User:Dan Koehl/viking
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There seems to be different opinions about the term viking and what a viking is, or were.
I have so far found numerous articles where the word viking was part of the text, although there is no proof that vikings had anything to do with the topic. Since viking is a complicated topic, and under intensive discussions now and then, it brings even more confusion to use the term, where there is absolutely no need, and where the term is not stated in any written sources describing the topic.
Study the article about (one of the "famous vikings" listed in article about vikings, king Harald I of Norway. Text:At last Harald was forced to make an expedition to the west to clear the islands and Scottish mainland of Vikings. Numbers of them fled to Iceland, which grew into an independent commonwealth, while the Scottish isles fell under Norwegian rule.
- Can Harald I of Norway be described as a famous viking?
- Would the vikings describe Haraldas a viking?
- Would any No wiking, fighting against vikings like to be labelled a viking?
Note: numbers of them fled to Iceland. And then they started to write stories and sagas, making themself and their ancestor vikings famous and honorable.
But: from the normal scandinavian society, consisting of NOT-Vikings, they were expelled. The most glorified place in the sagas, Jomsborg, was probably only a place for (criminal?) refugees.
But they revenged. Today theres people like dab, who states (without source) that "all medevial north" are vikings, an opinion obviosly based upon icelandic stories and sagas from the expelled criminals who went to Iceland. (Here is an interesting link, comparing Jomsvikingasaga with the story of Arthur). Those stories are not approved history documents.