How They Did It - Growing Up Viking

Video

A history documentary on what it was like to grow up Viking. In this history documentary we explore the world of the ancient Viking Age from the perspective of a child. This is a topic that all too often gets overlooked when talking about the military history of the vikings or that gets cartoonized in films such as How to Train Your Dragon.

We begin with an overview of the Viking world of Scandinavia by looking at its geography and ethnography. This is a land shaped by the Ice Age with many fjords, valleys, lakes, and islands with cold winters and mild summers. This environment played a large part in shaping the Viking civilization of medieval Scandinavia. What we find is a general lack of centralization with most people living out in small farm-based communities. These Viking village groups were composed of longhouses with additional outbuildings and facilities surrounded by a wall. Roads and waterways would connect them to the world beyond but for the most part they remained highly independent. At the start of the Viking Age it would only be the kingdom of Denmark which was unified to large degree with the regions of Sweden and Norway only doing so by the end of the Viking age.

We then talk about Viking society which was broken down into groups of jarls, karls, and thralls. Its into this mix that Viking children would be born. The history documentary covers the practices of childbirth and how to name a Viking baby. These Viking names had all kinds of conventions. Next we cover how Viking children grew up playing games, doing chores, and receiving an education. We talk about what it was like to begin to date within the viking community and eventually marry.

We produced this Viking documentary in anticipation for the release of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Stay tuned for more Viking history content and Valhalla gameplay.

Bibliography and Suggested Reading
"Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga" by Smithsonian Institution Press
"Viking Age: Everyday Life During the Extraordinary Era of the Norsemen" by Kirsten Wolf