I am mostly certain that the Rus were vikings from modern day Sweden. They came in on the Volga predominantly, setting up Holmgard and eventually Kiev and what became Novgorod. The Slavic tribes may have had their own raiding parties (who didn't prior to the development of nation-states?) but they were not vikings. Vikings are Scandinavians, pagans (some in 11th Century were 'bispiritual' Christians), and professional sailors/warriors.
I'm from Norway, live on the west coast. And we have a big Viking festival each summer. Didn't actually think other places had one too. Nice! But York seems like one of the most obvious places except Scandinavia.
@Lynn15 I think the Orkneys and definatly the Isle fo Man which still has the Old Norse tynwald viking parliment.How much other than the name is retained from the Viking Era i do not know though. Somewhere else in the UK has a fesitival dating back to Norse time whereby a Viking ship is burnt, its called up heli ah or something like that but i cant remember where it is.I know people in the North of England still celebrate their viking heritage too.
@lakshen47 i know, and they were just farmers over here in the netherlands but there are a lot of saxon guys who became very inportant for our history
Great video, whish I could have been there. But it sucks that they have started charging entry, I remember when it was all free and they still had the boat burnings on the river......
Several of the viking organizations in Norway go to to York for viking festivals i know.
Norway:Vestfold got the biggest viking festival in Scandinavia, usually once a year at end of summer. The Norwegian championship in longbow is held there. There was also several englishmen there last time.
"their battle standards flutter bravely in the wind" I love that line. Sounds a bit Monty Python. How can anything be said to flutter bravely? Anyway it was a good day out. I'll be in York on Feb 13th to shoot another video.
The Saxon and The Viking are one people seperated by 200 years, they both come from the same place and their folklore is virtually identical, i feel proud to be from both strains. However i am not proud of this, the festivals in scandinavia shit all over this, as in they are much better, we have done our ancestors a shame by making a farse of a festival, for shame.
As a member of Regia Anglorum (although not at the time this video was made) i think you did do rather well in capturing what happens at events like this. I had great fun in spotting the members of my local group. Next time, maybe you should have a video of the Living History Exhibit as well. I know that people in my local group (Cestrefeld) would be more than happy to talk to you.
35 Accountants in Tights shoving one another does not constitute a viking / saxon battle, what a disgrace to our ancestors. They would have fallen about laughing!!
Actually Regia Anglorum is a far more diverse group. We're not all accountants. I myself am a member and i'm a student. We couldn't recreate a proper battle because we simply don't have the numbers and not all members can make it to every show. We do the best we can, as authentically as we can and we've been doing this as a society since before i was born. I myself am hoping to be taking part in the battle next year.
What? You want us to go out and actually kill people? Quite a few of us in Regia Anglorum are descended from Vikings and Saxons so don't say we're fake. We do everything the best we can.
Oh Gods!! this is the battle?? Some guys figth like kids. In Poland we have Wolin Viking and Slavic festival and there are true fight with haed shots, you should see!!
Hmm! I've never heard of the Viking festival before! Sounds cool, but I don't think we have a viking festival here in Norway, even though some of us are descenders of them..Great video though! I tend to ramble a bit, even when I'm writing, hehe! I think it's great that they showed that only a few had horned helmets -.- I get so irritated by that! Not every single viking had a horned helmet, it's just a myth!
If you look carefully you will see that the horned helmet in the video was a plastic one worn by a child in the audience. Vikings only wear horned helmets in cartoons.
I used a Kodak DX6490 camera. You can't zoom during shooting. Personally I think the picture quality is Okay. Could you expand on your statement a little? The phrase "this isn't very good" doesn't tell me much.
I'm not having that, to those describing our combat as 'lame' or otherwise slagging it off - grow up. I've watched the vids posted by our critics and they are all, frankly, crap. It might look good and dynamic but it's still pure Hollywood, the shield work is dreadful and there is no sign of anything but the most rudimentary technique in attack. We've had plenty of people come and try to fight like that and they end up flat on the grass very quickly.
You've got to love keyboard heroes..........grow up children -- none of us do this to try and hurt each other, it's about skill and safety, if you want to try and maim each other you need mental treatment, not metal weapons.
It's probably a very entertaining presentation, with beautiful scenery and tons of actual reenactors....but why is the combat so lame? Way too much standing around going on for my taste....and did I see horns on a helmet at 2:50 in?
What does Hollywood have to do with it? There are guys standing around like they are waiting for a bus or something. To each their own I guess, but c'mon really....is all steel combat that boring and drawn out there?
The lack of helmets is totally authentic in this video. Warriors without them are representing the Anglo Saxon Fyrd who would not have had the money to afford a helm. The warriors in armour without helms have probably lost them in the battle somewhere, I know that Matt (one of the guys in the duel) lost his when he was fighting. I left mine at home and felt like a bit of a chump for doing that actually... Cheers steveco for adding this. Still a great video despite what people say.
It looks like great shit. There are guys with horned helms, guys with helms from old Rome and guys with no helm, that cant be hit into the head. Whole battle looks like game for childrens with the wooden swords.
"Great shit" usually means a compliment here in the UK. But I suspect you mean it in another sense. If you look at the video there are no horned helmets. That's a viking myth. The swords are metal. I've seen them. If it looks like a game for children I can only apologize for the absence of blood and severed limbs. But this modern York and not ancient Rome.
waow, indeed the fights performed by your sigurd crew are "spectacular" mayhem 112, but that certainly not gives you the right to criticize work made by others. I was fighting there at york and we had damn great fun. it was the first time i did this, and the first time i was training with the fellows i fought with, and i guess i was not the only one in this case.
moreover, you and your mates must have been training very long together to set up those stunts you perform. you certainly cant question the authenticity of any kits here (cf what Swiftwivel and AelfricofCedde said).We were not doing cinema but re-enactment, the most realistic we could do. many thanks for the video steveco! and hail bloodaxe!:p
Sorry we can't give you real blood and death, but we like our 'enemies' to be able to get up at the end. BTW watched your vids....haven't stopped laughing at the kit yet
Actually the saxons used a variety of helmets from what the romans in the fifth century left behind. The norwegian vikings brought them home as souveniers.
This video rocks mate! I'm in it actually, wearing the dark mail shirt and no Helm on the saxon army. We fought so hard that day , but victory was sweet.
I am mostly certain that the Rus were vikings from modern day Sweden. They came in on the Volga predominantly, setting up Holmgard and eventually Kiev and what became Novgorod. The Slavic tribes may have had their own raiding parties (who didn't prior to the development of nation-states?) but they were not vikings. Vikings are Scandinavians, pagans (some in 11th Century were 'bispiritual' Christians), and professional sailors/warriors.
ColonelSanders666 1 year ago
In England the ancestry you are most proud of is the scandinavian one, I am 100% Swedish Viking!
Burkbiten2 1 year ago
Vikings FTW !
Macunator 1 year ago
I'm from Norway, live on the west coast. And we have a big Viking festival each summer. Didn't actually think other places had one too. Nice! But York seems like one of the most obvious places except Scandinavia.
Lynn15 1 year ago
@Lynn15 I think the Orkneys and definatly the Isle fo Man which still has the Old Norse tynwald viking parliment.How much other than the name is retained from the Viking Era i do not know though. Somewhere else in the UK has a fesitival dating back to Norse time whereby a Viking ship is burnt, its called up heli ah or something like that but i cant remember where it is.I know people in the North of England still celebrate their viking heritage too.
Saxonsoldiers 1 year ago
@Saxonsoldiers Interesting. Yes of course the Orkneys etc, they're quite Norwegian.
Lynn15 1 year ago
@Lynn15 up helly aa have since found out is a festival celebrated in the Shetland isles. info is on wiki if you want to take a look
Saxonsoldiers 1 year ago
funny old man :D
hail saxons!!
DevilDr 1 year ago
saxons are good, viking norse are better.
bladestormviking 2 years ago
hail to the saxsons. hail to holland, landscape of the saksen as we call it
reefdag 2 years ago
saksenland
valueoftruth 2 years ago
@reefdag You do know the the saxons were from modern day Germany, right? They just conquered parts of what is today Holland :)
lakshen47 9 months ago
@lakshen47 i know, and they were just farmers over here in the netherlands but there are a lot of saxon guys who became very inportant for our history
reefdag 9 months ago
that event was good i was there
jackho1412 2 years ago
Great video, whish I could have been there. But it sucks that they have started charging entry, I remember when it was all free and they still had the boat burnings on the river......
coleor 2 years ago
What the hell? A man with a horned helmet and the "Pirates of the Carribean" theme song... Not very Norse to me.
Wotenkeld 2 years ago
The horned helmet is a plastic one worn by a child in the audience.
Pirates of the Carribean? I dubbed that on myself to aid continuity.
Steveco 2 years ago
Ahhhh. thanks for pointing out the details. It must have been an entertaining festival.
Wotenkeld 2 years ago
Denmark had the best vikings in the world
snupers 3 years ago
Scandinavia got best vikings
alliancesuxftw 3 years ago 3
Actually Scandinavia has the ONLY vikings
Steveco 3 years ago
Well,they did get around y'know.
1helluvaguy 3 years ago 3
What about the Rusvik?
Concentratieprobleem 3 years ago
I'm no expert. Please enlighten us on the subject.
Steveco 3 years ago
scandinavia got the original vikings
NitroNein 3 years ago
If you see me there tomorrow you may not recognize me. I HAVE A BEARD NOW!
If you have a beard, be in Coppergate at mid-day 16th Feb 2008.
Steveco 4 years ago
York Viking Festival 08
search for york360
visitchester 4 years ago
Nice clip.. that land was ours for a 100 years
Krabbe23 4 years ago
Several of the viking organizations in Norway go to to York for viking festivals i know.
Norway:Vestfold got the biggest viking festival in Scandinavia, usually once a year at end of summer. The Norwegian championship in longbow is held there. There was also several englishmen there last time.
Vikingvinter 4 years ago
"their battle standards flutter bravely in the wind" I love that line. Sounds a bit Monty Python. How can anything be said to flutter bravely? Anyway it was a good day out. I'll be in York on Feb 13th to shoot another video.
Steveco 4 years ago
Why the hell would a viking festival in England be offensive to muslims?
grimhorgh76 4 years ago
Why would it offend Muslims?
Steveco 4 years ago
ha ha ha ha ha
woodlandsteve 4 years ago
The Saxon and The Viking are one people seperated by 200 years, they both come from the same place and their folklore is virtually identical, i feel proud to be from both strains. However i am not proud of this, the festivals in scandinavia shit all over this, as in they are much better, we have done our ancestors a shame by making a farse of a festival, for shame.
dutchycooper 4 years ago
The battle itself went on for more than an hour. Maybe I didn't do it justice. Views from the participants please?
Steveco 4 years ago
As a member of Regia Anglorum (although not at the time this video was made) i think you did do rather well in capturing what happens at events like this. I had great fun in spotting the members of my local group. Next time, maybe you should have a video of the Living History Exhibit as well. I know that people in my local group (Cestrefeld) would be more than happy to talk to you.
LadyExcalibur 4 years ago
Do you have a website?
Steveco 4 years ago
Regia's official website is regia(dot)org but Cestrefeld have myspace and facebook profiles as well
LadyExcalibur 4 years ago
35 Accountants in Tights shoving one another does not constitute a viking / saxon battle, what a disgrace to our ancestors. They would have fallen about laughing!!
gbalmforth1 4 years ago
Actually Regia Anglorum is a far more diverse group. We're not all accountants. I myself am a member and i'm a student. We couldn't recreate a proper battle because we simply don't have the numbers and not all members can make it to every show. We do the best we can, as authentically as we can and we've been doing this as a society since before i was born. I myself am hoping to be taking part in the battle next year.
LadyExcalibur 4 years ago
Come to Scandinavia (Sweden)and see the real Vikings, This is all fake :-)
SgtDrDeath 4 years ago
What? You want us to go out and actually kill people? Quite a few of us in Regia Anglorum are descended from Vikings and Saxons so don't say we're fake. We do everything the best we can.
LadyExcalibur 4 years ago
tourist poop!
toronto55 4 years ago
Oh Gods!! this is the battle?? Some guys figth like kids. In Poland we have Wolin Viking and Slavic festival and there are true fight with haed shots, you should see!!
EinarUlf 4 years ago 2
Upload a video then...
Steveco 4 years ago
Hmm! I've never heard of the Viking festival before! Sounds cool, but I don't think we have a viking festival here in Norway, even though some of us are descenders of them..Great video though! I tend to ramble a bit, even when I'm writing, hehe! I think it's great that they showed that only a few had horned helmets -.- I get so irritated by that! Not every single viking had a horned helmet, it's just a myth!
Yeah..I rambled again. Goodnight.
NorwegianAnimeLover 4 years ago
If you look carefully you will see that the horned helmet in the video was a plastic one worn by a child in the audience. Vikings only wear horned helmets in cartoons.
Steveco 4 years ago
of course you have viking festivals or similar events in norway, you just need to put some time in finding the best ones.
and if not you just have to cross the border and come to foteviken in sweden.
(btw, descendants from vikings/scandinavians exists more or less everywhere nowadays)
gimushen 4 years ago
Maybe it's the camera, but this isn't very good.
westernfilet 4 years ago
I used a Kodak DX6490 camera. You can't zoom during shooting. Personally I think the picture quality is Okay. Could you expand on your statement a little? The phrase "this isn't very good" doesn't tell me much.
Steveco 4 years ago
this isn't a good demo... even we dutch can do better..
aerodragonis 4 years ago
well maybe you want to go to russia cause you can buy there woman!!!
petrekeule 4 years ago
Cienizna... u nas to są dopiero walki.... :D
scavenlord 4 years ago
I'm not having that, to those describing our combat as 'lame' or otherwise slagging it off - grow up. I've watched the vids posted by our critics and they are all, frankly, crap. It might look good and dynamic but it's still pure Hollywood, the shield work is dreadful and there is no sign of anything but the most rudimentary technique in attack. We've had plenty of people come and try to fight like that and they end up flat on the grass very quickly.
AelfricofCedde 4 years ago
come to Russia and fight like a man, lets see if you talk like a man after it ;-)
zupantrzyglowa 4 years ago
You've got to love keyboard heroes..........grow up children -- none of us do this to try and hurt each other, it's about skill and safety, if you want to try and maim each other you need mental treatment, not metal weapons.
AelfricofCedde 4 years ago
man this sucks... the viking festivals in scandinavia and in iceland are much better,
Herulfr 4 years ago
Well shoot a video then. Let's see it.
Steveco 4 years ago
Got a Viking right here, hehe.
TheSwedishViking 4 years ago
Come to sweden and i will show you how to be a viking!
FylledaL 4 years ago
One day perhaps. In the meantime I'll live with the image of Kirk Douglas wearing an eye-patch in the film "The Vikings"
Steveco 4 years ago
It's probably a very entertaining presentation, with beautiful scenery and tons of actual reenactors....but why is the combat so lame? Way too much standing around going on for my taste....and did I see horns on a helmet at 2:50 in?
skallagrimm 4 years ago
The horns were on a child's plastic helmet in the audience. As for the standing around? Well this isn't Hollywood.
Steveco 4 years ago
What does Hollywood have to do with it? There are guys standing around like they are waiting for a bus or something. To each their own I guess, but c'mon really....is all steel combat that boring and drawn out there?
skallagrimm 4 years ago
The lack of helmets is totally authentic in this video. Warriors without them are representing the Anglo Saxon Fyrd who would not have had the money to afford a helm. The warriors in armour without helms have probably lost them in the battle somewhere, I know that Matt (one of the guys in the duel) lost his when he was fighting. I left mine at home and felt like a bit of a chump for doing that actually... Cheers steveco for adding this. Still a great video despite what people say.
Swiftwivel 5 years ago
Spot on, there is no way every warrior in a 10th centuy army would have helmets. My thanks as well Steveco, great video.
AelfricofCedde 5 years ago
It looks like great shit. There are guys with horned helms, guys with helms from old Rome and guys with no helm, that cant be hit into the head. Whole battle looks like game for childrens with the wooden swords.
mayhem1112 5 years ago
"Great shit" usually means a compliment here in the UK. But I suspect you mean it in another sense. If you look at the video there are no horned helmets. That's a viking myth. The swords are metal. I've seen them. If it looks like a game for children I can only apologize for the absence of blood and severed limbs. But this modern York and not ancient Rome.
Steveco 5 years ago
The roman helmets can be seen at 27 th second of the video. Someone is taking photo of two guys with this helmets.
Horned helm can be seen at 2:50 near the camera.
mayhem1112 5 years ago
The Roman helmets at the beginning were nothing to do with the viking festival. They were outside York Minster posing for photographs with tourists.
The horned helmet was a plastic one worn by a child perched on the shoulders of a member of the audience.
Steveco 5 years ago
waow, indeed the fights performed by your sigurd crew are "spectacular" mayhem 112, but that certainly not gives you the right to criticize work made by others. I was fighting there at york and we had damn great fun. it was the first time i did this, and the first time i was training with the fellows i fought with, and i guess i was not the only one in this case.
Husbondi 5 years ago
moreover, you and your mates must have been training very long together to set up those stunts you perform. you certainly cant question the authenticity of any kits here (cf what Swiftwivel and AelfricofCedde said).We were not doing cinema but re-enactment, the most realistic we could do. many thanks for the video steveco! and hail bloodaxe!:p
Husbondi 5 years ago
Sorry we can't give you real blood and death, but we like our 'enemies' to be able to get up at the end. BTW watched your vids....haven't stopped laughing at the kit yet
AelfricofCedde 5 years ago
AH HA HA HA HA,well said, kitten scrapping he he heheh
zupantrzyglowa 4 years ago
Actually the saxons used a variety of helmets from what the romans in the fifth century left behind. The norwegian vikings brought them home as souveniers.
richter75 4 years ago
Ahhh sweet, you got my very posh blue cloak on there!
Snake3yes 5 years ago
what a coincidence, i was there although you cant see me on this much, dark red tunic and no armour, black shield :p
great fight :)
Valshy 5 years ago
I was there too! On the Saxon left though, so you can't see me much :( The Saxon left ripped through them Vikings!
fsbritney 5 years ago
Good film, I'm in it ;-). Very close run thing, but a memorable Saxon triumph!
AelfricofCedde 5 years ago
Death to the saxoooons!
Husbondi 5 years ago
This video rocks mate! I'm in it actually, wearing the dark mail shirt and no Helm on the saxon army. We fought so hard that day , but victory was sweet.
Swiftwivel 5 years ago