Vikings

Question 1

What where the Viking chiefains called?

Answer 1

Konungr

Question 2

What were three main social groups of Viking Society?

Answer 2

Jarls, Karls, Thralls

Question 3

What was the name of the Viking social class made up of powerful noblemen?

Answer 3

Jarls

Question 4

What was the name of the Viking social class made of slaves, criminals, and the poorest of poor?

Answer 4

Thralls

Question 5

What is the name of the Viking social class made up of farmers and craftsmen?

Answer 5

Karls

Question 6

A Viking woman’s main duty was to do what?

Answer 6

Look after children and manage the home.

Question 7

What is thought to be the boundary between men’s and women’s social roles?

Answer 7

The threshold of the home

Question 8

Why where Viking women typically independent people?

Answer 8

With their husbands so frequently away they had to keep things going.

Question 9

What did Viking women wear at the shoulder to hold up their aprons?

Answer 9

Broaches

Question 10

How were noble Vikings different from peasants?

Answer 10

They were generally more finely made and more colourful.

Question 11

What s the main reason Viking villages were built close to water?

Answer 11

To make it easy to unload ships.

Question 12

When at home, where did the Viking urinate and defecate?

Answer 12

An outdoor hole in then ground.

Question 13

Where did the Viking tend to sleep?

Answer 13

In long houses

Question 14

What is the link between Australians bedrooms and Vikings?

Answer 14

“Doona” comes from the Norse word, “dunn” meaning feather down.

Question 15

What is the “Oseberg”

Answer 15

A ship

Question 16

How long was the “Oseberg”

Answer 16

22 meters

Question 17

What were the Viking political assemblies known as?

Answer 17

Things

Question 18

Before the 12th century, Viking laws were not what?

Answer 18

Written down

Question 19

Which of the following options were punishments for those who were unable to pay the fine required by the thing?

Answer 19

Death or banishment

Question 20

Traditionally, what was the Viking economy based on?

Answer 20

Agriculture

Question 21

Stashes of foreign coins found in modern-day Sweden have proved evidence that the Swedish Vikings were trading as far as where?

Answer 21

Russia and Central Asia.

Question 22

What did the Vikings usually do with their dead?

Answer 22

Cremated then buried the remains.

Question 23

The traditional stories Vikings told about their gods, the creation of the world, etc. where known as?

Answer 23

The Viking Sagas

Question 24

The roles of Vikings gods/goddesses

Answer 24

Odin:
King of the gods; responsible for magic, poetry and war.

Frigg:
Goddess of women and the home.

Freya:
Goddess of beauty; rode a chariot, pulled by two cats.

Freyr:
God of Fertility, peace and harvests.

Thor:
God of storms and thunder; carried a hammer used to make lightning.

Question 25

Norse worlds in Viking mythology.

Answer 25

Asgard: Home of the Norse gods, full of halls and palaces. The most splendid was Valhalla, the hall of slain battle heroes. They were taken there by beautiful women on horseback: the Valkyries, Odin's messengers. Alfheim: Home of the Light Elves, where the god Freyr lived. Vanaheim: Home of the Vanir gods, an older group of gods, who, for a time, battled the gods of Asgard. Midgard: The Earth, the world of humans; a rainbow bridge linked it to Asgard. Svartalheim: Home of the Dark Elves, who live underground. Nidaverllir: Home of the Dwarfs, who live underground and were talented craftspeople. Jotunheimr: Home of the rock giants, who threatened both humans and the Asgard gods; their king was Thrym, a frost giant. Muspelheim: Home of the fire giants. Its ruler, Sutr, will set Yggrdasil on fire at Ragnarok and kill Freyr. Hel: The cold, misty underworld, where everyone except heroes went after death. For people who broke laws, it was a place of punishment.

Question 26

What were the characteristics of and honourable Viking man?

Answer 26

Never breaking a promise to a fellow warrior, accepting that life and death were decided by fate, being patient and cool-headed when taking revenge and facing death with courage.

Question 27

What is believed by scholars to be the reasons for Viking raids?

Answer 27

Revenge, desire for wealth, opportunism, necessity, desire for glory.

Question 28

Why did Vikings wear helmets with big horns on the side?

Answer 28

Viking didn’t wear “horned helmets.” The horns are historical inaccuracy, perpetuated by popular culture.

Question 29

What piece of clothing marked out berserkers?

Answer 29

Bear or wolf skin coats.

Question 30

To which god are berserkers linked to?

Answer 30

Odin

Question 31

What was a “Heaven scraper”?

Answer 31

Axe

Question 32

What was a “Battle flame”?

Answer 32

A sword

Question 33

What was “Battle hag”?

Answer 33

Axe

Question 34

What was “Foot biter”?

Answer 34

Sword

Question 35

Their weaponry and jewels tells us that Vikings were what?

Answer 35

Skilled metalworkers.

Question 36

The Anglo-Saxon chronicle tells us 793 CE was significant for what reason?

Answer 36

It was the year of the first Viking attack in England.

Question 37

Most of the records about the Vikings were left by Christian monks who were often the victims of Viking attacks. How might the monks’ involvement in raid affect their account of them?

Answer 37

It could lead to exaggeration.

Question 38

Who forced the Viking leader, Guthrum, to surrender and become Christian?

Answer 38

King Alfred

Question 39

What was the area of eastern England that Vikings could regard as their own as part of the peace treaty of 873 CE known as?

Answer 39

Danelaw

Question 40

Who is believed to be the first European to set foot in North America?

Answer 40

Leif Ericsson

Question 41

What is thought to end the settlement in North America?

Answer 41

Hostile attacks by the Indigenous people.

Question 42

In what three modern-day countries were the three most dominant Viking kingdoms formed?

Answer 42

Norway, Sweden and Denmark

Question 43

The expression, “to pay through the nose”, comes from what Viking practice in Ireland in the 8th century?

Answer 43

Slitting the nose was the penalty for the non-payment of taxes.

Question 44

How did the adoption of Christianity by settling Vikings influence their social behaviour?

Answer 44

Attacks on Christian communities stopped altogether, burial practices changed and disgraced-base revenge killings stopped.