Polo neck

In contrast, France saw the black poloneck adopted by left wing bohemians and intellectuals, and by the late 1950s their counterparts in the United States and Britain had also adopted the fashion. The Vikings also used soap, long before it was reintroduced to Europe after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. The look would filter through to Britain and Europe in a watered down version. In particular, combs are among the most frequent artifacts from Viking Age graves, and one can conclude that a comb was the personal equipment of every man and woman. This would become an important aspect of the polonecks image in America. The Vikings used a variety of tools for personal grooming such as combs, tweezers, razors or specialized "ear spoons". By the late 1950s the "tight poloneck" had been adopted as part of the preppie style amongst students, a style emphasising neatness, tidiness and grooming. The image of wild-haired, dirty savages, sometimes associated with the Vikings in popular culture, has hardly any base in reality.

It was not long before Hollywood was also exploiting this image as part of the sweater girl look. (Scandinavian skalle: skall means simply "shell" or "bowl".) The skull-cup allegation may have some history also in relation with other Germanic tribes (see skull cups). Later its increasing acceptability as women's wear saw it become a fad amongst teenage girls, especially in a lightweight form that emphasised aspects of their figures. from horns] were rendered as drinking ex craniis eorum quos ceciderunt [from the skulls of those whom they had slain]. Absorbed into mainstream American fashion by the mid 20th century, the poloneck came to be viewed as an anti-tie, a smart form of dress for those who rejected formal wear. In the Latin translation of the Krákumál by Magnús Ólafsson (in Ole Worm's Runer seu Danica literatura antiquissima of 1636), warriors drinking ór bjúgviðum hausa [from the curved branches of skulls, i.e. Again, it was the feminists who turned these into a unisex item. The rise of this myth can be traced back to a mistranslation of an Icelandic kenning.

Their adoption by Noel Coward in the 1920s turned them into a brief middle class fashion trend. The use of human skulls as drinking vessels is also unhistorical. It was in this stage that a range of light polonecks in a variety of colours began to be designed. The cliché is perpetuated by cartoons like Hägar the Horrible and Vicky the Viking. Over time polonecks would become acceptable casual wear, though still usually for men only. The latter-day mythos created by national romantic ideas blended the Viking Age with glimpses of the Nordic Bronze Age some 2000 years earlier, for which actual horned helmets, probably for ceremonial purposes, are attested both in petroglyphs and by actual finds (See Bohuslän [1]). It was probably at this time that its unisex status as sportswear was exploited by early feminists, who would wear their Hockey sweaters as day wear. The general misconception that vikings wore horned helmets was partly promulgated by the 19th-century enthusiasts of the Götiska Förbundet, founded in 1811 in Stockholm, with the aim of promoting the suitability of Norse mythology as subjects of high art and other ethnological and moral aims.

The latter use at sea also led to its adoption by Royal Navy. In fact, the formal close-quarters style of Viking combat (either in shield walls or aboard "ship islands") would have made horned helmets cumbersome and hazardous to the warrior's own side. Polonecks crossed over from sportswear to work wear at the turn of the century, mostly amongst menial workers and seamen. Apart from two or three representations of (ritual) helmets with protrusions that may be either snakes or horns, no depiction of Viking Age warriors' helmets, and no actually preserved helmet, has horns. This use as sports wear would continue into the early 20th Century. While the earliest groups had little claim for historical accuracy, the seriousness and accuracy of re-enactors has increased dramatically during the 1990s, including many re-enactment groups concentrating on an accurate representation of the Viking Age. Its use by women was also extended into field sports like hockey soon after this. Since the 1960s, there has been rising enthusiasm for historical reenactment.

A polo neck (UK) (or turtle neck in the US) is a garment—usually a sweater—with a close-fitting, round, and high collar that folds over and covers the neck. This renewed interest of Romanticism in the Old North had political implications. Tennis shirt. The word was taken to refer to romanticized, idealized naval warriors, who had very little to do with the historical Viking culture. Preppy. According to the Swedish writer, Jan Guillou, the word Viking was popularized, with positive connotations, by Erik Gustaf Geijer in the poem, The Viking, written at the beginning of the 19th century. Polo Ralph Lauren. The pace of publication increased during the 17th century with Latin translations of the Edda (notably Peder Resen's Edda Islandorum of 1665).

Lacoste. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (Olaus Magnus, 1555), and the first edition of the 13th century Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus in 1514. Spandex fetishism. Early modern publications, dealing with what we now call Viking culture, appeared in the 16th century, e.g. See also 19th century Viking revival.. The influence of the Norse, seeing themselves then as part of wider European civilization, as well as technical advances in warfare, made the Viking raids less desirable and less profitable, and eventually the political structures based on them were replaced by structures based more on continental feudalism.

However, elements of the old faith and secret blóts remained until the 19th century (and played a role in the emergence of Asatru in the mid 20th century). After decades of trade and settlement, Christianity was introduced into Scandinavia by the 11th century, and the process of Christianization was mostly completed during the Middle Ages. Yet their continuing presence in the Biscay area may help to explain why the Basques have so many traditions (such as whale hunting) with possible Nordic origins, and perhaps why they are said to have reached America one hundred years before Christopher Colombus. The Gascons of Nordic origin were allowed to stay in the country which had become rich under their rule, but they were condemned not to mix with other communities, becoming (according to one legend) the despised and ostracized Agotes or Cagots.

Their army was finally defeated in 982 by forces from Gascony, Périgord and Navarre. Gascony stayed under the Vikings’ control for 140 years. Northumbria, Mercia, Frisia, Aquitaine, Bretagne and Normandy were all affected by these attempts to found Scandinavian settlements. Then a new war began: the Danish chiefs tried to emulate the success of Björn in Gascony and to create their own overseas kingdoms.

The first Viking war was over: the Danes had set up a new trade network in place of an older and opposing one. In 863, Dorestad in Frisia, the Franks' main commercial centre on the Rhine, was definitively destroyed. He obtained a commercial treaty from the Byzantine Emperor intended to attract trade away from the Rhône to the Ebro. While Hastein set about disorganizing trade in the Rhine valley and Italy, Björn attacked Constantinople, after joining up with the Swedish Varyags who had come across Russia.

He then sailed with Hastein to the Mediterranean Sea. In the following year, Björn forced the king of Navarre to make a treaty allowing the Danes to cross Navarre to reach the river Ebro and Tortosa. In 858, having crushed the Frankish kingdom, Björn concluded a treaty with Charles the Bald whereby the Danes were formally granted all the country south of the river Garonne, an area which was thereafter no longer mentioned in the Frankish annals. The Danish war in the north of France began with two objectives: to weaken the power of King Charles the Bald and to prevent the Franks from attacking in the south.

Effectively, by 845 all the lands around the Bay of Biscay were under Danish control. In 845 Asgeir began to settle in Saintonge in Aquitania. Hastein had occupied Noirmoutier in 843. The leader of the invasion, Björn Ironside, became the ruler of the area and gave his name to Bayonne (originally "Björnhamn").

Gascony fell under their complete control as early as 844. In 840, the Danes began their attacks on the Frankish Empire – not on the Seine but on the Adour. As this course was deemed too risky, they decided to reach the oriental markets by crossing the Pyrenees, passing through Mundaka (Guernika), Pamplona and then Tortosa, which was the main slave market in Europe. On this route they met the Moors, who were the masters of the Strait of Gibraltar.

The Danes therefore decided to create their own route to the south along the Frankish coast. The Franks initiated a form of commercial blockade in an effort to weaken the Danish kingdom. The main western European trading route between the south and the north was the Rhine-Rhône axis. According to Supéry, the intention of these Vikings was to create a commercial route to the Mediterranean Sea, then the centre of the world's trade.

In 823 and 825, their presence was recorded on the Ria Mundaka in Biscaya. In AD 816, Northmen were in Pamplona fighting together with a Navarrese army against the Moors. In 799, the Franks attacked them in Noirmoutier ; in 812, a Viking fleet was seen off Perpignan on the Mediterranean Sea. In AD 795, long before the start of the Danish invasion proper in 840, Scandinavians were present in Asturias, on the northern shore of Spain, where they fought with the local king against the Moors.

According to Joel Supéry, the French author of “Le Secret des Vikings”, the Scandinavian attacks against the Frankish Empire were carried out not by raiding adventurers looking for gold and silver but by armies applying a military strategy. Thus it may be noted that the end of the Viking Age (9th–11th ct.) for the Scandinavians also marks the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages. The names of Scandinavian kings are known only for the later part of the Viking Age, and only after the end of the Viking Age did the separate kingdoms acquire a distinct identity as nations, which went hand in hand with their christianization. But the three nations were not yet clearly separated, and still united by the common Old Norse language.

Generally speaking, the Norwegians expanded to the north and west, the Danes to England, settling in the Danelaw, and the Swedes to the east. Important trading ports during the period include Birka, Hedeby, Kaupang, Jorvik, Staraja Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev. From 839, there were Varangian mercenaries in Byzantine service (most famously Harald Hardrada, who campaigned in North Africa and Jerusalem in the 1030s). During three centuries, Vikings appeared along the coasts and rivers of Europe, as raiders, but increasingly also as traders, and even as settlers.

Viking navigators also opened the road to new lands to the north and to the west, resulting in the colonization of Shetland, Orkney, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and even a short expedition to Newfoundland, circa AD 1000. Contemporary with the European Viking Age, the Byzantine Empire experienced the greatest period of stability (circa 800–1071) it would enjoy after the initial wave of Muslim conquests in the mid-seventh century. Geographically, a "Viking Age" may be assigned not only to the Scandinavian lands (modern Denmark, and southern Norway and Sweden), but also to territories under North Germanic dominance, mainly the Danelaw, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Ireland. The period of North Germanic expansion, usually taken to last from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, is commonly called the 'Viking Age.' The Vikings may be seen as late joiners in the Migrations period, and thus the period links Late Antiquity with the high Middle Ages.

See main article Viking Age. Thus, our knowledge of the actual boats Vikings used is limited. Nor has any "Viking" boat construction site, or harbour, been found or excavated. There is no evidence connecting any discovered longship to any particular classical Viking raid.

Scholars also debate whether or not Vikings had cooking fires aboard their ships. It is suspected that most Viking ships had an average length/width ratio of 4.5:1. The term "Viking ships" has entered common usage, however, possibly because of its Romantic associations. These boats were identical to those used by the Scandinavian defense fleets, known as the ledung.

There were no specific "Viking ships" or "Viking longships"; Vikings used any of the common Scandinavian longships. They may even have been considered outlaws - several sources name Vikings in association with Jomsborg or Julin, which, according to modern history, was a refugee center for Slavic pirates, as opposed to the descriptions in the Norse saga. Still, in Scandinavia, Vikings were not seen as an accepted part of society. Numbers of them fled to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, but the Norse sagas are rather subjective in their descriptions, and hence the Vikings in those sagas are sometimes characterized as heroes, later shaping the attitude towards Vikings during the 18th century Romantic period.

King Harald I of Norway finally was forced to make an expedition to the west to clear the islands and Scottish mainland of Vikings. The sagas state that the Vikings built settlements and were skilled craftsmen and traders. Vikings in those sagas are described as if they often struck at accessible and poorly defended targets, usually with impunity. An overwhelming amount of the sagas were written in Iceland.

However, the transmission of this information was primarily oral, and we are reliant upon the writings of (later) Christian scholars, such as the Icelanders Snorri Sturluson and Sæmundr fróði, for much of this. Norse mythology, Norse sagas and Old Norse literature tell us about their religion through tales of heroic and mythological heroes. The rune stones are important sources in the study of the entire Norse society and early medieval Scandinavia, not only of the Viking segment of the population (Sawyer, P H: 1997). Other rune stones mention men who died on Viking expeditions, among them the around 25 Ingvar stones in the Mälardalen district of Sweden erected to commemorate members of a disastrous expedition into present-day Russia in the early 11th century.

Many rune stones in Scandinavia record the names of participants in Viking expeditions. By the next century piracy from Saracens superceded the Viking scourge. Soon the dockyards at Seville were extended, it was employed to patrol the Iberian coastline under the caliphs Abd al-Rahman III (912–61) and Al-Hakam II (961–76). In the Islamic south, the first navy of the Emirate was called into being after the humiliating Viking ascent of the Guadalquivir, 844, and was tested in repulsing Vikings in 859.

1036–66) repulsed a Viking foray and built the fortress at Torres del Oeste to protect Compostela from the Atlantic approaches. Bishop Cresconio of Compostela (ca. Ransom was a motive for abductions: Fletcher instances Amarelo Mestáliz, who was forced to raise money on the security of his land in order to ransom his daughters who had been captured by the Vikings in 1015. After Tuy was sacked early in the 11th century, its bishopric remained vacant for the next half-century.

Richard Fletcher attests raids on the Galician coast in 844 and 858: "Alfonso III was sufficiently worried by the threat of Viking attack to establish fortified strong points near his coastline, as other rulers were doing elsewhere." In 968 bishop Sisnando of Compostela was killed, the monastery of Curtis was sacked, and measures were ordered for the defence of the inland town of Lugo. By the reign of Alfonso III of León Vikings were stifling the already weak threads of sea communications that tied Galicia to the rest of Europe. 1, note 51), there were Viking attacks on coastal Galicia in the far northwest of the peninsula, though historical sources are too meagre to assess how frequent or how early raiding was. [[By the mid 9th century, though apparently not before (Fletcher 1984, ch.

As members of the leidang fleet, as well as farmers and fishers now and then, were attacked by Vikings, most Scandinavians probably saw Vikings as their enemies and fought against them with all their might. Though a common practice today, calling all northmen (Scandinavians) Vikings, rather than reserving the word solely for those involved in piracy, can lead to misunderstanding and confusion. As the Scandinavian shores were attacked by enemy forces, they established the defence fleet called leidang, which was also used as protection against Vikings. They were farmers, fishers and hunters, as were most other people in Europe at the time.

Scandinavians, in general, were not Vikings. It should be noted, however, that no written sources, in the cases of Vinland, Rus', or Varyags, use the term "Viking.". Early Scandinavian colonies in North America are also labelled as "Viking" by modern English speakers. During the last century, speculations began about whether foreign traders, known as varyags who had trade posts along the Russian rivers down to the Byzantine Empire were of Scandinavian origin, and since then, the term has been interpreted also to refer to tradesmen from Scandinavia who established colonies in Russia.

As an adjective, the word is used in expressions like "Viking age," "Viking culture," "Viking colony," etc., generally referring to medieval Scandinavia. During the 20th century, the meaning of the term was expanded to refer not only to the raiders, but also to the entire period; it is now, somewhat confusingly, used as a noun both in the original meaning of raiders, warriors or navigators, and sometimes to refer to the Scandinavian population in general. The word disappeared in Middle English, and was reintroduced as viking during 18th century Romanticism. Indeed, when Scandinavian raiders left their boats, stole horses and rode across country, they were never referred to as "vikings" in English sources.

Widsith, and the writings of Adam von Bremen), a viking is a pirate, and not a name for the people or culture in general. In medieval use (eg. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the 6th or 7th century in the Anglo-Saxon poem, “Widsith.”. In the Icelandic sagas, víking refers to an overseas expedition (Old Norse farar i vikingr "to go on an expedition"), and víkingr, to a seaman or warrior taking part in such an expedition.

The word viking appears on several rune stones found in Scandinavia. "trading city" (cognate to Latin vicus, "village"). A second etymology suggested that the term is derived from Old English, wíc, ie. Later on, the term, viking, became synonymous with "naval expedition" or "naval raid", and a vikingr was a member of such expeditions.

In Old Norse, this would be spelled vikingr. One path might be from the Old Norse word, vík, meaning "bay," "creek," or "inlet," and the suffix -ing, meaning "coming from" or "belonging to." Thus, viking would be a 'person of the bay', or "bayling" for lack of a better word. The etymology of "Viking" is somewhat vague. Hey ALL!!!!.

. The medieval Scandinavian population, in general, is more properly referred to as Norse. Today, somewhat controversially, the word is also used as a generic adjective, referring to the Viking Age Scandinavians. The word “Viking” was introduced to the English language with romantic connotations in the 18th century.

This period of European history (generally dated to AD 793 - AD 1066) is often referred to as the Viking Age. Vikings traveled to the west and Varangians, who were best known as the Varangian Guards of the Byzantine emperors, to the east. The name Viking is a loanword from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, the British Isles, and other parts of Europe from the late 8th century to the 11th century. (1980) The Northern World.

Wilson, David M. (1970) The Vikings and their Origins. Wilson, David M. The Age of the Vikings.

(1962). H. Sawyer, P. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings.

(1997). H. Sawyer, P. Medieval Scandinavia.

(date?). H. Sawyer, P. Viking Age Denmark.

Roesdahl, Else (date?). Vikings!. Magnusson, Magnus (1980). A History of the Vikings.

Jones, Gwyn (1984). The Viking World. (date?). Graham-Campbell, J.

Wilson (1970) The Viking Achievement. Foote, Peter G., and David M. Chapter 1 "Galicia" (on-line text). Saint James's Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmírez of Santiago de Compostela (Oxford University Press).

(1984). Fletcher, R.A. ISBN 0049400495. London: Allen and Unwin.

The Viking Road to Byzantium. Ellis (1976). R. Davidson, H.

Baltimore: Penguin Books. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Ellis (1964). R.

Davidson, H. ISBN 0140204598. New translation 1965. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Kalle Skov. The Vikings, trans. Brøndsted, Johannes (1960). Monty Python's "Spam Song".

Viking ship. Viking Age arms and armour. Hill forts, Viking ring castles. Jomsvikings.

Iceland. Greenland. Miklagard. Serkland.

Gardariki. Hjaltland. Vinland. Markland.

Helluland. Bjarmland. Danelaw. Visby lenses.

Tollund Man. Temple at Uppsala. Old Uppsala. Leidang.

L'Anse aux Meadows. Helgö. Hedeby. Birka.

Snorri Sturluson. Saxo Grammaticus. Adam of Bremen. Skald.

Norse art. Norse sagas. Norse mythology. Old Norse poetry.

Blót. Pathfinder (In pn). The Northmen (In production). Beowulf (In production).

Beowulf & Grendel (2005). Ring of the Nibelungs (2004). The 13th Warrior (1999). The Viking Sagas (1995).

Hvíti víkingurinn, (The White Viking) (1991). Erik the Viking (1989). Í skugga hrafnsins, (In the Shadow of the Raven) (1988). Ofelas, (Pathfinder) (1987).

Hrafninn flýgur, (Revenge of the Barbarians/ When the Raven Flies) (1984). The Norseman (1978). Island at the Top of the World (1974). The Longships (1963).

The Vikings (1958). The Viking World by Christine Hatt. The Vikings by Neil Grant. Going to War in Viking Times by Christopher Gravett.

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavrieal Kay. Thorfinn Karlsefni (colonizer of Vinland). Styrbjörn Sterki (conqueror of Jomsborg).

Skagul Toste (the first Viking to exact the Danegeld). Rurik (founder of the Rus' rule in Eastern Europe). Rollo of Normandy (founder of Normandy). Ragnar Lodbrok (captured Paris).

Oleg of Kiev (conquered Kiev, founded Kievan Rus' and attacked Constantinople). Leif Eriksson (discoverer of Vinland). Ingólfur Arnarson (settled in Iceland). Ivar the Boneless (disabled son of Ragnar Lodbrok who, despite having to be carried on a shield, nevertheless conquered York).

Ingvar the Far-Travelled (the leader of the last great Swedish viking expedition, which pillaged the shores of the Caspian Sea). Harald Hardrada (king of Norway and member of the Varangian Guard). Harald Finehair (founder and first king of Norway; some dispute, as part of the etymological dispute discussed above, whether he really merits the label "Viking" at all). Guthrum (colonised England).

Gardar Svavarsson (discoverer of Iceland). Erik the Red (discoverer of Greenland). Egill Skallagrímsson (popular icelandic warrior and skald, see also Egils saga). Björn Ironside (pillaged in Italy and son of Ragnar Lodbrok).

Askold and Dir (legendary Varangian conquerors of Kiev). Beowulf. Voluspá.