Viking Pagan Gods in Britain
Вставка
- Опубліковано 13 бер 2023
- The Norse and Danish invaders - commonly called Vikings - who occupied Britain in the ninth and tenth centuries, brought with them their own pagan gods. Odin, Thor, Tyr, Loki and Freya left their trace on the British landscape, in the form of scenes from their mythology carved on stone slabs, and Viking paganism has a further considerable legacy of material evidence in richly furnished graves, especially on the Isle of Man.
A lecture by Ronald Hutton recorded on 8 March 2023 at David Game College, London
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/v...
Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: gresham.ac.uk/support/
Website: gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: / greshamcollege
Facebook: / greshamcollege
Instagram: / greshamcollege
No one has more authoritative ambivalence.
Hutton: "We don't know."
Me: "I'm learning so much!"
Thank you, An hour listening to Professor Hutton is an hour well spent.
Yes, always!
Thanks for watching!
He looks a bit like images of Disraeli.
❤❤❤
"The 13th Warrior" also faithfully attempts both parts of Beowulf, it is surprisingly good.
I came for the subject, but stayed for the lecturer! Hutton is one of my favorites :D
'The Vandals and the Goths are landlocked Vikings.'
Small correction: the Andalucian native Antonio Banderas portrayed the medieval scholar ibn Fadlan.
It wasn't medieval period but interesting takeaway. ibn Fadlan was born 877 AD, near the end of the Russ viking era. Medieval era is hundreds of years later.
Medieval refers to the entire middle ages in europe. Which is which is usually 476 (the fall of rome) until sometime in the 15th century, different historicans drawing that line in different places but that's the general
@@hannahreynolds7611 We talking about Antonio? If you're right, and I'm sure you are, then he probably was correctly cast. I liked it that they had him. Watch Zorro since I was a baby.
Professor looks so stylish and cozy, he's like a character from an educational children's book ❤
Another fantastic lecture from Professor Hutton! I never fail to learn from him, thank you Professor!!!
I can’t ever get enough of Dr. Hutton and I’d never be able to see him in Florida so these programs are so very much appreciated. Thank you.
Glad you like them!
look at OBOD
he's done a few lectures there
very amusing
he's even more relaxed there
😂
Any lecture from Professor Hutton is an instant yes please!
Fantastic lecture! Thanks again to Gresham College and Prof Hutton for this presentation.
Thank you for showing this lecture. Please have Prof. Hutton again!
You can find more of Professor Hutton's lectures and upcoming events at www.gresham.ac.uk/speakers/professor-ronald-hutton
I genuinely wish that I had been taught this type of history of our beautiful country.
The very greatest thanks and warmest regards for this fascinating Professor 💜🙏
MORE Hutton!
I'm so glad I found these lectures by Hutton.
Hutton is a treasure. I can imagine him strolling the Agora as he presents this lecture.
He woud have to wear a wide brimmed hat in such a sunny place
Yes!
As a Scandinavian, it’s been such a joyous experience hearing Professor Hutton talking about the era of the Anglo-Saxon et al., and the "Norse"/"Vikings" - of course the rest of his talks were also quite fascinating!
Thank you for making these talks available on UA-cam!
You can find more of Professor Hutton's lectures and upcoming events at www.gresham.ac.uk/speakers/professor-ronald-hutton
Many thanks Dr Hutton. I lost all trace of time listening to your fascinating presentation. Thus, my roast chicken now resembles a moorhen, in size and colour. Roast moorhen is rather 'chewy'.
I have learned SO much from Prof Hutton in these lectures and I thought I knew quite a bit. Please continue with these!
You can find more of Professor Hutton's lectures and upcoming events at www.gresham.ac.uk/speakers/professor-ronald-hutton
I thoroughly enjoyed this - thank-you Gresham College and Professor Hutton😊
Our pleasure!
The movie, "The 13th Warrior" was an adaption of an early work by Michael Crichton, the originator of the "Jurassic Park" film franchise. While still a medical student at Harvard, Critchton became intrigued with Viking Age archeology. According to rumor, a fellow student challenged Crieghton to create a Viking tale in the form of a scholarly paper or monograph, complete with footnotes and a bibliography citing real and imaginary sources. What he came up with was a blending of the authentic but fragmentary account of Ibn Fadlan and the "Beowulf" epic. Crichton's literary joke was later expanded and published as a novel titled "The Eaters of the Dead".
Interesting take but not true in almost every account you noted.
Just ordered the film
Hello from Arizona. I have followed you for years!
My understanding is that "catgut" is made from sheep, not cats.
A supremely interesting lecture, thank you so very much for making this freely available. I love Dr. Hutton's combination of erudition and wit :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love these. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr Hutton. Hauls me back to Bristol history almost 40 years ago, and with enormous pleasure. Of course I wish I had chosen your wonderful courses on the Tudors. Live long and prosper.
Always enjoy his lectures and contributions.
15:20 I distinctly remember visiting a place called Thurso?
Just love his talks, thank you Sir, for sharing and imparting your knowledge with us, much appreciated x
Thank you Sir , for teaching me things I never knew existed 😊
We still name the days of the week after the Viking gods.
Said the Valkyrie maid: I once slung
Dead men on my saddle, and swung
Off to Valhalla's hall,
Where I never did fall,
So remember when kissing, no tongue.
תודה רבה. מעניין מאוד.
Antonio Banderas is not Mexican. He was born in Malaga, Spain. Andalusia, actually. The southernmost part of the peninsula, last captured from the Muslims
That said, I would love to see Danny Trejo play a Muslim explorer from the middle ages
re-captured
Im guess Hollywood isnt one of his specialist subjects ✨
@BexMos
Not so much Hollywood, Pedro Almovidar the Spanish director discovered the impossibly habdsond young Banderas...
Here in Texas we can appreciate the difference between Spain and Mexico
Professor Hutton has a broad and deep field of expertise which I admire. And his Early Modern specialty is Oliver Cromwell!
@@grimble4564For a second I thought you'd said Danny DeVito, who I'd also love to see play a Muslim explorer.
Brilliant presentation.
Superb
Wonderful lecture!!!!
Professor Ronny is my absolute fave ❤...Banderas is Spanish, BTW not Mexican.
Thank you for uploading another fascinating lecture by professor Hutton.
Please do more on this.
3:29 oh, they showed a variation of this story in an episode of Vikings, where lvar smashed a boy’s head with an axe while playing a ball game with a group of children . I didn’t know it was based on this .
Interesting lecture, thank you! The bit on cat guts was... thought-provoking.
Thankyou gresham college...you make us all more culturally aware of what makes us British
Beyond the pale Dr Hutton, extremely interesting and always a treat with your great wit and style. Proud to say that the lain of the 13Th Warrior was supplied by a Canadian scholar at the University of British Columbia, where a lot of the movie was filmed. Cheers
soory that should be Latin not lain
First saw Dr. Hutton on the Edwardian Farm series on BBC, what a great presenter....I wish all academia took his approach!
Banderas is Spanish mate😁
But the Vikings did have a tradition of carved stone scenes before christianity: take a look at the magnificent Gotlandic picture stones. They are dated to the 7-8th centuries and represent elaborate pictures often involving great ships and including Odin on his 8 legged horse. Nice documentary though.
True. When Prof. Hutton made that remark I immediately thought of the famous Tjängvide image stone. There are, however, different yet plausible interpretations of the images. For example, the rider might be Sigurd rather than Odin, or even the man who is the subject of the memorial stone, someone called Hjôrulfr, judging from the runes. There are examples of representations of horses with more than four legs which evidently imply a galloping steed rather than Odin's Sleipnir specifically. Consequently, instead of a religious scene, the Tjängvide image stone may be biographical -- the rider is the deceased Hjôrulfr, the "valkyrie" is his wife, the "wolf" is his hunting dog, the structure is their farmhouse and not Valhöll. As Hutton often says, the evidence equally supports many interpretations.
@@enscroggs Yes, I myself would tend towards the mythological interpretation though. Take the Sigurd carvings for instance like at Ramsund. There is absolutely no link between the commemorative inscriptions and the scenes depicted which refer obviously to the Sigurd legend. The Gotlandic stones are probably also mythological/legendary in the same spirit but with far more complicated scenes and date to an earlier period. I think there is also Gunnar represented on one of them.
they probably dug up the bones in the mercian monastery looking for gold and then disposed of them afterwards in the same mass grave that they used to dispose of their own bodies with.
Until now, what I've seen about the blood eagle ritual involved pulling the lungs out of the back of the honoree to represent wings.
Because of the extent of the Viking range, do you think that tendency to violence in people carries forward today? Thoroughly enjoy all your lectures.
Currently reading 'Pagan Britain' by Ronald Hutton and, to be honest: struggling! It is very stark and absolutist imo. Something - pick your favourite 'something', like Stonehenge, Maiden Castle etc - might mean this or that, or maybe something else but basically we don't know. We don't know what it meant to ancient peoples, we don't agree what it should mean to us ...
I'm only 40% through the book and it may all come together and I become a deciple of RH. If so, I bet he would be disappointed!
These online lectures are fantastic - he is more human and less authoritarian
Yes, if you're the kind of person who turns up in a white sheet at Stonehenge in June, that book won't be for you.
@@chickenspadge Very definitely not my gig or interest. My grumble is, I guess, that he doesn't seem to accept any speculation based on what is found. True enough, we have often been wrong - if not always - and that should be pointed out. But speculation about the meaning of something by experts is useful and worthwhile.
I should emphasise that commenting on a book based on reading less than half of it is dubious
@@Neilhuny Professor Hutton would not be a scholar worth his salt if he indulged too much speculation. He does have a rigorous approach to the evidence. He is an academician, and, although he does appeal to a more general audience as well, I doubt very seriously that he would dilute his scholarship to please a general audience. Might I add that the facts that we know are fascinating enough without giving in to speculation, or pet theories or interpretations.
Pagan Britain is a tough read tbh, although for it's scholarly credentials it's probably without equal. The subject matter lends itself very well to lectures though.
The more I learn about the "vikings" the less I know about them and the less I'm certain we will ever know
I've found that true of a lot of history. I've just read two books about the wars fought between Alexander the Great's successors and I swear I know less about more than before I started. So much is just informed speculation.
OOOO - what is a 9th century ironing board? And how do we know it was an ironing board? My grandmother used the table-board for ironing on until those handy fold-up metal ones were easily available, and so far as I know, the use of the table-board fro ironing goes back several centuries at least, in between said same board being used for meals, reading and writing, playing games, etc (and possibly occasionally serving as the bed-board during the night, when it was re-located off of the table-frame or pair of table-horses)
The cat could also be for fur. We have cat bones from Viking context in Dublin that have tool marks indicating disassembly.
Banderas might not be an Arab, but he was fantastic in The 13th Warrior - which, as it happens, is my all time favourite film.
Interesting episode from the sagas: boy kills other boy, in the subsequent altercation several men die.
Now my questions: how do societies, in which revenge in very much in-grained and which no modern things like a monopoly of violence of some authority; stop such events from becoming the seed of extended slaughter? What puts a stop to blood revenge, where does it stop, who can put a stop to it?
These are quite general questions, however, all the ancient myths and legends are full of such stories, e.g., the Greeks killing the Trojan boys for fear of them growing up and seeking revenge once they come of age.
I'm by no means an expert, but I believe that they talked these incidents out in a local gathering, came to an agreement about who was at fault, and or if the action was justified. Based on that, a penalty was determined, and the matter was considered to be resolved.
Further transgressions could result in more serious penalties.
Of course enforcement could be challenging.
The evidence tells me that the Viking burial is one of respect by the conquered to the conqueror. There must have been factions among the people on the subject of Vikings.
is it me but Professor Hutton doesnt seem his normal exuberant self...was he unwell?
Is Egil "Ail"?
If the Slavic and Baltic cult places are "well-built temples" then what are they compared to? These were mostly open-air shrines with idols or sacred precints.
I assume based on their state of preservation.
Antonio Banderas is not Mexican.
I've had this poem for a long time and always thought it was based on a Norse legend but I cannot find it anywhere and do not know who wrote it. (although some of the spelling suggests it may be Irish?) Does anyone know?
The raven is calling,
She sits at my side,
She laughs like a demon,
For death is my bride.
She's courted me often,
But ne'er in the sun,
And now she will wed me,
When the battle is done.
The stag is my totem,
The bull is your own.
'Tis reason e'now
That we fight all alone.
I have called my young brother,
But now we must fight,
And the victor be crowned,
Ere the day turns to night.
Oh, my brother be wary,
I'll not easily die,
Though the season is turning,
And the sun is sae high.
My sword, it is heavy,
My arms, they are cold.
Though the raven is calling,
I'll do battle sae bold.
My shield, it is broken,
Like the covenant sworn,
'Twixt the gods and my mother,
On the day I was born.
They promised her truly,
That I would not die,
'Till the sun stood quite still,
In the solstice day sky.
The raven is calling,
With her black mocking voice.
I would not heed it,
But she leaves me nae choice,
She sings as she flies,
Across the sun's face,
And the shadow, it falls,
On this very place.
Now wisdom is folly,
And folly is wise,
When the battle is joined,
And the sun's in your eyes.
I have fought like the champion
I was raised up to be,
But the raven is calling,
She's calling for me.
Why do you think the spelling is Irish 👈😁
Throw in a kenning or two would be my advice to the poet, if they want to sound Tolkien Beowulfie,
got to go, the raven has just rang, and she's got a great tip for the Doncaster four thirty 😑
@@barbararice6650 I said...it "suggests" Irish...I'm not sure. That's why I asked for help
"Sae" is a Scots form of "so." The rest of the poem is in standard (poetic) Modern English.
Song written by the American Thomas deLong (also known as Gwydion Pendderwen) for a 1975 album.
Eureka! Hutton with an “H” . Brilliant! Epiphanic! Get him a room at All Souls immediately!!!!!! Don’t let him go anywhere……
The pagan deities and pantheon of Germanic, Greco-Roman and Slavic cultures had a common root in ancient Indo-European proto culture. Thus eg Odin, Zeus/Jupiter, Perkun.
Antonio banderas is actually from southern spain. Considering the history of the moors in the region, and that they would be the ones ruling his homeland at the time, it's not too much a ludicrous jump as it would have been if he were mexican.
Dude just probably just assumed he was mexican from zorro or the Desperado franchise
Micheal top don
Why is Loki "evil", wouldn't the Valhallans rather be, imprisoning and killing his children for no reason other than fear?
Ragnarok is emancipation day!
Who isn't evil all humans have evil traits there is no perfect.
As a Spaniard, not a Mexican, you could perhaps justify Banderas playing a Cordoban from the caliphate in southern Hispania, maybe finding work in the Abbasid court? I doubt the movie writers were that interested in historical accuracy.
I and the Father are One John 10.30 😊
The pagan Viking in the Christian burial ground with the monks could be so he will be right there with in them in the next world to beat them up and/or see them off so the other Vikings buried in the fully pagan burial ground so they wouldn't be harassed by them and they got their best warrior in there for the job. That would make sense seeing as they seem to believe everything everything including animals and inanimate objects translate directly over and will pick up from where they left off.
No group in history is totally evil - everything has its positive side -even Genghis khan and his Mongol hordes, first having slaughtered millions later settled down -whether in China, India or further west and became farmers, traders and other things. They suppressed brigandage which had hassled the merchants along the Silk Road and established the Pax Mongolica.
The world is grey as they say.
There is no reason to doubt that the Rus were Vikings
Did they bury Ivan with the monks to stop Christians digging him up again? Hidden in holy bones
Holy
Nothing new to Britain. Wodin'sm to Odin'sm.
The original Vikings were the ancient Picts in Caledonia ie Scotland they arrived via a landbridge connecting from Scandinavia to today's Scotland it was called Doggerland ❤
Wonderful as ever, but I wish he didn't drink from a one use water bottle. Heaven's only knows what our descendants will say about us at a Gresham lecture in another 500 years!
Anglo-Saxon Britain was Pagan for long period. Not just Vikings. This is of at least 5 tribal groups. Vikings another group.
Viking gods come from the Cimbri tribe. And that Cimbri tribe was Celtic! All Norse mythology is based on the older Brythonic mythology. These people would later become known by English speakers as the Welsh.
I think you are making a fool of the scandinavian Viking traditions.
Renember that these traditions are much older than from the Iron age.
Many originates from Indo European traditions and belief.
They predates christianity by several thousends of years.
My guess is that christianity copied also.
You mention that there is a lack if pictures in Viking traditions.
Are you forgetting pictures on runestones and the famous picturestones from the island of Gotland ?
We have salso the pictures on helmets , same as the Sutton Hoo helmet. These describes warriors in different positions.
We shall be proud of our traditions.
In these days our way of life is attacked by forces who wants to be charge over us.