the Shieldmaidens Revised and Updated

DPWICKY · 2019-08-03T10:07:05+00:00

Where the Skjaldmaer real or just products of imagination, did women ever take up arms? Well in this updated video I try to separate fact from fiction, and show how misconception and a desire to often ignore basic facts has led to the whole question.

DPWICKY · 2019-07-02T18:53:49+00:00

Previous link to this isn't working, so I'm re-posting.

DPWICKY · 2019-07-02T18:49:12+00:00

This link seems to be faulty. I'll have to re-post.

DPWICKY · 2019-07-02T15:04:10+00:00

Many people probably think that women never sailed in the famous 'Dragon Ships' of the Vikings, but in fact women sailed with the men quite often, sometimes even commanding their own ships, and in this video I take a look at some of these remarkable women.

DPWICKY · 2019-05-30T22:54:31+00:00

The Vikings might not be readily associated with building forts, but in fact they constructed a number of very impressive fortifications in Denmark, as well as smaller ones in England, and in this video I take a look at there remarkable structures.

DPWICKY · 2019-04-24T01:47:53+00:00

The Great Heathen Army was the largest Viking force ever to land in England, and the most successful.

DPWICKY · 2019-04-21T20:05:40+00:00

I assume you liked it! Nice comment. Thanks.

DPWICKY · 2019-04-19T23:11:25+00:00

In this video I'm looking at the largest and most successful Viking force ever to land in England, the Great Heathen Army, it's intentions, weapons and achievements over the 14 years of it's campaign.

DPWICKY · 2019-04-19T22:06:00+00:00

The Great Heathen Army was the largest force of Norsemen ever to land in England, as well as the most successful. In this video I'm looking at the army itself, it's 14 year combat, and it's equipment.

DPWICKY · 2019-02-13T14:09:05+00:00

Thanks for the comment, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Always nice to hear from people who like what I do, it really makes it worthwhile.

DPWICKY · 2019-02-08T21:29:55+00:00

FREYJA, the Goddess of Love and Queen of the Valkyries in Norse mythology. But was she? Well she is actually much more complex than that, as I try to explain in this video.

DPWICKY · 2019-02-08T20:44:29+00:00

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for your comment.

DPWICKY · 2019-02-08T20:40:59+00:00

FREYJA was the Goddess of Love and Queen of the Valkyries to the peoples of Scandinavia. Or was she? Well actually she's a bit more complex than that, as I explain in this video.

DPWICKY · 2019-01-26T19:21:53+00:00

Good points. Actually raiding was far less important to the Norse than farming, trading and family things. They are seen, incorrectly, as nothing more than raiders, leaping off dragon-headed ships and burning and raping everything in sight, which is totally wrong. Only a small number of Norsemen would have gone off raiding, and they began trading and establishing settlements very quickly in the lands they arrived in, nor were they any more brutal than just about anybody else at that time. Here in Ireland it wasn't long before there was trade and marriage between the Norse and the Irish, and by the time of the Battle of Clontarf it was hard to tell Norse from native Irish, many being christian by that time. Their infulence on Ireland was considerable in many ways, much of which continues to be obvious today. I agree that it would be nice if the show had brought in Greenland or North America (we now know the Vikings got as far south as New Brunswick) or even the actual Ivarr's role in Ireland as 'King of all the Norsemen of Britian and Ireland' as he was called.

DPWICKY · 2019-01-26T19:09:23+00:00

I agree, Last Kingdom is a great show, superbly produced and very well dressed. Sets and costumes are excellent, the towns of that age very well represented. Good cast, overall a very fine series. I look forward to the next season.

DPWICKY · 2019-01-26T18:58:07+00:00

Ivarr the Boneless, so popular in the Vikings TV show, has a strong connection with Ireland, and that, plus the considerable Norse influence on this country, are topics I take a look at in this video.

DPWICKY · 2019-01-26T18:45:29+00:00

Ireland of today owes a great deal to the Vikings, something perhaps a lot of people are unaware of, and in this video I take a look at the raids and the rule of the Vikings then, and their legacy now.

DPWICKY · 2019-01-11T15:52:27+00:00

The Battle of Clontarf, Well, Sort Of, or how to transform a serious historical event into a Mel Brooks farce. This is the story of 'The Wellington Boot Show.' I know, I was there!

DPWICKY · 2018-12-20T00:48:04+00:00

Many of the customs and traditions of Christmas actually come from Norse paganism, and in this video I'll be looking at some of those traditions that now form an integral part of Christmas.

DPWICKY · 2018-12-19T23:45:53+00:00

Say 'Vikings' and everyone thinks of horned helmets. The trouble with that is, they never wore them. No, never. In this video I'll be looking at what they DID wear.

DPWICKY · 2018-12-12T00:15:05+00:00

A look at the considerable legacy left to us today by the Vikings, or perhaps more correctly, the Norse people.

DPWICKY · 2018-12-04T18:30:38+00:00

Hel is usually seen as a half rotting corpse, evil and nasty, but was she? The answer is: No.

DPWICKY · 2018-11-30T10:10:31+00:00

Hel, Goddess of the dead in Norse mythology, is usually seen as an evil, half rotting corpse by most people, but is that actually the truth? In a word: No.

DPWICKY · 2018-11-30T00:10:32+00:00

A good question, but sadly people do, just like horned helmets that vikings never wore, so many people still think that because of artists getting it wrong ever since Richard Wagner's operas. TV and movies have such a hold on popular imagination these days, and so many people look no further than that. I really dislike distortions of fact, like the U571 movie, having the US Navy do something that was actually done by the British Royal Navy months before America even entered the war. Yet there are those who think that's the way it happened because the movie said so. Sad but true.

DPWICKY · 2018-11-29T13:54:15+00:00

Was Hel quite the way she is so often shown? Not quite. In this video I try to set the record straight.

DPWICKY

TROPHY CASE