The Vikingr


Ok, very simple: First the Saxons fought against the Vikings, and after they've won over them, the Vikingr accompanied them until their last battle?
Why did he go with them, or did I get something terribly wrong?

thanks, guys.

Liked the documentary, although it was low-budget and surely contained some historic inaccuracies.
At first it seemed as if we had a small club of history fanatics who tried to reinvent history within their own little re-build Saxon camp, but the pace picks up and although some scenes probably were simply used as symbols, and not as the pure thruth, the documentary doesn't close out, without getting you involved.
Sometimes, the facts are not that important, sometimes, it's just about the greater scale of things....

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As far as I know, the Norse survivors did not side with Harold's army - as merciful as he was to the remaining "24 shipfuls out of 300" that he allowed to sail home- but his men dashed southwards towards William, raising a new fyrd en route.

What the film should have referred to accurately was the 'Danish' contingent of men (mercenaries? lithesmen? Danish volunteers or huscarls?) that Norman hagiographer William of Poitiers mentioned, and that had been a part of the English army since 1013 when Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard and his son Canute (1016) won the crown.

By 1066 the total of 2-3000 royal and earl's huscarls were largely Anglo-Danish in composition, with a few others from northern Europe in their ranks (Flemish, Wends, etc), though the majority of huscarl names in the 1086 Domesday Book were Danes.

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thanks for the extensive reply!

It came across a bit strange, I have to admit, to see the Vikingr fighting side by side with his former enemies.
I am a total noob regarding the history of the Saxons and the Vikings, rather a Roman Empire-time freak. ;)

cheers

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You're welcome!

We all enjoy learning history!

When the film '1066' comes out, it'll be interesting.

http://strawberryfields.coolbb.net/index.htm

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yeah, they're making a big thing out of it.

I am still waiting for another movie about the Roman Empire.
"The Last Legion" was more than disappointing, and other than the Rome-series we had nothing more after "Gladiator".

But with history being so vast and rich, there's probably endless stuff to be adapted for the screen.

(I'm currently "writing" on a script based on the events of Carrhae. Maybe I'll send it on one day...)

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Here we are in 2020, and the 1066 movie is now stuck in 'development heck.'

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