Top Medieval Historian Rates Viking TV Shows
Dr Cat Jarman, a historian and archaeologist specialising in the Viking Age, reviews scenes from TV shows set in the Viking era. Cat is also the author of River Kings and host of the Gone Medieval podcast from History Hit, which you can listen to here: play.acast.com/s/gone-medieval
First, Cat reviews scenes from the hit series 'Vikings', which tells the story of the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok and his descendants. She watches scenes that portray the raid on the monastery at Lindisfarne, the shield maiden Lagertha in single combat, and a clever ploy devised by the Vikings during their attack on Paris.
Next up, it's the sequel series 'Vikings: Valhalla'. Cat rates scenes which show a battle taking place on London Bridge and an attack on the fictional town of Kattegat.
Cat watches clips from the Netflix series 'The Last Kingdom'. focussing on Uhtred of Bebbanburg's enslavement and the Battle of Edington. It was a climactic battle which really did take place between Alfred the Great of Wessex and the Viking leader Guthrum in 878.
Finally, she reviews scenes from the Netflix Viking comedy 'Norsemen'. In one clip, the characters discuss Viking law around homosexuality, while a magic nithing pole leads to disastrous consequences in the second.
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00:00 Introduction
00:33 Vikings - Lindisfarne raid
05:28 Vikings - Lagertha single combat
08:58 Vikings - Attack on Paris
13:34 Vikings: Valhalla - London Bridge
15:58 Vikings: Valhalla - Siege of Kattegat
18:05 The Last Kingdom - Uhtred enslaved
20:39 The Last Kingdom - Battle of Edington
26:00 Norsemen - Homosexuality Law
28:20 Norsemen - The Nithing Pole
The Last Kingdom is just amazing. Favourite show hands down.
Have you read the books?
It is good and far more accurate than vikings.. But they make all the male saxon leaders appear as tyrants or weak.. And I don't like that they had Alfred completely reliant on Uthred..But I loved what they did with the lady of Mercia Aethelfled...A fine queen..I'm disappointed to see the movie has Athelstan as a tyrant.. Which we know he wasn't..
My favourite made historical show. It may not be 1000% accurate about everything, but the setting, the stories and the general vibes of the show are amazing. Even stuff like the music makes it amazing.
@@markmorris7123we don’t know that yet
@@markmorris7123 Vikings is so cheesy
In Vikings on the raid in lindisfarne I don’t think they were shocked that there was treasure they were just shocked that there was no one defending the treasure
Aye Rolo even goes maybe they have some magic/curses on them, no way it's so easy.
It kinda blew my mind the first time I learned that the historical Uhtred lived three hundred years LATER than the events depicted in The Last Kingdom. But at the same time, I think that action by the show is somewhat forgivable, because if you think about it, the Uhtred on the show could easily be interpreted as the ancestor of the historical Uhtred (“I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred”).
There’s another uthred who was born like 50ish years after the movie. He was know as uthred the bold and was ruler of bamburgh/bebbanburg and ealdormen of northumbria like the show. He died in 1016.
Maybe read a book sometimes instead of just watching a movie. Uhtred wasnt a unique name, Uhtred wasnt just the son of Uhtred, his fathers father was also named Uhtred like his fathers fathers father, and Uhtred also named his first son Uhtred. There isnt also not just one Julius Caesar, there were generations of Julius Caesars befor him.
It's the same with Ragnar in Vikings, there was a historical Ragnar but he wasn't taking part in all of the events from the show
@@wolf310ii hey smart guy nobody but nobody mentioned a movie here but you
@@austin8775 Seems like you arent that smart, otherwise you would had noticed that the shows the last kingdom and vikings is mentioned here.
Norsemen is one of the best shows out there and also one of the most underrated ones. Absolutely hilarious. It feels alot like watching a mix of Monty Python and The Office but within a Vikings setting:D
Why do you look at your wrist? Sometimes l just like to look at my wrist... I tell you...These eyes will get some use! DONT PULL THEM OUT! Don't be ridiculous! How will you sleep on your stomach?!
@@hammerstoneartifacts4986 Have you ever heard of something called phantom pain ?…Me neither :D
It was probably written that to take the mick out of the Vikings show portentiousness. Not many jokes in that show.
It's so perfect. I think what boggles my brains the most is that they films EVERY SINGLE SCENE twice. Once in Norwegian, once ALL OVER AGAIN in English. It speaks volumes to the dedication of the actors as well and their ability to deliver characters in two languages.
"All we can do is follow the sun - since the sun always points south, we just have to trust it." (continues walking in circles).
The Last Kingdom has made such an impact on my life, i am forever grateful to Bernard Cornwell for creating the novels and for Alexander Dreymon for his amazing portrayal of Uhtred and the whole cast which is just brilliant!
The Last Kingdom changed my life.
Fans of The Last Kingdom who haven’t yet should read the books by Bernard Cornwell. The series kind of rushes through the books (I very much liked the show but wish it had followed the books more, it would have lasted many more seasons). Cornwell is my favorite author and creator of arguably the two most iconic characters in historical fiction: Uthred of Beddenburg and Richard Sharpe. If you enjoy historical show and movies you will very much his work.
Agreed. The actor who played Steapa must have been rather disappointed to have been killed off early, baring in mind that he was a vital part of the final battle and LIVED. Oh well...😕
Yeah, they rushed so fast and cut so much from the books, some scenes in the series doesnt even make sense anymore.
The books are great but depart from the show a little bit. In addition, the timelne in the books cover a much longer period than the shows....great entertainment overall. Cornwell has some great stuff
The books are incredibly good!!
Yeah each season was based on two books, which is why Uhtred never ages in the show lol
The coffin scene in real life was actually done by Bjorn Ironside and it happened at the Italian city of Luna.
I think it was Hastein who is said to have done it, but you're close because Bjorn was there as they led the expedition together. This is where my memory gets a bit murky though, I think the inspiration was something to do with Vikings believing they had ancestry to Antenor of Troy and were adapting the idea of the horse from the Iliad.
Yeah they through that it was Rome
@@mattjones1776 They would not have known the Iliad. The mythological legends of Troy certainly seem to feature in the origin story of the Norse pantheon which is very geographically specific to have come from Anatolia and probably Troy, though I can't remember the Trojan horse ever being referenced. It's interesting how the Trojan War, or whatever inspired the story of it, spawned legends that feature both in Scandinavia, around the Mediterranean, and in India, though it can be argued the Indian version of it in the Mahabharata came after Alexander the Great's invasion, not as part of some shared past which would have pushed back the date of the war to almost 5,000 years ago, and not the roughly 3,200 which seems to be more likely. It is then also possible that the origin story of the Norse Gods, which after all share a lot of common features with the Greek pantheon, was influenced by the Greek stories of the Iliad. Even in just the few hundred years from the christening of Scandinavia until Snorri wrote down the myths of the old religion, a lot of the stories have clearly been coloured by a gradual adaptation to Christian beliefs, and none of the European tribes lived in isolation, but were subject to trade and other forms of cultural exchange continuously even from before the Roman Empire. It's interesting to look for connections and patterns. But they would of course not have known the Iliad as we do, just whatever versions of stories inspired by the events had survived in their own storytelling traditions through the generations.
Sources people; don't just orate stuff.
Yes its Bjorn in the Saga
I adore all these inputs and shared knoledged in videos like this. Thank you to History Hit and Dr Cat Jarman for sharing her expertise and passion. Very appreciated.
Knowledge!
Vikings will always remind me how amazing it was with Travis Fimmel as Ragnar. After that it became GoT-wannabe
It never had dragons wdym
@@BionAvastar3000 ragnar is the dragon
@@BionAvastar3000meaning drama and betrayal. Not literally the same amount of creatures
She's amazing, Gone medieval is my favorite HistoryHit podcast
Mine too, it’s extra fun to put a face to the voice I listen to so often lol
She is good..But she did make a glaring mistake. She said Alfred didn't use the term English... But he does use that term..He just doesn't use the term England..She also implies that the saxons practiced slavery like the vikings.. Saxos hardly ever enslaved, especially the west saxons, they called it devils work..And so yes it happened...But on a completely different scale..
@@markmorris7123 She said it happened, but didn't say it was in the same scale. So she remains correct.
@@markmorris7123 hate to tell you this but the saxons certainly enslaved people my ancestors for example they could never beat the welsh Britons in a war so they raided on the Welsh marches and enslaved them well as many as they could the vikings however never settled in Wales they were scared shirtless of us because unlike the saxons our women fought alongside the men some things never change
@@welshman8954 Please be objective..That was at the time of the pagan saxons..But like the Walsh the saxons also had some female warriors, although they were rare..The reason the Walsh had more was because it was their lands being invaded. I live in somerset.. which in history has always had strong ties to the Britains..And as you know the Britains would become the Walsh.. And it was the Britains whom invited the saxons over in the first place.. once Wales became a place and boarders were drawn up, wessex and the kingdoms of Wales very rarely fought. So I dont know where your getting your information.. It was the plantagenists who encroached on Walsh soil, and tried to destroy the Walsh language.. And of course they were of Norman decent, they didn't even speak English..So don't hate on the saxons..Both our ancestors were subdued. Why would the Vikings bother with any of the Walsh kingdoms.. There was nothing there to plunder..I'm not being hateful,, But at this time the Walsh were very tribal..They didnt have any cities, no monasteries, nothing of wealth..The vikings were raiders...Plunderers.
Love how last kingdom finally shows anglo saxsons as competant warriors
Yep. T.V and films always use a lazy shorthand to explain the success of the Vikings in this period; they're big, beefy, manly and cunning, whilst their enemies are weedy, stupid and generally made to look a bit like nerds wearing armour that they made in their dad's garage. This is part of the reason that, in the past decade or so, Vikings have acquired a bit of a chad, dude/bro incel following. To be fair, Last Kingdom does this too at the start. Go back and look at how they make Northumbrians look in Season 1.
@Jack-xg1kg nah you're not wrong at all mate hit that nail on the head, make em look weak while they make utrids dad the only decent one
@@Jack-xg1kgthey made vikings look alot more weak tho
A bit of missing context on the Lagertha scene. She is retired on a secluded farm and women whose husband's died on raids started flocking to her from the countryside because they are being attacked by skogamor repeatedly with no men folk in their lives to do something about it. She rallies the ones who were shieldmaidens before and tutored them back up to speed. This is the end of the second skogamor attack on her farm where she challenged their leader.
Missing context: she is also over 60years old in the show and she is wielding a sword like she is 30 and fighting a 6'5'' younger warrior
She really didn’t like the idea of shield maidens. All the evidence and she just kept saying “we don’t know” but that coffin scene from the sagas was just so realistic
@@vippixel8942 At this point, every show reviewd here could be called Fantasy, except for maybe the Last Kingdom - however the last Kingdom has also very serious historical flaws if you ask me.
@@vippixel8942 NOT missing context: She were badly loosing the fight until she got lucky with the last attack. He went for a big show in the end, and it did not work...
@@ssu7653 she is 65 years old grandmother in a time where there wasn't any medical treatment for osteoporosis or others normal illnesses in women of her agem There is no way she could beat a 40 years old man warrior in a duel. My father is 65 years old man boxer and he could not beat a 40 years in a fight (he doesn't have the cardio or the strength of his youth)
I used to ignore the last kingdom like most ppl than I gave it a chance and binge watched it in under a week hands down favorite Vikings tv show ever
Lots of fun, please bring Cat back for more!
Absolutely love the Last Kingdom and Viking shows, Quality entertainment
Many thanks Dr Cat Jarman and the History Hit team for this one. It's nice to get some insight into what was likely, unlikely and what is currently not known from these shows. Very well presented. Thankyou for sharing.
Reading Bernard Cornwells series is unforgetable & even better than the Tv series , I have reread the 12 novels 2/ 3 times & visited the places mentioned . The time of the Vikings who lost to Alfred the Greats Saxon Army was a close call period for England making our history one of conflict & growth to who we are now .
Alfred, what a badass.
Patricia cornwell is also his assumed name for writing. He has written many interesting books under that moniver, you should read
Cat is one of my favourite historians; she's so knowledgable and a pleasure to listen to. Great to see her featuring more on the channel!
Great analysis. For fun, how accurate was Njorl's Saga featuring North Malden Icelandic Saga Society? Originally aired on 19 October 1972.
Love these videos! Signed up for her podcast
New concept: a whole episode of Cat talking about Norsemen.
new concept: your mum in a norse uniform running and screaming as she attacks the whole french army. Then she just craps herself and throws up before being dashed into a skip
This was so interesting. Thank you.
while none of them are terribly accurate, The Last Kingdom is the only bearable one imo. In fact, I actually really like the show.
It's the most inaccurate one though, cause even if the big picture story is more historical, everything else looks ridiculous and false
@@MyCaio1997 lol the costumes look way better than Vikings most of the time
Norsemen is pretty historically accurate, actually, even though it's an absurdist comedy show. They show makers actively worked with the Borre viking museum, and there are a lot of random little historical facts in it. Probably helps that it's the only one of these shows that's actually made by Scandinavians, as we tend to learn a lot more about Norse culture and history here since they're actually our ancestors, rather than just scary invaders from another culture.
These shows either have leather wearing bikers or overuse of swords and heavy mail. 90% of a Anglo-Saxon levy or Norse fylk would be linen clad spearmen with maybe a helmet. Swords and heavy mail is something very valuable back then. A good sword or mail would be worth a small farm and would go down to sons and grandsons etc. The square shields also made my eyes bleed but I accepted it like she did as it was done to distinguish Anglo-Saxons from Norsemen and bring a "Roman" testudo effect for entertainmaint. Those shield walls were also never used like that, not even by the romans themselves. Bunch up behind your shields ssitting and proning and the enemy spearmen can just stand slowly and poke you to death :-)
I like to see her take on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on accuracy. Obviously not the assassin part, but rest of the story
What, the Gay bit😂? Ubisoft were once brilliant at recreating the past. Especially AC2. But it's got ridiculous Especially the one in London... 'Nice' Mr Marx (the rapey racist) repackaged as a 21st C woke hero!
I'd love to see someone break down just the show Vikings who's actually watched it from beginning to end because that show alone is filled with historical inaccuracies from top to bottom. Just from her first comments it's obvious she has no context from the shows perspective that this raid was indeed "supposed to" be there very first time in England
Exactly she not getting context from the producers or nothing even if she did watch it. She wasn't paying attention probably debated and commented on the whole show with a colleague as they "watched"
Yep this was depicted as the first ever raid of england for the vikings so ofc thay did not know what thay had in store DOH =P ! Vikings has so many inaccuracies that is to laugh at ! Ofc the series never said it was a historical reinactment! but the armors really pisses me off to see so heavy use of leather even it was not common use ! VIkings used linen since it was way more agile then leather ! leather kinda makes your body stiff in movement ! and ofc thay did not care about death since death ment valhal
i can't believe this historian mentioned how unrealistic the town of Kattegat is, but failed to mention that Jarl Hakkon is an African woman ruling in Scandanavia!
Exactly, that is the single most unrealistic thing in the entirety of both the vikings and valhalla series. It is ridiculous and offensive seeing as Hakkon was a real scandinavian man.
Absolutely love The Last Kingdom series. And the show. It just draws you in and doesn’t stop.🥰
Love Dr Cat Jarman. She always seems so happy when talking about the medieval period.
She reminds me a bit of Carenza Lewis who used to be on Time Team
Netflix is ruining vikings valhalla (and many other shows), by putting a random black viking queen in for an ACTUAL male viking chief that truly existed. Glad this lady knew enough to just ignore how ridiculous it truly is. 🤦🏻♂️
yes it is offensive and ridiculous. The left wing are ruining tv and ebtertainment with their drive to get rid of white europeans. This will only get worse if the Labour party is elected
got one show to watch with my spouse & it was the last kingdom. We are waiting to watch the movie because we kinda had to rewatch the last season(kinda all over the place) but all around epic show!!!! Wanted to start Vikings next.
SHE'S BACK!!! YES!!!!
I think it's really important to understand that Vikings is a mythology/fantasy show. They use historical characters, but they're clearly not really trying to represent reality. It's made pretty explicit when Odin himself shows up, like, this is a fantasy show.
If you were watching Vikings you’d know that, it was their first time going anywhere besides the west, the Viking show shows it all, in the show Ragnar was the first to sail that way and got famous because of it he was smart enough to know it was all gonna get confiscated and built a new boat with the gold he hid
I feel like the lack of evidence for Edington just shows how determined people were back then. Swarms of Alfred's subjects probably cleaned up the battlefield in the days to come after. (Not to mention scavengers.)
Gone medieval is an awesome podcast!
Great comments, and I love The Last Kingdom and Norsemen. Not a big fan of Vikings, personally. Norsemen is such good fun and such a wonderful dead-pan take on their practices.
The "coffin trick" is actually attributed to Harald Hardrada and can be found in Snorre Sturlasson's Heimskringla. It's been a while since I last read that book. But I believe the incident happened on Sicily. It was one of several castles on Sicily that Harald defeated according to Harald Hardrada's saga in Heimskringla. The trick of using captured birds and the attaching burning pitch tar to them was also used by Harald as described in his saga in Heimskringla. The idea was that the birds flew back into the castle and started fires in the thatched roofs of buildings inside the castle walls. I believe this idea was also incorporated into an episode of Vikings but with Ragnar Lothbrok using this strategy! Harald Hardrada served in the Varangian guard of the Byzantine Empire but also campaigned in various places on behalf of the Byzantine emperor throughout the Mediterranean Sea. It was through these campaigns that Harald amassed enormous wealth as his share of bounty from looted cities.
Why do Vikings bascially dress like bikers in TV shows. Where did that come from?
Same place as the idea they all had sixpacks.
@@eh1702 tHE AMOUNT OF PHYSICAL LABOR ACTUAL VIKINGS DID MADE THEM EXCEPTIONALLY STRONG. you can't even comprehend with the amount of rowing, fighting lifting and infrastructure these guys had. Also. The first fact this so called expert have is false ! We know from the travels of Ahmad ibn Fadlan how vikings looked and how they did their hair
@@eh1702 Etter beskrivingen var ruserne et handelsfolk som oppretter en markedsplass i nærheten av volga-protobulgarenes leir. Deres kropper beskrives som like høye som palmer med rødmusset hud og blondt hår. Han beskriver også tatoveringer fra fingerneglene til halsen med mørkeblå eller grønne mønster som ligner tre eller andre figurer. Alle menn er bevæpnet med øks, kniv og sverd.
@@RegulareoldNorseBoy as opposed to the countless roman scriptures and accounts that prove otherwise? There is literally no point in having dreadlocks as a non-african, the hair structure is not made for this and you will ruin your hair. They would also not shave one side of the head, they would never shave their heads at all, since in most pagan societies, shaved heads were the sign of slaves. Scandinavians and Germanics were described by the Romans as "tall, well built with blonde/red, flowing hair, they would clean their hair regularly in limewater" amongst other things. Hollywood Vikings are a far cry to their IRL counterpart.
@@RegulareoldNorseBoy doesn’t mean they had six packs 😂. Extreme physical labour doesn’t guarantee an aesthetic physique. Vikings were probably more bulky, large backs from the rowing and big shoulders.
I like those history shows, know of course they are romanticised, otherwise it would be a documentary, wouldn't it? But watching always goes together with Wikipedia, looking for what really happened, which characters really exist and what is known generally about the era and people the show is covering. That is what makes it way more interesting for me
This is me every historical TV show and movie, even if I know the history or person it's about.
Yes, always, every episode with a phone in my hand
The coffin tactics: both kings Harald Hardråde and Sigurd the crusader apparently used this way to get in to other (and smaller) besieged cities.
The Viking age really started 50 years before Lindisfarne in the Baltic, which out Anglocentric view of history often ignores.
nope.
The whole thing would be anglo centric as the vikings in part became anglo with several waves of settlement invluding 1066 in rality. The baltic is just a bit of side information as a few raids happened there, unfortunately in that area there were viking leaders but no large scandinavian settlements so the area remained slavic.
Excellent walkthrough. Most probable candidates for "Kattegat" in Norway I humbly guess: Tunsberg: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%B8nsberg Avaldsnes: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avaldsnes
The raid on Lindisfarne is in one interpretation a message to Alcuin from nearby York, the counselor to emperor Charlemagne who just recently slaughtered some thousands saxons nearby the Danish border. Alcuin wrote a letter to Charlemagne about going further north.
Wait till she sees how in season 2 Lagertha says to King Horiks wife Gunhild that she heard that Gunhild had killed Sweyn forkbeard. Then she watches vikings Valhalla, which is supposed to be 100 yrs after the death of Ragnor, and she sees Forkbeard as one of the main characters. Both series written by Michael Hirst.
Norseman was such an underrated Viking show. It was the only funny one. Though Last Kingdom had some funny bits.
You really surprised me with Norsemen. I mean I know it's a parody, but it was neat to learn that it was also kinda factual!
Would love to see her thoughts on the anime Vinland Saga.
My problem with these is that they only get clips to judge. Personally, I'd rather they watch the entire movie and really go to town. You know what. I might just do that.
Is this purely a KZhead channel or something from the TV? I am really enjoying the channel thank you fornthe videos
This is a KZhead exclusive format
In fantasy people like to compare orcs to vikings, but when you know viking's little schemes and tactics, they're at least equally similar to goblins.
I'd be curious to see your assessment of Vinland Saga.
was about to comment the same
As my Uncle Ivarr Runmagi likes to say: Old age and cunning will always outwit youth and exuberance every time.
just binged the last kingdom, again... and the movie again...... guess i'm gonna have to start vikings....again !
This was really interesting because the different series got a lot of things right thanks to the sagas and it shows that they did actually read parts of or some of the sagas but also took creative liberties and I guess that's to be forgiven. They are shows and not reenactments of history.
Gday All, maybe not the right place to ask, but is there Any other Anglo Saxon/Medieval type shows/movies that you would recommend? Old and new? I’m totally obsessed with this history again. I received an acquired brain injury from a car accident with a bus and sadly have lost large chunks of random memory’s of my life and my kids growing up etc, but I’m trying to start learning again the subjects and hobbies I was obsessed with before BI. I started to learn guitar again and it’s coming back which Is going well and I’ve learnt/remembered how to tie flies for fly fishing agin, and now I am going to start studying history again especially medieval stuff. I’ve been watching things on KZhead documentary’s, archeological shows like time team etc. So any recommendations on documentary’s, movies or Tv shows be hugely appreciated. I still have all my books etc about these things but what pisses me off the most is that reading nw can cause migraines without notice, my eyes also become blurry so watching video is easier for me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I see the History Hits advertising a lot I might have to get it? Especially if it has shows that you recommend. Anyone here subscribe to it? Well enough rambling haha. Cheers from Australia 🇦🇺 and some unsolicited advice haha, remember, try not to take life for granted, enjoy every day take heaps of video or photos of family friends events and everyday life, and also, start some kind of diary, it may help you one day when you can’t remember things from your past, it’s my greatest regret. So I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen haha. Please Stay safe
I read somewhere that the scene where Ragnar comes out of the coffin is taken from something that actually happened in Italy, I'd love to learn the details.
No it was an actual event in Paris recorded by the French and Norman’s so I don’t get it when she says it was in the sagas and it was halfdan who lead the assault
Frankish, Norman, Arab, Skandinavien and Irish sources tells that an expedition lead by Bjørn Ironside and his foster-father Hastein went to the Mediterranean in the years 859-861. Among others they took the town of Luna which they believed to be Rome. They where unable to breach the townwalls and came up with a sneaky plan. To gain entry Hastein pretended to be deathly ill and wished to recieve Christian sacraments, he was brought into Luna with a small honor guard. Their plan was a succes but they where disapointed when they learned that the town was not Rome, as for the vikings no goal was to great and Hastein wanted Bjørn to become the new Roman Emperereur.
Bjorn did it in Italy in a city called Luna
@@patlambert2296 KZhead Historians are a dangerous bet, especially when they seem to be knowledgable about such a broad topic. I dont theres there are actually "medieval historians" because that would include a timespan of roughly 1000 years. Usually "Medieval Historians" are focusing on a specific time or area.
Go learn it then.
Vikings, although highly non historical, was the best show concerning vikings
At least it look good, instead of some others who don't even try (looking at you, TLK)
Lol Last Kingdom was a thousand times better
@24:19 The use of the Roman Sheilds by the Alglo Saxons was just to help the audiance from distigising which side was which.
Norsemen and The Last Kingdom are 10/10 shows
Treasure people like Dr Cat Jarman on KZhead with genuine knowledge through years of academic study following on from centuries of academic study, they are few and far between. They tell you what they know but just as importantly also tell you what they don't know. Thank you, the world is saturated in too much bullcrap
It feels like the historian is missing context for some scenes. The Lindisfarne one is especailly perplexing since this woman asks why they're seemingly unprepared and so forth, if she knew what particular raid it was, she could probably critique is more accurately.
She talking over the scenes instead of letting them play out. 😂 I bet she did take ot out of context. Watch/listen then comment. Or pause and comment Luke regular reaction videos.
Re the "timewarp" between Lindesfarne and Paris in the Vikings TV show, there was an approximate 12 to 15 year gap between those events in the show as was evident by Bjorn's ageing
Viking Valhalla is pure fantasy. I found it pretty abysmal . The first few seasons of original Vikings show was fantastic and Last Kingdom is fun and well written.
bit of an odd choice to discuss authenticity, the entire scene of Lagertha fighting. Surely there were many more interesting scenes to analyse in the series
Not sure why it’s so sandy on Lindisfarne in the first clip. Having been there a few weeks ago, it’s not a very sandy place.
When did someone sneak in another "great" king of England. Alfred deserves this because of the scope of his military, social, legal and educational actions. He didn't just envisage a united England he put everything in place to achieve that goal,including educating Edward and Aetheflaed so that they would continue his work to consolidate power across the country. That eventually led to his grandson Aethelstan, educated by Aetheflaed, unifying England for the first time. I don't see that anyone else comes close, I assume that the the reference refers to Cnut. Cnut is hardly in the same league as an english king.
Well, Cnut was King of England, and Denmark, and Norway at the same time. So.. as the leader of the "North Sea Empire" Several historians, have given him the title 'The Great'.
@@wPatrickSF To be fair to Alfred, what he laid the foundation for has lasted for over a thousand years. The country of England. What Cnut created ended with his death. The North Sea Empire was broken up and never recreated.
@@wPatrickSF Cnut was good, but if what you created ends when you died, then you can't be that great. Alfred took what were 4 seperate and disparate kingdoms and pretty much made England something.
@@simonsmith1974 4 petty kingdoms and it was not all Alfred. Alfred’s legacy is greater than Cnut’s but conquering two actual kingdoms is more impressive imo. They both deserve the epithet “the great”
@@Hollero71 perhaps they do. But unfortunately for Cnut (autocorrect doesn't like that name) he doesn't get it and Alfred does. History is fascinating isn't it?
I've only watched Vikings, and absolutely loved it... reading these comments I'm realizing ANY viking show is good lol...I'll be looking into The Last Kingdom and Norsemen
Pretty sure that in the sagas it was Björn Ironside who faked death and it was in Italy instead of Paris (vikings thought it was Rome but it actually was Luna)
Good commentary on the show, a bit like dumbing down as many fans think everything that happened was totally true. Much was but not the same order & with different people. There are a few excellent books if anyone really want to understand & appreciate the contribution made by Viking culture.
I would love to know your opinion on the clothing. Because it seems very strange.
The Alfred Uthred scenes in The Last Kingdom was 10/10.
David Dawson absolutely killed it. In my mind, he was Alfred, period.
How Dawson and Dreymon never got Emmys I’ll never understand
I like how she completely ignores the ridiculousness of the black viking queen....
Perhaps she ignored because, and I know this will be a great shock to you, it's not actually that big of a deal.
@@amyparker9816 she was supposed to judge the shows historical accuracy, the ethnicity of the people is a pretty big deal
The vast majority of the actors are not Scandinavian. There are also many ethnic Scandinavians with quite dark skin. Vikings spent several months each season sailing, and would have developed deep tans, even on the North Sea.
@@georgelane6350 there’s a difference between having a tan and having an African play a a northern Scandinavian king, she lost all credibility
It’s a fiction show and she’s not nitpicking every little thing
Norsemen was so underrated. A great show with touching moments of pathos
Brittania is another insanely underrated, seemingly almost unheard of show that is right up there in quality of The Last Kingdom & Vikings. Obviously it’s about the Roman’s attempts to conquer all of the ‘’Barbarians’’ of Brittania/ Briton & Celtic tribes of 🇬🇧 & England. I know that this vid is of the kinda typical kinda smug superiority complex of a mainstream archeologists knowledge of Vikings, but obviously these shows are dramatizations meant to also pull in viewers & learning the more accurate history is incredible, like that Rollo & Ragnar were I believe several hundred years apart & obvious weren’t brothers but also what else could the creators of History channels Vikings - draw upon but the sagas? Whether she’s seen the exact cultural layers of the specific scenes is irrelevant, because again a lot of it had to be combined & considering all the research they did do it’s pretty incredible, there was a cool documentary on I believe prime back a few years ago (ya know when having prime afforded you cool additions like not being charged extra for documentaries & whatnot 😠!) but it was hosted with Clive Standen who played Rollo & he went on a neat journey about the known history. It was well done, w/o ego & with grace, that’s just not something that’s as common w/ these type of archeologists.
The first scene is supposed to be their first trip to Britain, which means they knew there were riches but they hadn't seen them yet, hence the expressions when they finally see what they are? Maybe I am getting it wrong, I watched it ages ago
Nah, the first season of Vikings pretty much implies that the Vikings did not fully know that there were lands to the west even though, historically, they definitely did
The Romans built London Bridge, but it was re-built and expanded by the Anglo-Saxons, Normans and Angevins.
There have been many different ‘London Bridge’ rebuilds. The current one from the late 1960s is probably the least interesting.
I enjoyed the series and would like to thank the lady for taking her time telling me how accurate it was compared to what we know it to be in history. It clearly shows that the series made some attempt to be true to life
We did know about the battle itself. The chronicles said the two lines met, and the saxons outnumbered the norse, but the norse or Danes were better equipped veterans vs alfreds fyrd militia men and we do know when the two lines met the norse line bellowed into a triangle and eventually the saxons broke through and successfully encircled the entire army from the center.
I love how she barely addresses the laughably bad costume design in Vikings.
Yep i totaly agree ! look at lagathas armor FFS its way over detailed for any viking to even make that happen IRL ! look at belt buckels from H&M so shiny new ! the way over the top shoulder pads with bumps sticking out everywhere even with chainmail attached to em even if chain mail was not even common use ! the carved in patterns ! She might be a historian but dont like to adress the non real parts only the semi real parts of it !
@@thomasmorsing9052 The armor in the Vikings is absolutely silly, but a chainmail hauberk or the equivalent of wouldn't be difficult for a "viking" after a successful raid, so it wasn't too uncommon, toward the end of the Viking era it'd be something closer to what would later become known as a brigandine--but still more chainmail reliant. But what's especially utterly wrong is the muddy and dirty. scummy look they continuously give them and everything always being brown. It's known that the peoples of that time, especially in Scandinavia loved bright, vivid colors and even among the lower classes wore colorful clothing--they were also fairly hygienic for their time, so this constant wallowing in mud, especially among the more wealthy just wasn't so. I don't begrudge her not getting into minutiae of those minor details compared to the much larger ones she was pointing out, which were battles being in the wrong places, locations portrayed not even actually existing or being there, unrealistic fortifications and/or architecture, accurate portrayal of what's told in the sagas; these are much bigger things she was bringing up compared the inaccurate armors--if she were to get into the inaccuracy of all that in the films and shows displayed it'd have to been a much longer video. Instead she's just bullet pointing the major things within each subject as its displayed before her and has quite a bit to go, through. Basically, it's clear, she's picking her battles here.
@@Apillis124 i tend to agree =) but ppl think viking had ingraved leathers and so forth! it was not common for viking to have much leather since it would not be flexable enough for the fighthing style they had ! vikings series took alot of freedom to create sagas that never happens ! if ppl watch vikings the series and think tiktok vikings looked like that then hell no ! they used linen in colors woven by the females ! and they did not have all that braided hair since they wore it down or in small braids behind the ears if you look at rollo that was normal ! look at bjørn when he was young that haircut was normal the bald back so it was not easy to grap you by it ! this has nothing really to do with vikings ! even ragnar is danish decent ! and when it comes to chain mail it was only late period it was common not around ragnars time since that was mosly for high officials among the ranks like a earl ! sure later viking age it was more common ! it pisses me of as a Dane to watch ppl go this is viking well it aint ! only some of the sagas are portayed in the series and alot of freedom of creation taken account ! to say vikings series are accurate its not really =) you would find a viking kinda borring looking if you think vikings series thats how they look like =P rollo would never be ragnars brother its diffrent time period =) sure some sagas are in the series but there is tons of sagas but then the series would never end =P ! And we all know who raided the most its was us the danes that did that along side norway ! sweden was the hippies of the time only pray to the gods and did alot more sacrefices to em ! sweden never wanted to go raid with us =P
@@Apillis124 but i would say to call her self a historian and not point out the obivous like the over the top leather use and saying nice armor to lagatha when its belt buckle from H&M engraved leather armor with odd patterns kinda takes point from her in my eyes ! she goes into some of the locations was not the right spot then why not the armors =P ! for me i would lose interrest in her tellings since she goes into the locations but not the most eye popping thing the clothe they have on in the series =) maybe she was on a timer to get the video done who knows ! but ppl please stop the tiktok BS with viking looks and playing that stupid song my mother told me saying this is viking =P it drives me nutts that my ancestors gets potrayed as some emo viking =P
@@thomasmorsing9052 Well, she has a doctorate and archeologist specializing in the Viking era, so she's a literal historian--she's not calling herself a historian--her degrees and literal profession is. As I said before, which is more important to note that someone got something wrong--the typical dress code people had or that they didn't even have the location right? And factoring that with the understanding you only have a limited time to speak on them. Personally, like her, I'd focus on the largest and most egregious thing they had wrong, which is, never mind the inaccurate armor they even had the damn locations themselves utterly wrong.
Just to put in mind, Ragnar and the Vikings wasn't shocked about finding the treasure. They knew they would find treasure. It was very shock that the chapel wasn't bee protected with warriors.
I could listen to her talk for hours
Please, PLEASE comment Lagerthas funeral in Vikings. I know it had so many fantasy moments, but i really wish that there are some bits of real traditions in that beautiful and emotional Adaption. Please consider a review of more like... interpretations of the culture, rather than only fighting scenes? 😊
Norsemen is such a good show!
Around 4:30 - Isn't there abundant evidence that Old Norse and Old English at this time were very close and likely mutually intelligible, meaning that it's not at all odd that the Vikings and Monks could understand each other?
No
Not even close yo
Yep, I'm pretty sure there's a video where Jackson Crawford and a guy who speaks Old English have a conversation with each other, although there is some communication issues.
Yep, they were. Unless the monks spoke primarily Latin, which I suppose is a possibility (although unlikely), they shouldn't have had too much trouble understanding each other.
According to linguist in both nordic and old/middle english, they both actually could communicate quite well together using those languages alone because the words and meanings were so similar, as they literally derived from the same place. If the monks ONLY knew latin, then yea...but that was highly unlikely at this time.
Also im referring to Vikings when Ragnar meets Athelstan lol. Forgot more than one show is being covered lol.
I think it's important to remember that the books and the TV series they inspired are primarily intended as entertainment. They may be rooted in real history, but they are not intended to be documentaries. Essentially, just a good yarn, nothing more.
She is great. 👌
I love watching her fan girl in five seconds at Norsemen. Im so unhappy they didnt get another season. Hoping someone picks it up!
What? It has been cancelled? I didn't knew about it. The last season was so good. I don't really understand people's tastes these days.
I really wish people would actually watch the show before analyzing them. In the Viking show scene they just arrived on the shores where they were the first ever vikings to do so. So everything they saw was the first time.
"Expert" again cannot tell difference between wolf pelts and bear skins. Ragnar coffin scene is stolen from Harald Hardrada who actually did it while serving in Varangian guard. Fun fact - spent few nights camping on the same field where nithing pole was filmed. That could explain my misfortunes.
I like this lady Doctor, seems really cool!
She wrote a great book called River Kings thats worth a read
The one most faithful to the historical Viking age is actually Norsemen, and that is just a parody :P
It looks more like the area around Bamburgh, rather than Lindisfarne!
should have show her the iconic ivar the boneless scene in york
even if they’re inaccurate, vikings and the last kingdom are peak tv shows.
Its loosely base or an ancestor of Cornwells, it says so in the book...
Your commenting "expert" is a bit off on many facts and bits of knowledge. For example, stating that the shield maiden was most likely mythical, and yet the Vinland colony attempt is recorded as having thwarted being slaughtered due to a female breserkyr who attacked the raiding indigenous people whom they referred to as Skrælings. She is described as charging naked into battle except for her belt and collar and her weapons, of course. She was struck by arrows but continued to attack, which terrified the Indians. They broke off the attack allowing the Norsemen enough time to get back to their ships and leave the coast. The woman died after a while from her injuries, but the account is indicative of one historical example that was mentioned in multiple sagas. Another example: London Bridge had stone bases spanned by timber bridge works. The bridge was too low to the water to allow the longships to pass. The Vikings attacking London did not pull it down. They loaded many barges with timber, straw, and pitch. They moved the barges to the base of the wooden spans, then lit the barges on fire and burned away the wooden bridge spans. This is the origin of the famous nursery rhyme "London Bridge is falling down." The embers and burned wooden ramparts fell into the river, clearing the way for ships to move up past the bridge in order to better surround and siege the city. There are many other areas of flawed expletives as well. I don't doubt that she knows basic viking history. But obviously there are some gaps in her knowledge base and basic understanding of some of the Norse culture and history.
Norsemen is my absolute favorite. I howled.
In Vikings it looks like the raiding party is looking for the doorbell. Such nice men to do so.
I want to see them to rate vinland saga next