[Alexander Pelkmann]

Hi,

I'm a german pupil and I must write a skilled work in my subject English with the topic:

The vikings and its impact on 20th century England.

My idea was to divide it into two topics:

1. Viking themselves
1.1 Who are they
1.1.2 Religion
1.1.3 Lifestyle
1.1.4 Weapons
1.2. Why England
1.2.1 Why can't hold Englan

2. Impact
2.1 Tradition
2.2 Language
2.3 Reenactment

Any ideas for improvement?

Hope you know some books, or reliable internet sources, which I can use.


Alex

[Etienne Hamel]

there is a book i found in college that is named ''vikings'' it is written by magnus magnusson. there is many things about culture, mythologie, life style and many more.

[Audun Refsahl]

you might want to ad viking settlements, viking kings in england and trading at least, and tourism. have a look at york/jorvik, that should give you a couple of pages...

[Lafayette C Curtis]

Kathatrin Mack's paper about the political purge following the Danish conquest of England:

http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/pdfs/mack.pdf

might be of some particular interest to you, although it deals with a somewhat later timeframe than what most people think when talking about the "Viking Age."

[Tony Peterson]

[James R.Fox]

Hi Alexander-Anything you can find on the Viking legal system wiuld help, as the Viking settlements in England imported the judge and jury system and the making of laws by a representative assembly to England. Much English common law can be traced to these precedents even today.

[David Huggins]

Hi,

If you can get a copy of Julian D.Richards 2008 book 'The Vikngs A very short introduction' published by Oxford University Press 2008 ISBN 0-19-280607-6 £6.99 , you will not be wasting money, and it covers most of want you need for the topics you wish to cover..in fact it opens with a chapter entitled ' Vikings then and now' which begins with a description of the annua Jorvik Viking Festival.

If you can not get hold of a copy Private Message me and I'll send you on a copy. If you need photo'sof modern viking age re-enactment in England and from the Jorvik Festival, visit our myspace profile page www.myspace.com/jorvik_vikingr and look at the myphotos section for various albums and you will be able to save the photos to your computer.

best wishes

Dave

[Alexander Pelkmann]

Thank you all.

Think I buy this books...

@ James R.Fox

Did you have any evidence in form of phrases or something? Because I have to give evidence for everything I write.

[Xan Stepp]

Alexander,
This is, in fact a massive project, and many of the questions you've proposed have no clear answer. I can recommend a few things, but first a word of warning. The Vikings are a very sensational topic in modern popular culture, so be very careful when selecting books, as many do not have a strong scholarly backing and are merely passing along false information. However, I was recently doing some research and came across a recently published book that, while I have yet to read it, comes from a reputable scholar and seems to be a very insightful analysis of the Scandinavian presence in England and Ireland. The book is called the Northern Conquest, by Katherine Holman, and a partial version is available on Google Books:

http://books.google.is/books?hl=en&id=H_5...lt#PPP7,M1

The bibliography here will also give you tons of places to look.

Also if you are interested in pagan Scandinavian religion, so straight to the source. Two major medieval texts, both called Edda, survive from the middle ages. One is poetry and one is prose, and I know that there are several good German translations and commentaries on these works.

As for James Fox' comment, he is very correct, even though the issue of how much English law was influenced by the Vikings, as opposed to both cultures sharing a similar legal background is still debated. However, very little of the Viking Age legal system is known, in most of the Viking world, as there are few surviving written sources. However, much more is known about the Viking Age and medieval Icelandic legal system is known, and much of the commentary on English and Scandinavian law during this period relates back to Icelandic law. So, if you are interested in the older Germanic tradition, you might try researching Icelandic law.

Good luck, and you've picked quite a topic.

[David Huggins]

Hi Alexander,

You will find the small book that I recommended quite useful for your project, it is new 2008 and a good digest of information by one of the U.K''s most highly regarded academic scholar on the Viking Age in England.

Although the Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians shared a common basis for their individual legal systems, the treaty between the Anglo-Saxon Wessex King Alfred and the Viking leader Guthrum recognised differences and allowed the Scandinavians to use their own legal codes in the 'Danelaw', the areas of the country retained by the Vikings.

The divison of land for administrative purposes also differed, the Anglo-Saxons keeping their 'Hundreds' and the Scandinavians having their 'Wapontake, meaning literally weapon take or count.

Some areas of the Northern England, in particular Yorkshire which had a great 'Viking' influence still to this day have land divisions of Wapantake's.

best wishes

Dave

[Alexander Pelkmann]

What impact had the viking concerning to the actually England? Events, songs, law?
Please with evidence.


Best wishes:
Alex

[Carl Pryor]

If i remember correctly regular plurals in english are based on a norse suffix. The plural of 'name' was 'namen' which was changed to 'names' under viking influence. Only the occasional old word still has an irregular plural (or the plural taken as singular now, i forget which), eg 1 sheep, many sheep, 1 fish, many fish (the regular plural 'fishes' is concidered childish at least here in the UK).

I shall try to think of more.

If you look into the traditions of north england, particularly yorkshire, you might find old songs and festivals.

[Nat Lamb]

[Sam Gordon Campbell]

This is probably not helpful, but here's what I know (really condensed and probaly wrong);
. Viking(s) themselves
1.1 Who are they: A scandinavian (Norse?) culture who were great seamen.
1.1.2 Religion: Pagan and later very Christian... ish.
1.1.3 Lifestyle: Farmers mostly, exception being the profesional warriors/soldiers.
1.1.4 Weapons: High tech for the times and place.
1.2. Why England: Hey, if your Saxon, Jute and Angle buddies can have some, why can't you? I mean Byzantiam's good, but y'know, braging rights and all
1.2.1 Why can't hold Englan(d): Well you've got to get through Saxons, Jutes, Angles, Britons(Celts), Romano-Britons, Scots, Picts(?) and every ones favorite horse riding vikings, the Normans.

2. Impact: Well, some of us I'd assume
2.1 Tradition: Can you even sum that up in a single essay?
2.2 Language: something not to dis-similar to Old English.
2.3 Reenactment: Very awsome. Rock on!

[Jean Le-Palud]

Some place-names in modern Great-Britain are definitely related to the vikings.
2 quotes:

"A later peace treaty drawn up between Alfred an Guthrum in 886 effectively established the area of Danish occupation that was later to become known as the Danelaw, comprising East Anglia and the "Five Boroughs" of Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford. Evidence of the extent of Scandinavian settlement in this area can still be seen today in the number of place-names ending in -thorpe (village), -thwaite (meadow) and -by (farmstead)."
In "The Vikings" by Ian Heath (Osprey publishing).
The same statement can be found in "Exploring The World Of The Vikings" by Richard Hall (Thames and Hudson 2007)

"On Man, the legacy of its Viking past is alive above all in the fact that it retains independent status under the British Crown, administered by its own parliament - the Thinwald. The name is derived from the Norse thingvollr , meaning Parliament Plain (as in the modern place-name Thingvellir, in Iceland).
In "The Viking World" by James Graham-Campbell (Frances Lincoln 2001)
This is also stated in R. Hall's book, as follows:
"The island still boasts its own parliament which meets at a stepped earthen mound called Thingwald - another instance of the perpetuation of the Old Norse name thingvöllr, meaning "assembly fields".