Strelets Forum

Welcome to the Strelets Forum.
Please feel free to discuss any aspect of 1/72 scale plastic figures, not simply Strelets.
If you have any questions about our products then we will answer them here.

Strelets Forum
This Forum is Locked
Author
Comment
M004 - Vikings or Danes?

Looks the closest to the blurred image to me

Re: M004 - Harald Haardrada at Stamford Bridge

I'm thinking the poor Saxons have to take on the Norsemen at Stamford Bridge before rushing off to meet the Normans. Thanks God the Huns weren't invading England at the same time -- think how busy Strelets would be!

Re: M004 - Vikings or Danes?

Weren't there Danish Vikings?

Not trying to be cute. I thought that the term Vikings included Danes, Norwegians and perhaps some Saxon/Frisian elements who raided to the west, while Varangians referred to those who headed east.

Re: Re: M004 - Vikings or Danes?

bill, i believe the Danes were considered vikings, just as the Norwegians and swedes. not so sure about the saxons, as the saxons were invited into England to help the local celts defend themselves against the scandanavians. in time, the saxons became the dominant power in briton except for the welsh to the west and the Danelaw to the east. this is simplyfied, but a rough thumbnail of migrations and invasions. when you study the dark ages, you realize just how choice british real estate was to different tribes.

Re: Re: Re: M004 - Not Vikings - Danes

as far as i'm aware the norsemen never refered to them selves as "vikings" the word is believed to come from a scandinavian word meaning a river inlet? and became broadly used for these people during the victorian era much like "celts", the word may have meant the act, ie: its the right time of year to go a"viking".
The Anglo Saxon cronicles in which there are many references, refer to them as DANES
the French as NORDMEN hence NORMANS
Harald Hardrada was King of Norway
Cnut a "Dane" was king of England and Scandinavia 1013ad-1032? so a "Viking" "Dane" was king over all these lands...confused yet?...
Harald Godwinson the last "Anglo Saxon" king was the son of a "Dane" who served Cnut, Tostig his brother fought alongside Harald Hadrada and died with him at stamford bridge late summer 1066.
Harald Godwinson died fighting Normans/Nordmen the sons of ex-"Danes" at hastings october 1066...but it didnt end there....

Re: Re: Re: Re: M004 - Not Vikings - Danes

Ironic, isn't it? The way "the men from the north" fought for ruling over the romanized celts, the romano-britons of which King Arthur (or historicaly Artorius or something similar) was the most romantic example.
First, came the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, from a region just south of present-day Denmark. Then, it was the turn of the norwegians, but after doing only some raids (the one on the Lindisfarne monastery brought them postumuos celebrity), they were busy in Ireland, were they built among other cities, Dublin. The danes were the ones taking care of England. The 7 anglo-saxon kingdoms that existed in England, were all conquered, but one. The anglo-saxon king Alfred of Wessex was the only one to resist succesfully, and start the "reconquista" against the pagan danes. He is therefore, the only british king to be named "the great". Colonized danes coexisted with natives, to build together the nation that eventually will turn to be English.
Harald Hardrada had an interesting life. Of royal blood, he left his native Scandinavia to save his life. He earned fortune, fame and a good warband in Kiev and Nowgorod. The word "Russ" was the name of the vikings in the East, where they were also very busy. Harald returned home with his hardened followers, to fight for his rights. He gained both the crowns of Norway and Denmark, and planned to add the third, the one of England. It is a very inciting scenario to think of, if he had planned his invasion a couple of months later, or if William would have landed earlier, as he intended.
So, Harald Godwinson (son of Godwin, as per nordic languages) was defeated by the christian, sophisticated and french-ized scandinavians.

For more then 2 centuries, the vikings influenced history to a very large degree.