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Joshua Reptsik
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 Posted: Sat 18 Feb, 2006 9:45 pm Post subject: Scandinavian medieval history? |
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One thing I've noticed on this forum is there seems to be quite a few Scandinavian's and they seem to really know their stuff. This evokes my curiosity, and the more I start to think about it, I realize I know very little of the medieval times of this region. I am familiar (but no expert) with Norse culture and warfare but anything after 1100 or so, I'm rather clueless. To get to the point, does anyone have any suggestions as to where I could find resources to study, preferably books, post-viking Scandinavia? Ultimately I want to learn about the styles, shapes, methods, etc.,of swords, swordsmanship, armor, and warfare and their influence on society at the time.
" You little fool who wanted to be the best, see what happened." -MS 3227a
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Joachim Nilsson
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
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Joachim Nilsson
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| Posted: Sun 19 Feb, 2006 8:04 am Post subject: |
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Oh... I totally forgot about the bookstore. Sorry Chad. 
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Sun 19 Feb, 2006 8:09 am Post subject: |
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| Joachim Nilsson wrote: | | Oh... I totally forgot about the bookstore. Sorry Chad. |
Don't worry, it's no big deal.  People are welcome to shop wherever they want, of course. I just wanted to remind people that it was there.
ChadA
http://chadarnow.com/
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Joachim Nilsson
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| Posted: Sun 19 Feb, 2006 8:12 am Post subject: |
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| Chad Arnow wrote: |
Don't worry, it's no big deal. People are welcome to shop wherever they want, of course. I just wanted to remind people that it was there. |
Had I remembered its existance I would, of course, have directed him there.
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W. Schütz
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Mon 20 Feb, 2006 7:07 am Post subject: |
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That book about Scandinavian armies up to 1300 got some really bad reviews i saw, how is the quality of those Osprey books in general? They LOOK very good but i have never studied one.
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Hisham Gaballa
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| Posted: Mon 20 Feb, 2006 8:40 am Post subject: |
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They're OK if you don't want too much detail. They give a general overview of the subject and of course there are the colour reconstructions, which usually look splendid, but need to be taken with a pinch of salt. All you are seeing there is the author's (and the artist's) idea of what a fighting man of that country and period looked like.
They usually have good bibliographies if you want to do more reading. They are also easily available and relatively cheap. Finally they take on subjects which no other publisher seems interested in, they deserve credit for that alone.
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Mon 20 Feb, 2006 8:53 am Post subject: |
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| Hisham Gaballa wrote: | All you are seeing there is the author's (and the artist's) idea of what a fighting man of that country and period looked like.
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And that is as good as it's going to get unless you have a time machine and go back to take PICTs.  
Naturally, artists and authors can be more careful than others and the quality of the information in the drawings can vary from very strict to very " fantasy ".
When drawing something with only limited reliable information how much do you invent to fill in the blanks ???
So the drawings can be anything from very close to what might one see in period or very far, and this might vary greatly from picture to picture in the same book.
Just a general comment not aimed specifically at the Osprey books that I generally like by the way.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Hisham Gaballa
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| Posted: Mon 20 Feb, 2006 11:50 am Post subject: |
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| Jean Thibodeau wrote: | | Hisham Gaballa wrote: | All you are seeing there is the author's (and the artist's) idea of what a fighting man of that country and period looked like.
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And that is as good as it's going to get unless you have a time machine and go back to take PICTs.
Naturally, artists and authors can be more careful than others and the quality of the information in the drawings can vary from very strict to very " fantasy ".
When drawing something with only limited reliable information how much do you invent to fill in the blanks ???
So the drawings can be anything from very close to what might one see in period or very far, and this might vary greatly from picture to picture in the same book.
Just a general comment not aimed specifically at the Osprey books that I generally like by the way. |
I like them too, I have an entire shelf-full of them, we just need to be aware that as reference material, they are only a starting point, and further research is always necessary.
As an example of one of the strengths of Osprey: books on Russian arms and armour for example, what books are out there are usually very old, not in English and usually quite expensive. Osprey has no less than 3 books on Russian armies covering the period 750 AD to 1650 AD. OK they are small books but they are available and relatively cheap.
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Elling Polden
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| Posted: Mon 20 Feb, 2006 11:57 am Post subject: |
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As far as I recall, the Scand armies 1 book is pretty ok. It doesn't show a lot of naval or infantry fighters, thoug, witch is a shame, as almost all warfare in the period was on foot or on ships (the later especially in norway...)
There are also a couple of saga that is written about recent events; In norway, this would be King Sverre's saga, The saga of Bagler and Birkebeinere, and the saga of Håkon Håkonson. Especially the first two contain a lot of warfare.
"this [fight] looks curious, almost like a game. See, they are looking around them before they fall, to find a dry spot to fall on, or they are falling on their shields. Can you see blood on their cloths and weapons? No. This must be trickery."
-Reidar Sendeman, from King Sverre's Saga, 1201
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This is a standard topic