5 Thor-oughly Great Viking Facts

So, by now we’re all clear that the Vikings did not have horns on their helmets – but have you heard these fabulous facts? Before we get started, brush up on your knowledge with our handy timeline. Now read on, and try not to go berserk about how terrific these facts are…
 

1. ‘Viking’ is a job description, not a group of people. 

We talk about ‘The Vikings’ all the time, but the Old Norse word vikingr actually just means ‘sea pirate’. People who went ‘viking’ were from all over what’s now Norway and Denmark, and they wouldn’t have thought of themselves as being part of a community of ‘Vikings’ in the way that Norwegians and Danes might do today. 

Someone might be a Viking for part of their life and then retire and become a farmer, while all the time living in the same place. Calling everyone in medieval Scandinavia ‘Vikings’ is a bit like calling everyone who lives near a school ‘Teachers’, just because a few teachers probably have houses nearby. 

Unfortunately, historians haven’t really come up with a better word, so we’re stuck with ‘Vikings’ for the time being.

2. The Vikings travelled here, there and everywhere.

The Vikings are well known for their longships (in fact, we’ve got a very lovely PowerPoint for Years 5-6 all about them), but did you know how far they travelled in their famous boats? Going westwards, there are settlements in both Greenland and Newfoundland, although not on mainland North America, as far as we know. 

The Vikings also made their way east from Northern Europe to places such as modern-day Turkey and Iraq. In fact, the Hagia Sofia mosque in Istanbul sports some ninth-century graffiti from a visitor called Halvedan. We know his name because he carved it into the marble walls of the building in the runic alphabet — not something that’s encouraged for visitors today!

Travelling around so much meant that the Vikings were able to trade with lots of different groups of people. CGP+ has a fun trade-themed trading card game to help your pupils learn about the sorts of items that were imported and exported during the Middle Ages.

3. Insulting someone was an art.

The Vikings could throw insults as well as spears! Old Norse mythology and literature has plenty of examples of what’s called a ‘flyting’, which is a contest where people mock each other. In one poem, the god Loki walks into a hall and immediately starts insulting all the other gods around him. Give your pupils a chance to write some insults of their own with this worksheet and find out who your class’s champion arguer is.

Before things get too rowdy, it’s worth mentioning that there were more peaceable pastimes too. This worksheet for Years 5-6 about toys and games asks pupils to think about what people in medieval Scandinavia might have done in their free time. Spoiler alert: board games such as chess and hnefatafl (try saying that five times quickly) were very popular in the Middle Ages.

4. Saturday was bath-time!

In the 13^th century, an English monk wrote about how seriously the Vikings took personal hygiene. He mentions that they bathed every Saturday, and the word for Saturday in the Old Norse language is laugardagr, which literally translates into English as ‘bath day’. 

The Vikings (and the Anglo-Saxons) were also big fans of looking after their hair, and archaeologists have found many intricately decorated combs in the graves of both women and men. Daily life in the Middle Ages was certainly a lot cleaner than is shown in films and TV programmes. Give your pupils more information about medieval life with this worksheet for Years 5-6 that’s all about the parts of a longhouse.

5. There were some “interesting” nicknames.

Can we have a moment of silence for poor Eysteinn, whose nickname was meinfretr (harm-fart)? It’s certainly not as cool of a name as Thorir thursasprengir (destroyer of giants). 

You could try getting your class to think of their own nicknames, either for themselves or for each other. It’s probably best to leave out the farts, though. Nicknames can tell us a lot about traits that people think are good or bad, so when you ask your pupils to write their names, get them to consider what they think was important for the Vikings. 

Of course, it wouldn’t be good enough to just name people. Medieval people named their swords as well! One famous sword was called Gram, and the legendary hero Sigurd used it when he slayed Fafnir the dragon.  

In Old Norse poetry, swords are also often alluded to with ‘kennings’. These are short, usually two-word, phrases that describe something in a very metaphorical way without actually naming it. For example, a sword might be referred to as a ‘battle twig’ because it was used in battle and is shaped similarly to a twig. Your pupils can have some fun thinking of their own kennings for swords in this worksheet.

Have you got all that? Then you’re ready to test out your knowledge with our fun alphabet quiz. Thanks for reading, and remember to keep up to date with everything new at CGP+ on our Facebook and Instagram pages.