Lars Brownworth is a historian, teacher, podcaster, and author specializing in Viking history, medieval Europe, and the Byzantine Empire.
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From farmers to warriors to raidersz to berzerkers to explorers, to Christian kings to modern day giant strongest man competitors 😅 What a ride those ppl had across history
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday — all named after Norse gods: Týr, Odin, Thor, and Frigg. In Old English,
Tiwesdæg → Tiw’s day (Tuesday)
Wodnesdæg → Woden’s day (Wednesday)
Þunresdæg → Thor’s day (Thursday)
Frīgedæg → Frigg’s day (Friday)
Audio books and podcasts liberate my eyes. My eyes tired from 9 hours on screens can rest while I absord information through the original learning tool - the ears. I can also walk, knit, paint, craft, concoct, sew, clean, assemble, cook, experiment while listening which along with some boring daily chores makes life a lot more bearable. I can also isolate from street noise and other unpleasanties. Keep them coming!
Absolutely superb conversation. Lex is a wonderful host, knowledgeable and curious in a multifaceted way, and Lars for me is nearly the epitome of a fantastically well-balanced human being and scholar. I enjoyed every minute! Thank you.
These are the best Lex podcasts, imo. Fantastic content. Only knock I have with these is that the side notes/photos aren’t up long enough for my slow reading skills.. Awesome listen nonetheless 🤙
As an Englishman living far away from my England for 10 yrs now in Edmonton Canada,thanks for this The Vikings & Norman history of my Island is very dear to me.Blessings from this Englishman,and thanks once again 😊
As a Danish historian I want to comment on the fact that the underlying background and evolution of the vikings that Lex is asking about cannot be separated from Germanic history, paganism and European culture and context of their day in general. As much as you cannot separate Denmark/Norway and Sweden from today's European context, you also could not separate the Germanic pagan Norse peoples from their context back in the day. What made them special is that they preserved the older Germanic iron age way of life from antiquity, in contrast to most other Germanic tribes who christianized. See, taking the monks words as verbatim overlook the fact that the Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Frisians and all the tribes in present day Germany were all related peoples to the Norse, who knew perfectly well about each other, and of course the people who inhabited the Norse lands. The Norse of course spoke a language closely related to old Anglo-Saxon, and even the oldest story we have in old Anglo-Saxon, is Beowulf. A story about a Swede (geat/goth) who helps a Danish king.
There was an element of a religious wars, against the christianized former brethren peoples, which is missing from this Lex epis
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See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
0:00 - Episode highlight
1:17 - Introduction
2:37 - The start of the Viking Age
12:30 - Viking military strategy, tactics & technology
26:13 - Ragnar Lothbrok
35:40 - The Great Heathen Army
40:23 - Rollo and Normandy
50:34 - Viking religion and Valhalla
1:01:06 - Viking explorers
1:06:13 - Vikings in North America
1:19:35 - Vikings in the East
1:39:14 - Byzantine Empire
1:47:57 - History and human nature
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Tiwesdæg → Tiw’s day (Tuesday)
Wodnesdæg → Woden’s day (Wednesday)
Þunresdæg → Thor’s day (Thursday)
Frīgedæg → Frigg’s day (Friday)
There was an element of a religious wars, against the christianized former brethren peoples, which is missing from this Lex epis
See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
0:00 - Episode highlight
1:17 - Introduction
2:37 - The start of the Viking Age
12:30 - Viking military strategy, tactics & technology
26:13 - Ragnar Lothbrok
35:40 - The Great Heathen Army
40:23 - Rollo and Normandy
50:34 - Viking religion and Valhalla
1:01:06 - Viking explorers
1:06:13 - Vikings in North America
1:19:35 - Vikings in the East
1:39:14 - Byzantine Empire
1:47:57 - History and human nature
Transcript:
lexfridman.com/lars-brownworth-transcript
CONTACT LEX:
Feedback - give feedback to Lex: lexfridman.com/survey
AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: lexfridman.com/ama
Hiring - join our team: lexfridman.com/hiring
Other - other ways to get in touch: lexfridman.com/contact
EPISODE LINKS:
Lars's Website: larsbrownworth.com/
The Sea Wolves (book): www.amazon.com/Sea-Wolves-History-Vikings/dp/19099…
Lars's Books: amzn.to/4sHY0xw
12 Byzantine Rulers Podcast : 12byzantinerulers.com/
Norman Centuries Podcast: apple.co/4sgSxNi
SPONSORS:
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get disc