Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Time for Battle



The Festival of History that I recently graced with my presence was a massive event covering history in the Britain from the Roman invasion up to World War II. There were live re-enactment groups there which spanned this period and I watched Romans marching around the site, planes from WWI have a dog fight (see the post below), people from every age acting out 'living history' and practising traditional skills, including weaving, woodwork, armoury and cooking. There were also a number of battles and I captured one between the Vikings and Normans.

Now for the history bit so pay attention! The Vikings, also called Norsemen or Northmen were Scandinavian seafaring traders and warriors who raided and colonised wide areas of Europe from the 9th to the 11th century including Britain. It is known from the old Sagas that Leif Eriksson, who was a descendant from a line of Viking chieftains and established the first European settlement in Greenland in about 985, was most likely the European discoverer of America around the year 1000. The name Viking meant a man from the area that was known as the Vik, which was a bay between Norway and Sweden. However, the term Viking was not recorded until 1840 and only came into use in modern historical writings.

The Normans were a people from medieval northern France, who originated from Scandinavia and the name is adapted from the name 'Northmen'. They played a major political, military and cultural role in the northern and Mediterranean parts of medieval Europe and the Near East, with the colonisation of Normandy (in France) which they gave their name to, the Norman Conquest of England and the establishment of states in Sicily and Southern Italy and the Crusades.

I have always been quite drawn to this period in history and I have since discovered that my heritage is from Norhtern Europe and that my lineage can be traced back to the Vikings. It might expalin my interest in historical martial arts too, LOL!

These two sides met on the battlefield and fought valiantly but in the end the Vikings won this battle. I enjoyed watching them and there were so many people taking part that it really did look like armies meeting to fight each other. As you cna see form the photos there were even mounted nobles to command the troops. I took many shots during the action and have put together a little slideshow for you to watch. I hope you enjoy it and let me know if you prefer this approach or simply posting the pictures.

18 comments:

MaR said...

Wonderful short history lesson! I loved the pictures too and it is a lovely way to display them. Specially when there is "action" involved, like in this case. And I see the "blogger" button, I will have to check this out! However... I particularly like single pics one can clik to enlarge to enjoy all the details...I know, I know: we are never satisfied! Do whatever your blog-intuition tells you, it will be perfect anyways!

utenzi said...

Nice slideshow, BK. I've not used the new video upload from Blogger yet. I gather it works well. I might have to start using the video feature on my digital cameras.

Michael K. Althouse said...

Either way is fine with me. I like the individual shots when I can click on them and make them bigger, but the slide show is nice too. I gotta go to one of those some day. That period in history has always fascinated me - possibly because half of my own lineage is a veritable swath across Northern Europe.

Michele sent me this time,

Mike

craziequeen said...

Ooh, the new video uploader - I noticed that recently on my blogger....

I can't believe I was sick the weekend you came to see the Company at Caerphilly - and we're so desperate for photos - hope you took some good ones.

Excellent photos, honey. But that guy in turquoise must have been REALLY rich...... :-O

cq

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Very Very interesting B-K...I love readsing the background history of this...And I think it is wonderfully amazing that you traced your Heritage back to that time and your ancestry...

The pictures are wonderful but personally I like seeing each by i=tself and then I can Click on them and get a real panoramic view....But you do what you like, my dear....!

I just glanced over at what MAR said....LOL! WEll, I see she feels like I do, but says..you do what your intuition says....LOVE IT!

Preeti Shenoy said...

It looks so realistic! Fantastic pictures.
I read to my children this book about Vikings.The book also has a jigsaw puzzle on each page and they love it.
Looking at the photos (either way is fine with me--slideshow or individual snaps) I was just thinking how much my children would have enjoyed this.

November Rain said...

:) Some years ago I went to Denmark and my host took us to the Viking Historic Museum... If you go to my webpage I took pictures of the old boats


If you can ever go... GO you would love it at the Museum and you would love Denmark

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Thanks for your visit...and you are right. It was very very difficult....And these were the 5 Nominees out of 44 submissions, so there wasn't a bad one in the bunch.....I will be very interested to see what actual gets The Emmy!

Anonymous said...

Nicely done.

Of course, the downside to the Norman invasion of 1066 was the William left the cookbook in Caen. Otherwise it seems to have worked out.

Cheers.

P.S. Thanks for the good thoughts. I'm going to go catch up on your entries.

Bernie said...

Good morning BK from the other side!!

I love the slideshow idea, I might use it on my 'new' blog, a 'fotoblog'... http://berniefotoblog.blogspot.com/
I loved the short history lesson as well, thanks for sharing it!

Here from Michele's this morning...

Stella Dean said...

I love stories with the photos. It adds so much more! Michele sent me.

Anonymous said...

That was one good history report. Great going with the slide show. Helped me assimilate more of something about which I do not know much!!

Michele sent me your way!

Anonymous said...

Wow, great pix, and great history lesson.

And thanks so much for your sweet comments.

-E said...

What is this, me learning something by reading a blog? Oh no!

Thanks for sharing, it sounds like the festival was great fun.

Michele sent me, have a nice weekend.

BreadBox said...

Nice little historical discussion there B-K: in spite of teachers in school I have rediscovered an interest in history myself, and that was one period which fascinates me.
(And as for your reenactment interests, I can see Skibo developing that: he is absolutely nuts about knights and armour!
Michele sent me,
N.

MaR said...

Michele sent me back to watch your video, Bob-kat. It looks like a slide show which I wasn't able to do with the video button :(

Sue said...

Michele sent me. Thanks for the great info. I too have always been drawn to this era in history. Whenever I read a book or a history lesson as I just did, I can really envision being there and seeing events unfold.

Roxie, Sammy, Andy and Shermie said...

Thank you for the history lesson! I always enjoy your pictures and it is nice to be able to click on them to get a better view but the slideshow is nice. It is your blog, so you should go with the display you think works best.