I haven't read it, so if that's where we find this law then that satisfies my question, but I still wonder if you're able to trace this back to the 9th and 10th NorwaySwedenDenmark actually the runic inscriptions were not always that brief, some were very long (it's actually how we know the structure of proto-norse and germanic scripts) Manuscript SKB B74 is from after the Christianization of Scandinavia which is when laws were written on manuscripts but the Vikings didn't use manuscripts until they became Christian. The laws were memorised by people called lawspeakers. Laws and treaties were not written on runes which is my point. The Runic inscriptions are very brief and they don't tell us that much about Viking history except for a few pieces. I might have given the impression that I have a negative view on the Vikings as Barbarians, but I do not, but the negative view I do have is forced out when I hear a lot of patronising of the Vikings. (writting in old norse using the latin script) and prior to that there are records of door knockers of public buildings being inscribed with runes which list crimes and their fines, such as the Forsaringen (from the door of a church) which is dated to the 800-900AD (the height of the viking crwydryny Yeah, I know about the Futhrak, but that's not what I meant when I said that they didn't know how to read and write was that they didn't know how to read and write in terms of manuscripts. try looking up Leaf F91r of manuscript SKB B74 which details crimes of passion. Ironically enough the runic futhark script derived from the eldar futhark of the germanic people which itself can be traced back to the italic scrips such as etruscan (italian).Īs for the law itself. The whole idea that the early norse people (and other "barbarian tribes") could not write were due to roman propaganda so they could claim to be more enlightened because they did not speak or write their language (it's like how people today make fun of people who do not speak their language because it sounds like nonsense to them) The earlist inscriptions in the norse language (actually proto-germanic) date back as far as 150AD We actually have a large collection of letters, official documents and gramical treatises in old norse runic In any case, the patronising of the Vikings must also be understood as a counter reaction to the very negative view people in scholarship and many laypeople have had in the NorwaySwedenDenmark actually there was a written language during the "viking era" (I use the term losely as the vikings were not a people but an occupation, viking translates as "sea raider") and there are many surviving reccords of written proto-norse and old norse (the language used during the viking era) which constisted of the runic alphabet (most commonly associated with divination and neo-paganism these days) written fragments of pro-norse date back as far as the 5th century while old norse writings date to the 8th century it wasn't until the 11th century that old norse runic was translated into the latin alphabet and even then the two alphabets co-exsisted for a long time. I see this all the time, whether it's about women's rights, democracy, abortion, gay rights, religious tolerance and etc. But I'm also always careful when I read or hear patronising things about the Vikings as many people are biased and want to use the past to make a modern point. Since women did enjoy more rights in Norse society than in the European society this does fit with women being having a high view on. That's not to say they didn't rape, only that this was not something the Vikings were known for. There are no records that the Vikings were particular brutal in cases of rape from either Christian or pagan sources. In any case, what Humon tells might be true for all I know, just like the part about Vikings being particular concerned about their appearance, but just like that comic she doesn't tell how we know this. I do know that Olaf Haraldsson II of Norway did introduce something called the Christian Right, no Americans it's not some Republican right-wing movement, it was a series of laws which said a lot of different things and one thing they did was make punishment of rape and female kidnappings harsher. I guess this must be the Viking kingdoms in England or something, as I've never heard of such laws existing in Scandinavia. The Vikings didn't write down the laws until the introduction to Christianity and all the stories we know about the Viking society was primarily written down by outsiders, found in archaeological excavation or the Sagas which was written down hundreds of years after the introduction to Christianity. Sometimes I wonder where Humon gets her sources from.
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