I love English history and the algorithm just sent this channel my way, and I'm watching literally every video. I think it's a matter of RU-vid connecting creators with people who might like their work. She's pushing 300k subs and healthy view counts, I think the channel is a total success.
Another thing to point out: the Angles (who we get the word "Anglo" and subsequently "England" from) were another Germanic tribe living in what's now Schleswig-Holstein and Southern Denmark, who migrated South and then came over with the Saxons. So even before the Vikings decided to give up pillaging and settled instead, there were technically already Danes in Britain.
And don't forget the Jutes who're from Denmark as well. They settled there massively as well. It's funny that most of the media and stories show the Vikings as alien invaders but really they were the same people as thoae they were attacking... even the religion was the same. Maybe the shared culture was why they attacked?
Saxons and Frisians in the south.Essex, and Wessex. Jutes in the east , Kent etc., Angles up in Mercia, North umbria, and (of all things , fancy that)Anglia. Three/four dialects of Old English. Essex, Kentish, Anglian, and Mercian. There is a large debate though amongst Scholars though. Some insist Anglian, and Mercian are one dialect. They refer to this as Northumbrian.
Except there weren't, because Danes refers to an ethnic group, they were Danes because that's what they called themselves, that's how they identified, and neither the Saxons nor the Angles identified as Danes, they were not part of the Danish ethnic group. It is possible that Danish ethnogenesis post-dated the Anglo--Saxon migration to eastern Britain by some time, because the first mention of Danes in Denmark is a tenth century rune stone, according to Wikipedia.
Very interesting. Up here we're surrounded by Viking place names, and speak with accents that are an ancient echo of the Old Norse, it's easy to forget that down south things were very different!
This is what I find fascinating about England and the medieval world in general, travel 100 or so miles back then and the people have a completely different accent, the dialect is different but you can understand it, the culture stays relatively uniform or just changes abruptly or subtly.
Yeah I’m from York and we’ve got quite abit of Viking stuff to see there including the Jorvik centre I used to go there all the time with my brother and nan as a kid lol
They were called Anglo-saxons because they were Angles (from Denmark), Saxons (actually Friesians from LOWER Saxony), oh, and Jutes (from Jutland). They settled mostly in an area called Anglia after them (the eastern part still known today as East Anglia).
Saxons take their name from a type of axe called a "seax", and I've read some historians think that "Saxon" may have been a descriptor rather than an ethnic synonym, i.e. a "Saxon" was "a warrior who used a seax". Similar to the way a "Viking" was "a Norse sea-raider".
@@michaelreid322this is a highly unlikely theory of the origin of the name Saxon. Everyone in Europe at the time used the Seax (spelling?) So why apply it to the Saxons as a name.
I totally adore your storytelling. Seemingly without effort, there is a rhythm and pace, driving me along roads and storylines I didn't knew existed just a few moments ago but now have no other choice but to follow. Thank you for the time, work and passion you put into these videos! Subscribed.
I find her presentation almost hypnotic... I think it is because she speaks very clearly and patiently, so the facts really sink in, as opposed to a lot of other channels where the presenters talk super fast , as if to capture our shrinking attention spans.
I enjoy her presentations also. Kind of like my favorite authors, I can consume her content much faster than she can create it & still I want more, more, more! 😂
Another thing I've always heard is that ancient people never called themselves vikings but rather Norse or Dane. They would say 'they were going a viking'. Which basically meant raiding to pillage and loot not actually pirating.
It was more "going to viking" but yeah we never did call ourselves vikings but we did not all go by norse or dane. Norse is the ethnic grouping basically we would mostly identify as being from whatever country we were from as we were(and still are) quite culturally different
@@pokeballs3 I assume that before Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark fully formed/united people would either identify with their tribe/region or just their village/town?
@@JBond-zf4dj The viking age is a time period, but the crucial things foreigners usually miss is that viking was an occupation. A viking is basically a seafarer or pirate, and only 1-3% of the Norse population were vikings.
Every day is a school day....Last summer I found myself walking passed St Olavs as the rather grim mantle above the entrance gate caught my eye, and then the plaque about it being Pepys' church. What I didn't know was its Viking origins. So thanks for making me slightly less ignorant today!
You're not simply well versed, you are clearly deeply interested in your subjects. You have a lovely, melodic speaking voice with an easy and persistent flow. I don't wish to seem forward, but you are quite lovely as well. All in all, not a bad combination for presenting videos on RU-vid. Thank you so much for creating these. It is appreciated.
I know this was two years ago, but as a history buff, I found this to be most interesting and enlightening. Thank you, you were clear and lovely in your presentation.
When I had a day in London, I met a friend for a brief walk during his break and ended up near the Tower. I was torn between going into All Hallows by the Tower or the Tower itself. I decided on the Tower, but I keep kicking myself for now checking out All Hallows - I bet that would have been quite the memorable experience.
Great video. Absolutely adore your accent. As a Dane it's always interesting to hear about one's own country's from other sources and even learn about how it have affected them. I have to find that Jellinge sten replica, next time I'm in London.
Love that part about Aethelred! That's hilarious 😆 🤣 And I thought about "St. Olaf" to "Tooley" and just wondered, maybe if he was nicknamed "Olly"? "St. Olly" is much closer to "Tooley" in my mind. But I'm no historian, it's just a guess
I'm an American interested in all the places my forebears came from. I recently learned that my great-grandfather's first and second names were Harold Rollo, two very classic Viking names and I've become much more curious about whatever I can learn about Vikings. Was raised being taught that I was Anglo-Saxon, German and Dutch. I've come to realize that probably includes a fair amount of Viking heritage. Love your videos!
I need to visit old England while I still can (I’m getting old). My ancestors from 1630 were born in Mitton, Lancashire. I’m in a city (Seattle, WA) that celebrates Leif Erikson and has a Nordic Museum, which I enjoy. I suspect we have Viking ancestors due to the red and blonde hair in the family along with the light blue/gray eyes. ⚔️
My alma mater in America is Alfred University. We have a statue of King Alfred on the quad and our sports teams were called the Saxons. I researched him and it only increased my pride in that school, to be at a uni named after such an incredible king.
I just found this, thank you! I'm from a town in the midlands that was once under the Danelaw. There are echoes in some of our street names, and slang words still. I accidently found out, that places that were under the Danelaw tend to pronounce "Scone" to rhyme with "Stone". I don't know if its a linguistic thing or a coincidence. It's just interesting.
@@Celcey24 No coincidence. many "Americanisms" are actually older English pronunciation preserved by distance over a few hundered years of linguistic change. The silent 'H' in Herbs is another example. When middle class English learned to read in greater numbers they thought it 'proper' to sound the 'H'
The biggest part of why Sweyn went SOOO hard at England after the St. Brices day massacre is his sister and brother in law the Jarl of Devon were killed in it just outside of Oxford
@@mortisCZ I share some segments of DNA with several of the recovered bodies from the Oxford dig. A large number of them appear to be from a sizable kinship group: They were all some flavor of cousin sharing identifiable and significant DNA segments across multiple chromosomes. A couple of them were related to the Princes of Novgorod as well... he had quite a pool of pissed off Norseman to draw on!
Astounding! I've always been a bit of an amateur historian and for the United States. In the past few years I've begun to find the Norse and the Anglo-Saxons absolutely fascinating. Last year, I found out that British isles are the majority of my heritage with a smattering of Danish and a pinch of Continental European. Thank you for a wonderful peek into this part of London's history.
Everyone in Britain, except for those from more recent immigrations, has Scandinavian ancestry (9% average) and also, unsurprisingly, West European ancestry. I don't know the percentage of that. So that mixture could be straight from Britain rather than a mixture in the USA after your ancestors migrated there. I took from your comment that you are American. Sorry if I misunderstood.
@@michaelcaffery5038 Certainly true, but having a background that's straight from only one location is actually fairly uncommon in the US and a lot of people will tend to have a mixture of various backgrounds due to immigration patterns.
@@wilhelmseleorningcniht9410 good point. I suppose in the early decades of colonisation towns and settlements could have been populated mainly by people from one country or region but be well mixed in the last 2 centuries. The mixture he described is typical to British people though. Very much like my own (English).
@@wilhelmseleorningcniht9410true. My own ancestors (most of them) arrived in America starting in the early 17th century, and they all married within their own immigrant group (Scottish) and continued to do so for a very long time. Most Americans have a more diverse family tree, though, I think.
I met and hung out with Paul McCartney in New Orleans at O'Flatory's Irish Pub and sang Irish Folk songs with him. It was so cool. This was about 24 years ago.
1st, having recently stumbled upon your bits, I must say I think you are a great orator. Regarding vikings I never looked for them in London but always assumed one could given the history. Having them all around me in Sweden, cairns, stones, place names, I now feel rather spoiled. I can only imagine how it must be for someone over in the states f ex, how it must all be rather academic, abstract even. It's not fairy tales, it's not even that long ago really. But it is at the frontier as far as historic records go and that makes it so intriguing, being in the borderland between myth and reality. An age of legends for sure.
Wow, I love how you put that! "it is at the frontier as far as historic records go and that makes it so intriguing, being in the borderland between myth and reality. An age of legends for sure." Writing was sparse, carved rocks were for special occasions, graffiti could be cheeky. Most history was still told verbally from person to person, and probably exaggerated, at that. Historical records' "frontier" is such an interesting way to describe that! "Between myth and reality." Nicely put!
I’m Cumbrian and we have cairns, stones and place names in old Norse our dialect uses words that are not like English, Yorkshire is the same, the Vikings made a big impact on our history and still do to this day.
4:32 I don't think Vikings called themselves Vikings. They referred to Viking expeditions as "fara i Viking" but I don't think they used the word as a term for the guys who did that, usually younger sons of people who stayed in Denmark or Norway. Viking as a term is more about what others called them, back then.
@@terranovarubacha5473 They'd call themselves things according to names or nobility ranks or ethnic origin. In relation to English they would call themselves Danes.
My English history classes, I am Australian , I remember as hot days with blowflies buzzing in the windows and trying to stay awake. Your presentations are an absolute delight and so enlightening, thank you
St Magnus the Martyr church at London Bridge/Monument is dedicated to a Norse saint - St Magnus of Orkney (Orkney having later been given as a dowry to Scotland by Norway).
I usually prefer to read over listening because hyperacusis and some spectrum stuff etc, but you have nice pace in your talk and no annoying background music or sounds.👍Also subscribed, keep up making good content to us history buffs!
Even Harold Godwinson had a danish, and hence arguably viking, mother. So the difference between viking and saxon kings was pretty much gone by the 11th century.
This was my first of your video's. You're so passionate, it's amazing, and full of entertaining and well presented information. Time to binge watch the other 32 videos. Keep up the good work.
So, not to be totally random, but in 2022/23 I read Samuel Pepys' diary, 16 volumes (not counting the indexes) published in the 1890's. And when you came to St. Olave's Church, I said, "Sam's church!" and was very happy to see it, happy I recognized it and happy when you confirmed that I wasn't wrong. That totally sparked joy. It's the small things, right?
Here's some more info regarding the Anglo-Saxons. They're called such because of another tribe that came over from what's now Northern Germany and Denmark: the Angles. There were of course more than just these 2 groups, namely there were also the Getinges and the Jutes, but from what I remember they were involved in England to a much lesser extent.
I live in London nowadays so I’ll definitely keep an eye out for these little echoes of Viking history! I’m originally from South Wales and I think most of our Viking links come from the Norwegians, loads of the islands in the Bristol Channel and further along the Welsh coast have names like Skomer, and Flatholm or Steepholm 😁
Dublin was just accross the water, and St Patrick seems to have been kyfedidnapped to Ireland form Wales by them - some ties also to the Kings of Dyfed who carriede Irish and possible Viking ancestry
this is just a video to get English but to look at the demogafisque exchange of English people in a better way. a lot of what she says is just bullshit. London is already soon not English. this is just sad to see! you have no reason to accept this! but it's probably too late if you don't get your balls back
holm is a name for a bigger island, and atleast in Sweden (but I would assume the other Norse languages) is still a commonly used word, so as a swede I would assume just from their names that flatholm and steepholm either were or are bigger islands. Edit: I just looked it up on Google maps and Flatholm and Steepholm very much are islands, and the size if islands that I would call a holm. That’s pretty fun
You are mistaken about angles. Angles where the Germanic tribes from southern Denmark south of the Jutes north of the Saxons. It is true England did get the name From Angeland meaning land of the Angels. But the Saxon and Angles where both going to England and that is why it is Angle Saxon because it was combining both tribes. If you don't believe its a simple Google search.
This is fascinating. (And fwiw, I think what you do works better here than on TT. There's enough detail, & your enthusiasm for history still goes over just fine.)
Found you recently and I love your well research stories. Plus, that cloak broach rocks. (I make those from copper, electrical wire works great as raw material in certain weights.)
Actual modern day Dane here. 💁 I live 15 minutes from the Jelling stones and have seen them often. That whole area is filled with history from that time. It is truly magical to go for a walk there. There are great burial monunds right beside the old church, and a big palisade wall used to surround the city. Some of it has been recreated, and the rest of it has been marked by stone landmarks, so you can go for a walk around the old wall of the city. Fun fact, the Vikings didn't call themselves Vikings. That's just what we call them today. Viking was actually their name for the raids they went on. To "fare i viking" meant to "go on a raid".
That was the first thing our history teacher taught us about the Vikings - that it’s not what they were called, it’s a verb! And we were so disappointed that the Berserkers didn’t go around like total nutters the whole time.😂
@@tommcconville677 what Vikings were called depended on where they came from, and when. The Vikings from modern day Denmark were called Danes, and so was people from some parts of Norway. The Vikings from Sweden were called Svear, and the Norwegians who wasn't ruled by the Danes were called Nordmand. The rest of Europe collectively called us Normans. (As in the Norman dynasty)
You got the Angles wrong, though... They were a people from Angel, the narrow lower part of Jutland that's now the border region between Denmark and Germany (though mainly in Germany). So Anglo-Saxon is the mix of Angles and Saxons that arrived in what was to become England. Apart from that, I love your videos. Cute, fun. accessible little history lessons - and don't we all need those from time to time?
What an amazing video! It makes me want to visiti London again. Perhaps revisit the Sutton Hoo stuff in the BM. Definitely visit those churches.. we have a Jelling stone copy in Utrecht if I’m not mistaken. But would love to see the London stones. Gosh.. thank you!!
The Angles came first, from Anglia round about the early-400's (when Rome was in the process of "falling"). Within a century or so, the Saxons started moving in from Germany. Hence the expression "Anglo-Saxon", a merger so to speak of two very different cultures.
@@stefansoder6903 I guess it depends on who you ask. From what I can tell, Angles tended to be somewhat more spiritual, maybe a bit more genteel, more on the reserved side. Whereas Saxons were generally known to be the kind to be low on patience, prefer war over debate, but also highly intelligent and quite often better-educated than the "average" Angle. Those things aside, there were of course similarities, insofar as having a strong sense of honor and duty, craftsmanship, religious festivals, etc. And of course both groups were overall able to trade and interact with eachother without much warfare between them. Maybe a decent distinction would be that most ancient Angles/Danes/Swedes/Norwegians could be roughly categorized as "Norse" whereas the Saxons would fall more in line with what would later be described as "Germanic".
@@FranzBiscuit "Norse" were also "Germanic" but just the northern subgroup. And Angles were basically bridging the gap between Central Germanic and North Germanic cultures. The Danes come a bit later on the scene when Britain is already being settled the Angles and Saxons. In historical writings the Danes are described as being related to the Suiones/Suetidi (Swedes).
Thank you so much! I’ve been looking for a clear and concise lesson about this for sometime. Seriously, I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what a Saxon is for decades. No matter how much I’ve read…I ended up more confused. Thank you for explaining this bit of history in a fun and simple way.
we have a “Goldthwaite” Texas a very small rural town and I used to work for a Cajun company called Postlethwaite. I have always wondered what language the “thwaite” originally derived from because it is such a weird word or suffix to a word or surname or whatever, even for English. Welp there you have it… Old Norse!😅 haha I always assumed like, French or something because of all the Cajuns and Louisianans I used to work for.
«-tveit» (pretty much pronounced as «-thwaite») in modern Norwegian is a small land or field between other features like a forest and a hill. Earlier it meant «small piece of land of some value», especially agricultural value. The word is not known outside place-names in norwegian or old-norse. In Norway there are thousands of places called something with «-tveit» «-tvet» or «-tvedt» or even plainly called «Tvedt» or «Tveit».
I used to drive through Goldthwaite on the way to Brownwood from Austin a lot, and being of part German and Scandinavian decent I immediately recognized the name. I haven’t been able to find out much about its founder other than that he was a railman who was one of the heads of Santa Fe Railroad, but I presume he’s of Danish decent as you can spot some old buildings in town that feature bits of Scandinavian architecture if you know what you’re looking for
How about that! There is a Goldthwaite St in Montgomery,Ala. I thought it was named after someone because all the streets in downtown Montgomery are named after someone.
I am from a place near Liverpool called Huyton-with-Roby so it looks like a bit of a mishmash... They found a Viking longship when they were digging out the Liverpool to Manchester railway in the 19th century.
Excuse me if I have misunderstood something but if I remember correctly the angles were not a subgroup of saxons but actually one out of the three peoples who settled in 'England'. Namely the angles, saxons and jutes.
I've been a long-time follower of your TikTok but only found this channel today! Incredibly well made and educational! Thank you for the great work and this channel deserves more views!
I’m so glad the Museum of London is still around. I visited it decades ago (as recommended by my trusty Lonely Planet Guide to London) and it was hard to find and empty of tourists. But I loved it and spent most of my day there - albeit a lot of that was getting to and from it and hunting for the building as not many people knew where it was who worked in the area.
The Angles actually lived to the North of the Saxons around the present day Danish / German border region - in what is today Slesvig / Schleswig and the most Southern Jutland region of Denmark. There is even a peninsula there just South of the D-G border facing the Baltic Sea to the East, which still carries their name: Angeln.
Simply, thank you for your videos! Especially this one of personal interest. I hope to connect with you before my next (not yet planned) trip to London. I love your presentation style! Filled with facts and info yet also a wonderful interest-provoking and sustaining manner filled with a delightful levity. Hurrah for your greatness.
I'm 21. I never found history engaging in School, it was a subject I never did well on. But your channel is hugely insightful, I absolutely love it so far and I have only watched about six of your videos. Hope you gain a bigger following!
Born in London, now in North Yorkshire. I was Viking-mad at primary school, and remain fascinated by them. I love that can walk in ancient places that bear Old Norse names.
I too grew up reading Henry Treece and Geoffrey Trease, and Rosemary Suttcliff. But I had an inkling that there has been doubt cast apon the berserker stories, in part because the most highly reported ones are much like those horned helmets- much after the fact. I’ll try to find the source, but I think it comes from having so little source material that it isn’t clear if they were more religious and less involved in battle than later epic tellers imagined. Though she did mention one of the sagas…I did two lots of study on this, but almost twenty years ago now!
I am native Dane and I’ve used bersærk in my day to day language my whole life. I’ve never thought about its origin 😂 just verified it with the danish dictionary and you’re absolutely right. I mean, I’ve used it correctly, but I’ve never thought about it. You usually just used it when someone go crazy, they go bersærkergang. Sorry, I just found this really funny and eye opening. Thank you 🙏
Wow,I can't believe there are records of all these Vinland Saga characters in museums. I'm a bit disappointed to find out I won't meet any Vikings in London,but it seems there are still a few reasons for going there. Very informative.
I remember when the Coronation chair was not behind glass, I think I was 8 or 9....I was surprised by all of the graffiti. You are correct about seeing an object without the case around it. Like when one tours any of your National Trust Estates, it is not just about a beautiful interior, it is that it was lived in, preserved...
Very interresting! As a Dane I've learned broad things from our invasions/settling of england, but it's always a delight learning about the finer details :D
I'm always a little astonished at how much history I learned through childhood reading for fun. "Mist Over Athelney" was a favourite - English children held as hostages by the Danes, who escape to join King Alfred! Exciting stuff, it was.
You look tremendously good with black hair! I don't know if you've ever considered it, but you might try it out full time, especially if you're ever considering growing it a bit longer for a spell. Of course, you might just be good at hair, since you wear short hair quite a bit better and more stylishly than most women can manage! Anyway, the color is quite nice.
I am so grateful for your excellent work. I admit I found this interesting because I played Assassin's Creed Valhalla and always wondered how it really was with the Vikingr coming over. Turns out the game is quite accurate. Now I know about these place names. So cool! Thank you! Oh and love the costumes and the funny sketch! 😂
I know I am late to the party but I love these. This is one of the few channels I watch where the first thing I do is thumbs up, and I am never disappointed. I will likely never get to travel and see these things or here these stories otherwise, so I truly appreciate your time. Thanks from across the pond!
I'm 'later in life!' but how I wish I went to English schools where History was so much more interesting. Our school here in NSW Australia, touched on Captain Cook, Federation and The World Wars.
Ok. I know I am not supposed to suddenly scream "I love you" across the dinner table, but you are the best. Are you calling my grandmother a liar? Thanks for sharing such knowledge and being so fun at it!
I enjoyed this video. One thing didn't sit well: the way it's phrased, it sounds like the Saxons came to England without and conflict with the existing local people. This is not supported by the sources I've come across. I wouldn't mind the skimming over this, except the Vikings are then positioned as a violent invading force when their general settlement behaviour appears to be similar to the Saxons themselves. The perception of the Vikings as only violent raiders and Anglo-Saxons as only farming victims is a narrative that thankfully has been changing as better understanding of trade and settlement within scholarship.
Hi! Dane here. 😊🇩🇰 (According to My Heritage a very, very native Dane 😂) I have to applaud your pronunciation of Jelling, you must either have been to visit or learned it from a Danish speaking person? The common pronunciation of Knut or Knud as we call him in English has always made me smile though. It really makes good sense to put that “a” in between the C/K and the N, because unlike in “know” and other English words, we pronounce both K and N, straight after each other. 😂 And yes, the largest heritage (along with the red hair and fair skin) that my ancestors left behind, is probably the language, not only place names but also quite a bit of other words. 😊 Thanks for sharing some knowledge on the Vikings in London. 😊
I am shocked that you didn't mention The Strand, which means "beach". The Thames had a sandy beach at this place, back then; and it was probably the best place to haul your ship out, which is what you would do with a hull of that shape, to stop it being carried away by the tide. Also the most convenient place to unload your trade goods.
Small reminder, the Angles (the Anglo in Anglo-Saxon) came from Jutland in present-day Denmark, driven out by warring tribes coming over from Sweden. It's partly what inspired Tolkien to write of the Elves heading West over the oceans as well.😉
I came for history, stayed 'cos you speak so clearly, even without closed captions I can understand all you say, even being a non-native English speaker. I love u'r storytelling.
I wonder how big your team is... You're so talented. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 5 of you behind the camera. If there's anything you need help with, I'm a TFS Alumn and would love to help with any larger projects you may have.
Your videos are really interesting. I'm going to ask you to do one (but not in the East End vernacular way)... about Warwick Lane/Paternoster Square. Charles Dickens wrote that he could see the roof of the Mutton Market from the chapel in Newgate Prison. My great great grandfather was the Mutton Market Manager in the former College of Physicians (there was a cutler's there too) on the site of the Cutler's Hall. He lived in Phoenix Court, on the corner of Cheapside. He is rumoured to have had the contract to supply meat to the prison, which is ironic because he had been condemned to death at Warwick for stealing sheep (commuted to Transportation to Bermuda - to build the dockyard for the Africa Squadron to fight the slave trade - he got parole). His wife survived him and the market, living at the Warwick Arms, where she died from bronchitis (a victim of a smog) shortly before it was demolished. Few records remain of this market, unlike the Metropolitan Meat Market across the road in Paternoster Square. German bombs destroyed Phoenix Court. Anyway, these markets were one reason for the founding of the RSPCA, and cited in Parliamentary debates leading to animal protection legislation. The Mutton Market was a few yards beyond the reach of the Met Meat Market's inspectors, so it might have been particularly gruesome. And as a convict, my g-g-grandfather could never practice as a butcher across the road. Anyway, a topic for you to consider.
Thanks for a great video. I enjoy your relaxed & natural speaking voice and general cadence. In 1993 on our trip to the UK we were up in York & I clearly recall visiting the JORVIK Viking Centre. I still have the postcards I bought from there 🤓
As an American I find this fascinating. Especially the Cvnt part cause yeah I can see the jokes already 😝😂😂😂 also my dads original name before adoption was Oglethorpe so that’s cool to learn too
I wonder what the word is in Saxon and indeed old Norse- was it possible as a joke at the time? It was certainly in use in English as it was by the time of the Canterbury Tales…
Wasn’t it spelled Cnut? Or maybe I remember it wrong. Its the same as the still commonly used name Knut in I believe both atleast both here in Sweden and Norway. It means knot, as in the ones you would tie on a rope. Like you tie a knot on your shoe laces so they don’t get undone. It’s a old Norse name, in the same family of sort of nature and object themed first names as Sten, meaning Stone in English. Just like you see some surnames end in Stein in some Germanic language speaking regions. You also have the old Norse first name Stig, which is just the common name for a trail or walking path. Some of the old Norse names were quite illustrative and fun. Knut, Sten and Stig, eh not so much. Here is my son, his name is, Stone.
There's a large Norwegian population in the state of Minnesota. There's a small town (population 300) named Saint Olaf, after the same Saint Olaf. Their most famous resident was Rose Nylund. If you do another video that includes Norwegian history, you need to include "The Great Herring War."
1:38 the four main germanic peoples who migrated to Britain were the Frisians, the Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes. The Anglian kingdoms in Britian, of Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia, were conquered by the Danish vikings in the 9th C, but were later freed from the Danelaw by the Saxonic kingdoms of Essex, Sussex, and Wessex in the early 10th C. The Saxon and Anglian kingdoms married in 927, thus proving the name Anglo-Saxon. TLDR: the Anglo part of anglo-saxon, comes from the Angles (modern day most northen region of Germany), and is the derivation of the name England. P.S. the 1:49 map is way to recent, Westphalia didn't exist until 1815.
Dear J I watched quite a few of your wonderful little videos by now. They are usually excellent. So I hope you can take a little constructive criticism. MY Danish sources would claim that the arrival of the people from their heartland in ANGEL, an area roughly between the cities of Kiel and Flensburg, and the River Slei in Schleswig-Holstein, currently Germany, are the ones giving name to Angelland- England and Angelish - English. And they HAD already arrived - along with the Saxons, the Jutes and the Frisians, BEFORE Britannia was called English! So it's NOT called 'Anglo-Saxon' to differentiate it from 'German-Saxon'. According to my sources, at least, witch is rather common knowledge among Danish historians - as Angel was Danish until the Prussians took it in 1864! Not to sound overly nationalistic, I beg your pardon, but considering the subject on this video, someone may find these (nerdy?) details interesting. The confusion about Angles/English and Saxon arose (as I loosely remember) when Victorian authors starting writing about the Norman period, e.g. Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott. In order to make the Normans (yet another wave of Danish viking ancestry coming in, this time via France) look bad - being French, after all. This or these author(s) started calling 'the original Englishmen' Saxons! This odd, 'historical ' split occured via these 19 Cent novels. The two major peoples the Angles and the Saxons were given each their 'area of dominance'. And everybody forgot about the Jutes, the Flemish - and even worse- the Celts. The Angles thus gave name to the (almost) common tongue of both people's (Angles and Saxons) - English. The Saxons were now, wrongly, written in as the SOLE source of 'the real, original, ancestral (non-French) Englishmen! The latter honour of cause should have been the various Celtic tribes, Welsh etc! Or perhaps including the /Angle/Viking/Danish people's if you're living North of Watling Street, the historical border between Saxons in the South and Angles/Danes in the North. So we have the original wave from (Danish) Angel (and Lower Saxony) In 5./6. Century. Along with the Jutes in Jutland, the neighbouring tribe, North of the Angles. Second wave of vikings/Danes (8-10th century) settling in and giving name to DANELAW (and other Scandinavian tribes/people's settling elsewhere). Noting King Knud (which the modern English call 'Ca-nute') the Great*. He had a double monarchy of Denmark proper and West-Denmark (England). Third wave was the Normans from Normandy, William the Bastard or Vilhjalmur, being a fourth generation Dane. He who the beaten Saxons and later Brits calls William the Conqueror. And if memory serves me correct the 'English' (that is Saxon) king that Vilhjalmur fought, Harald Godwinson, had a Saxon father and a mother of proud, Jutish stock from Isle of Wight, a Jutish realm. There's the Danes again (Jutland making up the major part of Denmark), what'd you know? * Speaking of the modern mispronunciation of Knud/Canute, I humbly ask Englishmen' to listen to some of their own Chauser, Canterbury tales in original Middle English, that is. (mentioning in passing that Kent was another Jutish realm). Well, Chauser speaks completely unproblematically! of k-nights and k-nives. So that is where you can listen to and practice C-nut. Actually the 't' would originally have been soft like 'the', so 'Cnu-the'. You're welcome. And, finally, Dear J, if you have sources conflicting with this, let's by all means have the discussion. Looking forward.
Thank you for your treatment of those issues. I also thought her portrayal of the arrival of the Saxons "lacked nuance," shall we say. "Boatloads of peaceful farmers showed up over time until nary a Celt remained. Funny that."
Absolutely superb. Through her explorations of British history, Ms. Draper offers fascinating insights into the rich and varied nature of human existence. All this is done with rich humanity, humor, intelligence, sincerity, and wonder. She's a remarkable talent. What a gift.
What you say about Vikings 'blending in' is generally what Vikings did everywhere. In the series Vikings they often say they are just looking for land to farm rather than make conquests and in Germany, Normandy, Sicily and other places they simply disappeared into the local cultures after a couple of generations. Perhaps thats why we perceive the Norman conquerors as French rather than Norsemen.