I only this week discovered the hurstwic website, and am inclined you give you my utmost thanks. It's odd, as soon as I begin researching Viking Age norse culture in depth and a find a great resource, my local museum is bringing the most expansive exhibit of Viking Age artifacts and ships ever to be brought to North America. What a wonderful week.
I'm an Orthodox Christian and I came to this expecting bias on the part of the presenter. What I found, however, was a well-researched, fair presentation of the facts. I commend the speaker.
I hope you aren't insinuating that Christianity hasn't ever mass killed pagans or went on crusades to kill or convert pagans because it's well documented they did
@@Texasmade74 Christianity did not do those things. Roman Catholics did those things under the name of Christianity. Old Celtic Christianity One of many true Christian Backgrounds.
I'm not holding a grudge. Christians taught us many lessons, if we but have the wisdom to learn them. Europe's time under the yoke of a semite god is like Odin's time on the tree - a sacrifice of the self to the self to gain insight and power.
Monastery's where foward bases of the Christians , with well armed and trained knights . There job was to convert the locals with the book , if that did not work they used the sword . Our Ancestors where not just attacking them for the wealth , they had seen what the Christians where doing thru out other pats of Europe and went on the offence .
parabot2 yep , 100% correct! The battle of verden when the heathen Saxon chieftains got slaughtered unarmed by Charlemagne caused the Viking age ! Some of what he is saying is old information!
Egil’s Saga gives an account of Egil being “baptized” to trade in England while serving King Æthelstan. From the context of the rest of the book, this was clearly done for the express purpose of trade (as it is explained in the saga).
It's also probably a matter of prestige. Christianity was a huge religion of many mighty and wealthy nations, including Byzantium. Once the Vikings started getting beat by Christians in war... it didn't seem the Christians were wrong anymore.
hi everyone, i know this will probably be buried, but i need to try. I'm looking for the video that opened my eyes to the possiblity of becoming a heathen. the video was very simple, just someone monologuing over a black screen. it spoke of his experience with and frustration with Christianity and how he covered to norse heathenism. from what i remember, here are some main points - he lived in a family of born again Christians - as a child he had a fear of and admiration for the seas and oceans - as a child he made up languages with letters identical to futhark runes - on a missionary trip to Sweden he noticed how different the acted (don't remember in what ways) - a quote along the lines of "the pages of the bible are soaked with the blood of innocence people" - at the end of the video, a black and white mjolnir pendant fades onto the screen and music plays - he asked his mother about where their family came from to find out it was around northern Germany and Denmark - he mentioned makeing more videos on the same topics but (as i last checked) never did because he found speaking directly to people was better this video is tremendously important to me and i can't seem to find it as i watched it a few years ago. if anyone knows of it or has it downloaded, I'd be so very grateful.
Why is "viking" - the name of a profession - a convenient term to use to describe northern European people during the Viking Age, but "Norse" is not? "
@@carlosmarcial6201 Francs are latinos. But if it's about descendence so yeah, latinos are greeks descendets and I subsequently they're germanic descendents. But only in that way.
I appreciate these lectures. There is a lot talk today comparing women’s status amongst heathen Vikings and christians, but to my knowledge the Viking culture was patriarchal and women could only gain power being born into status, married to a powerful man or as a widow. Women did not inherit land or property .. And here’s the puzzle for me, if women had lower status in Christianity than old Norse culture, how come it was usually women who first converted by free will?
Actually women did have considerable rights in Norse society. They could own property, divorce their husbands, they had complete control of the home, nor were they shut away as 'unclean' during their periods. Aud the Deep Thinker could take her own ship to Iceland and then parcel out land to her crew, and to captives she freed as well, and a woman even commanded her own fleet, landing in Ireland in the 10th century and known to the Irish as the Red Maiden. Some women fought as warriors with the Rus, and the number of times in the Sagas that women are mentioned as taking up arms when need arose is clear indication that the concept of a woman fighting was accepted, if she had to do so.
Actually many of the women who pick up arms and fight in the Sagas win, and the point to be taken from those those mentions is that the concept was accepted. Some are mentioned in very good terms, such as Ragnar's wife and leading an army to Sweden, and while the Red Maiden may or may not have been real, again the concept of her being mentioned shows that it was possible. We know women warriors fought in the army of the Rus, and Aud the Deep Thinker had her own ship and crew, plus captives, when she sailed to Iceland. Obviously, as I say in my video, most women who took up arms did so in times of need, they were not going around in regiments banging drums, but they could fight if required and nobody seemed to think that odd, other characters don't raise objections or seem surprised. As regards women fighting in general, women took up arms across Europe quite often during the Middle Ages and later, and in pagan times female fighters were not uncommon among many ethnic groups, here in Ireland for example they were actually trained as warriors for many years until changing times ended that, by law as it happens. Had there been no female warriors a law ending their training would hardly have been required.
Women convert to Christianity, or secular social justice, because women are more susceptible to wishful thinking and therefore to inducement by false promise, and they're more emotional, so more subject to moralizing and shaming, and they're more social and more status conscious, and therefore more vulnerable to manipulation by character assassination and ostracism. All of these are the basic means by which those doctrines spread. Christianity even has a warning about it in the story of Eve and the apple.
@@eliharmanyour response is proof of your brainwashing. Women are smart and can control thier emotions better than men. Men are prone to violence and violence as an answer. Given an equal playing field they excel at leadership.
It’s interesting that Julian the Apostate made Roman heathenry more like Christianity. He create a head priest over a district-like a heathen bishop. And he also had theological works-a bit like scriptures or a Christian catechism-written up. Hinduism has become dr more organised and structured and theologically articulate in direct response to Islam and Christianity. It is a very reasonable assumption that Germanic heathenry would have taken the same path
It is Lao inconceivable that a heathen who considered the matter could think the gods to be indifferent to people abandoning them en masse. The gods may not have had the same love for humanity as Christ does, but they demanded honour and could be vindictive and vengeful. The gods did have a say in what sort of afterlife humans would enjoy. So if heathenry had had longer to develop, I am confident that some kind of Tartarus or punishment hell would have developed
A few corrections...the Heathen religion absolutely had rules and cultural norms it wasn't a free for all.Another thing is that the Gods are not mortal in the way humans are and while Heathen beliefs were fluid they had answer's for many questions they were not dumb
You said at this point in Europe's history there weren't any standing armies but yet all the evidence goes against you.Look at the armies of the Byzantine Empire,the Danish Kings,etc
That's what i've been saying the Vikings were not hostile to Christanity on principle they just didn't like it being forced upon them. You can't say to an extent mixing other religons with heathenism is not heathenism, because the heathens in the past did it.
The statement that we don't know basically anything about Swedens conversion is not entirely true. We know that King Eric the Victorious, who ruled between circa 970-995, converted to Christianity for a short while, but was forced to convert back because the Svea-people rejected it. Erics son and successor Olof Skötkonung remained christian throughout his reign, but could only remain christian and king if he allowed the people religious freedom. Most citizens were still pagan during his reign. Olofs son Anund Jacob who also came to be king, was named with both a pagan and a christian name, personifying the religious split within Sweden. After him, through the late 11th- as well as the 12th -century there were a lot of kings who came and went, who had varying loyalties to the two religions. Some were staunch christians and others, like Blot-Sven, were staunch pagans. When a kings name is so heavily entwined with the act of pagan sacrifice that you are remembered with the prefix Blot, before your name above anything else, your faith is clear as day. After the 12th century things became more solidly christian, but a lot of the pagan traditions remained as folklore, having a big effect on the culture.
Being a son of Fergus....”the angry “ I have done a lot of looking into my past ancestry, much of my research on the matter just leads to much speculation.
Actually; you say Christian but your talking about Roman Catholicism....hue difference; Christianity was never meant to be a religion per say with churches and cathedrals etc, real Christianity probably had a lot more in common with the heathens tbh. Roman Catholicism was politics and control. Good talk though; I enjoyed it!
Not true at all. Study the early Church Fathers and the Bible more closely. Matthew 16 is undeniable proof of Catholicism. And this is coming from someone who has quite a bit of Norse syncreticism or inculturation.
No, Asatru uses aspects of old norse religion buts its very modern. The 9 will always assure its known as modern as its a modern construct and was not used before the 20th century. With this said, all religions and Belief systems change as people and the world do. And yes heritage does matter.
@@revivalistheathenry2662 it's ethnic like I said and it is a reconstructionist religion.I suggest you Google the words polytheistic reconstructionism.Also no actual reconstructionist based Asatraur use the nine noble virtues but they do hold value as a code of conduct of sorts but not as a ten commandments lol
I know this was a simplification, but I think one could modifty the point "Christianity: 'Magic is the work of the devil'. " to "Christianity: Magic is superstition." At least when talking about the Catholic Church in the Viking age, the Church considered the belief in witches and magic to be superstition or even heretical. The Pope would have rather burned the witch-hunters than the witches. Iceland, where central control of the Church was weak, was also the scene of the worst witch-hunting in Europe. It was really with the break-away Protestant churches that started supported actual witch-hunts. The witch-hunts of the Inquisition were really just hunts for Protestants.
anglosax88 I have never heard of this. Not saying I don't believe you by any means, but if you could tell me the source of this info I'd like to learn more about it.
Convert or die.... The once persecuted (Christians) became the same as the ones who they called monsters that persecuted them. From the book their God says "thou shalt not kill" but I guess it's ok as long as your killing any of us who don't believe in your god right??? Can't even follow their own God's commandments.
It's Thou shall not murder holy wars are justified. Tho in the context of forced conversion I'd say they crossed a line. But is that a cultural thing? In culture about honor and war/raids how do you honor your word to God? To what extremes are you willing to go to keep your word to convert your people?
Brilliant lecture..a stepping stone on my journey back to my ancient roots and my quest to find my true identity..Asatru
I only this week discovered the hurstwic website, and am inclined you give you my utmost thanks. It's odd, as soon as I begin researching Viking Age norse culture in depth and a find a great resource, my local museum is bringing the most expansive exhibit of Viking Age artifacts and ships ever to be brought to North America. What a wonderful week.
+1 for your username lol. 10th planet. Prob not many in this comment section know what the hel im talking about :)
I'm an Orthodox Christian and I came to this expecting bias on the part of the presenter. What I found, however, was a well-researched, fair presentation of the facts. I commend the speaker.
I hope you aren't insinuating that Christianity hasn't ever mass killed pagans or went on crusades to kill or convert pagans because it's well documented they did
Baltic crusades,Wendish crusades and more
@@Texasmade74 Christianity did not do those things. Roman Catholics did those things under the name of Christianity. Old Celtic Christianity One of many true Christian Backgrounds.
Zach I apologize if you are Catholic my intention was not to offend.
I'm not holding a grudge. Christians taught us many lessons, if we but have the wisdom to learn them. Europe's time under the yoke of a semite god is like Odin's time on the tree - a sacrifice of the self to the self to gain insight and power.
Thank you for this series. Well done.
Nicely done, very informative, and excellently delivered. Thank you for taking the time and effort to produce these lectures.
Monastery's where foward bases of the Christians , with well armed and trained knights . There job was to convert the locals with the book , if that did not work they used the sword . Our Ancestors where not just attacking them for the wealth , they had seen what the Christians where doing thru out other pats of Europe and went on the offence .
parabot2 yep , 100% correct! The battle of verden when the heathen Saxon chieftains got slaughtered unarmed by Charlemagne caused the Viking age ! Some of what he is saying is old information!
Egil’s Saga gives an account of Egil being “baptized” to trade in England while serving King Æthelstan. From the context of the rest of the book, this was clearly done for the express purpose of trade (as it is explained in the saga).
It's also probably a matter of prestige. Christianity was a huge religion of many mighty and wealthy nations, including Byzantium. Once the Vikings started getting beat by Christians in war... it didn't seem the Christians were wrong anymore.
No
Wonderful as always. Thanks!
hi everyone, i know this will probably be buried, but i need to try.
I'm looking for the video that opened my eyes to the possiblity of becoming a heathen. the video was very simple, just someone monologuing over a black screen. it spoke of his experience with and frustration with Christianity and how he covered to norse heathenism.
from what i remember, here are some main points
- he lived in a family of born again Christians
- as a child he had a fear of and admiration for the seas and oceans
- as a child he made up languages with letters identical to futhark runes
- on a missionary trip to Sweden he noticed how different the acted (don't remember in what ways)
- a quote along the lines of "the pages of the bible are soaked with the blood of innocence people"
- at the end of the video, a black and white mjolnir pendant fades onto the screen and music plays
- he asked his mother about where their family came from to find out it was around northern Germany and Denmark
- he mentioned makeing more videos on the same topics but (as i last checked) never did because he found speaking directly to people was better
this video is tremendously important to me and i can't seem to find it as i watched it a few years ago. if anyone knows of it or has it downloaded, I'd be so very grateful.
ruclips.net/video/D08C-apDxO0/видео.html
I think this is what you were asking about.
Great as always! :)
Why is "viking" - the name of a profession - a convenient term to use to describe northern European people during the Viking Age, but "Norse" is not? "
Hear Hear!
@PAGANISTIC Shaman SKYRIM BELONGS TO THE NORDS
Nords - Bretons, saxons, francs, Visegods, Germans, Slavic, and also mediterraneans (most of them)... all of them are the from the same trunk.
@@carlosmarcial6201 Francs are latinos. But if it's about descendence so yeah, latinos are greeks descendets and I subsequently they're germanic descendents. But only in that way.
@@italovasconcelos8764 You forget that French and Spanish have Visigoth blood.
i live just outside uppsala. i wonder where this temple was. it would be interesting to go there and see how the area feels
I appreciate these lectures. There is a lot talk today comparing women’s status amongst heathen Vikings and christians, but to my knowledge the Viking culture was patriarchal and women could only gain power being born into status, married to a powerful man or as a widow. Women did not inherit land or property .. And here’s the puzzle for me, if women had lower status in Christianity than old Norse culture, how come it was usually women who first converted by free will?
Actually women did have considerable rights in Norse society. They could own property, divorce their husbands, they had complete control of the home, nor were they shut away as 'unclean' during their periods. Aud the Deep Thinker could take her own ship to Iceland and then parcel out land to her crew, and to captives she freed as well, and a woman even commanded her own fleet, landing in Ireland in the 10th century and known to the Irish as the Red Maiden. Some women fought as warriors with the Rus, and the number of times in the Sagas that women are mentioned as taking up arms when need arose is clear indication that the concept of a woman fighting was accepted, if she had to do so.
Actually many of the women who pick up arms and fight in the Sagas win, and the point to be taken from those those mentions is that the concept was accepted. Some are mentioned in very good terms, such as Ragnar's wife and leading an army to Sweden, and while the Red Maiden may or may not have been real, again the concept of her being mentioned shows that it was possible. We know women warriors fought in the army of the Rus, and Aud the Deep Thinker had her own ship and crew, plus captives, when she sailed to Iceland. Obviously, as I say in my video, most women who took up arms did so in times of need, they were not going around in regiments banging drums, but they could fight if required and nobody seemed to think that odd, other characters don't raise objections or seem surprised. As regards women fighting in general, women took up arms across Europe quite often during the Middle Ages and later, and in pagan times female fighters were not uncommon among many ethnic groups, here in Ireland for example they were actually trained as warriors for many years until changing times ended that, by law as it happens. Had there been no female warriors a law ending their training would hardly have been required.
Women convert to Christianity, or secular social justice, because women are more susceptible to wishful thinking and therefore to inducement by false promise, and they're more emotional, so more subject to moralizing and shaming, and they're more social and more status conscious, and therefore more vulnerable to manipulation by character assassination and ostracism. All of these are the basic means by which those doctrines spread. Christianity even has a warning about it in the story of Eve and the apple.
@@eliharmanyour response is proof of your brainwashing. Women are smart and can control thier emotions better than men. Men are prone to violence and violence as an answer. Given an equal playing field they excel at leadership.
It’s interesting that Julian the Apostate made Roman heathenry more like Christianity. He create a head priest over a district-like a heathen bishop. And he also had theological works-a bit like scriptures or a Christian catechism-written up. Hinduism has become dr more organised and structured and theologically articulate in direct response to Islam and Christianity. It is a very reasonable assumption that Germanic heathenry would have taken the same path
It is Lao inconceivable that a heathen who considered the matter could think the gods to be indifferent to people abandoning them en masse. The gods may not have had the same love for humanity as Christ does, but they demanded honour and could be vindictive and vengeful. The gods did have a say in what sort of afterlife humans would enjoy. So if heathenry had had longer to develop, I am confident that some kind of Tartarus or punishment hell would have developed
...and that's why Black Metal with upside down crosses is so popular in Norway.
Are those Hurstwic tops that man is wearing available ?
Can some one tell if they are. I am from Australia
Get a Tunic or some reindeerskin instead. Lasts longer, looks bette, is warmer and of course more pagan.
Does this page and this gentleman post any longer?
A few corrections...the Heathen religion absolutely had rules and cultural norms it wasn't a free for all.Another thing is that the Gods are not mortal in the way humans are and while Heathen beliefs were fluid they had answer's for many questions they were not dumb
You said at this point in Europe's history there weren't any standing armies but yet all the evidence goes against you.Look at the armies of the Byzantine Empire,the Danish Kings,etc
I wish I lived in Iceland prior to the 900's.
Iceland in the year 1000 was still predominantly Heathen actually
I'm Puerto Rican, and I would die of hypothermia on 60°Farenheit lol.
No trees. Very difficult life.
No you don't buddy lol you wouldn't last one month 😆 you live better now then kings back then
@@pat2430 I'm made of sterner stuff than you know.
At minute 33 you tell that they accepted conversion to Christianity. But did the Viking age traders /people practice it?
"Convert or die" - haha! Seems pretty Viking!
That's what i've been saying the Vikings were not hostile to Christanity on principle they just didn't like it being forced upon them. You can't say to an extent mixing other religons with heathenism is not heathenism, because the heathens in the past did it.
Christian in the streets, Heathen in the sheets!
🤘
Ironically, it is thought that inhumation burial was something copied from Christian Europeans. The Norse used to practice cremation.
No.
The statement that we don't know basically anything about Swedens conversion is not entirely true. We know that King Eric the Victorious, who ruled between circa 970-995, converted to Christianity for a short while, but was forced to convert back because the Svea-people rejected it. Erics son and successor Olof Skötkonung remained christian throughout his reign, but could only remain christian and king if he allowed the people religious freedom. Most citizens were still pagan during his reign. Olofs son Anund Jacob who also came to be king, was named with both a pagan and a christian name, personifying the religious split within Sweden. After him, through the late 11th- as well as the 12th
-century there were a lot of kings who came and went, who had varying loyalties to the two religions. Some were staunch christians and others, like Blot-Sven, were staunch pagans. When a kings name is so heavily entwined with the act of pagan sacrifice that you are remembered with the prefix Blot, before your name above anything else, your faith is clear as day. After the 12th century things became more solidly christian, but a lot of the pagan traditions remained as folklore, having a big effect on the culture.
Being a son of Fergus....”the angry “ I have done a lot of looking into my past ancestry, much of my research on the matter just leads to much speculation.
St Columba brought Christianity to Iona and Scotland in 563.
Actually; you say Christian but your talking about Roman Catholicism....hue difference; Christianity was never meant to be a religion per say with churches and cathedrals etc, real Christianity probably had a lot more in common with the heathens tbh. Roman Catholicism was politics and control. Good talk though; I enjoyed it!
read the bible. christianity is nothing like ancient germanic spirituality.
No Christianity has nothing to do with germanic spirituality. Nor does Old Norse Beliefs. All you neo pagens and germans who think you are Norse.
Not true at all. Study the early Church Fathers and the Bible more closely. Matthew 16 is undeniable proof of Catholicism. And this is coming from someone who has quite a bit of Norse syncreticism or inculturation.
Showt out to the runes
I wonder what kind of church sermons a Viking chieftain would give!
"For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.” Psalms 3:7.😂
Åsatru was more like a..well..ethnic religion?
Asatru is the name of the modern neo paganism
@@johnynawalony5333 no it's the name of the reconstructed Norse religion and ancient Norse religion was very much ethnic
No, Asatru uses aspects of old norse religion buts its very modern. The 9 will always assure its known as modern as its a modern construct and was not used before the 20th century. With this said, all religions and Belief systems change as people and the world do. And yes heritage does matter.
@@revivalistheathenry2662 it's ethnic like I said and it is a reconstructionist religion.I suggest you Google the words polytheistic reconstructionism.Also no actual reconstructionist based Asatraur use the nine noble virtues but they do hold value as a code of conduct of sorts but not as a ten commandments lol
@@revivalistheathenry2662 I have to agree all ethnic religions evolve
I know this was a simplification, but I think one could modifty the point "Christianity: 'Magic is the work of the devil'. " to "Christianity: Magic is superstition."
At least when talking about the Catholic Church in the Viking age, the Church considered the belief in witches and magic to be superstition or even heretical. The Pope would have rather burned the witch-hunters than the witches. Iceland, where central control of the Church was weak, was also the scene of the worst witch-hunting in Europe.
It was really with the break-away Protestant churches that started supported actual witch-hunts. The witch-hunts of the Inquisition were really just hunts for Protestants.
lol don't do drugs, please ... and then maybe read a couple of books on history, your situation can only improve.
anglosax88 I have never heard of this. Not saying I don't believe you by any means, but if you could tell me the source of this info I'd like to learn more about it.
True. William Thomas Walsh talks about this. In large part, the Spanish Inquisition was a treason trial.
This comment section is filled with angry teenagers
Convert or die.... The once persecuted (Christians) became the same as the ones who they called monsters that persecuted them. From the book their God says "thou shalt not kill" but I guess it's ok as long as your killing any of us who don't believe in your god right??? Can't even follow their own God's commandments.
It's Thou shall not murder holy wars are justified. Tho in the context of forced conversion I'd say they crossed a line.
But is that a cultural thing? In culture about honor and war/raids how do you honor your word to God? To what extremes are you willing to go to keep your word to convert your people?
NO ANIMOSITY? FALSE