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Seasons
36. The Viking Legacy
November 23, 2023
The course of Medieval history was fundamentally altered by the Viking Age. The feudal states of Western Europe were born. The kingdoms of England and Scotland arose. Orthodox Kiev, founded by Swedish Rus, gave political organization to the East Slavic peoples. The Vikings gave Christian Europe strength, and the era of the Crusades would have been impossible without them.
35. From Vikings to Crusaders
November 23, 2023
By 1100, the Viking age had passed. On the eve of the Black Death (1347 - 1351), all three Scandinavian kingdoms shared similar fiscal and institutional weaknesses. The three kingdoms were united under the treaty of Kalmar, a weak union that dictated the course of Scandinavian history down to the Reformation.
34. Christianization and Economic Change
November 23, 2023
In the 11th century, distinct national churches emerged in the Scandinavian kingdoms. Christianity brought new prosperity and population growth. Cathedrals and monasteries stimulated the rise of market towns. Coulter ploughs, better tools, and the three-field system improved agricultural productivity significantly for the first time since the Iron Age.
33. Kings of the Swedes and Goths
November 23, 2023
Sweden, in resources and population, seemed destined for primacy in Scandinavia, but the Yngling kings of Uppsala did not profit from the Viking expansion in the East. In contrast to Norway and Denmark, Sweden lacked powerful sea kings that could forge a territorial state under hereditary Christian monarchs.
32. St. Olaf of Norway
November 23, 2023
Converted in England, Olaf rose from a Viking raider to become a great Christian king of Norway, which he liberated from Danish rule in 1015. His heavy-handed rule led his subjects to expel and then kill him at the Battle of Stikelstad in 1030, but they later repented, and he survives in memory as Scandinavia's first royal saint.
31. Jarls and Sea Kings of Norway
November 23, 2023
Harald Finehair, a king in Upplond, imposed his rule over Norway after defeating a coalition of jarls at the naval battle of Hafsfjord c. 875. Although his line ended in 970, another sea king, Olaf Tryggvasson, used his Viking fleet, and Christian institutions, to become king of Norway. Olaf fell fighting a Danish rival at the naval battle of Sv
30. Collapse of Cnut
November 23, 2023
At Cnut's death, his sons clashed for control while also fending off Magnus the Good of Norway. In 1066, with Cnut's sons both dead and his nephew Svein Estrithson holding Denmark, Magnus's uncle Harald Hardardi attempted to wrest England from Cnut's distant relative Harold II. Harold repelled Hardardi but fell at Hastings to William the Conqueror, who had just begun to put Normandy on the map.
29. Cnut the Great
November 23, 2023
Cnut the Great (1014 - 1035), along with his father Svein Forkbeard, reclaimed England for Scandinavia, but viewed himself as a pan-European king in the mold of Charlemagne. Though not remembered fondly by his subjects, his maintenance of a powerful fleet, innovative use of proxy rule, and savvy employment of marriage alliances turned Denmark into a Christian North Sea Empire.
28. Formation of the Kingdom of Denmark
November 23, 2023
Denmark was forged under threat from the Holy Roman Empire to the south. Responding to Henry the Fowler's 934 invasion, the pagan king Gorm the Old raided the southern frontier, securing Jutland. His successor Harold Bluetooth precluded further invasions by Christianizing Denmark, fortifying the Danevirke, and establishing massive military camps.
27. St. Anskar and the First Christian Missions
November 23, 2023
In a Viking-Age Scandinavia well served by the traditional gods of war, sailing, and prosperity, the Carolingian missionary St. Anskar had little success convincing the Vikings that Christianity was a powerful religion of victory. But by training Frankish clergy in the Scandinavian tongue, he put in place the institutions that would aid future Christian kings.
26. Transformation of Scandinavian Society
November 23, 2023
From 790 - 1000, a massive influx of silver led to the minting of Scandinavian coins and resulting monetized markets. Newly wealthy individuals, increasingly women, enjoyed their largess through imported luxury goods and personal ornamentation found in ever-more opulent ship burials.
25. From Varangians into Russians
November 23, 2023
Prince Vladimir of Kiev's momentous conversion to Orthodox Christianity in 989 was revolutionary. The Rus adopted literacy and the Slavic language, imported Byzantine builders to create masonry churches, shifted patronage from pagan poetry to Christian works, created cavalry and a military elite, and converted a slave-trade economy into an agricultural economy.
24. The Road to Byzantium
November 23, 2023
The shift in Swedish trading activity from the Volga in the east to the Dneiper in the west was also a shift away from the Islamic world and towards a Byzantine Christian civilization that greatly impressed the Swedes. The Rus became mercenary allies and trading partners with the emperors in Constantinople and imported imperial institutions into an incipient Russian kingdom.
23. Swedes in the Baltic Sea and Russia
November 23, 2023
By the 8th century, intrepid Swedes had moved into the Russian forest zones, acquiring slaves to trade with Khazar middlemen that controlled the Volga. These Swedes, or Rus, braved rapids and marauding steppe-peoples, adapting to a foreign land and adopting some indigenous customs and institutions. The market towns they established formed the core areas of future Russian states.
22. Western Voyages to Greenland and Vinland
November 23, 2023
The daunting climate and the ultimate paucity of marketable trade goods prevented Greenland from becoming a viable settlement, while Vinland settlements foundered due to hostile Algonquins and remoteness from the Scandinavian homeland. The American fascination with these voyages reveals a sentiment the Icelanders would have appreciated, a yearning for connection with an ancient past.
21. Skaldic Poetry and Sagas
November 23, 2023
Icelanders preserved memories of their Scandinavian homeland and transmitted tales of the ancient Germanic gods through recited poems, consistent with an oral culture in which even law was recited publicly from memory. From the 10th century onward, literature became ever more ornate and sophisticated, culminating in the great collections of Norse poetry and mythology, and the prose sagas.
20. Iceland - A Frontier Republic
November 23, 2023
The rugged terrain of Iceland necessitated egalitarianism. As men left home to hunt, fish, and tend pastures, women ran the households, handled legal settlements, and even acted as delegate chieftains. Law was informal, and justice "face to face," adjudicated by a trusted member of the community. These traditions persisted for centuries, even after timber depletion and civic unrest.
19. The Settlement of Iceland
November 23, 2023
Iceland filled with settlers between 870 and 930. Some sought relief from an overcrowded Norway, some sought free land, and others desired freedom from the tyrannical Norwegian king Harald Finehair. On this remote, barely habitable island just below the Arctic Circle, a purely Scandinavian experiment in self-government produced a remarkably independent society of free farmsteads.
18. Norse Kings of Dublin and Ireland
November 23, 2023
In 917, Hiberno-Norse kings reestablished rule over Dublin and its hinterland, and many key ports. With Norse immigration in decline, however, they lacked the numbers to dominate the island. Cooperation, intermarriage, and assimilation marked Norse-Irish relations. Irish king Mael Sechlainn's victory over the Norse at Tara in 980 cemented their secondary position thereafter.
17. Viking Assault on Ireland
November 23, 2023
In 432 - 433, St. Patrick brought Roman Christianity to Ireland, but not Roman government. So in the Viking Age, Ireland possessed great, learned, clan-supported monasteries surrounded by chieftain-led tribes. Norse Vikings devastated the monasteries, dominated the river systems and coastal ports, and co-opted local chieftains, transforming Ireland into a hub for the slave trade to Muslim Spain.
16. The Danelaw
November 23, 2023
Many Danes settled in the northern areas of England conquered by the Great Army. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Anglo-Danish rule brought lasting changes in language, customs, and legal institutions. But in adopting Christianity and becoming a landed class, these Danes also surrendered their Viking identity and, with shocking docility, accepted the rule of the kings of Wessex by 954.
14. The Duchy of Normandy
November 23, 2023
In 911, Frankish king Charles the Simple faced the Viking sea king Hrolf and a massive Viking fleet en route to Paris. With no money to offer as ransom, Charles offered Hrolf the land around the town of Rouen. Hrolf's warriors, and their families and descendants, forged the powerful feudal state of Normandy that would later found two great feudal kingdoms.
13. Viking Raids on the Carolingian Empire
November 23, 2023
Vikings raided the Carolingian Empire throughout the 9th century, disrupting trade routes and depleting imperial coffers through the extraction of tribute (Danegeld). Local vassals stepped into the power void and claimed fiefs, while veteran Viking companies put down roots in the empire at fortified camps and bases. The axis of trade shifted away from the weakened empire, towards Scandinavia.
12. Christendom on the Eve of the Viking Age
November 23, 2023
The Carolingian Empire, which had actually conquered Germanic peoples under Charlemagne, possessed the economic and military strength to challenge the Vikings. But partition in 843 and civil conflicts between the nobles weakened Carolingian defenses, even as Frankish prosperity invited Viking raids.
11. Merchants and Commerce in the Viking Age
November 23, 2023
From 675 - 840, Western economic and political activity revived, fueled by improved agriculture, growing towns and monasteries, and renewed Mediterranean trade. But it was the need for slaves in the Islamic world that led Vikings to pioneer extensions of this trade, southwest to Islamic Spain and southeast to Constantinople and Baghdad.
10. Warfare and Society in the Viking Age
November 23, 2023
Swords, bows and arrows, javelins, spears, and axes made up the Viking arsenal, but their greatest weapon was unit cohesion. Trained since youth, they were expert in winter travel and foraging, the building of fortifications, and coordinated attack in advanced formations like the "shield wall."
9. A Revolution in Shipbuilding
November 23, 2023
Without the advances in shipbuilding that occurred in the 9th and 10th centuries, Viking success in raiding and trading would have been impossible. Viking vessels evolved from the earliest paddleboats to the great cargo and war ships that carried Viking goods and armies farther and faster than anyone else in the Medieval world.
8. Legendary Kings and Heroes
November 23, 2023
The Epic of Beowulf (c. 675 - 725) and The Saga of Hrolf Kraki (c. 13th century) look back to the 6th century when legendary kings of Denmark and Sweden ruled from great halls and won great victories, albeit without the Viking longships of the 9th and 10th centuries. These figures were role models and inspirations to the sea kings and territorial rulers of the Viking Age.
7. Runes, Poetry, and Visual Arts
November 23, 2023
As a non-urbanized culture, Viking society expressed its visual genius in elaborate woodcarving and intricate jewelry, not architecture. Gods were represented by charming cult statues and contacted through magical runic drawings. Without writing, great myths and legends were transmitted in great halls by poets, playing a harp and composing spontaneous, witty, and metrical verse.
6. The Norse Gods
November 23, 2023
Norse religion was integral to Scandinavian life. A creation myth tells of primeval frozen wastes and sacred trees. The pantheon contained gods of war (Odin), sky (Thor), and fertility (Frey and Freya). The afterlife in Valhalla and other great halls was a reward for great deeds. Worship of these gods, and veneration of their ancestors, united communities and separated them from Christendom.
5. The Age of Migrations
November 23, 2023
As the Roman political order collapsed in Western Europe, Scandinavians poured in: Anglo-Saxons in England, Franks in Gaul, Swedish Goths in Italy and Spain, Danes in Frisia. Cultural ties were so close that Scandinavian legends celebrated legendary West Germanic figures for centuries. But Christianization and linguistic change transformed these immigrants into targets for Viking raids.
4. Weapons of The Vikings
The Vikings were fighting machines, they invested in the best weapons money could buy and the finest armor, slashing their way into the history books. They plundered lands from central Asia to North America and defeated the armies of the greatest empires.
3. The Ships of the Vikings
The Vikings were great explorers and sailors. They exceeded all others in that area. Speedy, lightweight ships carried Nordic warriors all the way from their Scandinavian homes to lands of conquest. How were these ergonomic ships built and what made them
2. Early Viking Society and Religion
In this episode of our series, we learn how early Viking society developed, what the sacred rituals really were, and what role women played in Viking religion.
1. Origin of the Vikings
The Vikings were the last barbarians. From the ice fields of the North to the Russian steppe, these fearsome Scandinavian warriors sailed the globe for three centuries spreading their net of trade and pillage. But where are their origins?
Description
The Vikings is a historical fiction drama series that takes place during the Viking Age in the 8th to 11th century. It centers around the legendary Norse hero, Ragnar Lothbrok, as he rises from a farmer to a renowned warrior leader and eventually a king. The show explores the brutal and fascinating world of the Vikings, their customs, beliefs, and their conquests.
Ragnar is a curious and ambitious man who desires to explore other lands across the sea to the west, which he believes can make him rich and famous. He is accompanied by his brother, Rollo, and friends, Floki and Lagertha. Lagertha is a shield-maiden and Ragnar's first wife, who proves to be a capable warrior and leader, breaking the gender stereotypes of her time.
As the series progresses, the audience is introduced to new characters and new enemies. Characters like Athelstan, a Christian monk who is captured by the Vikings, provide an insight into the contrast between their religions and cultures. King Ecbert, the ruler of Wessex, is a formidable opponent for the Vikings, and his political cunning proves to be a worthy match for Ragnar's strength.
The Vikings depicts several historical events, like the raid on Lindisfarne, one of the first Viking attacks on England, and the Siege of Paris, where Ragnar and his army attempt to conquer the capital of France. The battles are intense and gory, but they showcase the skill and courage of the Vikings, as well as their brutal tactics and the ruthless nature of their people.
One of the show's strengths is its attention to detail. The costumes, props, and sets are authentic and capture the historical accuracy of the period. The show also explores elements of Norse mythology, like the gods Odin and Thor, and the concept of Valhalla, the Viking hall of the afterlife. These elements add a layer of mythology and mystery to the show, making it intriguing and captivating.
The Vikings is also known for its excellent performances. Travis Fimmel, who portrays Ragnar Lothbrok, delivers a powerful and nuanced performance, capturing the complexities of his character's arc. Katheryn Winnick, who plays Lagertha, is a standout, showcasing her fierce and resilient spirit, while also portraying her vulnerability and heartbreak.
The show's production values are also top-notch. The cinematography is stunning, capturing the vast landscapes and seascapes of Scandinavia and England. The music is epic, with composer Trevor Morris creating a powerful and emotive score that enhances the drama of the show.
The Vikings is a show that explores the themes of power, loyalty, and family, as well as the clash of cultures and religions. It is also a show that celebrates the strength and resilience of the Viking people, their customs, and their way of life.
Overall, The Vikings is a thrilling and engaging series that is sure to captivate anyone interested in history, mythology, and drama. Its authenticity, attention to detail, and excellent performances make it a standout. It is a show that takes the audience on a journey through the Viking Age, depicting the lives and adventures of these legendary warriors, and their impact on the world.
The Vikings is a series that ran for 1 seasons (35 episodes) between December 31, 2020 and on
Where to Watch The Vikings
The Vikings is available for streaming on the website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch The Vikings on demand at Max, Apple TV Channels, Amazon Prime, Amazon, Tubi TV and Pluto TV.
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Premiere DateDecember 31, 2020
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