Refer to viking metal Band.
Amon Amath
A pagan raid
Ain Geyer
silage
Falckenbach
Manigarm
Stonehenge in prehistoric times
Miton
The moon is sad
Thyristor transistor
windir
Finnish troll
Basri
Burzum
Borknagar
enslave
Eagle hunter
Turissas
Klanyi, Corpi
NACHTFALKE
primitive
A Viking is a Viking. They invaded the European coast and the British Isles from the 8th century to 1 1 century, covering a vast territory from the European continent to the Arctic. This period is called "Viking period" in Europe. In English, this word was introduced from the legend of18th century. There is a saying that it may come from old Norse. Vik means "bay" and ing means "from ...". Viking together means to do something in the bay, and vikingr is the person who does it in the bay. Another view is that it comes from the old English word "wíc", which means "the city of trading", because some Vikings later settled in the British Island and traded with the local people.
The word "vikingr" once appeared on the ancient stone tablet of Juniper in Scandinavia, and it also means "adventure at sea" in Icelandic. In English, the word "wicing" first appeared in ancient Anglo-Saxon poems in the 6th century, which meant pirates, but at that time, the British did not call the Vikings vikings. The word "Viking" disappeared in Middle English, but reappeared in the legends of18th century. In the 20th century, "Viking" not only meant pirates, but also extended its meaning to Scandinavians, and many new words appeared, such as "Viking Age", "Viking Culture" and "Viking Colony".
Later, Scandinavians engaged in commercial activities along the Russian river until Byzantium and established colonies along the river, so later, businessmen from Scandinavia were also called vikings, and Scandinavians in North America were also called vikings by English speakers. In fact, not all Scandinavians are pirates. Like Europeans in other regions, they are farmers, fishermen and hunters. They also set up a fleet to stop the invasion of pirates. Calling all Scandinavians vikings will cause confusion.
The Middle Ages is a wild era, which not only refers to the decline of humanities, but also the emerging countries, each relying on force to compete for the territory of the former Roman Empire. Celts, Franks, Vandals and Saxons all established their own countries. Let's take a look at the vikings living in the ice and snow.
Vikings lived in northern Europe more than 0/000 years ago, and now they live in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. At that time, Europeans mostly called it Northman, that is, tourists from the north. Viking is their self-naming. In the Nordic language, the word has two meanings: first, travel, and then plunder. Their voyage covers the whole of Europe, with the Red Sea in the south, North America in the west and Baghdad in the east. But the first time they appeared in front of the local people, they robbed and plundered as pirates.
Aside from archaeological achievements, we can learn about the fragments of Viking life from their own stories. The earliest stories, history and poems were not written in words, but passed down from generation to generation through oral singing. It was not until about A.D. 1 100 that the vikings living in Iceland had their own unique characters, which were recorded on the skin of animals, or on wooden blocks, bones and stones. This kind of writing is composed of several simple curves, called runes. At first, it has 26 letters, and then it gradually evolved into 16 letters. We can also find vikings from contemporary records. But some victims, such as monks in monasteries, are not objective in their descriptions. Viking social system includes three classes:
Jar: princes are mostly big lords and hereditary nobles;
Carl: Free man, the main force of the army, the samurai class;
Thrall: It's the lowest slave.
But this division is not absolute. A free man may become a slave if he loses all his land. Slaves can also become free men, serve their masters faithfully and get the chance to be redeemed.
Nobles and freemen hold regular meetings to decide major events and settle disputes. They call this kind of meeting.
At the earliest time, the king was the biggest aristocrat. He made almost all the major decisions, so that the tribal Council was only responsible for some local affairs. But in Iceland, because there has never been a king, the tribal Council decides everything, and all the nobles and freemen on the island have to participate. It is held in a place regularly every year for two weeks.
A long time ago, I read a book called Children of the Earth written by Jean Ole. At that time, I was surprised how this aunt could write such a detailed prehistoric style (good book, good book! Highly recommended! )。 The tribes in the book meet in one place every two years to complete a series of festivals, trade, consultations and competitions, probably referring to the Nordic tradition.
It is well known that the Vikings unconditionally accepted all the decrees of the king and Congress. Violators will be expelled from the tribe, which is called banning. This is not what the outlaw meant. This time, the exiles could not cultivate any land, nor could they accept anyone's help. They can only live in caves and live in hiding. Vikings lived a family life, and their parents, children, grandparents and nephews lived under one roof. They are loyal to each other. When a family member is bullied, the whole family goes to the tribal Council to demand justice. If a person is killed, his family may ask for money or land compensation. If the tribal Council thinks they really have the right to make such a request, and the murderer's family has paid the compensation readily, then everything will be the same; However, if the family members of the deceased feel that the judgment is unfair, they will kill a member of the other party privately, so they will avenge themselves, and endless feuds may become an additional tradition of ancient families.
Whether a woman wants to get married or not is up to the whole family, but she has the right to choose one from the list. After marriage, she kept her former property and was responsible for looking after the land at home when her husband was away. Divorce is simple. The couple made a statement explaining the reasons for their divorce before a notary. Some reasons seem ridiculous, such as the husband complaining that his wife always wears pants instead of skirts.
Children live with their elders until they grow up and go out to join another family. Before that, boys learned farming, combat skills and navigation, as well as making tools and weapons; Women learn to spin and make butter and cheese.
Most vikings are professional farmers at ordinary times. They live in the country. In the wilderness, there is no concept of a big town, only several important ports such as York and Boca, and more vikings and their families live on small farms. According to the recorded or excavated sites, we can demobilize the houses of that year and find that all the farms are almost the same. The main building is a rectangular house. If elegant, some independent huts will be added as animal pens and manual workshops, where farmers can make their own tools and weapons.
The early longhouse had only one or two rooms, and all family members worked and lived in one room. Live with the animals raised. Such a house is generally 20 meters long and 6 meters wide. Toilets are also bathrooms, and Nordic people like to take steam baths. Right opposite the entrance, there is a fire pit where the whole family cooks or warms up. This room is also a storage room. Wooden benches are fixed on every wall, where you sit during the day and sleep at night, and all kinds of sundries are piled up below. Every family has one or two high-backed chairs, and only the head of the family is qualified to sit, or there are any particularly distinguished guests. The Vikings had no concept of a bed, except that they had seen the kings of the world.
The long house is dark and damp, with no floor and mud stepping on it. In the cold places in the north, there are few trees, but few stones. The vikings used straw bricks to build walls, that is, they burned a little mixture of grass and soil. They called it turf. This kind of brick is warm in winter. Some people use wooden boards to make a wall inside the brick wall, leaving a distance between them to prevent the wooden boards from being damp and rotting. A longhouse usually has two doors and few windows, so if there is one, it is a simple hole. Windows that can be opened and closed freely are redundant decorations for them. All the lighting comes from the door, and the small hole above the stove is used to smoke. Candles are used for night lighting, but they are made of animal fat. If you light them in a closed room, you can imagine their taste.
Women are spinning and weaving in the house. All clothes are handmade at home, and skilled housewives will add more decorations. They spin wool or hemp into thread and then weave cloth. Dyed with vegetable juice in different colors, without bright colors such as yellow, black, green, brown, blue and red. , and the vikings like this eye-catching. Finally, cut the cloth into clothes. The whole process is complicated and long, and everyone has few clothes, and the things they wear can be used for several years. In fact, everyday Viking clothes are comfortable, and they don't pay attention to style, let alone fashion, so that their clothes have not changed at all for hundreds of years.
Most farms are small and run by individual families. Bigger farms need more labor. Farmers can hire landless freemen or buy slaves. This ancient farming method has not changed much so far: sowing in spring and harvesting in late autumn. Animals that can't stay for the winter are slaughtered in autumn when they are fattest, and the meat is preserved by smoking, waxing and pickling. Another identity of farmers is pirates, and looting and farming alternate. Pirates go out twice a year. After spring sowing or autumn harvest, his wife will take his place and do everything at home. The weather in winter is always terrible. Nordic people hid in the house to repair tools, sew clothes, make hides, and prepare ships for the coming year.
At that time, the ruins of their homes and Viking garbage dumps (well preserved to this day) revealed their diet structure. Vikings lived mainly on meat and fish. They raise pigs, chickens, geese, ducks, cows and sheep to get meat, milk and eggs, and occasionally hunt and fish. They grow rye and barley for bread, cabbage and onions for seasoning, garlic and cress. They drink beer, milk and a kind of mead made of wooden cups or hollow horns. Eat two meals as usual every day, breakfast at around 8 am and dinner at around 8 pm. The whole family get together and cook with wooden pots and pans. Vikings ate with knives and spoons, but no forks.