Vikings and the European economic crisis

As you well know, history has been written by the victorious, but in the particular case of the Vikings, history was written by their victims. As such, the Vikings have been portrayed as brutal, bloodthirsty barbarians, and so their terrible reputation went on even to our days. Fortunately, with the help of Archaeology and the profound study of the historical records, we now know that the Vikings weren't as brutal mindless barbarians as they have been portrayed.

The image we have today of the Vikings is both wildly off the mark, and ignores the major contributions they made in shaping Europe during the Middle Ages - or what we know nowadays as the European continent. Not only the Vikings are completely misunderstood, but they may have also saved Europe.

The Vikings were not so selective about the places they wanted to raid, but the treasures and ransom achieved by attacking monasteries resulted in the Vikings being relegated to the “vicious barbarian” category of history. The monks in those monasteries were the only historians around at that time, for the christian church had the monopoly on writing in that time, and so all the records concerning the vikings, were made by the terrified priests and monks. Since the Vikings attacked those with a monopoly on writing, all of their deeds concerning their victims have gone down in history, and so they became known as the infamous, irrational, and bloodthirsty murderers.

One of the reasons the Vikings are viewed so negatively is that their violence could seem wanton or irrational. Part of that lies in the lack of documentation of what the Vikings actually did during their raids. To many at the time, clerics in particular, attacking a monastery or church would have seemed irrational and an act of such evilness that only "Devil worshipers" could perform such a thing. Those who documented the raids, which were usually monks, had something to be gained by playing up the Vikings’ violence against religious figures, and they often resorted to broad, generic rhetoric about the “devastation” and “destruction” without specific detail. Also, some of the documentations we are left with were written centuries after the events, often without the true knowledge of the events, only by listening the accounts from generation to generation; we know that people always add something to the tales to enhance its importance.

It is important to take note that the Vikings were acting completely rationally with their raids. These men were not addicted to violence, the treasure gained from the raids was used by chieftains in the complex and even poetic gift-giving system of the Viking halls; it was no different than what Charlemagne did.

The contemporary ruler Charlemagne is today generally extolled as the founding father of Europe. France and Germany compete about who has the greatest right to claim him as their national founder; Charlemagne was the cultured hero of that age.

Charlemagne treated Saxony like his own personal punching bag. One day in the year of 782, Charlemagne ordered no fewer than 4,500 Saxons to be decapitated because they were oath-breakers. Meanwhile, because they attacked those who would control the written record, the Viking execution of 111 prisoners in the year of 845 lives on in infamy. Germany is so quick to extol Charlemagne, when their Saxon ancestors were among the longest-suffering of Charlemagne’s victims.

Charlemagne’s wars on his neighbors were not dissimilar from Viking raids in that their primary purpose, particularly the raids of Avar and Pavia, was booty for his currency-starved empire.

 Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, all of Europe faltered as trade and commerce dried up. While things had picked up by the height of the Viking era in the 9th and 10th centuries, two things were holding the region back. One was a negative balance of trade in Charlemagne’s kingdom and the region as a whole. This was largely due to currency being made of silver and gold, but the precious metals came from the East. The second factor was that in regions where currency was not used, the system in place was the barter system, which limits economic growth. However, the Vikings solved these problems in two ways:

The first, and less significant one, is that by attacking the monasteries and churches, the Vikings tapped into the sole major untouched source of precious metals in Europe. Those riches did not disappear, as the Vikings were well integrated in the European trade network. They used it to buy anything from Frankish swords or turn them into coins for the chieftains of the Scandinavian kingdoms set up in England and Ireland. More important than that, the early medieval resurgence of commerce in western Europe was the central Asian silver that Scandinavian merchants brought to Europe. The trade network of the Vikings stretched from Greenland and Iceland in the west all the way to the caliphate and Bolghar in the east. The Vikings prodigious exports, mainly fur and slave. The economic recovery in Europe was during the Viking Age.

About Culture

The thing that distinguishes and differentiates an ethnic group, it is not the colour of their skin, but their original culture. Culture encompasses a set of features that identify the humans beings from a specific region, those features are, religion, beliefs, spirituality, gastronomy, architecture, history, geographical factors, arts and language. Everything influences the humans, even the seasons of the year.A good example of a country rich in history and culture is, Portugal, where many diferent people and many diferent cultures had passed and left their permanent mark within each individual, just like the many tribes of the Lusitans. whose architecture differs greatly from north to south, for geographical and seasonal reasons.These tribes were strongly influenced, from the north to the center and into the coastline of Portugal, by the germanic people, such as the Celts, Vandals ( Wandalns ), Saxons, Vikings, Swabians and the Visigoths, that leaft their mark among the Lusitanian people, archaeological and  religious marks, and the Romans had a great influence on Portugal as well, particularly in the creation and expansion of the cities of Lisbon and OPorto, and the Romans in turn, have adopted the Lusitan Pagan Gods.
Portugal was also influenced by the Arabian people, that forever changed the concept of agriculture in Portugal, in the regions further south, and still today, their architecture is still visible in the regions of Algarve.

Every people, every tribe, has their own culture, that is evolving and changing and shapin over the course of history, but always influenced by others, with the help of trade, war and politics, but these influences are not natural, these influences occur due to forcing others to change. Many people have lost their cultures due to the implementation of values ​​and rules that were not theirs, and the biggest exemple of that in the human history is, the coming of Christianity, that forcibly opened the way to the regions of Europe, forcing everyone to adopt these religious beliefs, and this had strong effects on the loss of identity of every men and women in Europe, and this loss took place because freedom was plucked from each individual, was forgotten and was not respected.The essence of each individual, his own soul, his character and personality, are influenced by culture and what they have acquired from other cultures and coexistence and study of the same.
A culture only exists if freedom is maintained, for each people anywhere in the world, because taking away freedom of being what we have always been, is the biggest factor in the extinction of an ethnic group and the loss of cultures and customs.

Arith Härger

Tiwaz

"Tiw is a guiding star, well does it keep faith with princes. It is ever on a course over the mists of night and never fails."
                                                                       
                                                          "The Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem"
"Tyr is one-handed among the gods and leaving of wolf and king of temples."
                                                                       
                                                          "The icelandic rune poem"
 
Tiwaz is also given as Teiwaz. To the Norse pf Scandinavia and Iceland, the rune was known as Tyr, while to the Saxons it was Tiw.
In the comon alphabet, this is the letter "T".
This rune is symbolocally connected with the North Star, which "never fails", and with vows and unbreakable oaths. The custom of holding up one's right hand while taking an oath is derived from the story of Tyr. The trees of Tiwaz are the mighty oak and the hazel. The spear is also a symbol of Tiwaz, as might be expected, since the rune represents the god of war.
The shape of the rune suggests the unvarying compass neddle, too.



Upright Meaning:

Binding oaths are indicated by Tiwaz. This may seem paradoxical, since Tiwaz broke his oath to the wolf, yet the oath was made under duress and he had good reasons to lie.
A worthy promise, made under the right conditions and for honourable reasons, should, and indeed must, be kept. Marriage vows are a case in point. Tiwaz is thought to signify lasting love, and its appearance denotes a bond that, once made, cannot be broken. However, Tiwaz is also an agressively masculine rune, so it tends to favour men rather than the women, Any relationship question that is answered by Tiwaz shows that passions will run riot because two strong-minded people will be involved. While sex will never be boring, the danger of jealousy will always be present. If the person asking the question is a woman, Tiwaz suggests that a strong and handsome man will love her fiercely and that she may have to sacrifice some thing major in her life to ensure that her attachment to him remains strong. However, once that has been done, the relationship will prosper. Love will be steadfast, or, as Shakespeare described it, "as constant as the northern star".
Tiwaz also indicates success in business and sports. It suggests that legal decisions will go in your favour, too. In these matters, as in affairs of the heart, an unshakeable conviction that what you are doing is right will give you streangth of purpose to succeed.


Inverted Meaning:

 
Selfishness, dishonourable actions and turning one's back on responsibilities are suggested when Tiwaz is inverted. Women should not trust their men so readily, because in this position the rune often denotes a shallow relationship.




Body Part: Immune system and thymus gland.
Associated Maladies: Diseases of the immune system. Lowered immunities. Allergies.
Action: Attacking.
Solution: Do everything you can to support the immune system.