Ragnar: The symbol of a whole culture

 

The main character of the series, Ragnar, can be considered as the equivalent of King Arthur in Scandinavian history and mythology. The most common theory is that Ragnar’s name was used in the telling of several important Viking chiefs’ myths, unifying these heroes’ adventures under his name. In the series, he starts as a farmer who claims to be a descendant of Odin, and ends up being a Christian King. Despite it being historically inaccurate, the show represents 400 years of Viking history under Ragnar’s kingdom, with the Christianisation of Scandinavia and the changing of statutes from independent jarls to a united realm.

 

Were the Vikings really more violent than the Saxons or the Francs?

 

The series is quite violent, and its representation of the Vikings doesn’t break away from the myths surrounding them, which portray the ‘bad’ Vikings as they terrorised Christians. However, according to historians, the Vikings weren’t any more violent than the Saxons or the Francs were. Rumour has it that Charlemagne executed 4000 people in a day once. “If Vikings are described like that is because all the written information we have about them was mostly written by priests, who described them as being ‘the devil in person’. However, written evidence we have about the Vikings in Eastern Europe and Arabic countries refers to them more as being good traders, “ says Carole, History teacher at Collège in France.

 

Vikings weren’t really good warriors.

 

“When the Vikings fought against Alfred The Great, they faced a lot of defeats,“ she says. The assumption that they weren’t good warriors comes from the fact that only priests wrote about the Vikings, and not knights.

 

If the Vikings attacked monasteries more often than castles, that must have been because the former were much easier to take by force: priests were a much more easy target to win over.

 

Most fans realise that the series is romanticised, despite the fact that History Channel is selling the series as being historically accurate. Kevin Jeuilly, a fan of the series says: “I know the series is not really historically factual, but I think the way it’s romanticised is what makes you get into it. “