I really ought to visit Northern Norway You, too?

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Wow, I didn't realize they were that large. I would love to visit the museum.
 
IMG_3298.jpg


:biggrin:

But we were not inside. Expensive, and we came just about an hour or half an hour before closing, so it didn't made any sense to enter the area (and it is huge - not only a building, but also an open air part).
 
turbo said:
Very impressive hall! Does the management serve mead in horn cups? :-p
Yup!
From real aurochs horns..:smile:
 
Borek said:
IMG_3298.jpg


:biggrin:

But we were not inside. Expensive, and we came just about an hour or half an hour before closing, so it didn't made any sense to enter the area (and it is huge - not only a building, but also an open air part).
A bit more impressive than the Golden Hall of Edoras, methinks.
 
How many people would be in a hall like this? Was it only for functions, or did people live there?
 
Evo said:
How many people would be in a hall like this? Was it only for functions, or did people live there?
According to this article by the renowned archeologist Stylegar, he has the following to say about the chieftains' seat at Borg:
1. It covers roughly 700 square meters
2. The walls were wooden, but with an outside layer of turf (that would be effective to prevent cold)
3. The house was divided in 5 sections, the feasting hall and the "cattle-house" for the animals the two biggest. Rooms for normal habitation make up the three others.
4. The cattle house prbably had about 50 animals' capacity
5. Down by the sea, remains of boathouses have been found, the largest 26 meters in length.
6. Several finds of ceramics and so-called "golden goblins" were found in the feasting hall. The gold statuettes is a Scandinavian art product, probably with some cultic significance.
Also glass ware (ridiculously expensive at that time) was found.
7. It is the belief that the chieftain's wealth was primarily due to control of the Northern trade, with furs and teeth from walrus being the main articles for export.
http://snl.no/Borg/høvdingsete_i_Nordland
 
From what I've found at other places, the seat was occupied for roughly 450 years, say 500-950 AD.

The reason for the decline is probably due to the growing influence of the Earls at Lade, with their main seat at nowadays Trondheim. During the latter ninth century, the expanded northwards, making vassals of some petty kings, forcing the hand of some others.
At the same time, in Southern Norway, one sees the amalgamation of the national kingship, traditionally ascribed to Norway's first king, Harold the Fair-Haired.

Many petty chieftains disliked the new times, and several chose a new and independent career as Land Takers on Iceland.

And, the interisting fact is that we have the actual NAME of the last independent chieftain at Borg:
His name was Olaf Tvennumbruni, and became a major political figure at Iceland in the early tenth century or thereabouts (at least, he is credited with taking "much land" there)
 
I think it was that chieftain and his clan who sailed over to my place in their longships and instead of just sitting down for tea and cakes they burned our houses,stole our treasures and were generally a total pain.:biggrin:
 
Dadface said:
I think it was that chieftain and his clan who sailed over to my place in their longships and instead of just sitting down for tea and cakes they burned our houses,stole our treasures and were generally a total pain.:biggrin:
Oh, sure! ***** and moan about the successful businessmen!
 
Dadface said:
I think it was that chieftain and his clan who sailed over to my place in their longships and instead of just sitting down for tea and cakes they burned our houses,stole our treasures and were generally a total pain.:biggrin:

Yeah, yeah, and smashed your faces&raped your wives. I know all about it, such tales are STILL favourite yuletide stories for our kids.
The times of greatness will come again! :devil:
 
arildno said:
Yeah, yeah, and smashed your faces&raped your wives. I know all about it, such tales are STILL favourite yuletide stories for our kids.
The times of greatness will come again! :devil:
It's interesting to me that the Vikings, apparently so warlike and adventurous in the olden days, became so extremeley organized and peaceful in modern times. Not that warlikeness and adventurousness are mutually exclusive wrt organizational abilities. Or that I would want to fight a big Norwegian person.

Sorry ... so, that's a really nice hall there. I do hope that they had sufficient insulation between the human and animal quarters. And some sort of ventilation system.
 
ThomasT said:
It's interesting to me that the Vikings, apparently so warlike and adventurous in the olden days, became so extremeley organized and peaceful in modern times. Not that warlikeness and adventurousness are mutually exclusive wrt organizational abilities. Or that I would want to fight a big Norwegian person.

Sorry ... so, that's a really nice hall there. I do hope that they had sufficient insulation between the human and animal quarters. And some sort of ventilation system.
"Clean as a cattle" was a Viking phrase. It was directed derisively at men regarded as too effeminate and picky about their personal hygiene. Poor cattle.
 
Last edited:
ThomasT said:
It's interesting to me that the Vikings, apparently so warlike and adventurous in the olden days, became so extremeley organized and peaceful in modern times. Not that warlikeness and adventurousness are mutually exclusive wrt organizational abilities. Or that I would want to fight a big Norwegian person.

Sorry ... so, that's a really nice hall there. I do hope that they had sufficient insulation between the human and animal quarters. And some sort of ventilation system.

I don't think you will find the vikings concentrated in just Norway and other Scandinavian countries.They came,they saw and they spread their genes all over the place.Those who returned took back gold,silver and syphillis.
 
ThomasT said:
It's interesting to me that the Vikings, apparently so warlike and adventurous in the olden days, became so extremeley organized and peaceful in modern times.

When I was in grad school years ago, I once wandered through the Germanic languages department and saw a cartoon on an office door. It showed some very businesslike-looking Vikings sitting in a ship that was starting to sink. One of them stood up and said, "Jeg vil foreslå, att vi nedsetter et udvalg." (something like "I propose that we establish a committee.")
 
jtbell said:
When I was in grad school years ago, I once wandered through the Germanic languages department and saw a cartoon on an office door. It showed some very businesslike-looking Vikings sitting in a ship that was starting to sink. One of them stood up and said, "Jeg vil foreslå, att vi nedsetter et udvalg." (something like "I propose that we establish a committee.")

They weren't very good at grammar, either. "att" is sweedish, "udvalg" is Danish.
In Norweed, it is "at" and "utvalg".
:smile:
 
arildno said:
"Clean as a cattle" was a Viking phrase. It was directed derisively at men regarded as too effeminate and picky about their personal hygiene. Poor cattle.
Well, that would seem to be an illustration of why the Vikings didn't make a big impact on comedy ... other than their penchant for marauding, pillaging, etc., that is.
 
arildno said:
They weren't very good at grammar, either. "att" is sweedish, "udvalg" is Danish.
In Norweed, it is "at" and "utvalg".
:smile:

You can blame my memory after 30+ years for that, not them. :blushing:

I think I remember now that it was a Danish instructor's office door, so it was probably "at" not "att".

Another Danish joke: You may know about the Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup, who invented the C++ programming language. On his home page, there is (or was) an FAQ which includes the question "How do you pronounce Bjarne Stroustrup?" Answer: "It can be difficult for non-Danish speakers. [...] The best suggestion I have heard is to say it a few times in Norwegian, then stuff a potato down your throat and try it again."
 
We ALWAYS carry a potato sack with us when we visit Copenhagen.
Otherwise, they can't understand us..

(Actually, that well-known proverb also say that we ought to fill our ears with gravy in order to become truly Danish, but we DO retain some national pride up here)
 
I've been wondering how many meese I could keep in a place like that.
 
Evo said:
I've been wondering how many meese I could keep in a place like that.
With or without antlers?
 
arildno said:
With or without antlers?
Oh, I guess we can't keep them from growing antlers, so with.
 
Evo said:
Oh, I guess we can't keep them from growing antlers, so with.
Merciful, feminist Nature has decreed that mooselings are to be born
WITHOUT antlers.
That will complicate the calculations, of course, but I will make due note of this in the e-mail I'm sending to professor Stylegar.
I'll let you know when he responds. :smile: