[John Apsega]

So this semester I am taking English 4 which is British Lit. I love British Literature and I was ecstatic to find out that the first work we would be doing was Beowulf, which I have read several times before. Our nutty teacher decided that it would be a good idea to show a movie about the viking to let the class see what they looked like and such. This was an excellent idea to me until I realized that the movie was The Thirteenth Warrior. I had never seen it before but in all honestly it caused me physical pain. Many of the groups were several hundred years out of place and the vikings had pieces of plate armor on. Not to mention that their swords were horribly fantasy and at one point the Islamic thirteenth part of the group was handed a sword and he promptly said "I cannot hold this, its too heavy".

I was so disgusted at this that I approached my teacher after class, told her about my hobbie, favorite time period (which is the late viking period), and the kit that I am putting together (which is still largely uncompleted, being a student and a smoker has not given me much time or money to complete it). I told her I can bring in my Helm and some other resources.

So I am asking the forum, for educational proposes, if you have any kits in the Viking style, or and viking weapons or armor, please send me an email at japs8944@students.spcc.edu! with some pics that I can put into a educational video.

Thanks guys
Im looking forward to hearing from you.
John Apsega

[Mick Jarvis]

the 13th warrior is a great movie

[William P]

[John Apsega]

I love the hurstwic site and for personal information I use it consistently. However I would rather not copyright images and such. If It comes down to it i will go there but I would prefer to try this first.

I am looking for a basic over view, Helmets and swords in particular, as I am trying to fix the bad myths about horned helms.

[Paul Hansen]

I would suggest to your teacher that next time she should show "Beowulf and Grendel" instead.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402057/

Not perfect either, but I think it's quite good.

[Matthew Bunker]

13th Warrior is not as bad a choice as it seems at first sight. Yes the kit on display is awful but Bewoulf and his hearth companions certainly display the black humour and cheerful fatalism that we find in the sagas.

But I'm at a loss as to why your teacher thought to show a film about Vikings at all, if you're studying Beowulf. If you want images of people portraying warriors of England and Scandinavia during the period in which the poem is set, i can do that for you (or you can go and look at the Vendel Madness thread on this site).

[Mikko Kuusirati]

[D. Phillip Caron]

13th Warrior is on the top of my favorite list also. Among other plus assets, it is the only movie I have ever seen which is truely an "Epic". It has all the requirements necessary for a long poem to be an "epic" poem in the British tradition. This puts it in the same line as Homer and Milton.
An epic movie to introduce and eic poem.

[Jim Adelsen]

I too enjoy 13th Warrior. Though obviously they could have used better props. Definitly not a good example of what they would have looked like. I haven't seen it for quite a while, but Beowulf and Grendel might be a good choice if studying Beowulf. My memory has that one using pretty accurate props.

[Austin D.G. Hill]

although it isn't in the main viking period, Arn has some great Scandinavian stuff that is historically accurate.

[Matthew Bunker]

[Austin D.G. Hill]

that is true. yet i did see one called arn the knight templar which was easy to understand. it was the two combined i think.

[Chad Arnow]

Please note the OP is not looking for movies or movie reviews, but for other info. Let's stay on track, please.

[John Apsega]

Thank you for your input guys, I believe that we are studying a bit about the Vikings because Beowulf was originally a viking tale that was written down in England after the Viking Invasion.

The reason that I did not simply give my teacher advice on other movies which would be better than the Thirteenth Warrior is the school bored in the county that I live in. They Generally do not approve of showing movies in class. As such my teacher does not want to simply show a bunch of movies. So I am trying to put a short video together over viewing kits, weapons, and jewelry, from all periods in the Viking Age and a guide for my class.

[Doug Lester]

The "Vikings" have suffered from bad press from the early middle ages on. Even the term Viking is inaccurate when applied as a ethnic identification rather that the occupational group that it really was. Even one of the books that I have on the Norse states that that was an inaccurate use of the term but said that they were going to bow to convention and use the term Viking instead of Norse or the subgroups of Danes, Swedes, and norwegians.

These people were not the ignorant savages running around in animal skins and horned helmets. They helped keep commerce going during the dark ages, were accomplished craftsmen, explorers, dressed in spun garments, and gave us the tradition of the Saturday night bath. Not to mention that the English names for four days of the week come from the names of some of their pagan gods.

I would recommend that if you are interested in the topic that you look up some historical books on the people. I would give you the names if the one's that I have but I wasn't able to fine the right book pile. I must say that the idea of showing most movies in a history class gives me the shivers. Most are meant to entertain rather than to educate and are rife with inaccuracies

[Ken Speed]

John Apsega wrote, "....... I believe that we are studying a bit about the Vikings because Beowulf was originally a viking tale that was written down in England after the Viking Invasion. "

Although scholars seem to go back and forth I think there's a strong body of opinion that the Beowulf story actually predates the Viking Age. It is clearly originally a Scandinavian story and was obviously known in the Viking age.

Movie treatments of the Viking age all suffer from Hollywood's love of distortion. The Thirteenth Warrior is far from the worst movie your teacher could have chosen.

Without boring your classmates silly with details they don't care about I'd want to make the point that a Viking in the 8th century was probably much different than a Viking in the 11th century.

[John Apsega]

[David Huggins]

John

You are looking at the wrong period of history if is it the Beowulf poem you seek to illustrate.

Its been said twice on the thread but the general 'history' and setting of the Beowulf poem takes place in the pre-viking age.

Look at 6th & 7th century artifacts to give an impression of the arms and armour used by the warriors as described within the poem.

The 13th Warrior movie and the book it was based upon were only very very loosely based upon the Beowulf poem and an 'ethnographic' description of later viking age encounters by an Arab ambassdor.

Personally I think the animated Beowulf was by far more of an interesting film!

best
Dave

[David Huggins]

John

By the way I would suggest to your english teacher by far a better illustration of the power and magic of the Beowulf poem to its listener then any Hollywood nonsense has to be the performance of Benjamin Bagby recitng and performing the poem Sheer brilliance! http://www.bagbybeowulf.com/ Watch the video clip, no doubt a performance as stirring as this was enjoyed by the poem's contemporary audiance and performed to this bravado standard can still be enjoyed today.

best
Dave

[Glennan Carnie]

It's probably also worth getting hold of a copy of J R R Tolkein's Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics .