Jackson Crawford, 2015; many of Dr. Crawford’s online videos on Norse culture and history).
A. 0 points
B. 4 points
C. 3 points
D. 2 points
13. This is a formal duel (Holmgang) with someone you’ve had dealings with going back years. If you notice his sword is flawed, you give him a good sword to finish the duel. Throwing his sword in the river would be theft. Killing him as he knelt would be murder. Returning the defective sword to him would probably never be known to anyone but you, but you wouldn’t want to live with the knowledge you won because of a defective sword. (Source: Dr. Jackson Crawford’s video: Drengskapr (Viking Manliness) and Throstein Staff-Struck).
A. 4 points
B. 0 points
C. 1 points
D. 2 points
14. The Pagan Vikings don’t seem to have always had a clear picture of the exclusive nature of Christianity, and this has plagued monotheists to this day in Iceland. During Viking times, it seems that Pagans often accepted Christ as another God to call on or worship as needed along with the familiar cast of characters they knew so well. We have Thor’s hammer necklaces that are suspiciously similar to the Christian cross, and the idea was that if you were among Christians, it was a cross, and among Pagans, it represented Mjolnir. Christians often used extreme methods to get the ONE GOD idea across. Egil’s Saga see section 50. (Source: The Sagas of the Icelanders, Jane Smiley, Penguin, 2005).
A. 0 points
B. 4 points
C. 2 points
D. 3 points
E. 2 points
15. The Norns, including your own personal Norn, carved (they did not weave, they carved) your fate before you were born. No use hiding from it or rushing towards it. Just face it as bravely as you can.
“Cows die, family die, you will die the same way. I know only one thing that never dies: the reputation of the one who’s died.” -Hávamál 77
(Source: Dr. Jackson Crawford video: The Norns, Wyrd and Fate; The Viking Mind Messenger Lectures by Neil Price at Cornell University 2012).
A. 0 points
B. 4 points
C. 3 points
16. Again, this probably varied quite a bit, but I lean towards B. As is normal for a patriarchal society, men could pretty much do as they pleased, and if you were a wealthy enough guy you could go to the slave market and buy a pretty bed-slave and do whatever you wished to her without consequence regardless of age or her bodily health. Thralls in general were disposable. Concubines were different. They were less than wives but were free. Believe it or not, there are records indicating a wife’s delight that a concubine joined the household – extra hands for labor and she didn’t have to put up with too much pawing from her husband (remember, a lot of marriages were arranged for economic and social reasons).
Women had sexual affairs, and the main concern seems to have been – keep it discreet. Don’t dishonor your husband by flaunting it. Have your fun, try to allow everyone to pretend it isn’t happening, and we will all go along to get along. If a wife got caught blatantly having an affair or had her lover’s child, she could lose at least part of her inheritance, but she wouldn’t have to wear a scarlet A or leave town. (Source: The Viking Answer Lady: Courtship, Love and Marriage in Viking Scandinavia)
A. 2 points
B. 4 points
C. 1 points
17. Black, as a personal descriptor, seems to have only applied to hair in Old Norse. Think of the word chestnut meaning reddish-brown in English. You would not say “She had chestnut hair.” People would know what you meant, but that is a word applied to horses, not humans! To the Vikings, Africans were blue men – they were described as having blue skin = blámaðr. The tiny fragments of records of the Norse encountering people we today call black indicate intense curiosity and an admiration of their fighting skills. Again, the racists have no clue at all and totally fail to understand the Vikings had NO CONCEPTION OF RACE like the modern one. (Source: mostly Colors In Old Norse video by Dr. Jackson Crawford. Not an acceptable source but interesting discussion on Reddit here).
A. 1 points
B. 0 points
C. 4 points
D. 2 points
18. Vikings conceptualized individuals as consisting of four distinct parts:
- The hamr, the physical body.
- The hamingja, the personification of your luck WHICH IS A SEPARATE THING FROM YOU AND CAN LEAVE YOU TO DO THINGS ON ITS OWN. One account tells of warriors watching the enemy advance and one of the warriors says: hey, these guys have a lot of luck spirits and we don’t. I’m outta here!
- The hugr, your internal essence. A person may be described as having a wolf’s hugr – physically this is a man; spiritually this is an actual wolf.
- The fylgia, the follower. This female spirit (always female, even for men) is a sort of family spirit and may appear in dreams, trances or near death. Often this fylgia gives advice and is inherited.
(Source: The Viking Mind Messenger Lectures by Neil Price at Cornell University 2012).
A. 2 points
B. 4 points
C. 0 points
19. First, my apologies to lesbians. Sadly, you are entirely invisible in the Viking record. For gay men, so long as you married and had children, it seems you could have a male lover or a dozen male lovers. The big thing is this: the family unit was the center of Viking society. With the high death rates for children, the short life expectancy in general, and the need for hands to do labor, the expectation was that you would have children. What you did extracurricularly may not have mattered very much to anyone. The sagas speak deprecatingly about men who receive anal sex and less so of the men doing the penetrating, but that may be later Christian attitudes entering the literature. (Source: The Viking Answer Lady: Homosexuality in Viking Scandinavia)
A. 1 points
B. 0 points
C. 3 points
D. 2 points
20. In the Saga of Hervor, the correct answer is C! Yea ladies! Go rob and kill someone and then marry above your status to celebrate! Wait! Damn, those Christians ruined everything… I should note that Dr. Judith Jesch of the University of Nottingham and an expert on women in the Viking Period argues vigorously that there were NO women warriors and any mentioned in the sagas are symbolic and mythological. (Source: The Saga of Hervor and Heidrek, translated by Christopher Tolkien [yes, the son of who you think]).
A. 2 points
B. 1 points
C. 4 points
D. 0 points
21. The question of what a berserker is and how they were viewed is really complex and will need a more detailed discussion. Suffice it to say there is a lot to suggest that in addition to being seen as fierce warriors, berserkers were also viewed as taking on the spirit of an animal – wolf or bear usually – and fighting not as humans but with an animal strength and power. (Source: The Viking Mind Messenger Lectures by Neil Price at Cornell University 2012).
A. 3 points
B. 4 points
C. 1 point
22. This is a trick question; let me explain. Spears, sword and axe are all clearly offensive weapons. But all of them can serve defensive functions. A seax, or long, thick bladed war-knife is a sort of back up weapon if you lose the above. So, we have five offensive weapons, right?
No. Experimentation with HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) is suggesting that the shield functioned quite effectively as an offensive weapon. Far from simply being held in front of the body to block blows, the RIM of the shield was used to hit the opponent. The shield was held loosely by the grip and swung about to bind the opponent’s weapon. There at least a dozen ways the shield is described or illustrated as being used in an offensive rather than defensive manner. (Roland Warzecha - Sword & Shield Fighting video)
A. 2 points
B. 3 points
C. 4 points
23. The Viking afterlife is a mystery to us, so there is no definitive answer here. However, we do know this: Odin did not favor the poor or those who lacked noble ancestry. Odin, by preference, sought and rewarded the nobles. There is nowhere in the mythology that tells of Odin rewarding the poor man who did well. In fact, in one of their many father/son arguments, Odin mocks Thor by insinuating that he lets nobodies of no notable lineage in his hall. Sadly, this is the one and only reference we have to Thor’s hall and its role in the afterlife.
Equally baffling is one line in the Poetic Edda which states that the Goddess Freyja collects half of the heroic dead and brings them to her hall, Folkvangr. It is very specific, stating Odin gets half of those slain in battle and Freyja gets the other half. And that is all we know.
“Freyja rules in the ninth land, Folkvang – that is where she arranges the seats. She chooses half the dead who die in battle, and Odin takes the other half.” ~ Grimnismal verse 14.
Dr. Jackson Crawford, linguist and specialist in Old Norse, speculates that Folkvangr is linguistically linked to Valhalla, and wonders if Freyja acts a sort of Commander of Valkyries for Odin. Dr. Neil Price, archeologist and specialist in Viking culture, seems to feel that there may have been many, many Viking otherworlds and afterlives.
But our poor, but brave, warrior who died in battle, I bet he went to Hel, but as AC/DC said: “Hel Ain’t No Bad Place To Be.” (Source: The Poetic Edda, Translated by Dr. Jackson Crawford, 2015; many of Dr. Crawford’s online videos on Norse culture and history, see in particular Frigg and Freyja; also The Viking Mind Messenger Lectures by Neil Price at Cornell University 2012).
A. 3 points
B. 3 points
C. 3 points
D. 4 points
24. This is straight from the Saga of the Volsungs, and of course you arrange for your brother to be killed rapidly and then endure your death in silence without revealing where the treasure is. You are a Viking. (Saga of the Volsungs, Dr. Jackson Crawford, 2017).
A. 1 point
B. 2 points
C. 3 points
D. 4 points
25. Again, straight from the Saga of the Volsungs. Your revenge consists of killing both of your sons that you had with your husband, who murdered your brothers, cooking their hearts and livers and feeding them to your husband as he washes the meal down with mead drank from a cup made from the skull of one of his sons. Then you stab him to death, barricade the doors to the hall and set fire to the hall so that you, and all of your husband’s men, burn to death.
Moral: Don’t fuck with Viking women. (Saga of the Volsungs, Dr. Jackson Crawford, 2017).
A. 2 points
B. 1 point
C. 3 points
D. 0 points
E. 4 points
BONUS QUESTION: False – while the forge was no doubt quite warm, blacksmith shops were usually located outside of villages (quite frequently in caves overlooking villages in Norway) possibly because of concerns of accidental fires starting (as a blacksmith I can tell you this is a real concern even in the modern forge) or possibly because the blacksmith did magical work, turning rocks into tools, brooches, wagon wheel rims, horse bridles, axes, and swords? Maybe he was in league with the dwarves? (Source: Dr. Ragnar Orton Le, archeologist at Midgard Historisk Senter, Lecture: “The Blacksmith and the Cave, August 2016).
SCORE:
80 – 100 points – YOU ARE A VIKING.
60 – 79 points – You have visited Viking trading posts, spent time with Vikings and are welcomed by name by theVikings.
40 – 59 points – You’ve heard of the Northmen and read some of the writings about them.
20 – 39 points – The Vikings have carried you off in a raid and you are a thrall, laboring on a Viking farm.
19 — 29 points – The first you heard of the Vikings is when a bunch of hairy men with big beards burst into the monastery chapel during prayer and slaughtered everyone…
My Previous Viking Diaries:
Vikings: Who the Hel were they?
Vikings: Cosmology and the World they lived in
The First DEFINITE Female Viking Grave Burial
Viking Funerals -The Coolest Way To Go