The Vikings gained their reputation by doing bad things.Bad things like plundering, killing women and children, raping, attacking monasteries, taking baths every Saturday and changing their underclothing too frequently! :))
And there's one more thing. They didn't learned how to write. So they left history to be written by British and French clergy- the very people who fell victim to their raids and who had interest to exaggerate their atrocities.
But there was a churchmen who wrote the truth about the Vikings crimes. His name is John of Wallingford, and he said in his chronicle that the Vikings "combed their hair every day, took baths every Saturday and changed their underclothing frequently, so that they were held in high favour by the ladies". They were even able to "undermine the virtue of married women and seduce the daughters of nobles to be their mistresses". Of course they had a bad reputation, of course they were hated!
2 comments:
A romanticized presentation of the Vikings, viewed through the eyes of a Muslim, can be found in "The 13th Warrior" (previously published as "Eaters of the Dead") by Michael Crichton. The movie was actually better than the book (which rarely happens)!
“Praise not the day until evening has come; a woman until she is burnt; a sword until it is tired; a maiden until she is married; ice until it has been crossed; beer until it has been drunk.” (Viking proverb, quoted in the above mentioned book)
Thanks for the info! I've just bought the book and the dvd and I'll get back with some comments.
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