hmm, where to begin! what a jam packed show!!

Vikings – really did get all over the place. Ragnar Lothbrok besieged Paris, raided throughout the north but if you look at his sons, Ivar went to Ireland, Ubba and Haesten invaded England whilst Bjorn took an army into the Mediterranean. Raided the south of France, entire coast of north Spain (which was still Christian) before rounding the entire Iberian peninsula and raiding the towns of Islamic Spain in the south. Crossed the straight of Gibraltar and sacked the city of Pisa in Italy before returning home and setting himself up as King of Sweden. The Varangians were born of Viking attempts to open up the east. You can follow Russia’s rivers right into the interior. Once down the Volga you have access to the Black Sea, the Middle East and the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantines). Vikings soon realised the enormous military power and wealth of the Byzantines wasn’t to be scoffed at so many took work as mercenaries (much more profitable). Vikings had as much a history of being traders and mercenaries as they did raiders. Need to think of Early Medieval Scandinavia, particularly Denmark as being a failed state rather than a non-existent one. Kings of Denmark had developed an increasingly sophisticated, centralised state, with a single, national army, a fleet, big investment schemes like roundforts, ports, canals, system of taxation – all worked great until Charlemagne got involved. The King of the Franks was spreading east, by swallowing up the buffer state of Saxony in northern Germany the Danes and the Franks were now facing each other for the first time – Charlemagne tried to secure his empire by sponsoring a failed coup in Denmark, old king is murdered but there’s no clear successor. Once the pay stops, the army and navy commanders start to look to themselves and the Viking age begins in earnest. The Franks are pretty much responsible for most of Europe’s conflicts for the last thousand plus years. Charlemagne, now Holy Roman Emperor, ruling France, the Netherlands, northern Italy, Rome, Germany is master of Europe. He dies, his heir takes over and for a time, the Empire is stable. The issue arises with his grandson. At this point primogeniture hadn’t been established (ie, I’m oldest, when Dad dies I get the lot) – for the pan-Germanic peoples you divided up your stuff equally between your kids. Three kids, three cows, each of them gets a cow when you die. That’s fine when you’r a farmer but not when you own most of Europe. France goes to one of the sons, Germany to the next then everything else to the third son (Italy, Switzerland, Burgundy, the Netherlands). Completely untenable position so for most of Europe’s history after 843 (the Treaty of Verdun which finalised this arrangement), been a case of France and Germany fighting for control of the middle bit. Scandinavia was in disarray but so to was Europe before long, Britain had long since been a patchwork of peoples and kingdoms. Vikings quite understandably exploited the situation to hand. Some Vikings fought for the French (Rollo becoming Duke of Normandy) whilst others fought for the Germans and were given parts of Holland, some fought for the Byzantines, others went into business with the Russians. All a very blurry picture. Dynasticism then starts confusing matters even more, it’s not just the English fighting the Danes for example, once the ruling house of Wessex dies, the crown goes to Knut (a Dane). For a time, England, Denmark, Norway and Sweden are all part of one giant northern Empire until the the same old issues come around. No clear heir, everywhere breaks up again with the provincial governors (for lack of a better term) taking the crowns in their respective areas. That’s what Edward the Confessor did in England and it’s something that laid the groundwork for 1066. William of Normandy had a claim, as did Harald Hardrada. When Edward dies, everyone hopes for a swift, peaceful transition. No. Earl Harold Godwinson seizes the crown of England and the other claimants move to depose the usurper. Hardrada lands in the north trying to capture York (which had always been the major linchpin of the Anglo-Danish lands to the north) – battle of Fulford leads to the annihilation of the northern army and most of the northern earls. Harold moves north, defeats Hardrada at Stamford Bridge. Of the 200 odd ships only 12 make it back to Norway. Victory is short lived as William of Normandy has landed in the south, the army marches to London where Harold ignores the advice of his council (who wanted to sit it out in London, wait for reinforcements to come in before marching south). Harold takes the army to Hastings and we all know what happened there. What we forget is that the Danes had a go a couple of years later to no success, the Normans had sufficient troops on the coast to prevent a landing so the Danes turned back. For the first time in hundreds of years, Britain no longer looked to Scandinavia as the Normans swallowed us up and we became Europe-orientated for the first time.

All of it, an incredibly interesting period and I for one would love to see some bloody Saga coverage!!! It’s a cliche but yes, my long red hair and Norwegian surname has had a teeny impact on my curiosity for the era hence doing History at uni haha

Also, King killed by a horn plus spike up the arse was Edward II but, must be said that is most likely to be a myth propagated by some of his wife’s allies. More and more historians reckon he was either starved to death or suffocated with a pillow so as to not leave any marks. You don’t want to go on trial for regicide, the fewer pieces of evidence you can leave the better.