Show notes
Pagan Viking Sea Kings spend the 10th and 11th centuries morphing into Christian monarchs. But with rulers like Harald Bluetooth and Svein Forkbeard it's debatable whether things will be any less horrific for Scandinavia's neighbors
Highlighted moments
if you're a monk writing about these people who as part of their business strategy aren't just pagans but like to assault holy sites and monasteries and kill monks well is a monk's account of these people going to be particularly even-handed I doubt it
“jesus's disciples were warrior companions in quotes framed in the language of a warlord's retinue and the last supper is the quote end quote final mead hall feast even god he writes is called by the odinic epithets such as victory chieftain and all ruler”
“olaf tryggvason destroys the images of the norse gods and nothing happens to him right what does that say to the followers when they watch you know thor allow his statue to be destroyed and does nothing”
“you can't figure out how much of this is because he is a fervently believing christian and how much of this is connected to the fact that christianity supports a powerful kingship and he wants to be a powerful king so you can't figure out where one of these motivations ends and the other begins”
Transcript
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