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Vikings, according to Clare Downham in Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland, are "people of Scandinavian culture who were active outside Scandinavia ... Danes, Norwegians, Swedish, Hiberno-Scandinavians, Anglo-Scandinavians, or the inhabitants of any Scandinavian colony who affiliated themselves more strongly with the culture of the colonizer than with that of the indigenous population."
Jarl [a] was a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia during the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages.The institution evolved over time and varied by region. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", specifically one appointed to rule a territory in a king's stead.
A hersir was a local Viking military commander of a hundred (a county subdivision), of about 100 men, and owed allegiance to a jarl or king. They were also aspiring landowners, and, like the middle class in many feudal societies, supported the kings in their centralization of power.
The Great Heathen Army, [a] also known as the Viking Great Army, [1] was a coalition of Scandinavian warriors who invaded England in 865 AD. Since the late 8th century, the Vikings [ b ] had been engaging in raids on centres of wealth, such as monasteries .
The apex was composed of a single file. The number of warriors then increases by a constant in each rank back to its base. Families and tribesmen were ranked side by side, which added morale cohesion. [5] [3] The tactic was admirable for an advance against a line or even a column, but it was poor in the event of a retreat. [3]
The 8th-century Tängelgårda stone depicts a figure leading a troop of warriors all bearing rings. Valknut symbols appear beneath his horse. According to John Lindow, Andy Orchard, and Rudolf Simek, scholars have commonly connected the einherjar to the Harii, a Germanic tribe attested by Tacitus in his 1st-century AD work Germania.
Recent research suggests that the Celtic warrior Somerled, who drove the Vikings out of western Scotland and was the progenitor of Clan Donald, may have been of Viking descent, a member of haplogroup R-M420.
The short story The King of Norway by Cecelia Holland, in the anthology Warriors, has at its center the story of the Battle of Hjörungavágr. [20] In the manga Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura, several of the main characters are based on Jomsvikings from the Sagas, such as Thorkell the High and Canute the Great. The manga depicts them as an ...