This is Berk.
Its gotten colder as the years have gone by, but we've all grown as a tribe.
You see, three years ago, I almost lost everything dear to me.
But I learnt the hard way, that you cannot trust everyone, not even your own family.
Even th...
I'm back after a long, long few weeks. I'm so sorry for the delay in this chapter. I was insanely busy, going through some personal stuff and just lost my mojo to write!
But I am back! And this chapter might/might not make up for it (if it doesn't I apologise).
Okay, so...a little (or long) history lesson for you which is relevant for the chapter.
Anyway, we all know that Vikings came from Scandinavia (Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden). However, Scandinavian history is quite hard in understanding. I type in one thing and something completely different appears.
So let me try and explain this as easily as I can from what I could gather but I'll only tell you about Norway and Sweden as both of them are mentioned in this chapter.
- 'Sweden' was called 'Svitjod' . The actual age of the Kingdom is unknown (estimated between 500-1200AD) but it was originally four self-governing provinces; Svealand, Gotaland, Norrland and Osterland. Most people lived in Svealand and Gotaland and the northern borders were unknown. The provinces of Scania, Halland, Bahuslan and Blekinge belonged to the Danes. A King was said to rule over all of the country but each province had an Earl and the different cities/villages had chiefs (think like a mayor). The map below is keyed as such; white stands for the Swedes; the light green is a mix of Swedes, Danes and Norwegians and the green is either Norwegian (in the north) or Danish (in the south);
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- 'Norway' was called 'Noregr' and comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'northern way'. Norway is harder to decipher during this time, because it was not an actual Kingdom that existed, but was instead ruled over by different Chief (or Jarls). The petty Kingdoms were not united into one country until at least 872AD. As this story is set in 1003AD, it is already a united Norway. Here's a map. (It's a bit difficult to read but you should be able to see the Norwegian lands);
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