VIKING ERA OF THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES

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aukepalmhof
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VIKING ERA OF THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed May 27, 2020 9:16 pm

In 1990 Sweden published a stamp booklet about the Viking era.

The general view of the Vikings is that they were pirates wearing helmets with big horns on them. That they suppressed whole Europe with rape and looting. But that image has recently been changing by the archaeologists and historians.
The Viking era was certainly a time of violence, but the Franks and Anglo Saxon peoples were not much better than the Vikings. The truth is that the Vikings had a bad press, the monks of Western Europe at the time emphasized the paganism of the Vikings in their writings and the violence against the churches and monasteries. Robbing church treasures and transporting monks and nuns to the northern countries to perform slave labor there.
Contemporary studies show that the Vikings lasted two turbulent centuries, in which the Northern countries were able to pursue an aggressive policy abroad, with war raids usually led by members of the royal family.
One of Sweden's largest complexes of ancient monuments from the Viking era is located on the island of Björkö in Lake Mälaran. It has vestiges of a city protected by a fortress and strongholds. Graves show that the city had up to 1000 inhabitants in the ninth and tenth centuries. This neighborhood is now known in European sources as Birca (Birka). This place was visited twice in the ninth century by St Ansgar the Apostle of the North.
The design of the stamp booklet showing two well-known features from the Viking era. Ships and settlements. The ships of that time were well adapted to their purpose for which they were to be used. The large ships carried warriors on their raids, the merchants depended on the merchant ships, and the small ships were deployed in the coastal waters and rivers and lakes.
Birka was the market place for the Mälaren valley, and there was also a customs office on the route from Bergslag to the northern forest areas, where iron and furs were available for their own use or for export.

Many of the inhabitants of Birka took some of their wealth with them in the grave for after-life after they died.

(Right top stamp) The figurine of the god Fro from Lunda, Nykoping, and the small silver-inlaid crucifix from the tenth century grave in Birka represents the transition from the old to the new faith.

(Left bottom stamp) The bishop's staff found in Helgo was made in Western Europe and must be associated with the Christian mission.
The deer made of fine gold thread was embroidered on silk that came from Byzantium.

(Left top stamp)A Viking head found in Sigtuna and a dragon head on a soapstone casting in Birka show the skillful craftsmanship of the Vikings.
Horns that adorn the modern Viking helmets have never be worn by the old Vikings, but they did have a nose protection plate as can be seen on the Sigtuna head.

(Bottom right stamp) The weapons used by the Vikings were spears, axes, and swords from abroad mostly of Franconia origin. Sword blades were made from thin iron rods using a technique known as pattern welding, these blades were imported into the Scandinavian countries and then given a hilt.

The Vikings' armies were not large, but with their ships and horses, they were very efficient and invincible. The Franks and Anglo Saxons found it difficult to resist these Vikings. And areas like Denenland and Normandy came under the authority of the Scandinavian warlords.
Many people left the Scandinavian countries at that time, and large areas of Europe were ruled by the nobles of the Vikings. At home, they mostly lived as farmers, their farm consisted of a longhouse which houses both humans and animals, the harvest was also stored in it.
Their household items were simple earthenware pots, and their tools were usually made of iron. Imported items that the ships could take were hardly found. Their graves now show us what they wore about clothing, jewelry, and their personal belongings.

Source: Sweden Post information bulletin.
Sweden 1991 all 2K50 sg1495/1502 scott?
Attachments
1990 Viking-life-back.jpg
1990 Viking-life. booklet jpg.jpg

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