History Raids with Fjorn

For the Norse, Yggdrasil was their world(s) tree. That’s right, world(s)—because they conceived their cosmos as having 9 worlds, not just 1. This raid therefore aims to plunder the heart of their cosmos to better understand Yggdrasil’s role and its symbolism in the Norse world(s)view. We won’t talk about everything (like Odin’s well-known sacrifice upon […]

You probably haven’t heard about a Norse woman who single-handedly saved her family from a political turmoil in Scotland, settled part of Iceland, distributed land, arranged marriages for her kin, and maintained a respected reputation that was remember for generations? Of course not. This International Women’s Day special tells the story of a woman named […]

It’s not a stretch to say that Midgard and Asgard are the two most important worlds of the Norse cosmos, for they are the homes of us humans and our gods. But…have you ever wondered why they’re both conceived of as fortresses? It’s not a coincidence. In this raid, we’ll go through the must-know details […]

The Norse imagined the creation of the cosmos as a story of ice and fire—but it’s really nothing like the more well-known Song of Ice and Fire that people prefer to talk about now. Well, perhaps they used to until a certain show ended on a less-than-popular note. But I digress. In this raid, we’re […]

This is our third and final raid covering the scanty sources we have for Norse Mythology. To most people, sagas are an odd and obscure group of medieval literature mostly from the equally odd and obscure Iceland. Their content typically covers things like feuding farmers or campaigning kings (occasionally featuring whack-a-mole spectral seals and red-shirt […]

When it comes to love in the medieval North, these are some of the most essential stories to know. We start things off with a fairly detailed discussion about Freyja, the free-spirited goddess of love and war, including her ferocious cats and her experience with magic, aka seiðr. After that, we cringe (and laugh) through […]

When it comes to ‘primary’ source material about Norse mythology, few are better than the Prose Edda—but everyone hates on its 13th-century Icelandic author, the infamous Snorri Sturluson. There’s plenty of good reasons for that, but I think people take for granted that he was much less salty than his Danish contemporary, Saxo Grammaticus. This […]

The first remnants of Norse Mythology we’re discussing are, of course, eddic and skaldic poetry. They’re not the friendliest sources for those unfamiliar with the lore, but they are, perhaps, the most ‘reliable’ of the scanty source material we have to work with. Yet, even though their origins are often in the Viking Age, you’ll […]

Like the creation of the Norse cosmos, our coverage of Norse Mythology begins with a great void. Instead of cows licking salty ice, however, we’re facing the challenges of oral traditions and material culture without contemporary context. This raid is therefore a brief overview of those remnants from the void: our scanty sources for a […]

I almost titled this raid “How to Train a Viking,” and, to be honest, it would have worked just as well. Why? Because the Viking Age came to an end because…well, you should probably listen to this episode. In sum, we cover how Viking legends became Christian kings and, more importantly, why they chose to […]

To bake a Viking raid, one needs a few more ingredients than a Norseman with an axe. Naturally, you’ll have to listen to this episode to get the recipe. I will say this, though: we cover the developments in Scandinavia that provided the foundation for the first Viking raids, the main factors used to differentiate […]

What was the First ‘Viking’ Raid? To be honest, the ‘first’ raid of the Viking Age (c. 750-1050 or, more conventionally, 793-1066) isn’t as straightforward as you might think. You might have heard about Lindisfarne before, if you’ve been into Vikings and Norse things for a while—but, spoiler alert, that’s not really the first raid. […]

How did the Norse ‘become’ Vikings? Okay, so “becoming Vikings” is hardly historically appropriate…but let me explain. In this raid, we ‘conclude’ the prequel to the Viking Age by covering the Vendel Period. Dates vary, as always, but we’ll be using 550 to 750 CE. During this discussion, we’ll learn how the North quite literally […]

Let’s raid the Migration Period (dates vary, but 400-550 CE is what we’re using) to show how it set the stage for the Viking Age. It’s just a brief overview, but we talk about how the ‘fall’ of the Roman Empire was a bit more complicated than most assume, how catastrophic eruptions a world away […]

We’re wrapping up our coverage of the people inhabiting the Viking Age North! This time we focus on the ‘side’ characters: Wends, Balts, and Sámi/Finns. As you’ll learn in the raid, these groups frequently mingled with the Norse, creating complex settlements and cultural expressions. We’ll also emphasize just how much environment affects cultural development, including […]

The ‘Viking’ homeland was more diverse than you’d think—but of course we’re going to start with the classics: Northmen (aka Norwegians), Danes, and Swedes. We’ll cover their Old Norse names, the regions where each group primarily lived, and even talk about their natural resources and how they survived/shaped their cultural identities in their respective environments […]

Vikings. What do you think when you hear that word? Whatever comes to mind, this raid will help separate popular fantasy from historical reality. Presented by a medievalist with a master’s degree in history, Fjorn offers another way to access the academic side of the complex and often misunderstood medieval world. Key moments: Reminder: this […]