Why do you say this show has a strong base in history? How much do you actually know about the Vikings? I can tell you right now that the braided hairstyle shown being worn by this female Viking is African and the Vikings never met the Africans. And the Vikings likely did not have eyeliner either. They did not even have soap. This show is a romanticized version of what TPTB think audiences will find entertaining, it is most definitely not historically based.
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well ok Mister hyper critical
its like one of my history professors said to class when a kid had asked about some movie that WAS total fiction. the professor used the example of 300-the movie to explain basically the same thing I had said (note my above retraction to the post you quoted!!)
what he said was-in paraphrase, "I'd rather you would be getting something out of a piece of entertainment that was at least based on history then watching your dungeons and dragons"
while at the same time lambasting 300 for its cartoonish comic book characters and amalgamating some things--for example, the 300 were in fact there. 300 spartan hoplites, but each spartan hoplite was followed into battle by at least 3 or 4 slave 'bodyguards' who participated in the fight basically covering their owner's flanks
and if that doesn't up the numbers considerably, there were thousands of other Peloponnesians, Athenians, and I believe Thebans who fought side by side with the 300. they are nearly never remembered though the movie did show a small force of them there
so yes, at the time, i made that post i did believe it was better to watch something historical-ish then some total nonsense like Swap people or ax men,etc, HOPEFULLY, watching a history based show would inspire at least a few ppl to actually pull a book from the library or go online with the idea "saw that on VIKINGS, wonder if it really happened that way"
then, it was still in the balance of being balanced between fiction and history. it has now gone voer the 50% mark to 'off the rails'
first-- the use of names. ppl really need to stop using 'vikings' as a name for the entire people, it is another abomination of word usage 'viking' is an activity like pirating and pirates, what they show in the series is far from dudes going on pirating trips. men who went on a viking at first were those who had little t ono other prospects and sought out fortunes by raids against baltic neighbors. after others saw the wealth that these men brought back, ordinary men began to sign up for the expeditions. most 'vikings' and dane. sviar warriors were not pros, they were farmers or craftsmen (blacksmiths, weavers and netters, etc)
also, at the time, ANY germanic pirate were known as viking or a similar term. the viking ship captains would hire on nearly anyone; frisians, germans, finns, slavs..anyone who would swear loyalty
i have been pretty critical of the show from the 2nd or 3rd season--whether it was hair styles, or amalgamating of events/characters who do things anachronistically, or Ragnar using trees to roll his boats through the mountains, his shack full of tropical snakes, his female chinese slave, the crunching of Wessex and Anglo Saxon history to just a few kings and so much more...its all there in this thread
'ivar the boneless' was not a cripple who crawled around. he was called boneless most likely for one of a few other reasons. one , he was impotent and it is believed his sons were adopted irish or saxon boys. another-that he had a form of hyper flexibility from a genetic condition that allows ppl to abnormally flex their limbs due to hyper flexible joints.
king Harald Finehair? yeah, he never took part in a viking or invasion of wessex or northumbria though he later made a trip to what would become scotland to root out rebels from his kingdom-what was to become norway
his actual exploits include unifying the various earldoms and petty kingdoms on the west and southern coasts of norway. he is known as the first king of norway. to show lagertha defeating him in any way is ridiculous, the actual lagertha is little ore then a footnote in the Lothbrok saga.
as far as hairstyles (hardly as important as the historical events and persons the TPTB's are gang raping) yes, those are a bit over the top
surely germanic women did braid their hair to keep it out of the way as many germanic cultures had restrictions on when a women could cut her hair. some of the men have some hair issues as well
make up? not much in the history for feminine ado. however, dane and sviar traders to the east would have brought back ANYTHING they could sell back home. that includes arab and persian perfume and makeup. before that most 'make up' for men and women consisted of smudge/charcoal and colors derived from wildflowers and berries. tattoos were also widely used. dane warriors would sometimes smudge their eyes as modern athletes do, to prevent sun glare from affecting them in battle or for look out duty sea bound.
other things-- they have never shown-that I remember, any one dane or saxon (which is another slight misuse of nomenclature by everyone) wearing arm rings
arm rings were made of copper, tin, silver or gold by many germanic cultures. a mans first ring was awarded when he swore loyalty to his over lord, after that, they were earned through brave acts in battle or as payment for land, livestock. arms rings were an immense source of pride for danes and many saxons even after becoming christian. to have a show that focuses on danes and saxons without arm rings is kind of like a space based show without space ships
armor-- most danes wore as armor either leather or bearskin. the wealthier had leather with metal plates of chain mail attached. after becoming successful, many danes would start using captured armor and weapons or outright buy more advanced gear from the Franks
like the arm rings, the helmet was something that was also a statement for any dane or saxon warrior. wealthy men would have highly decorated helmets with attached small devices of iron that often depicted their clan's or person animal totem like a wolfshead or raven. not some big hollywood looking disaster, just a modest thing fixed to the helmet that would help a warrior to be id'd by friends on the battlefield. most men of any standing wore some type of protective headgear
the helmets we see many of the saxons wearing are taken from a ceremonial helmet used at the time, it was not used for battle
and no horned hagar the horrible helmets!! the only peoples where there is any archaeological or historical evidence of the use of a horned helmet as depicted as being 'viking' was by the 'sea peoples' who were hired by many ancient (BC) Mediterranean and Levantine cultures as mercenaries and in the 8 and 9th centuries in northeast asia by enemies of tang China
also, the shields! though they use the term 'shield wall' it has never been accurately portrayed. the saxons and danes used the same shield wall tactics. the oblong metal shields we see the saxons using are an anachronism. both sides used hardwood shields, normally covered in hard leather and with a iron boss in the middle and iron strapping on the rim.
crossbows? maybe, some very crude ones. the romans had the crossbow but found the small ones to be clumsy on the field and not conducive to roman tactics. they mainly used it in much larger scale in the form of the ballista. the crossbows we see the franks using are mainly what the romans had but the franks did not use them in such a scale as depicted
place names--there was no 'norway' or england at the time. there was no scotland or ireland either. each place was extremely territorial and nearly xenophobic and very rarely did the saxons co-operate with one another, they would rather see the rival kingdoms fall to the danes then help them (mercia was basically a land where anything goes and divied between the Danes and later mercians until Alfred absorbed must of mercia later. the show depicts Ecbert as ruler of mercia
also, no army of wessex went north of thames until much later- basically after alfred's death. to show them marching on york is hysterical. york fell to the danes and then was not retaken by a saxon monarch until about 100yrs or so after the events of the show.
the seeming incompatibility of saxons and danes as non combatants. at first, it was nearly always war. but later, after the danes decided to stay, it was basically universally agreed upon peace during spring through harvest, the fighting mainly, though not always, occurred after the harvest and before the fields needed to be worked in spring
during alfred's time, a lasting peace was made by wessex and east anglia when it was ruled by Guthrum (might be the Guthrum that is in the show. alfred offered peace and the danes were in rough shape after their expulsion from wessex. for peace, guthrum became christian and allowed missionaries from wessex to convert and build/rebuild churches
the danelaw was created then. this was when roughly the north-from about the thames and north, was ruled by danes and peopled by both danes and saxons with co-equal laws and treatment. criminals were tried in accordance with their religion and mutual respect for each religion was the law.
this lasted for several centuries until one of the last saxons kings of england became afraid about a new dane invasion and ordered all saxons to murder any dane where they found them. neighbors, in laws, didnt matter. even danes serving the saxon kings were mostly killed. it was a high death toll, but a substantial number of danes survived
the languages? there was not one universal saxon language. the language was a mutually intelligible one and composed of frisian, low german, and jutish/angle. also, these peoples originally came mainly from the same land hat the danes did, the jutland (denmark) peninsula and the mainland areas immediately adjacent. those who became danes were mainly of the same stock and their languages would have been quite close to that of the various saxon groups
the hygiene? well the thing i notice is that apparently dane women shaved their armpits!
danish burial mounds unearthed from before and during the 'viking age' show a large number of hygiene items. combs, ear spoons, picks, a type of tweezer, all can be found in the archaeological record in large number
the danes also had soap, one made from whale fat/oil and the other that also had a bleaching agent that is believed as lye based. the majority of danes were not blonde but blonde hair was prized, this lye based shampoo was used to affect blonde hair.
you have to remember also, all history of the danes from before their christian conversion, is told by those they defeated! so of course it depicts them as total uncleaned savages. most accounts come from saxon, frankish and arab writers--all ppl who found themselves victims of dane attacks. also, the arabs/muslims, due to their religious practices found any people who were not muslim to be unacceptably filthy
A contemporary saxon writer noted that the dane custom of washing as over indulgent and typically pagan. the inheritors of the roman way in most instances, did not know roman customs and very rarely had the knowledge to operate.repair roman items. also, as christian, any vestige of pagan roman decadence-such as bathing, was seen as a non christian act. indeed, the old dane word for the 7th day of the week (our saturday) was the word for washing/ washing day. saxons typically bathed twice (usually easter and christmas) a year, where most danes were said (by the saxons) to be engaged in pagan washing once a week-saturday.
also, as cold weather climate folk, they knew that cleaner bodies and clothing led to better warmth. a big contributor to frostbite and trench foot type injuries is not washing.
once dane/sviar (swedes) established themselves in modern day russia, their river trading system to the black and caspian seas resulted in great wealth as well as the importation of asian perfumes, soaps, spices, silk clothing and slaves (this is why i said that Ragnars 'chinese' girl could have happened. but she would have come through russia and not frankia. she would have also been of a tribe/people non chinese as the sui and tang dynasties were not in the habit of exporting their own people as slaves)
so, yeah, i have read just a little about the time period and the peoples who lived in it
a far more accurate and enjoyable piece of historical fiction on this time period is the book series, 'the saxon chronicles' written by Cornwell. it is the book series that the show 'last kingdom' is loosely based on. the tv show is a farce to both history and the books
