The Vikings

So upon request by a friend of mine who I used to teach with, I am blogging about Vikings. Her fifth grade class is studying explorers, in particular Lief Erickson. As exploring is the theme of this trip, I thought I would begin this blog focusing on those famous Norwegian Explorers throughout the ages from the Vikings to the Kon-tikki…and I might add in a few of my own adventures as the year goes on.

Vikings:
There is an ancient Viking saying that goes something like this:

He is truly wise
Who’s travelled far
And know the ways of the world.

He who has travelled
Can tell what spirit
Governs the men he meets.

With that in mind, the Vikings travelled far and wide. They travelled for a lot of different reasons, the most popular being to conquer other lands. But they also travelled to trade their farm products with other towns and to find new land to farm.

The Vikings were known to be harsh, warriors, but excellent seamen. When Mrs. Miller asked me to visit the Viking Museum, or Vikingskipshuset, I was surprised at how small the ships were. However, as I thought about it more I realized that this was over 1,100 years ago (around 800 AD). So in that time these ships were quiet large and incredibly sturdy. Since they didn’t have motors then, they relied on sails and oarsmen. The largest ship, the Gokstad, (in the picture below) had room for 32 oarsmen. They did not have seats so they would sit on their own chests that they brought along to carry their clothing and personal items.

The majority of what we know about the Vikings is from their burial sites. They believed in an afterlife and thus they believed that when people died they needed to have food, transportation, gold, etc. with them so that they can live comfortably in the afterlife. Each of the three boats I have pictures of here were originally Viking ships and then eventually they were used to bury important people.

The next ship, Osbergship, is from 815 AD. It had room for 30 oarsmen. It is not as sturdy as the Gokstad, so historians believe it was probably a pleasure ship for short journeys and smooth water.

The last photo is of the Tune Ship. This ship was found in the worst shape and historians were unable to determine its exact function.

The burial sites also provided historians with a bunch of other information about the time period that the Vikings lived in. For example, the found bits of clothing and shoes.

The most beautiful aspect of the Viking paraphernalia is the intricate carvings on their carts, eating utensils, and ship ballasts.

So here are some additional facts about Vikings that might be interesting:

• The Viking men were some of the first people who developed the art and craft of knitting.
• Some English words we got from the Vikings: freckles, scabs, scream, egg, dirty, and rotten.
• Vikings ate all of the following: goose, seal, boar, moose, walrus, polar bear, seagull, horse, and wale. They also ate things like bread and cheese.
• The song London Bridge is Falling Down is about a Viking attack
• Viking clothes didn’t have buttons and their houses didn’t have windows.
• Slaves, or thrall, were often named for their physical features. For example a female slave might be named “fat thighs.” Fierce Viking warriors were also named for physical features, like Kon Smelly-Feet, Rudolph the Red-Nose, and Ragnar Hairy Breeches.
• Viking women could be married at the age of 12 but could divorce her husband whenever she wanted. One Viking woman divorced her husband for showing too much bare chest.

I will leave the Viking portion of this blog with another one of their sayings:

The traveler must
Train his wits.
All is less at home.

He who knows little
Is a laughing-stock
Amongst men of the world.