Making a Warrior

A model of the iconic Viking Cinema will be built on 9-10 Feb at the Big Largs LEGO Build, in Largs Library.

Learn about the architecture and construction of this Art Deco building, with plans, drawings, and images

Free but booking required: ow.ly/Tb6s50Y64Bo

Today's vikingism: the former Viking Cinema in Largs, Scotland, which first opened in 1939. Awash in art-deco viking decor, complete with viking ship out front, it could host up to 1,300 viewers. The cinema closed in 1973, with the building demolished a decade later.

The Japanese cover for an issue of Yowamushi Rollo, featuring the title character hugging a sheep aboard a viking ship.

Pages from Yowamushi Rollo #1, featuring Paris under attack by vikings in 885. The defenders are anxiously swapping rumours of a viking named Rollo, known for his exceptional brutality.

Pages from Yowamushi Rollo #1, featuring the titular character telling fellow vikings to be careful and act with moderation.

Today's vikingism: the 2024 seinen manga 弱虫ロロ (Yowamushi Rollo aka 'Weakling Rollo'), reimaging the foundational Scandinavian ruler of the Duchy of Normandy as a soft-natured, cowardly figure.

22 januari: Vikingverhalen Tijdens de eerste editie van Vikingverhalen nemen vier internationaal gerenommeerde wetenschappers ons mee in boeiende verhalen over oud en nieuw onderzoek naar de Vikingtijd. Het gaat deze avond over...

Tomorrow - livestream of a #Viking evening at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, with talks in Dutch but then at 20:00 UK time in English! rijksmuseum-van-oudheden.webinargeek.com/vikingverhal...

Various badges for the teams (e.g. surface sampler, imaging, biology, meteorology) of NASA's 1975 Viking Mars mission, featuring a wide range of cartoon vikings with horned helmets.

Today's vikingism: the various team badges for NASA's 1976 Viking Mars lander missions. 🚀🌕

Various badges for the teams (e.g. surface sampler, imaging, biology, meteorology) of NASA's 1975 Viking Mars mission, featuring a wide range of cartoon vikings with horned helmets.

Today's vikingism: the various team badges for NASA's 1976 Viking Mars lander missions. 🚀🌕

Today's vikingism: illustrations from Edmond Neukomm's 'Les dompteurs de la mer' (1897, published in English as 'Tamers of the Sea'), offering an archaic and heavily romanticised imagining of the viking presence in North America.

A (presumably) fiberglass sculpture of a stereotypical viking - including bushy red beard and horned helmer - holding a mug of beer next to his face.

Today's vikingism: this colourful sculpture of an especially jolly cartoon viking, outside a bar in Santiago's Bellavista neighbourhood, Chile.

This afternoon! Come along, or tune in online, to hear about a deeply peculiar late medieval imagining of a local viking past!

This Thor's day, as we're working our way through the vast ocean of data produced by the Great Viking Survey, we can already share that the number of variant spellings so far encountered for the word 'Mjölnir' is 58.

A bronze statue of two figures, a woman and a man, on a concrete plinth in a snow-covered field overlooking a cityscape (with a distant mountain in the background). An abstract bronze representation of a viking ship is seen at the base of the plinth.

A bronze statue of two figures, a woman and a man, on a concrete plinth in a snow-covered field overlooking a cityscape (with a distant mountain in the background). An abstract bronze representation of a viking ship is seen at the base of the plinth.

Today's vikingism: the statue Landnemar ('Settlers'), overlooking the city of Akureyri, Iceland. Sculpted by Jónas Jakobsson (1956), it represents Thorunn hyrna and her husband Helgi magri, who, according to Landnámabók, were the first to settle the area during the late ninth century.

A bronze statue of two figures, a woman and a man, on a concrete plinth in a snow-covered field overlooking a cityscape (with a distant mountain in the background). An abstract bronze representation of a viking ship is seen at the base of the plinth.

A bronze statue of two figures, a woman and a man, on a concrete plinth in a snow-covered field overlooking a cityscape (with a distant mountain in the background). An abstract bronze representation of a viking ship is seen at the base of the plinth.

Today's vikingism: the statue Landnemar ('Settlers'), overlooking the city of Akureyri, Iceland. Sculpted by Jónas Jakobsson (1956), it represents Thorunn hyrna and her husband Helgi magri, who, according to Landnámabók, were the first to settle the area during the late ninth century.

📹 George Alexis Pantos

The Gokstad viking ship in a protective metal case, with supports and rigging in place, before being lifted up for transport along a suspension rail into the new museum.

The Gokstad viking ship in a protective metal case, with supports and rigging in place, before being lifted up for transport along a suspension rail into the new museum.

In the wake of its older sibling last month, the 23-meter Gokstad Ship will also be making its 94-meter journey into the new Viking Ship museum today!

www.vikingtidsmuseet.no/english/relo...

A 60m-long Viking-Age wooden hall reconstruction in Lejre, in green surroundings

A 60m-long Viking-Age wooden hall reconstruction in Lejre, in green surroundings

A decorated internal archway in the Viking-Age wooden hall reconstruction in Lejre

The main internal space in the Viking-Age wooden hall reconstruction in Lejre, with various furnishing surrounding a central firepit.

Checking out the Viking-Age hall reconstruction in Lejre, Denmark

A medieval manuscript page from the tenth century, on vellum. Text in black ink and red rubrication using Carolingian miniscule.

A marginal annotation on a manuscript, containing the (abbreviated) Latin sentence: 'Eodem anno destructum est monasterium sancti winualoei a normannis' (translation: 'In the same year, the monastery of saint Winwaloe was destroyed by Northmen').

Very happy to finally see this in the flesh today: the remains of an early tenth-century calendar from Landévennec, Brittany, whose entry for the year 913 contains an annotation that the local coastal monastery of Winwaloe was attacked by vikings during that year.

Copenhagen, KB Thott 239 2°, f.10r

A low angle of a runestone in front of a medieval church building, with the church spire rising from behind a tree in the background.

A large decorated runestone replica in front of a brick wall

Today's vikingism: the replica of the Jelling runestone of Harald Bluetooth that was gifted to Utrecht University (Netherlands) in honour of its 300-year anniversary in 1936.

A low angle of a runestone in front of a medieval church building, with the church spire rising from behind a tree in the background.

A large decorated runestone replica in front of a brick wall

Today's vikingism: the replica of the Jelling runestone of Harald Bluetooth that was gifted to Utrecht University (Netherlands) in honour of its 300-year anniversary in 1936.

The festival ground of Wilde Furda, Elewijt , Belgium, featuring a range of tents, crafts, and reenactors on a green, sunny field

A white dog outside a tent at a viking reenactment festival

The Great Viking Survey is at the Wilde Furda festival in Belgium today, catching some final summer sunshine. ☀️ Don't be a stranger!

YouTube video by Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song (Official Audio)

Today's vikingism: the widely popular 'Immigrant Song', from Led Zeppelin's third studio album (III), released in late 1970. Its lyrics famously reference themes from Norse mythology and describe viking groups journeying overseas ('from the land of the ice and snow').

The Relocation of the Oseberg Ship Is Underway - Museum of the Viking Age Finally, the day has come for Norway's most spectacular moving project: The Oseberg Ship is entering the new museum building. This article will be updated regularly throughout the day.

At a breakneck speed of 0.008 knots (or 25cm/min), the Oseberg ship is once again on the move today, for the first time in almost a century.

Tents and reenactment at the Ishøy Viking Market

Tents and reenactment at the Ishøy Viking Market

The Great Viking Survey strikes again! This time at the sunny Ishøy Viking Market near Copenhagen 🇩🇰 Come have a chat about vikings if you're around today!

A life-sized Isle of Lewis chess game rising from the floor, being a large set piece for UK spy thriller 'Deadlier than the Male' (1967).

A close up of some of the pieces of the life-sized Isle of Lewis chess game featuring in spy thriller 'Deadlier than the Male' (1967).

A life-sized Isle of Lewis chess game rising from the floor, being a large set piece for UK spy thriller 'Deadlier than the Male' (1967). Actor Milton Reid is visible in the background.

Today's vikingism: the life-sized, voice-controlled Isle of Lewis chess game that served as the set piece for a confrontation between Richard Johnson and Nigel Green in the Bond-inspired UK spy thriller 'Deadlier than the Male' (1967).

Poster for a talk at 'Midgard Talks 2025' on Thursday 14 August: Text: Christian Cooijmans - Postdoc, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo. 'The Endless Viking Age: Global Perspectives on a Premodern Past' Abstract: The Viking Age fascinates globally, often romanticised or politicised. Yet few studies explore its worldwide perception. Drawing on the Great Viking Survey with over 10,000 responses, this talk reveals new insights into how Vikings are viewed and reimagined today, showing their enduring cultural impact across diverse modern audiences. For more information and ticket prices visit our website: Midgardvikingsenter.no'

This week, our project member Chris Cooijmans will be revealing some initial results from the Great Viking Survey as part of the Midgard Talks series in Borre. Do come along if you find yourself in the area, especially if you're already at Midgardsblot next door!

vestfoldmuseene.no/midgard-viki...

The medieval manuscript containing the Dane saga of Breda.

Alongside my article on the 'Dane saga' of Breda in MLC, I wrote a little companion piece for the Royal Historical Society (@royalhistsoc.org) blog, introducing this capricious, clumsy, and charming work of premodern imagination.

#medievalsky

blog.royalhistsoc.org/2025/08/12/d...

The Dane saga of Breda: A Late Medieval Account of Viking Endeavour and Vernacular Devotion: The Medieval Low Countries: Vol 11 Found in the municipal archives of Breda (present-day North Brabant, Netherlands) is a conspicuous but ill-studied late fifteenth or early sixteenth-century codex, whose contents are deemed to have been composed within the late medieval town. Although characterised as a local cross legend, the Middle Dutch work is customarily referred to by its modern moniker of Denensage (i.e. Dane saga) due to the presence and pursuits of ‘viking’ mariners over the course of its verse narrative. By imparting how a group of Danes found their way to Breda and established a stronghold there – refashioning a prominent local tree into a cross in the process – the work occupies a distinct confluence of historiographical, devotional, and literary authorship. Situating the Dane saga in its sociocultural context, this article explores the wide-ranging narrative influences underpinning it, whilst determining its potential authorship and intended audience(s). Lastly, as well as furnishing a new edition of the manuscript, it offers the first English translation of this important, idiosyncratic text.

Beyond excited that my study of the medieval 'Dane saga' of Breda is finally out (OA 🔓) alongside a first English translation! This anachronistic oddity of devotional/literary storytelling posits how a group of 'vikings' arrived and troubled the city for years.

www.brepolsonline.net/doi/epdf/10....

From last week's IMC paper, here is my handy general formula on the effects of vikings moving cattle by ship across long distances:

A green roadside sign for the township of Viking, Minnesota.

Black lettering on the side of a white building for the 'Viking Covenant Church'

Red-roofed building with the lettering 'Viking Diner & Antiques'

Today's vikingism: the township of Viking, in Marshall County, Minnesota. Home to around 100 people, it was founded in 1884 and named by a Norwegian Lutheran pastor.

A photograph of Voltaire's old house (Les Délices) in Geneva

Poster of event, Comparing Medieval Histories

Looking forward to discussions at today's Comparing Medieval Histories workshop, hosted at Voltaire's old haunt in Geneva 🇨🇭

A recreated late-medieval market square with visitors

Recreated medieval buildings and tents in a green outdoor environment

Another week, another festival - in the Netherlands this time no less! Come find us at VikingFest in Eindhoven today!