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I love these types of topics. It reminds me of the great debate about if we sill live in an age of Romans. Why? If the existence and identity of a group are determined by how the people self-identify themselves mixed with how others identify them, then in theory...the Pontic Greeks are still Eastern Romans. They self-identify as Romans, and the Turks identify them as Romans, which raises the question did Rome really end in the 1400s, or is it still alive with the Pontics?
Hi @Metatronyt. I have been watching your channel, often on. You’ve improvised some interesting insight into ancient history. I have a question that I would love to see you answer. When I read about the both of Isaac and the Bible, I couldn’t help but ask the question. What was the state of medical technology for delivering a child especially if the woman is older. With me, I would think that it would be very difficult extremely dangerous. For the woman to live past, it would be quite miraculous. Love to hear what you discover, and your study of ancient medical care.
@metatronyt greetings I'm new to UA-cam and am a Amateur historian and living history enthusiast/Hobbiest mainly military past and present, now on subjects related to my channel that need a more in-depth or more detailed telling would it be ok if I used your vids and give you cred and links to you in my videos? If no I won't, thank you in advance my lord
This happened repeatedly in Mesopotamia and the surrounding area. When agrarian lowland cities failed and pastoral/mountain tribes invade and take over, they almost invariably adopted the religion and much of the culture of the cities they took.
I read a five volume history of the area written in the 1800's and the author noted that and wondered why they didn't bring their own religion with them. He was talking about the earliest bronze age city states before any large empires had formed. My thought is that at that time gods were local deities. Each city had it's own god and they were almost all agricultural gods. When the newcomers arrived they really couldn't bring their gods with them because they were the gods of the regions where they came from and so they assimilated to the new religions because those gods are what worked in their new homes. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Correct, and it happened with the Mongols. Some adopted the Chinese culture and religion, others the islamic culture. They had conquered both, China and the Abbasid Caliphate, yet were assimilated into the superior urban cultures in spite of having defeated them.
@@robo5013 in deep antiquity, when Summerians had first big cities, greater part of gods were more "god of place". Like a Marduk was a patron of Babilion city. If new ruler of Babilon want live good with gods, he had to give sacrifices for Marduk. Rwligious universalism is fruit later period.
It's fascinating how far Vikings reached: from Scandinavia to the British Isles, from Normandy to Sicily and Eastern Europe and many other lands. This reminds me of the Phoenicians and the Greeks.
One historian wrote a book about the normans, where he argued the normans had a culturshifting influence like the romans. The normans = people from the dutchy of normandy, but they are not equal to the vikings, founded 4 countrys: 1. Normandy 2. England 3. Sicily 4. Antiochia.
Vikings, Greeks, Phoenicians etc. had one similar point. Malthusian problem. Too many folks and too low local food production. So part of population had few options - migration to other place or be poor or go to raids/trade.
As a Swedish citizen this is relevant to my historical interrest. Keep up the fight against the ridulous feces that happened to you recently. Your loyal fans are behind you all the way!
This video made my day. I'm Norman and I know so little of my history. I've read and watch as many videos as I can find on the Norman's and none of them go into the culture as you've done. I cannot thank you enough.
You're not Norman. They went extinct in France after Phillip Augustus conqured the reigon and replaced their nobility like William did to the Anglo-Saxon....ironic n'est-ce pas?
The Angles and Jutes who basically founded England together with the Saxons (the word England literally comes from Angleland or 'land of the Angles') both came from Denmark. So it's less 'similar' and more 'same'.
Once upon a time all the Germanic Peoples were one before the Great Migration. Modern Icelandic is the closest to the original ancestral Nordic language of modern German, English, Norwegian, Faroese, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Frisian, Scots, and the extinct East Germanic languages. We’re all extended cousins.
@@staceygram5555 Yes exactly. I've noticed many times people put the Norse and so on into a separate camp, and the Anglo-Saxons in another. When they are very much the same. There were only some cultural differences due to Christianity, but the Saxons, Jutes, Angles all were once of the same cloth as any Viking. There was a good video I saw once of two people speaking the languages of those peoples, and they were essentially mutually intelligible, only differing on a few words, phrases. No need for a translator. They were all basically cousins, separated by only a few differences. We need only look at the Sutton Hoo burial, to see how similar the cultures once were.
@@TheWildManEnkidu Dont lump those fucking Danes in with the Geats and the Other Swedish tribes. please they are still not our friends even if history has given us peace
This was genuinely fascinating to learn about, I’ve never really thought about just how much the evolution of languages gives us a deeper and clearer understanding of the cultural shifts that took place throughout history, I would honestly love to see more videos about this!
I'm not really sure how quickly the people being ruled by Normans would also see themselves as Norman, but they would certainly reject non-Christian rulers, because being openly Pagan was practically the same as saying, "I intend to keep selling Christian slaves to anyone who will buy them," which is a concern people to tend to take with deadly seriousness.
I don't believe they ever did. The Norman families intermarried well into the US colonial Era. The Tidewater Aristocracy of the Virginia colony were mostly of well established Norman family lines.
@danichicago9140 I'm of Normand descent. I can tell you with certainty that they mixed and assimilated with the local Frankish population and aristocracies that were already present quite quickly. This idea of the Normands intermarrying and not mixing with the Frankish locals in Normandie can easily be debunked by choosing any prominent Normand noble, such as William the Conqueror (or Guillaume le Bâtard if you prefer) and looking at their lineage.
In England concern over the distinction between Saxon and Norman seemed to erode after a few generations, but then the English developed a new fascination for the topic in the nineteenth century, for reasons that would fill another video.
I've become more interested in the Normans like the ones ruling Sicily and their encounters with the Eastern Romans. John J. Norwich wrote some good books about the era.
One thing rarely mentioned regarding the Normans and you're touching here, is that despite considerable immigration, the local population in Normandy remained a majority, they didn't disappear overnight. Most of those people, were called Normans at some point, but didn't have much viking ancestry. The elites though, mostly had viking blood at first, but less and less as generations passed. William (more than one century after Rollo's reign) had mostly Frankish blood, as every single generation between him and Rollo intermarried with frankish nobles. For me, it means that early "Normans" (as that word was used in west Francia in the 800s and 900s) refered to the nordic people in particular, but also that the late Normans (post-1000) were all the people living in Normandy, thus people that had less nordic ancestry in average than frankish one.
The Nordic people were never as numerous as the continental Europeans, so genetically they'd never be a huge part of the people. Their most significant impact was always cultural (despite them being quick to adapt to local cultures where they settled).
It’s the same that happen between Frankish people and Gaulish people. Franks have never been the majority and again they adopted the local language and culture and their DNA were diluted into Gaulish ones (not being insignificant).
But the Franks weren't also the majority of the local population either, they were mostly roman gauls, who were ruled by Franks, who gave the land to Vikings, which married and mixed with these franks.
One more thing, there is a northern route split from the silk road (Bulgar, Chorezm, Gorgan route), which is often used and operated by Viking traders and their river/sea transportation capability, that route boosted the trades between China and Northern Eastern Europe.
Frenchy here, the more I think about it, the more I realize how Britain and France despite having more than 1000 of wars are so close. Both (in different degrees) : Celts, Romanized, Germanicized and even having Scandinavian influence.
This channel is a real gold mine. Even the subjects I don't a priori care about are made fascinating. Thanks a lot for all the work and passion you put in those videos!
When Charles the Simple gave Normandy to Rollo, it was not him admitting defeat. It was a smart move. He gave to the Norse what they wanted, knowing that the Norse are good at pillaging but wouldn't stand a chance in an army vs army battle. In exchange for the land, he expected Rollo to protect France from other Vikings. That's why Normandy is the mouth of the Seine river: the goal was to protect Paris. The vikings that settled in Normandy married French women. Rollo himself married to french women. At the time of the third generation, the Normans were 75% ethnically French. They adopted the French culture (architecture, feudal system, linguage, cavalry...). They were vassals of the French kings, so they were legally French. Normans were ethnically, culturaly and legally French. With Norse ancestry, sure, but very much French. And English people hate that fact. Following 1066, England would be ruled by French kings (and French nobility brought from Normandy by William) for 3 to 4 centuries. English people tend to forget that when they look at a map of the Angevin empire. It was not England controlling half of France, it was the second most powerful family of France also ruling England. Angevin means "from Anjou". The 100 years war was a war between the 2 strongest French families, the Capetians and the Plantagenets, and the Coat of Arms of Henry VI should suffice to prove that they still thought of themselves as more French than English. Edit: War comes from Norman French, not Latin. The Norman French replaced the letter G with the Letter W (Guillaume-William). In French, war is "guerre", so in Norman French it was pronounced like "werre", and became war.
Except that the Normans weren't ever really French but formed their own distinct culture and would be a major political threat to the king for centuries, always looking to overthrow him, even the hundred years war could be said to come about from these ambitions. The frenchness of the Normans was coupled with their ambition to take France for themselves and the later arising of English identity was a great boon to the French as it meant that French lords wouldn't switch sides so easily. Things were the worst when the English nobility could be called Anglo-norman and mixed the strengths and ambitions of both, luckily the the English would have a lot less of an ambition to take France for themselves, unluckily the hatred of the French would remain deeply rooted in English culture and pass on to the British identity, which meant that while they stopped being an existential threat there would always the motivation to drag France back down into the mud should they ever start to gain preeminence.
Except there were no French or English people at that point. The national identities of the two kingdoms didn't form until the 100 years war, and by then the English nobility had already begun identifying as English, and the same with the French.
@JackSonEFla2 William didn't had English blood, Edward the confessor had Norman blood. You got it backward. France was not unified in 1453, that's simply the end of the 100 years war. Normandy was just as much part of France as Anjou, Aquitaine, Brittany, Burgundy and Champagne. Because of the feudal system, France was a very federal country, and the king had very little power over most of France. That doesn't mean that France wasn't a thing yet (it would be like saying that the USA are not a thing because it is a federal country). Yes, many French lands had an history in common with England, because French nobles were ruling over England. There is a reason why you never heard of the Plantedbroom dynasty, because it was known as Plantagenet. The name "Angevin empire" means empire of Anjou.
Great video, I also really loved your recent video on the ancient Celts. I'd LOVE to see you do an episode on the ancient Slavs, or even the Paleo-Balkan tribes (Thracians, Dacians, Illyrians). Eastern Europe is sooo underrated and little-known in the west it's pretty sad.
Another great video as usual! Being an enthusiast of Northwestern European, and especially Scandinavian history, it's always welcome to see content regarding those studies. This dialogue touched on some great points that can give insight to many viewers. Your inclusion of the linguistics is definitely your style, so it fit perfectly. Without the expeditions of the Vikings, I can imagine some other events eventually bringing international conflicts between those nations. Perhaps those that were enemies in history could have been allies against different kingdoms.
Extremely interesting, when doing my ancestry, I found out that one of my great grandparents was Bernard the Dane. This fills out even more historic concepts when looking at him.
It's actually simple. The Normans were founded by the Norsemen. Over time they adopted aspects of Frankish culture while retaining aspects of their own. They were closely related, but different. Just like the Kievan Rus'. Founded by, but distinct.
I find it interesting how the Normans wound up ruling both the Kingdom of England _and_ the Kingdom of Sicily, In completely different parts of the continent.
Normans are badass. When you see their campaigns in southern Italy it's insane, they crushed everything with really small numbers. Frankly between normans and spartans I'd put my money on the normans.
In Italy Normans used more proffesional warriors. Italians used conscripts. Spartans used primitive tactical and technology, in compare to Normans. Normans used mixed tactics, Spartans only one. Iron and steel of Normans was better than spartan bronze, linothorax or leather armors.
They were the Romans of their day, not only skilled at war but also highly skilled engineers and builders. Many of the most iconic buildings in England such as the Tower of London, Canterbury Cathedral and Windsor Castle were constructed by them.
Surprised the battle with England was so close, if England didn't have to fight all the army of Norway first then travel all the way to fight Normandy/Franks seems like most agree England wins. Which is crazy because they weren't known as the best warriors. Maybe just good strategy.
The Normans have over 1000 years of military and technological advantages man..Pikes, spears, bayonets were still a valuable unit used to almost the modern age. How would the Normans Knights do against Spartan spears mixed with line infantry.. Not a good comparison.
Even before the Viking age and the Norse settlement in the Danelaw, They're already was north men influence on what we call England. The Angles, Saxons, frizzians, and Jutes settled Britannia and mixing with the local Romano-Brirtish population created the English or Anglo-Saxon identity. The Jutes were Danes.
Nice to have someone talk about the Normans. I always get surprised when people don't know about their culture. Great video. Very informative. I wrote a book about the Normans before so you had my attention with just the title. My book is "Beyond, Blade, Buckler, Bastion" by the way.
It's a fascinating subject for me. I am Canadian from a French-Canadian family but my surname is distinctly Scandinavian (as in the name is fairly common in those countries, even today). Working on my family tree, I traced that name to France as far back as 1660 with an ancestor who came from the Poitieres area and lived, for a while in Anjou. His son came to New France as a soldier and, in old age, lived long enough to see the British take control of Quebec. The surname came down unchanged over the centuries and I can't help but wonder if my family is descended from the Norse who came to Normandy.
Hey French here, maybe I can help you. In the North and east of France having a germanic last name is not something rare, Scandinavian much more of course. But it might as well be of Dutch origin for instance. Being from the Northeast of France half of my family has Germanic last names and the other typical French. :)
I love history and am constantly studying…. To find this channel untouched by personal emotional views is just a blessing . Thank you for all that you do . ❤
I've once Had a norwegian working at the place where I lived. He taught me quite a bit of his language. You wouldnt believe how many of the vocabular is nearly similar to english
I think Schola Gladiatoria made a video in which Matt explained that anglo saxons were more related to vikings than normans. He even cited some DNA studies if I remember correctly. Quite a good video
Absolutely Fascinating! I purchased the Celtic Warfare book Metatron mentioned a few videos back. I highly recommend it. So far it is an engaging read and the author doesn't try to claim facts with nothing to back them up. In the areas not fully supported by archeological or written evidence he states his belief and why he believes that but never acts like you must accept it. Very refreshing. If you like Metatrons content I believe you will like this book. For what it's worth I recommend it.
More norman videos would be nice! How such a small culture changed the whole of europe and they pretty much were the starting block of what we commonly think of as the middle ages and feudalism and knights.
@@metatronyt the information on why English is so commonly is fascinating! I thought it was due to colonialism and laziness at learning other languages, plus later on, it being the common language for air traffic (though many don't know it well enough to avoid some catastrophic crashes).
then i could say there are more similarities to your brither better stronger northern neighbour. toe = tå nail = nagel foot = fot angle = ankel knee = knä hip = höft shoulder = skuldra arm = arm elbow = armbåge hand = hand finger = finger knuckle = knoge neck = nacke head = huvud mouth = mun lip = läpp tooth = tand tongue = tunga nose = näsa eye = öga ear = öra hair = hår I definetly see some closer similatities on mine ;)
@@fjalarhenriksson Norwegian was influenced by Danish. Just like the Norwegian flag was based on the Danish one. All the Northern flags were, as were the British flags.
Vikings gave birth to todays superpowers: Vikings - Normans - British & French - US Vikings - Varangians - Rus - Russia Amazing how such a small area created such an impact on the world
If I remember correctly, Harold of England had a fair amount of “Danish” ancestry. As did a fair number of his supporters, so it was to some degree a family feud. I have seen an argument that middle English had a great deal of Norse grammar rules, even more than loan words from Old Norse. It would have been interesting if King Canute/Knut had established a longer lived union of Britain and Scandinavia.
dear Metatron, I love your historical videos, in particular the clarity of your expositions and your methodicity and adherence to facts. I wanted to ask you, if I wanted to learn and research seriously about this kind of topics (in particular Medieval Eurasia), what kind of studies should I pursue? I have a masters degree in philosophy, but lately I've been much more drawn to history... would graduate studies in history be what I'm looking for?
I waited until after you got your ads back to watch this. Glad everything worked out well for you. And thank you for yet another amazingly well-researched video!
It is encouraging to have you defending the necessity of historical honesty. You have confronted one of the greatest and most destructive social viruses of our era.
Many of the families of the founding fathers of the United States were from old Norman families. The second sons often starting families in Virginia after the Charter.
@@PolarRed they married within Norman lines almost entirely. They lived in England from 1066 and didn't take up the local language for hundreds of years. The English were peasants.
@@danichicago9140 Weird that you imagine the founding fathers coming from a long line of English aristocrats is something for a Republic to be proud of. The only reason why the Norman invasion succeeded was because King Harold had just annihilated a Viking invasion at Stamford Bridge force marched his army half the length of the country and lost the Battle of Hastings by a whisker. Not only that but the principles that inspired the American Revolution have their origins in the "English peasants" who developed a distinct radicalism during the English Civil War and the turbulent aspirations of the London Mob in the 1700s. This is of course why the founding fathers rejected comparisons with Oliver Cromwell, from a Norman family, because Cromwell suppressed the radicalism of the "English peasants" in the New Model Army and was regarded as having betrayed the numerous people who fought against the monarchy and subsequently fled to America in the wake of their hopes and aspirations being dashed both by Cromwell's suppression and the Restoration of 1660. Consequently America became what the "English peasants" would have made of England had the distinctly un-Norman rank and file of the New Model Army got their way. So you have the "English peasants" to thank for your revolution, your constitution, the origins of your legal system such as juries, your language and vast chunks of your culture, not the Normans, who became English, not the other way round.
@osric1730 the landowners in the Virginia colony were second sons of landed gentry not farm labor. Many ended up there fighting for the monarchy against the Cromwell and the peasants.
loved the video! have you ever tought about doing something similar about Sicily and sicilians? Since you are from there, you might have lots of interesting information. A place that was a key point in the Mediterranean since forever. Romans, greeks, phoenicians, arabs, normans and (of course) the native siculi themselves.
Yeah it’s interesting how cultures blended and changed overtime. We tend to use modern perceptions of nationality to define peoples from the past- the reality is that outside of centralised states (England/ Scotland) unified identities and culture were hard to come by. Hell as late as the 11th and 12th centuries ( according to contemporaries ) many Normans still felt a connection to their Northern brethren even though they had assimilated a lot of Frankish culture.
I have always thought that the tale of the Normans is a tale of wild savages who by their own shrewd choices became perhaps the greatest knights of Christendom. They were never mere dominators. In England they were dominators at first, but then slowly superimposed themselves onto English identity, although to this day many Englishmen still harbor resentment of the "Norman Yoke". But that was the most hostile takeover Normans executed. In Ireland, it was said that the Normans who settled there became "more Irish than the Irish themselves". You see further how they preferred to assimilate with how they operated in Italy, most especially with the battle of Civitate, where they defeated a Papal army, captured the Pope, and immediately paid him homage, that by their fealty he would grant them legitimacy of rule. Normans truly were the cemented rulers of Sicily and southern Italy through the Early Medieval Period, and to this day the Italians just acknowledge them as part of their heritage. This model of conquest by assimilation is truly what makes the Normans so unique among all other European races.
You seriously need to set up like a full time - History, Theology and Archaeology channel !! I learn more from you than all the courses I took during undergrad at the university. Lol - keep up the good work 👍🏻
Such a great explonation from you Metatron! I used to tell this my friends, when they asked me about Norman/Viking stuff 😄. Keep going your work and greetings from Switzerland.
Great video! I have been interested in the question of how Vikings became Normans in the course of so few centuries for many years, and you have managed to make the transition more plausible. It can be easily forgotten that two centuries, 200 years, can be a long time, especially for humans with an average lifespan of 35 - 40 years. Changes happen "fast" - but not fast, if seen from the standpoint of individual protagonists.
Bear in mind that that average life expectancy is only so low because of high infant mortality. If you made it to adulthood you'd be expected to live into your 60s or 70s at least.
Great vid, really interesting - fascinating actually. The vast present and future rest on such small events from the past, like an inverted pyramid. Keep them coming, I really enjoyed this.
Very informative video: fun fact, after the normans conquered England in 1066, some of the surviving Ango-Saxon nobility actually fled to the Byzantines and set up a colony in Crimea, look it up
One of the characters in Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe made the same observation about the difference between how animals were described by the people how raised them and their overlords who ate the meat. It was one of the factors which influenced my interest in languages and how they relate to cultures as I read the book in junior high or high school.
Held off on watching until monetisation was sorted out. Glad I can watch again. Want you to get paid! Keep up the good work! ETA: another fantastic video and one close to my heart as I’ve always been fascinated by this very topic!
So in fact the Vikings invented to pincer attack and perfected it over 200 years - wow - one side of the attack was from Scandinavia to England directly - while some Vikings took a break of 100? years in France and conquered England 1066 - very smart - and turned into the ruling class of England, in other words: the noble ones ! What would have happened if the Vikings wouldn't not have conquered England and the Normandy - also Sicily which would be a great story to tell - we will never know but could invent. Metatron, you opened a great can of worms here - the Normans! I read everything on the market about them, its material for a whole series, me would love it.
Normans were fighing against the byzantines in southern italy, funnily enough, a young outlaw prince by the name of "Harald" was leading the Varangian guard against the normans at this time. He would eventually be known to history as "Harald Hardrada"
Thank you for a great video discussing cultures and people migration. More of this type of vulgarisation is needed to explain and demystify events in historical context.
Very informative video as always! This is a perspective I had not seen fully played out previously. I am Norwegian so quite a bit was known material, but I had not really seen the long lines between the Norse, Normans and Anglo-Saxons like this before. Also, the word used for a Norwegian person is «nordmann» in the Norwegian language, so it’s interesting to see how it is similar to Norman.
Hi there good work I have Scandinavian roots on my father's side. As I learned vikingr is a verb. We are from the Norman side of the tribe. The french called us du Plessis meaning people with farms of sticks or twigs hence the people was not afraid of bears etc. It is interesting to hear more of the ancestors. Never knew what my roots were until recent, now I can feel proud too haha. Thank you for your thoroughness...
It's really funny... In the University, I studied Old Norse (a little), because I was fascinated by the runes and the Sögur... totally forgetting that I'm about 20% NOrman through my mother's maternal grandfather... and I never set foot knowingly in Normandy.
Hi Metatron! Wonderful video like many, many others you have created! I really like you and your interesting content I'm wondering if you could make a video about Slavs, my ancestors too, in which lives I have great intrest. For example something like early medieval slavic warfare. My heart would be filled with so much warmth! Greeting from Poland and huge slava to you! ( ,,Slava" means ,,fame, glory". It was a popular call among Slavs and in some countries it is today. )
In an old blogpost, as a fun experiment I decided to write a sample text but remove all the Latin/French loanwords and replace them with Germanic ones (a few of which I invariably had to coin form Old English roots). Here’s the sample text. First the original, then showing each Latin/French loanword in brackets, then the Germanic English version. At the bottom is a key to the various new words inserted. “Today, the president will address the UN delegation regarding the impact of fossil fuels on climate change, and how he intends to institute economic sanctions against nations which fail to meet predetermined carbon emission reductions.” Today, the [president] will [address] the UN [delegation] [regarding] the [impact] of [fossil] [fuels] on [climate] [change], and how he [intends] to [institute] [economic] [sanctions] against [nations] which [fail] to meet [predetermined] [carbon] [emission] [reductions]. --- Germanic Only: “Today, the headman* will speak to the UN board about the burden of eldkindbone* antwork* on weatherscape* shift, and how he will put gildholds* upon lands which don’t meet forbeset* eldkindbone burning cuts.” - *headman- this one seems straightforward due to both “head” and “man” existing in modern English, but in this case the elements represent the older, abstract meanings of “foremost” and “person.” Technically, the more precise Germanic equivalent of “president” would be “overseer,” but that word has other connotations/uses in modern English, as does other possible terms like “headmaster,” “foreman,” and “lord.” *eldkindbone- my construction to replace the word “fossil,” derived from Germanic elements eld/ald/old + kin/kind + bone. *antwork- modern spelling of Old English “antweorc,” meaning “material, thing to be used in construction, unaltered substance,” to replace the word “fuel.” ~For the life of me I couldn’t find a word in modern English for “fuel” that didn’t derive from Latin/Greek roots(except words for specific kinds of “fuel”). *weatherscape- my construction to replace the word “climate.” *gildholds- my construction to replace the terms “economic sanctions.” *forbeset- my construction to replace the word “predetermined,” derived from Germanic elements: “for-“ (first, in front of, ahead of), “be-“ (word forming element meaning “to cause, make such”), and “set”(to sit, put in place).
Love your content, normally not one that goes in the comment section. I really don't know what to say about this new style of video with the background music and rather quick (compared to other videos of yours) change of pictures. It throws me off a bit, always enjoyed how you've done your older content.
I've been using the background music since probably 2017. When it comes to B-rolls, I know not everyone likes them, but they do appear to boots considerably the performance and average viewer retention on my videos, rather than just having a talking head for 16 minutes. Hopefully you won't find it too distracting. Thanks for the constructive criticism.
I think the best way to describe a norman is similar to a Dane that settled in England and became Christian. Ecept a norman was a viking that become a frankish. Similar to the scottish n Irish vikings that were adopted into celtic culture that settled in the isles. Like rollo for example. A famous viking born in scotland. Corky islands or something.
Except that the Normans are mainly a mixture of Scandinavians and Celts (Gauls)... The Franks were mainly in the North of France, Paris and the East of France.
The Scandinavians were great mixers, whether in the distant past or in more modern times. Wherever the Vikings settled they adopted local culture and language and disappeared, but even during the settlement of America millions of Scandinavians settled in America but left very little impact as they adopted the culture, language, and religion of their new homelands.
10:43 "That is because in Western Europe, English is the perfect middle language between the two main linguistic realities: the Germanic, and the romance. Similar enough to Germanic languages in its roots, etymology, structure, and syntax for Germanic people to learn it easily, and close enough to Latin languages because of its overwhelming Latin vocabulary for romance speakers like me to learn it." That's very interesting, I've never thought of it like that before.
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I love these types of topics. It reminds me of the great debate about if we sill live in an age of Romans. Why? If the existence and identity of a group are determined by how the people self-identify themselves mixed with how others identify them, then in theory...the Pontic Greeks are still Eastern Romans. They self-identify as Romans, and the Turks identify them as Romans, which raises the question did Rome really end in the 1400s, or is it still alive with the Pontics?
Hi @Metatronyt. I have been watching your channel, often on. You’ve improvised some interesting insight into ancient history. I have a question that I would love to see you answer. When I read about the both of Isaac and the Bible, I couldn’t help but ask the question. What was the state of medical technology for delivering a child especially if the woman is older. With me, I would think that it would be very difficult extremely dangerous. For the woman to live past, it would be quite miraculous. Love to hear what you discover, and your study of ancient medical care.
@metatronyt greetings I'm new to UA-cam and am a Amateur historian and living history enthusiast/Hobbiest mainly military past and present, now on subjects related to my channel that need a more in-depth or more detailed telling would it be ok if I used your vids and give you cred and links to you in my videos? If no I won't, thank you in advance my lord
The Netflix historians are out in full force defending the Cleopatra show.
😂😂😂
I learned more from this 13 minute video than I did from 13 years of public school. Thank you Metatron.
My pleasure thanks for watching
Great short free lesson on my ancestry!! Thanks Metatron!
@@lefantomer my very pleasure
@Metatron it would be awesome if you talked about more mesoamerican
This is often the case I find.
This happened repeatedly in Mesopotamia and the surrounding area. When agrarian lowland cities failed and pastoral/mountain tribes invade and take over, they almost invariably adopted the religion and much of the culture of the cities they took.
I read a five volume history of the area written in the 1800's and the author noted that and wondered why they didn't bring their own religion with them. He was talking about the earliest bronze age city states before any large empires had formed. My thought is that at that time gods were local deities. Each city had it's own god and they were almost all agricultural gods. When the newcomers arrived they really couldn't bring their gods with them because they were the gods of the regions where they came from and so they assimilated to the new religions because those gods are what worked in their new homes. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Correct, and it happened with the Mongols. Some adopted the Chinese culture and religion, others the islamic culture. They had conquered both, China and the Abbasid Caliphate, yet were assimilated into the superior urban cultures in spite of having defeated them.
@@robo5013 in deep antiquity, when Summerians had first big cities, greater part of gods were more "god of place". Like a Marduk was a patron of Babilion city. If new ruler of Babilon want live good with gods, he had to give sacrifices for Marduk. Rwligious universalism is fruit later period.
Ditto the Goths and Franks that conquered old Roman territory.
The mongols did it a lot too.
It's fascinating how far Vikings reached: from Scandinavia to the British Isles, from Normandy to Sicily and Eastern Europe and many other lands. This reminds me of the Phoenicians and the Greeks.
Don’t forget Iceland and Vinland!
Don't forget the first US President.
Don't forget Northern Africa, where Roger II established a Norman kingdom..
One historian wrote a book about the normans, where he argued the normans had a culturshifting influence like the romans. The normans = people from the dutchy of normandy, but they are not equal to the vikings, founded 4 countrys: 1. Normandy 2. England 3. Sicily 4. Antiochia.
Vikings, Greeks, Phoenicians etc. had one similar point. Malthusian problem. Too many folks and too low local food production. So part of population had few options - migration to other place or be poor or go to raids/trade.
As a Swedish citizen this is relevant to my historical interrest. Keep up the fight against the ridulous feces that happened to you recently. Your loyal fans are behind you all the way!
Always the same people with strange round hats who pull the strings in the shadow.
Romans and germs tried, both failed miserably.
This video made my day. I'm Norman and I know so little of my history. I've read and watch as many videos as I can find on the Norman's and none of them go into the culture as you've done. I cannot thank you enough.
Bon courage alors.
@@MultiVaevictis Toi aussi!
You're not Norman. They went extinct in France after Phillip Augustus conqured the reigon and replaced their nobility like William did to the Anglo-Saxon....ironic n'est-ce pas?
I managed to trace my family back to our ancestor that was the standard bearer for willam in 1066 don't give up 🎉
It would be nice to see a comparison between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings, considering the fact they came from similar areas.
The Angles and Jutes who basically founded England together with the Saxons (the word England literally comes from Angleland or 'land of the Angles') both came from Denmark. So it's less 'similar' and more 'same'.
Once upon a time all the Germanic Peoples were one before the Great Migration. Modern Icelandic is the closest to the original ancestral Nordic language of modern German, English, Norwegian, Faroese, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Frisian, Scots, and the extinct East Germanic languages. We’re all extended cousins.
@@staceygram5555 Yes exactly. I've noticed many times people put the Norse and so on into a separate camp, and the Anglo-Saxons in another. When they are very much the same. There were only some cultural differences due to Christianity, but the Saxons, Jutes, Angles all were once of the same cloth as any Viking. There was a good video I saw once of two people speaking the languages of those peoples, and they were essentially mutually intelligible, only differing on a few words, phrases. No need for a translator.
They were all basically cousins, separated by only a few differences.
We need only look at the Sutton Hoo burial, to see how similar the cultures once were.
@@TheWildManEnkidu Dont lump those fucking Danes in with the Geats and the Other Swedish tribes. please they are still not our friends even if history has given us peace
Not only that, they also shared the same island between them for centuries, between the Aglo-Saxon kingdoms and the Norse Danelaw.
Most people: Happy Mother's Day 😊
Metatron: Norman Ethnogenesis!
This was genuinely fascinating to learn about, I’ve never really thought about just how much the evolution of languages gives us a deeper and clearer understanding of the cultural shifts that took place throughout history, I would honestly love to see more videos about this!
It’s very interesting how many kingdoms were kickstarted with Vikings
I'm not really sure how quickly the people being ruled by Normans would also see themselves as Norman, but they would certainly reject non-Christian rulers, because being openly Pagan was practically the same as saying, "I intend to keep selling Christian slaves to anyone who will buy them," which is a concern people to tend to take with deadly seriousness.
One of the conditions of being granted the lands they were given by the French king was they, or at least Rollo and his captains, had to convert.
huh? Christians were trading slaves as well.
I don't believe they ever did. The Norman families intermarried well into the US colonial Era. The Tidewater Aristocracy of the Virginia colony were mostly of well established Norman family lines.
@danichicago9140 I'm of Normand descent. I can tell you with certainty that they mixed and assimilated with the local Frankish population and aristocracies that were already present quite quickly. This idea of the Normands intermarrying and not mixing with the Frankish locals in Normandie can easily be debunked by choosing any prominent Normand noble, such as William the Conqueror (or Guillaume le Bâtard if you prefer) and looking at their lineage.
In England concern over the distinction between Saxon and Norman seemed to erode after a few generations, but then the English developed a new fascination for the topic in the nineteenth century, for reasons that would fill another video.
Nice video. We are French from eastern Normandy. I still have Danish DNA with a haplogroup from the British Isles.
I've become more interested in the Normans like the ones ruling Sicily and their encounters with the Eastern Romans. John J. Norwich wrote some good books about the era.
One thing rarely mentioned regarding the Normans and you're touching here, is that despite considerable immigration, the local population in Normandy remained a majority, they didn't disappear overnight. Most of those people, were called Normans at some point, but didn't have much viking ancestry. The elites though, mostly had viking blood at first, but less and less as generations passed. William (more than one century after Rollo's reign) had mostly Frankish blood, as every single generation between him and Rollo intermarried with frankish nobles.
For me, it means that early "Normans" (as that word was used in west Francia in the 800s and 900s) refered to the nordic people in particular, but also that the late Normans (post-1000) were all the people living in Normandy, thus people that had less nordic ancestry in average than frankish one.
The Nordic people were never as numerous as the continental Europeans, so genetically they'd never be a huge part of the people. Their most significant impact was always cultural (despite them being quick to adapt to local cultures where they settled).
It’s the same that happen between Frankish people and Gaulish people. Franks have never been the majority and again they adopted the local language and culture and their DNA were diluted into Gaulish ones (not being insignificant).
But the Franks weren't also the majority of the local population either, they were mostly roman gauls, who were ruled by Franks, who gave the land to Vikings, which married and mixed with these franks.
One more thing, there is a northern route split from the silk road (Bulgar, Chorezm, Gorgan route), which is often used and operated by Viking traders and their river/sea transportation capability, that route boosted the trades between China and Northern Eastern Europe.
Normans are the best. Adventurous warrior spirit and tradition with Frankish Latin culture. Perfect!
What a great lesson. Most Europeans have Viking DNA. Bravo. Grazie.
Really enjoyed this. This is topic I have been interested in for a long time. I’m great-full to hear you present about it. Great job! Thanks man.
Thank you John
Frenchy here, the more I think about it, the more I realize how Britain and France despite having more than 1000 of wars are so close. Both (in different degrees) : Celts, Romanized, Germanicized and even having Scandinavian influence.
This channel is a real gold mine. Even the subjects I don't a priori care about are made fascinating. Thanks a lot for all the work and passion you put in those videos!
When Charles the Simple gave Normandy to Rollo, it was not him admitting defeat. It was a smart move. He gave to the Norse what they wanted, knowing that the Norse are good at pillaging but wouldn't stand a chance in an army vs army battle. In exchange for the land, he expected Rollo to protect France from other Vikings. That's why Normandy is the mouth of the Seine river: the goal was to protect Paris.
The vikings that settled in Normandy married French women. Rollo himself married to french women. At the time of the third generation, the Normans were 75% ethnically French. They adopted the French culture (architecture, feudal system, linguage, cavalry...). They were vassals of the French kings, so they were legally French.
Normans were ethnically, culturaly and legally French. With Norse ancestry, sure, but very much French. And English people hate that fact.
Following 1066, England would be ruled by French kings (and French nobility brought from Normandy by William) for 3 to 4 centuries. English people tend to forget that when they look at a map of the Angevin empire. It was not England controlling half of France, it was the second most powerful family of France also ruling England. Angevin means "from Anjou".
The 100 years war was a war between the 2 strongest French families, the Capetians and the Plantagenets, and the Coat of Arms of Henry VI should suffice to prove that they still thought of themselves as more French than English.
Edit: War comes from Norman French, not Latin. The Norman French replaced the letter G with the Letter W (Guillaume-William). In French, war is "guerre", so in Norman French it was pronounced like "werre", and became war.
Interestingly, this practice bears similarities to the foederati system of the Romans, which is how the Franks entered Gaul.
Except that the Normans weren't ever really French but formed their own distinct culture and would be a major political threat to the king for centuries, always looking to overthrow him, even the hundred years war could be said to come about from these ambitions. The frenchness of the Normans was coupled with their ambition to take France for themselves and the later arising of English identity was a great boon to the French as it meant that French lords wouldn't switch sides so easily. Things were the worst when the English nobility could be called Anglo-norman and mixed the strengths and ambitions of both, luckily the the English would have a lot less of an ambition to take France for themselves, unluckily the hatred of the French would remain deeply rooted in English culture and pass on to the British identity, which meant that while they stopped being an existential threat there would always the motivation to drag France back down into the mud should they ever start to gain preeminence.
Many people seem to forget about the the Plantagenets and how another French family ruled England besides the Normans
Except there were no French or English people at that point. The national identities of the two kingdoms didn't form until the 100 years war, and by then the English nobility had already begun identifying as English, and the same with the French.
@JackSonEFla2 William didn't had English blood, Edward the confessor had Norman blood. You got it backward.
France was not unified in 1453, that's simply the end of the 100 years war. Normandy was just as much part of France as Anjou, Aquitaine, Brittany, Burgundy and Champagne. Because of the feudal system, France was a very federal country, and the king had very little power over most of France. That doesn't mean that France wasn't a thing yet (it would be like saying that the USA are not a thing because it is a federal country).
Yes, many French lands had an history in common with England, because French nobles were ruling over England. There is a reason why you never heard of the Plantedbroom dynasty, because it was known as Plantagenet. The name "Angevin empire" means empire of Anjou.
Great video, I also really loved your recent video on the ancient Celts.
I'd LOVE to see you do an episode on the ancient Slavs, or even the Paleo-Balkan tribes (Thracians, Dacians, Illyrians). Eastern Europe is sooo underrated and little-known in the west it's pretty sad.
Another great video as usual! Being an enthusiast of Northwestern European, and especially Scandinavian history, it's always welcome to see content regarding those studies. This dialogue touched on some great points that can give insight to many viewers. Your inclusion of the linguistics is definitely your style, so it fit perfectly.
Without the expeditions of the Vikings, I can imagine some other events eventually bringing international conflicts between those nations. Perhaps those that were enemies in history could have been allies against different kingdoms.
Normans vs Friesians in Charlton Heston's "THE WARLORD" shown with accuracy.
Great movie.
Extremely interesting, when doing my ancestry, I found out that one of my great grandparents was Bernard the Dane. This fills out even more historic concepts when looking at him.
It's actually simple. The Normans were founded by the Norsemen. Over time they adopted aspects of Frankish culture while retaining aspects of their own. They were closely related, but different. Just like the Kievan Rus'. Founded by, but distinct.
I find it interesting how the Normans wound up ruling both the Kingdom of England _and_ the Kingdom of Sicily, In completely different parts of the continent.
Normans are badass. When you see their campaigns in southern Italy it's insane, they crushed everything with really small numbers. Frankly between normans and spartans I'd put my money on the normans.
In Italy Normans used more proffesional warriors. Italians used conscripts.
Spartans used primitive tactical and technology, in compare to Normans. Normans used mixed tactics, Spartans only one. Iron and steel of Normans was better than spartan bronze, linothorax or leather armors.
They were the Romans of their day, not only skilled at war but also highly skilled engineers and builders. Many of the most iconic buildings in England such as the Tower of London, Canterbury Cathedral and Windsor Castle were constructed by them.
Surprised the battle with England was so close, if England didn't have to fight all the army of Norway first then travel all the way to fight Normandy/Franks seems like most agree England wins. Which is crazy because they weren't known as the best warriors. Maybe just good strategy.
The Normans have over 1000 years of military and technological advantages man..Pikes, spears, bayonets were still a valuable unit used to almost the modern age. How would the Normans Knights do against Spartan spears mixed with line infantry.. Not a good comparison.
@ShaolinDreams they didn't do well against Germany
Even before the Viking age and the Norse settlement in the Danelaw, They're already was north men influence on what we call England. The Angles, Saxons, frizzians, and Jutes settled Britannia and mixing with the local Romano-Brirtish population created the English or Anglo-Saxon identity. The Jutes were Danes.
Nice to have someone talk about the Normans. I always get surprised when people don't know about their culture. Great video. Very informative.
I wrote a book about the Normans before so you had my attention with just the title.
My book is "Beyond, Blade, Buckler, Bastion" by the way.
So its like this:
norse = original vikings
anglo-saxon = english viking
normans = french vikings
It's a fascinating subject for me. I am Canadian from a French-Canadian family but my surname is distinctly Scandinavian (as in the name is fairly common in those countries, even today). Working on my family tree, I traced that name to France as far back as 1660 with an ancestor who came from the Poitieres area and lived, for a while in Anjou. His son came to New France as a soldier and, in old age, lived long enough to see the British take control of Quebec. The surname came down unchanged over the centuries and I can't help but wonder if my family is descended from the Norse who came to Normandy.
Hey French here, maybe I can help you.
In the North and east of France having a germanic last name is not something rare, Scandinavian much more of course. But it might as well be of Dutch origin for instance.
Being from the Northeast of France half of my family has Germanic last names and the other typical French. :)
I love history and am constantly studying…. To find this channel untouched by personal emotional views is just a blessing . Thank you for all that you do . ❤
I've once Had a norwegian working at the place where I lived. He taught me quite a bit of his language. You wouldnt believe how many of the vocabular is nearly similar to english
History of the Normans runs deep. My relatives came to Canada from Perche.
I think Schola Gladiatoria made a video in which Matt explained that anglo saxons were more related to vikings than normans. He even cited some DNA studies if I remember correctly. Quite a good video
Absolutely Fascinating! I purchased the Celtic Warfare book Metatron mentioned a few videos back. I highly recommend it. So far it is an engaging read and the author doesn't try to claim facts with nothing to back them up. In the areas not fully supported by archeological or written evidence he states his belief and why he believes that but never acts like you must accept it. Very refreshing. If you like Metatrons content I believe you will like this book. For what it's worth I recommend it.
More norman videos would be nice! How such a small culture changed the whole of europe and they pretty much were the starting block of what we commonly think of as the middle ages and feudalism and knights.
What great timing! I was just wanting to know more about the Normans!
I'm glad to hear
@@metatronyt the information on why English is so commonly is fascinating! I thought it was due to colonialism and laziness at learning other languages, plus later on, it being the common language for air traffic (though many don't know it well enough to avoid some catastrophic crashes).
Speaking on influence on language.
English to Danish translation:
toe = tå
nail = negl
foot = fod
angle = ankel
knee = knæ
hip = hofte
shoulder = skulder
arm = arm
elbow = albue
hand = hånd
finger = finger
knuckle = kno
neck = nakke
head = hoved
mouth = mund
lip = læbe
tooth = tand
tongue = tunge
nose = næse
eye = øje
ear = øre
hair = hår
English is a Germanic language after all 😘 we’re extended cousins.
then i could say there are more similarities to your brither better stronger northern neighbour.
toe = tå
nail = nagel
foot = fot
angle = ankel
knee = knä
hip = höft
shoulder = skuldra
arm = arm
elbow = armbåge
hand = hand
finger = finger
knuckle = knoge
neck = nacke
head = huvud
mouth = mun
lip = läpp
tooth = tand
tongue = tunga
nose = näsa
eye = öga
ear = öra
hair = hår
I definetly see some closer similatities on mine ;)
@@fjalarhenriksson now compare those to other Western Germanic languages like German, Dutch, Scots, Frisian
@@fjalarhenriksson
Norwegian was influenced by Danish. Just like the Norwegian flag was based on the Danish one. All the Northern flags were, as were the British flags.
Vikings gave birth to todays superpowers:
Vikings - Normans - British & French - US
Vikings - Varangians - Rus - Russia
Amazing how such a small area created such an impact on the world
If I remember correctly, Harold of England had a fair amount of “Danish” ancestry. As did a fair number of his supporters, so it was to some degree a family feud.
I have seen an argument that middle English had a great deal of Norse grammar rules, even more than loan words from Old Norse.
It would have been interesting if King Canute/Knut had established a longer lived union of Britain and Scandinavia.
What Norse grammar rules did middle English have?
"Where does a viking end, and a Norman begin?"
Well that's quite simple, Metatron - At the end of the viking's spear!
not really the normands were so much better at warfare that its hardly even comparable
Me in Normandy watching a video about normans shaping Europe!
He's got heros of might and magic 3 on his TV in the background, awesome game
So glad to have found such a well articulated narrative.
It is a pleasure to watch and listen to.
Thanks to you Metatron
dear Metatron, I love your historical videos, in particular the clarity of your expositions and your methodicity and adherence to facts. I wanted to ask you, if I wanted to learn and research seriously about this kind of topics (in particular Medieval Eurasia), what kind of studies should I pursue? I have a masters degree in philosophy, but lately I've been much more drawn to history... would graduate studies in history be what I'm looking for?
I waited until after you got your ads back to watch this. Glad everything worked out well for you. And thank you for yet another amazingly well-researched video!
Normans: French Scandinavians
Vikings: Pure Scandinavians
It is encouraging to have you defending the necessity of historical honesty. You have confronted one of the greatest and most destructive social viruses of our era.
Many of the families of the founding fathers of the United States were from old Norman families. The second sons often starting families in Virginia after the Charter.
err, you mean English!
@@PolarRed they married within Norman lines almost entirely. They lived in England from 1066 and didn't take up the local language for hundreds of years. The English were peasants.
@@danichicago9140 Weird that you imagine the founding fathers coming from a long line of English aristocrats is something for a Republic to be proud of. The only reason why the Norman invasion succeeded was because King Harold had just annihilated a Viking invasion at Stamford Bridge force marched his army half the length of the country and lost the Battle of Hastings by a whisker. Not only that but the principles that inspired the American Revolution have their origins in the "English peasants" who developed a distinct radicalism during the English Civil War and the turbulent aspirations of the London Mob in the 1700s. This is of course why the founding fathers rejected comparisons with Oliver Cromwell, from a Norman family, because Cromwell suppressed the radicalism of the "English peasants" in the New Model Army and was regarded as having betrayed the numerous people who fought against the monarchy and subsequently fled to America in the wake of their hopes and aspirations being dashed both by Cromwell's suppression and the Restoration of 1660. Consequently America became what the "English peasants" would have made of England had the distinctly un-Norman rank and file of the New Model Army got their way. So you have the "English peasants" to thank for your revolution, your constitution, the origins of your legal system such as juries, your language and vast chunks of your culture, not the Normans, who became English, not the other way round.
The first settlers of New France were Normans. My surname is of Norman origin from that timeline. Your right btw!
@osric1730 the landowners in the Virginia colony were second sons of landed gentry not farm labor. Many ended up there fighting for the monarchy against the Cromwell and the peasants.
loved the video! have you ever tought about doing something similar about Sicily and sicilians?
Since you are from there, you might have lots of interesting information. A place that was a key point in the Mediterranean since forever. Romans, greeks, phoenicians, arabs, normans and (of course) the native siculi themselves.
I can't believe how much amazing information you pack into your content, this was excellent 👌 thank you! 🙏🙏
"People call me racist... I can't even drive."
-Bilbo Baggins
Yes.
Basically the Vikings raided and settled all over Europe and then fought themselves under new identities.
Yeah it’s interesting how cultures blended and changed overtime.
We tend to use modern perceptions of nationality to define peoples from the past- the reality is that outside of centralised states (England/ Scotland) unified identities and culture were hard to come by.
Hell as late as the 11th and 12th centuries ( according to contemporaries ) many Normans still felt a connection to their Northern brethren even though they had assimilated a lot of Frankish culture.
I have always thought that the tale of the Normans is a tale of wild savages who by their own shrewd choices became perhaps the greatest knights of Christendom. They were never mere dominators. In England they were dominators at first, but then slowly superimposed themselves onto English identity, although to this day many Englishmen still harbor resentment of the "Norman Yoke". But that was the most hostile takeover Normans executed. In Ireland, it was said that the Normans who settled there became "more Irish than the Irish themselves". You see further how they preferred to assimilate with how they operated in Italy, most especially with the battle of Civitate, where they defeated a Papal army, captured the Pope, and immediately paid him homage, that by their fealty he would grant them legitimacy of rule. Normans truly were the cemented rulers of Sicily and southern Italy through the Early Medieval Period, and to this day the Italians just acknowledge them as part of their heritage. This model of conquest by assimilation is truly what makes the Normans so unique among all other European races.
Thank you for giving us the truth. Keep on shining Metatron! Hail to you!
You seriously need to set up like a full time - History, Theology and Archaeology channel !! I learn more from you than all the courses I took during undergrad at the university. Lol - keep up the good work 👍🏻
I enjoyed the socio and etno-linguistic explication of english and the roots of some words, thanks!
Such a great explonation from you Metatron! I used to tell this my friends, when they asked me about Norman/Viking stuff 😄. Keep going your work and greetings from Switzerland.
I hope you are no longer demonetized. Great content learned a lot
Give this man his money UA-cam.
Great video! I have been interested in the question of how Vikings became Normans in the course of so few centuries for many years, and you have managed to make the transition more plausible. It can be easily forgotten that two centuries, 200 years, can be a long time, especially for humans with an average lifespan of 35 - 40 years. Changes happen "fast" - but not fast, if seen from the standpoint of individual protagonists.
Bear in mind that that average life expectancy is only so low because of high infant mortality. If you made it to adulthood you'd be expected to live into your 60s or 70s at least.
I was impressed with your knowledge and information. It is the best modern interpretation I've seen yet.
This was incredibly educational and thought-provoking. Superb video
Keep up the great work Metatron! 👍
Thanks!
In The Last Kingdom, Uhtred says "when they were traders we called them Danes, but when they were raiders we called them Vikings".
Great video!
Thanks!
@@metatronyt love your videos man! All for historical truth!
Great vid, really interesting - fascinating actually.
The vast present and future rest on such small events from the past, like an inverted pyramid.
Keep them coming, I really enjoyed this.
Hail Metatron, definitely enjoy your videos especially as a history major. The new logo graphic and audio at the end is a nice touch.
Very informative video: fun fact, after the normans conquered England in 1066, some of the surviving Ango-Saxon nobility actually fled to the Byzantines and set up a colony in Crimea, look it up
Good point. To stop the Russians and Ukrainians fighting over it we should simply reclaim it for England.
Heroes of Might and Magic in the background. I love this guy
One of the characters in Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe made the same observation about the difference between how animals were described by the people how raised them and their overlords who ate the meat. It was one of the factors which influenced my interest in languages and how they relate to cultures as I read the book in junior high or high school.
Held off on watching until monetisation was sorted out. Glad I can watch again. Want you to get paid! Keep up the good work!
ETA: another fantastic video and one close to my heart as I’ve always been fascinated by this very topic!
You're such a delight Metatron. I learn so many interesting things from your channel. Bravo Sir!
So in fact the Vikings invented to pincer attack and perfected it over 200 years - wow - one side of the attack was from Scandinavia to England directly - while some Vikings took a break of 100? years in France and conquered England 1066 - very smart - and turned into the ruling class of England, in other words: the noble ones !
What would have happened if the Vikings wouldn't not have conquered England and the Normandy - also Sicily which would be a great story to tell - we will never know but could invent.
Metatron, you opened a great can of worms here - the Normans! I read everything on the market about them, its material for a whole series, me would love it.
Normans were fighing against the byzantines in southern italy, funnily enough, a young outlaw prince by the name of "Harald" was leading the Varangian guard against the normans at this time. He would eventually be known to history as "Harald Hardrada"
Thank you for a great video discussing cultures and people migration.
More of this type of vulgarisation is needed to explain and demystify events in historical context.
Glad you are back.
Very informative video as always! This is a perspective I had not seen fully played out previously. I am Norwegian so quite a bit was known material, but I had not really seen the long lines between the Norse, Normans and Anglo-Saxons like this before.
Also, the word used for a Norwegian person is «nordmann» in the Norwegian language, so it’s interesting to see how it is similar to Norman.
Wow this video is super cool. Thanks for the breakdown on cultural constructs.
As someone coming from a norman family, I loved your video
I learned so much! Man, I love this channel.
Hi there good work I have Scandinavian roots on my father's side. As I learned vikingr is a verb. We are from the Norman side of the tribe. The french called us du Plessis meaning people with farms of sticks or twigs hence the people was not afraid of bears etc. It is interesting to hear more of the ancestors. Never knew what my roots were until recent, now I can feel proud too haha. Thank you for your thoroughness...
It's really funny... In the University, I studied Old Norse (a little), because I was fascinated by the runes and the Sögur... totally forgetting that I'm about 20% NOrman through my mother's maternal grandfather... and I never set foot knowingly in Normandy.
My last names Norman… I wonder if I’m related to any Vikings
@@storman4482 The question is not IF, it's from where, and how long ago...
Hi Metatron! Wonderful video like many, many others you have created! I really like you and your interesting content
I'm wondering if you could make a video about Slavs, my ancestors too, in which lives I have great intrest. For example something like early medieval slavic warfare.
My heart would be filled with so much warmth!
Greeting from Poland and huge slava to you!
( ,,Slava" means ,,fame, glory". It was a popular call among Slavs and in some countries it is today. )
In an old blogpost, as a fun experiment I decided to write a sample text but remove all the Latin/French loanwords and replace them with Germanic ones (a few of which I invariably had to coin form Old English roots).
Here’s the sample text. First the original, then showing each Latin/French loanword in brackets, then the Germanic English version. At the bottom is a key to the various new words inserted.
“Today, the president will address the UN delegation regarding the impact of fossil fuels on climate change, and how he intends to institute economic sanctions against nations which fail to meet predetermined carbon emission reductions.”
Today, the [president] will [address] the UN [delegation] [regarding] the [impact] of [fossil] [fuels] on [climate] [change], and how he [intends] to [institute] [economic] [sanctions] against [nations] which [fail] to meet [predetermined] [carbon] [emission] [reductions].
---
Germanic Only:
“Today, the headman* will speak to the UN board about the burden of eldkindbone* antwork* on weatherscape* shift, and how he will put gildholds* upon lands which don’t meet forbeset* eldkindbone burning cuts.”
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*headman- this one seems straightforward due to both “head” and “man” existing in modern English, but in this case the elements represent the older, abstract meanings of “foremost” and “person.”
Technically, the more precise Germanic equivalent of “president” would be “overseer,” but that word has other connotations/uses in modern English, as does other possible terms like “headmaster,” “foreman,” and “lord.”
*eldkindbone- my construction to replace the word “fossil,” derived from Germanic elements eld/ald/old + kin/kind + bone.
*antwork- modern spelling of Old English “antweorc,” meaning “material, thing to be used in construction, unaltered substance,” to replace the word “fuel.”
~For the life of me I couldn’t find a word in modern English for “fuel” that didn’t derive from Latin/Greek roots(except words for specific kinds of “fuel”).
*weatherscape- my construction to replace the word “climate.”
*gildholds- my construction to replace the terms “economic sanctions.”
*forbeset- my construction to replace the word “predetermined,” derived from Germanic elements: “for-“ (first, in front of, ahead of), “be-“ (word forming element meaning “to cause, make such”), and “set”(to sit, put in place).
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Love your content, normally not one that goes in the comment section. I really don't know what to say about this new style of video with the background music and rather quick (compared to other videos of yours) change of pictures. It throws me off a bit, always enjoyed how you've done your older content.
I've been using the background music since probably 2017. When it comes to B-rolls, I know not everyone likes them, but they do appear to boots considerably the performance and average viewer retention on my videos, rather than just having a talking head for 16 minutes. Hopefully you won't find it too distracting. Thanks for the constructive criticism.
I recently discovered your channel. I am impressed by your knowledge. I really love your channel ❤
Very precise and concise video, great work.
I think the best way to describe a norman is similar to a Dane that settled in England and became Christian. Ecept a norman was a viking that become a frankish. Similar to the scottish n Irish vikings that were adopted into celtic culture that settled in the isles. Like rollo for example. A famous viking born in scotland. Corky islands or something.
Except that the Normans are mainly a mixture of Scandinavians and Celts (Gauls)... The Franks were mainly in the North of France, Paris and the East of France.
It happened when Hrolfr went, "Fug it! It's Rollo, now! Oui oui! A-hon hon hon!"
A very thought provoking video, thank you my friend 👍.
The Scandinavians were great mixers, whether in the distant past or in more modern times. Wherever the Vikings settled they adopted local culture and language and disappeared, but even during the settlement of America millions of Scandinavians settled in America but left very little impact as they adopted the culture, language, and religion of their new homelands.
10:43 "That is because in Western Europe, English is the perfect middle language between the two main linguistic realities: the Germanic, and the romance. Similar enough to Germanic languages in its roots, etymology, structure, and syntax for Germanic people to learn it easily, and close enough to Latin languages because of its overwhelming Latin vocabulary for romance speakers like me to learn it."
That's very interesting, I've never thought of it like that before.
Speaking on influence on language.
English to Danish translation:
axe = økse
knife = kniv
sword = sværd
spear = spyd
hammer = hammer
shield = skjold
helmet = hjelm
If I learned anything in this video, it's that Halley's passed within an Earth diameter (2 point something radii) of Earth. That is CRAZY close!!
Nice work man!
Veru informative as per usual, thanks you!