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Vikings
Vikings were Scandinavian or Norse pirates, etchants, warriors and explorers who explored, traded, raided and settled in many areas of Europe and the North Atlantic from the 8th to 11th century.
2,333 Questions
Helheim
http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/vikings/helheim.htm
"Helheim ("house of Hel") is one of the nine worlds of Norse mythology. It is ruled by Hel, the monstrous daughter of the trickster god Loki and his wife Angrboda.
"This cold, dark and misty abode of the dead is located in the world of Niflheim, on the lowest level of the Norse universe. No one can ever leave this place, because of the impassable river Gjoll that flows from the spring Hvergelmir and encircles Helheim. "Once they enter Helheim, not even the gods can leave. Those who die of old age or disease, and those not killed in battle, go to Helheim while those who die bravely on the battlefield go to Valhalla. "The entrance to Helheim is guarded by Garm, a monstrous hound, and Modgud. The giant Hraesvelg ("corpse eater") sits at the edge of the world, overlooking Helheim. In the form of an eagle with flapping wings he makes the wind blow."
What does the name Ronan mean in the viking language?
Ronan is an old Irish name that means "little seal". As far as I know it has no Viking origin.
Did Vikings have a preferred time of day for their raids?
yes around mid day when every one else was out preying
Why are some marriages arranged?
Usually tradition. In some countries and in some religions, the parents arrange a marriage for their children because parents are percieved as being wiser and better able to make a good match. Also, in some social classes it is common for parents to at least limit the choices so that their child doesn't marry "down" into a "lower" class (usually someone not as rich). It was actually a really, really common practice in the past, and the practice of marrying for love was looked upon as frivolous and selfish. Marriages were usually made for the benefit of the family, and often women were seen as belongings... passed from the ownership of the father to the ownership of the husband. Interestingly, arranged marriages last a lot longer on average than marriages made for love. There could be something positive there. :)
Witch countries vikings invaded?
They invaded many countries throughout Europe including Greenland turkey iceland and russia.
Requiem""""'''.......'''''''''''
What was craved onto the front of a vikings ship?
carved into a viking ship was a dragon because they believed it would scare people and the evil spirits of the sea
What does the soren mean in viking language?
In Old Norse, the name Soren means "severe". Also, it is a minor swear word similar to "heck". A popular name in Denmark, even though the word soren is a euphemism for Satan.
The QMJHL Baie-Comeau Drakkar have a Viking Longship for their team logo.
Did vikings bury their dead at sea?
When you properly dispose of a body after death in the water it is referred to as a "burial at sea". It was a very common practice in the days of old before refrigeration. Ships spent many months at sea and it was the only way to "bury" someone. It was and is still considered an honorable way to be put to rest by mariners and people living in seafaring countries. It is less common now for whole body burials at sea, most countries do allowed the spreading of ashes though. I do believe vikings preformed burials at sea.
Vikings weren't all bad but they weren't satisfied with what they had and began raiding other countries.
How is Normandy connected to the vikings?
Normandy was conquered by the Vikings. It's called Normandy because it means "land of the Northmen".
Because the Vikings thought that it was too violent for women.
What was the usual length of Viking ships?
The usual length of a Viking ship is three hundred feet. A typical Viking ship can be boarded by about 500 to 600 men along with supplies and cargo as well as equipment.
Did the Vikings set houses on fire and make people homeless?
Most of the vikings yes, but the others just killed the people and ate them, if they were hungry.
How did Europe's geography affect the Viking Magyar and Muslim invasion?
All of these invasions occurred due to very different aspects of Europe's geography and each of these invaders was well suited to this type of invasion.
Vikings: The Vikings were a sea-faring people who only looted and plundered towns on the European mainland (as opposed to annexing them or proclaiming over them). They were helped by the short distances between the Scandinavian Peninsula and the Germanic regions. Additionally, the proliferation of fishes along the long coast of Germanic regions prompted many villages to be built along the water's edge. This made the pillaging far easier since Vikings no longer had to penetrate miles of unknown forests to acquire wealth.
Magyar: The Magyar were known for their skills as light cavalry, which means that they are most effective on plains or relatively flat land away from city walls and mountains. The area that the Magyar invaded, Imperial Hungary, is just such a "flat-land" between the Carpathians, the Alps, and the Transylvanian Mountains. The geography of this region made their control of it relatively easy and this is why their empire roughly mirrored the topographical map for many centuries.
Muslim: As concerns Muslims, there are two Muslim invasions of Europe.
Muslim-Amazigh: While the Amazigh (also known as Berbers or Moors) were terrible at sea-faring (which would have made the Straits of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco a difficult crossing), they had an invitation and protection from the Visigothic pretender to the throne, Akhila, to support his claim against King Roderic. Many of the leaders of King Roderic's army were opposed to his rule and therefor provided little resistance to this army which had experience on long-distance conquest.
Muslim-Ottoman: The Bosporus and the walls of Constantinople made it so that the Byzantine Empire in that city was able to hold out for nearly a hundred years after the Ottoman Empire had encircled them in Southern Europe. Outside of Constantinople, geography was less important than the modern warfare techniques that the Ottoman used against the Europeans.
Vikings rowed in shifts but how long did each shift last?
As I might be the "source" of this question, or at least one of the sources, her we go! ;-)
Your question holds a postulate: "Vikings rowed in shifts....". We do not actually know this, but my theory which I presented in a Danish daily newspaper on the 26th of January 1998 ( http://www.information.dk/16162 , later on the internet http://www.abc.se/~pa/publ/vikskift.htm and still later in English http://www.abc.se/~pa/publ/vikshift.htm ), I argued that there is a lingual connection between "rowing in shift" and the noun "viking". What is indisputeable is, that there in Northern Europe is an old sea measure, which means the distance between shifting rowers. In Low German this measure is called "Weke Sees", in Old Norse "vika sjóvar", in Danish "uge søs", in Norwegian "ukesøs", in Swedish both "veckusjö" and "sjövika". The Dutch and e. g. the Wends most likely have had their own names for this sea measure! The arguing is that from ON "vik" (the Eng. noun "turn" or "shift") is "vikja" (the Eng. verb "turn" or "shift") derived. From that the ON activity noun "viking" (the Eng. "turning" or shifting") is derived and from that the ON noun "vikingr" (the man who performed the "viking" activity) is derived! Compare with e. g. "sail" (the noun) => "sail" (the verb) => "sailing" => "sailor"!
Even if ON "vikingr" thus means "a man undertaking a long voyage", we don't today know how old and "archaic" the connection between ON "vik" and ON "vikingr" was at the period of time, which we today call the "Viking Age"! In this area people were rarely literate and it is quite possible that the vikings (the pirates) had no knowledge of the etymology of the ON "vikingr"!
Some years after I had written my article on this subject, I learnt that the Swedish admiral and chamberlain Bertil Daggfeldt had written this article http://fornvannen.se/pdf/1980talet/1983_092.pdf already 1983. Daggfeldt's article were very little spread among Swedish philoIogists and no one really understood how important it was. I contacted Bertil Daggfeldt and got his permission to also put his article on the net ( http://www.abc.se/~pa/publ/vik-rodd.htm . Later I also translated his article in to English, http://www.abc.se/~pa/publ/vik-oar.htm , and after that philologists from many countries began discussing the rower shifting etymology seriously!
So returning to your question! The viking ships, both the long boat and other types could be propelled by rowers alone; this was a great advantage in critical situations, but normally the vikings sailed or waited for favourable winds. In those cases, where the ship was propelled by oars, one has to consider the length of th ON "vika sjóvar". The shift would then probably have been two hours; Scolars have also been postulating that a shift was 1000 oar strokes, but this is not documented!
John Larsson, Hillerød, Denmark ( jodalela@gmail.com )
What kind of makeup did vikings wear?
They made their own makeup from the juices of berries mixed with mud and animal fat. It was mainly worn to protect them from sunburn.
