History Today - Surviving a Viking Winter
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- Опубліковано 5 сер 2024
- We talk about how Vikings (or Medieval Scandinavians) survived the winter and how that experience impacted their culture and religion! I am joined by James McMullen (AskHistorians flaired user u/EyeStache). He is a Canadian Museologist who also has an MA in Medieval Icelandic Studies from the University of Iceland, and wages an Eternal War against Viking Misinformation. You can watch him scream into the void about vikings, museums, and politics on twitter at @thevikingjim
(Article on the Late Antiquity Ice Age that inspired Ragnarok: www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2652)
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A big thanks to James for once again joining us to talk all things Vikings! What other topics from history or film would you like us to discuss?
ERE/BYZANTINE army pls
The Vikings wasn't a 'culture'. It was an occupation, like farming (which most Vikings did when not raiding, at which point they weren't Vikings).
right we kind of glossed over that in this video but its a point that was made in the previous podcast
to focus in farming techniques , types of crops -food - cooking techniques etc -
Pro trick: watch movies at Flixzone. Been using it for watching all kinds of movies these days.
South Norwegian winter lasts as short as from December to February. But it's still pretty cold in November and March. In the North of Norway (not counting Svalbard) winter can last from September to May, if you count snow-covered ground as winter. Northerners often call their summer "Two weeks of bad skiing conditions".
Good info for me to file away. I hope to visit the Old Country after I find where my other Norwegian great-great grandparents came from. Lesja is the valley for one set and its surprisingly cold even though it doesn't seem that far north.
Snowball wars is some of the best childhood memories. Fun to hear we share it with our ancestors.
It’s weird to think this was a halo channel
huh?
Awesome. Just finished The Terror and was thinking about how bad ass the Inuit are for surviving in the Arctic for thousands of years. I mean seriously - out of every climate to live in, they chose the one with no shelter and the biggest bears in the world.
What I am saying is - this was an awesome topic. Thanks for covering it.
I doubt the Inuit chose to live in the arctic any more than the Celts “chose” to end up pushed to the far north and west of the British Isles.
I lived in Alaska for 7 years. The climate tested My abilities at times. I invested in good clothing
That place is no joke
Good clothing, a good stock of food and other material goods, and good planning for winter are a must. Also using that PFD to stock up on heating fuel or wood are always good!
COOL
@@dxonnie1571 what clothes can you wear in Alaska?
@@JJoh4040 Carhartts if you are Old School, and Duluth Trading if you are younger than 60, extreme cold weather rated specific. Don't just grab something off the rack with a brand label and think it is good. You have to read the tag to find out the cold rating. But, Old or New School - either brand - does just fine.
Avoid crap they sell at Patagonia and North Face and Columbia brands - those are for sucker hippies and tourists, that want to go skiing at a ski resort. Not *living* in cold weather. Different.
Also, speaking from my experience with idiots who order uniforms when I was working at Fort Greely some couple a decades ago, "Gore-Tex" does NOT = Cold Weather. Gore-Tex = Water Resistant. We froze our asses off because the dumbasses who made the order were from Hawaii and were there during the summer - and then left.
Check the cold-ratings, it matters.
Good job brother. Love the variety and quality of your videos. Thank you for all your hard work
*Skis:* You actually get around faster in the winter than in the summer, if you know how to ski. Even the old fashion skis were very fast. Different types of wax were used to prevent back-slip, but also to make the skis glide faster. Samis are also known for using seal fur under their skis, as it makes the skis go forward very fast, but also prevent the skis from slipping backwards.
kebman in New England the logging season was always in the winter because all the leaves were off the trees and it's easy to pull logs around on snow instead of muddy dirt.
Great video!! More content like this please!!!!🤞 Would love to see you two chatting about feasting halls etc
Really nice. Just had a touch of viking winter at my viking camp on my channel. We gad Julfest at my camp and froze allot^^ thanks for posting. Good info. Happy new year.
Thank you Invicta and James!
Thanks for making awesome content, love watching your videos!
I've been getting up a good amount of variety, glad to hear you enjoyed!
Not only did you not get much sun during the winter months (in theory you could get a sunny day) but also it is impossible to get UVB in those latitudes even with sunshine.
LOL best timing ever thanks.
One of my favorite history youtubers is also a Julien! Sweeet.
The Samis, up North in Finnmark, are used to -50˚C in the winter. That's -58˚F. They still go out and still survive. I'm sure the Inuits survive much worse.
Looks like everyday life for me
Great job!!!
Some needs to inform the makers of the video that the Viking era (at maximum between 700 - 1100 BC) saw Scandinavia enjoying the hottest average temperatures in the past fw millenia and that was the reason the population of Scandinavians increased so drastically and that is how the phenomenon of overpopulation led to the phenomenon of Vikings, i.e. Scandinavian men leaving Scandinavia and seeking their luck abroad, either as looters and thieves or as traders and mercenaries. The climate was so hot that they cultivated Mediterranean varieties of wheat and even some wine. Wine remained the major drink throughout Europe (including north Europe) till the mini Ice-Age that kick-started in 1200 and started being felt throughout by 1300s. The whole notion of cold winters and beer drinking red bearded dwarfs sitting next to a fireplace in some medieval pub is a video game invention. We just need to mention that till 1300 there was no frozen North Pole, yep, it was all a sea! Yes winters were still cold in Scandinavia in the Viking era in comparison to winters in the Mediterranean but they were the mildest winters in the history of the place. So Vikings did not suffer. And, most funnily, Vikings DID NOT MAKE IT through what people imagine as the "Viking Winter", i.e. the mini ice age of post-1200s as their lot (i.e. the profession) disappeared right before the onset of that cold era!!! Scandinavians of course continued throughout the mini-ice age weathering it out (and the kingdom of Sweden with some relative success), yet they failed to continue living in Greenland once the cold started. They are people too, they have feelings, they are not robots, none likes to stay at a cold place once there are other options.
I wasn't aware of all that. It probably explains why, in later centuries, there would be multiple attempts to find the Northwest Passage but only to be defeated by a lot of ice.
Great information !!! It looks reasonable to me, Scandinavian ( Vikings ) are super tough ppl, but if they have a better options, why they should freeze and starve to death.
Arabs left Arabian peninsula and spread around when the dry weather hit the area for hundreds of years, so water push them out, to find new water sources.
Fur and wool are actually still today excellent materials for keeping warm in winter..
Nothing beats them still, nature ftw
Fkn awesome vid!
question for James McMullen. Is it not way harder to build and prepare ships in winter instead of in summer ? Also you talk a about a farming season and a winterseason, is the raiding/trading season between those periods or at the same time as the farming season ?
I was thinking the same. If they have to farm all summer to have enough food for winter, when do they dust of their ships and get at it?
thank you. a very interesting subject !
I would like to add that, yes, pretty much everyone were farmers. The absolute vast majority of people in early medieval Scandinavia were subsistence farmers, including the nobles - although they obviously had slaves/servants to do a lot of the actual work. Yes, there were traders, and other specialists, but even they were often tied to a family farm in some way. Raiding had to be worked into the agricultural rhythm in most cases.
Jim McMullen Exactly, calling every Scandinavian of that period a Viking is like calling every Spaniard of the XVI century a conquistador. Or a shoemaker, or any other occupation for that matter...
Riksgränsen is *not* the northernmost skiing resort. We have one in Tromsø too, which is over 200 kilometres further North. It's nowhere near as good, however, so I won't blame you if you go to Riksgränsen instead.
I see this video is back
Why does the audio to your gueat sound off? Or is it just my speaker?
I live in Ontario Canada and we live indoors from Nov to May , how is Greenland from Nov to mid March?
PLS do a video about the MIGHTY EASTERN ROMAN/BYZANTINE EMPIRE!!!
Emperor Demetrius mighty:Ddddd
+dD Lithuania yes mighty do you disagree?
Thank you James for waging war on Viking misinformation! It's about time someone did! And thank you Invicta for inviting him onto your podcast!
One question: how true is the portrayal of the Vikings in Bernard Cornwell books? He depicts both Danes and Norse when they first invaded England.
I've lived in Norway. -35°C in the winter. Only a tiny bit of daylight. And yes its not a myth. My pee froze before it hit the gound. :-D
It would be cool to have a studio camera for the podcast style videos. Of course better to not if you don’t have the ability to get a quality camera. Also your still testing to see if people like this so understandable
James sound a lot like Lars Ulrich from Metallica on the phone :)
Can you guys do story about viking or norse?
Why did you remove the last video?
Yup it got flagged for copyright
Invicta who does that?
If it's Fimbulvetr there'll be no surviving
Winters are hard in the north, especially when its only -3°C and there is a strong wind with rain coming down. Its the thoughest thing.
dD Lithuania fuuuck this winter was fucking awful in Norway, like imagine -15 degrees which on its own isn’t thaaaat bad, but add on to that a fuckton of humidity and 15-20 M/S winds
Yes! Give me crisp - 20C m, with a bit of snowing, and it's a winter wonderland! Not the dreadful - 3-5, rain and black ice...
Still the best too. Modern materials will freeze you if wet. Woll will stoll keep you warm.
Surviving a scandinavian winter is eaaaasy.
If you're scandinavian that is.
I mean if you are from Siberia or Northern Canada Scandinavian winters are nothing.
@@johonanandrewgomes7593 Dont forget the nordic weather in all of this as well, not just temperature and wind.
@@badcookie13 last year Kugaaruk had -70 windchill with 55kmh winds, newfoundland had 170kmh wind gusts and 20 feet of snow depths this year. Canada has the windiest inhabited place in North America and most of the world. Shephards bay had days of temps below -47c and 100 kmh wind gusts this winter.
It's easier if you're Canadian, trust me 😂
@@Joe-un6xz how the heck is it easier lol
I love your videos, But dude you seriously need to invest in some better sound quality. If there is any background noise at all I cannot understand a word you say. I drive for a living, I like listening to your videos while I drive but it's almost impossible
The equipment on my end shouldn't be the issue. I'll see if we can help get the guest a microphone.
I probably overstated how badly this needs to be fixed, it's pretty routine in all your videos, they're not crystal clear audio wise and for the vast majority of people I'm sure that's not a problem at all, it's just a personal peeve of mine. It just means I have to wait till I'm in my regular car to listen. Anyway I don't see anyone else complaining about it, so it seems like it is just a small thing, don't feel any pressure to mess with your audio setup for the sake of one whining fan.
Invicta, do you have a discord?, if not I could help you set one up as I am very good at adminning I think it would really connect the community and maybe we could have total war tournaments, history quizzes and stuff, just an idea!
its a neat idea that I know others have done but for now with a full time job its not something I am ready to take on
it is indeed a cool idea! i would be a part of it for sure. but a full time job is time consuming. I did not know you had a full time job by now! this gives me much more respect for the time you are spending on this @invicta! thank you, i love these documentaries!
Invicta it’s a matter of time before your incredible hard work will pay off brother, I’m just happy you love what you do and create fantastic content that we in turn love to watch and engage with
Was wondering what was going on with this when it popped up then went away mysteriously. Much like the Vikings, whey! lame puns.
The original version I had got flagged for including copyrighted content since I used 30 seconds from one of the episodes from the Vikings TV show. I decided to replace the video with images and it seems to have solved the problem.
Soooooooooo, they did what everyone else did?
What happened to the original one?
I got hit with a copyright notice for using video clips from the TV show Vikings so I replaced those with still images. It should have fallen under fair use but in the past they have rejected my appeals.
Fucking bastards. Keep your head up.
Time stamps would be awesome!
Even in Cleveland ohio it can snow on mother's day circa may 15
When you're here because you're very seriously looking for advise on how to survive arctic winter conditions and you want to know how the hell your ancestors did it. lol...
Fish in lye is - lutefisk - the result of drying fish. Dried fish is _really_ hard, so to soften it, they would put it in lye for a while. Depending on how long you keep it in the lye, it will turn into jelly. Then you rinse it, cook it and eat it. (Yuck!) The Icelandics also have the Hákarl - fermented shark. Yum!
Is lye bad for you?
"err" - James McMullen, 2018.
Just found out I'm part inuit/eskimo
If you're gonna get someone one and have them talk for 40 minutes and then upload that video for people to watch, make sure the person talking for 40MINUTES actually has a good mic!!!!!
Regarding vitamin D and dairy, can someone please source the high amounts of D he talks about? Our modern vitamin D in milk is actually fortified so just curious if there is another opinion on that--cheese has some, but not much so I would think that their D would be most readibly available through the fish. Thanks in advanced!
for a short stint I was vegan and replaced a lot of my vitamin d by eating mushrooms, citrus, fortified plant milks, and plenty of sunshine
Mushrooms for sure
A Ice Age is Coming. Geologically Speaking the normal state of the planet seems to be The Ice Age.....
please make the other guy get better audio quality I can't bear to listen. I still like the content though
I'll see if we can get him hooked up with some better equipment
Thank you. Me and my autistic eardrums appreciate it.
I didn’t click on this to eves drop on a goofy phone call
Lol Minnesota is harsher than where he is in Canada -35°c to 37°c. Winter is cold and summer is hot and humid. Basically from tundra to tropics every 6 months haha. Though living in both I'll take the heat forever.
Well most of inland Canada is much colder than Minnesota
Where did you get the milk, the cow had to be pregnant or else there were calves I presume.
PewPewPlasmagun Just like how human women can wet nurse for years. Cows are far easier though and not as strange to drink from for years on end. Just remember brown cow still just milk. Chocolate milk is just that 🍫+milk.
It seems more likely people would have kept goats and sheep than cows, but I'm no historian.
Lactating animals can be kept producing milk indefinitely, though they produce less and less until they give birth again. As long as they are continuously milked, they'll keep lactating. I think non-specific breeds have very poor yields compared with dairy breeds.
I'd imagine that they would milk them in the winter and breed them in the spring, but as I said I haven't studied this.
@@vlanhondermoslin9088 My wife and own goats we use specifically for milk. So far, we milk them for almost up to a year after they give birth. Even after the kids have been weaned off, so long as you drain them twice a day (Jesus, im not kidding), they seem to keep producing, the yield seems more random than to do with how long they've gone since giving birth.
We had twin mothers who gave birth in the same week. One had an issue producing close to 8 months and the other continued to fill up two 16-oz mason jars a day almost into 10 months.
We eventually started drying them up by December, because Texas winters get a bit too brutal to be out there in the field at 6am and 6pm milking goats haha.
Id be interested to know how long they can keep yielding milk if not dried up.
I think every Minnesotan would survive. We’re used to having snow in April.
Honestly if you want an example of overpriced bullshit look at Icelandic dried fish! It’s so ridiculously cheap to make and sold at extortionate prices, 500g for the equivalent of roughly 20 dollars!
With regards
Definitely not bitter Icelander who would eat heaps upon heaps of dried fish if it was reasonably priced
Stop fucking comparing sweden with canada.. canada is not even close to beeing as cold as sweden..
The Inuit might disagree with you. It's pretty damn varied across the entire nation.
sound is too poor, too robotoid, cant watch it
Industrialisation caused the Great Winter
Insanely boring
Don’t they use gay black eyeliner to protect themselves from the sun or somwthing
I mean, they use it in sports because of the sun, wouldn't really call it gay
one man's practical is another mans gay. I wear assless chaps because of aeration, not the access JEEZ GUYS
Sam qualcosa It’s funny because I made that up about the Sun. I don’t know if there is any historical basis for the presentation in the show.
Darth Tater I understand
K893 893 Eh maybe for ceremonies and festivities?
22 seconds in and I already want to stop listening. You said how Vikings were shaped "as a culture". Vikings were not a culture, Viking was a profession. The people living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era were Danes, Svears and Norse. Any one from any of these people's could become a Viking but they weren't all Vikings. A Viking was, in essence, a raider. If you made your living from plundering settlements, you were a Viking. If you were talking to your friends you could say "let's go on a Viking" which would just be saying "let's go on a raid". Calling everyone in Scandinavia at the time a Viking is like calling everyone in America an accountant and saying we follow an "accountant culture". You'd think someone who's channel is dedicated to history wouldn't make such an exhausted mistake. It's disappointing.
He knows that, vikings is used as a word for the norse people of Scandinavia during the Viking age.
He knows that they had an extensive discussion about that in the first podcast. They're just using that term as a general identifier because it's easy and convenient.
They get into that at the end of the episode.
When your guy started spouting out global warming BULLSHIT. I had to stop.