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Archive for November, 2014

Angry, angry Icelanders. Posted by on Nov 30, 2014

After a whole month of talking about fighting in the Medieval era I felt it’s time to see if anything’s changed in one thousand years. Are Icelanders still solving their problems by hacking parts off of their enemies? Should you carry an axe around just in case when visiting the country? Perhaps not, because one…

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Fighting, Viking-women Style pt.2! Posted by on Nov 24, 2014

What would be the biggest difference between Medieval Icelandic women who fought using weapons as opposed to using their wits? I’d say it would be in the amount of casualties. Let’s count! Auður Vésteinnsdóttir (Gísla saga Súrssonar)  Deaths – 0, Injuries inflicted – at least 2 severe ones. Auður is one of the most loyal wives…

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Fighting, viking-women style! Posted by on Nov 20, 2014

Medieval Norse women tend to make people think of either of two things first: either a stoic-looking linen-clad lady who does nothing besides carrying horns of mead and popping out heroic babies, or a shield-maiden in a skimpy armour. Both images are wrong, but because they answer to two romantic ideals it’s easy to…

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Fighting, viking-style! Posted by on Nov 11, 2014

Vikings fighting… I can’t begin to count how many movies get this one entirely wrong. There’s the age-old mistaken idea that Norsemen were some kind of mindless frothing-at-the-mouth barbarians, that fights mostly consisted of swords hitting swords, Hollywood-esque spins in the heat of a battle and a weird conviction that Medieval Norse warriors somehow had…

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