Norsemen

Historiography can be defined as the study and interpretation of historical writing. It is “understanding how historians of the past conceived of their projects and the methods they used.” A historiographical analysis studies the history of historical writing on a variety of topics such as the Vikings. When mankind usually thinks about the Vikings, they think of strong male warriors raiding villages and sailing the seas on their long ships. In fact, “Vikings are irredeemably male in the…

Norse Creation Myth The Norse Creation Myth provides the purposes and the origin of the Cosmo’s to the Norsemen. The myth center’s primarily on the creation of the world and the influence of the first three and arguably most powerful gods. However, the deeper and more idealistic meaning or themes provide a basis for the Norsemen’s thinking and connections to the world around them One theme that is apparent in this myth is the creation of something new from the destruction of something old.…

is a victim of the raids. He outlined the fear Vikings instilled when conquering and how rough and ruthless the Norsemen were on children and women, while murdering the foreign male citizens. However, he tended to boast the Norse more than other victims because the Islamic people eventually defeated the Norse in this anecdote. This would display an impressive victory if the Norsemen were a worthy opponent. Another source values their culture and praises their leaders. It degrades the Vikings not…

clearly false aspects, such as Thorstein coming back to life to tell Gudrid her fortune (Greenlanders ch. 6), and there are components which are a bit harder to distinguish. We may never know exactly who discovered Vinland first, but we do know that Norsemen visited North America thanks to the Vinland Sagas, which is a huge revelation in…

In the epic poem Beowulf, the cast of characters clearly show the danger of sins and the ease of slipping into them, and the hard work of the heavenly virtues and the rise above the sins of man. The many characters in this epic, most notable being Grendel and Beowulf, show the clear contrast between the sins of man and the heavenly virtues of man. The first character of sin, Unferth, shows the sin of pride, as he attempts to undermine Beowulf’s feats, stating that Beowulf lost to the man who he…

When I begin to watch the movie I was very confused I actually thought I was watching the wrong movie. It starts off in Baghdad, Iraq. Where a poet of the court named Ahmad Ibn Fadlan is supposedly sent on a big mission as an ambassador. Ahmad is really just being exiled in a nice way because he fell in love with a beautiful woman engaged to a nobleman. The noblemen wasn't about to just allow Ahmad walk in and steal his woman. So this nobleman explains to his friend the Caliph that he needs him…

It has been widely accepted that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. There is undisputable evidence which proves that in fact, other civilizations had first sailed to the Americas. Some of those civilizations are the Viking/Norse and the Polynesians. Who was Christopher Columbus? Columbus was an Italian navigator, who sailed westward across the Atlantic, in his search of new routes to Asia. During the voyage, he indeed reached land, but it was no Asia. He landed on what is known today…

The viking attack on Paris in 885 was a splendid representation of medieval warfare. Where the two sides met beforehand in order to attempt a relatively peaceful solution, where the viking Siegfried asked, basically, for all the goods of the city and the bishop responded with the obvious ‘no’. The battles themselves were showing how the defenders of Paris held their city from the vikings for just long enough so that Odo could return with aid from the emperor to finally drive off the vikings.…

Vikings’ Golden Age was the Early Medieval period. It was between the 8th century and 11th century that Norsemen established empires and affected the European civilization. They were courageous sailors and explorers but also fierce and merciless fighters. Their explorations reached lands that we today name France, England, Ukraine or Anatolia. 1. Rollo He received the 'Walker' nickname because he was so tall and big that no horse could carry him, so he had to walk. Rollo conducted raids on…

A look back at the Viking Heroes (Short Biographies of Viking heroes). This section is dedicated to the great Viking warriors, Monarchs and Norsemen who have inspired the sagas and played important roles in European History in general and Norse societies in particular. Throughout this section, you will have a clear image of what the Norse mentality must have been like during the Viking Age. It also gives you a clear indication of what it must have been when they settled in in places like Iceland…