THE FIRST BATTLE

 THE FIRST  BATTLE 

Traveling in the Anglo-Saxon lands has been proven to be quite easy for Olaf Fine-Hair. There is not much of a battle against the Anglo-Saxons, well that is what Olaf thought. Olaf thought of them as cowardly people, not willing to fight their battles. As he settled in Northumbria with the rest of the army, the people of Northumbria paid them in gold to go fight their battle against these people called the Mercians. 

Olaf was not opposed to the idea, he got paid and he got to loot; it was a win-win situation for him. He and his fellow Viking men have been successful thus far. With the Gods, Thor and Odin on their side, there was no way they were going to lose to the Mercians. 

The night before they were settled to attack, everyone including Olaf decided to do sumbel, a ritual practice done by pagan Norse. Throughout the night Olaf and his Viking men passed around a cup filled with mead as they toast the deities and their ancestors for letting them live and thrive so far. 

Norse Marauders Wreak Mayhem by Tom Lovell 


The next day, Olaf and his Viking crew settled out for the Kingdom of Merica in 867. The Anglo-Saxons were not going to give up without a fight, men upon men were fighting as the Vikings tried to conquer. Olaf with skilled with spears and hand-to-hand combat. At that moment, Olaf felt the spirit of Odin that made him feel invincible in battle. As the battle started to die out, Olaf manages to take a few items from the local church; slipping away with a few gold coins and cups. 

The Great Heathen Army managed to capture their important city of Nottingham, making it under the rule of Danish Vikings. The army wanted to continue to take over, but Olaf had different plans in mind. 

He was ready to settle as he found the Anglo-Saxons land a place to be worthwhile. 


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Bibliography

 Primary Sources The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle . Trans. Dorothy Whitelock, David C. Douglas, and Susie I. Tucker. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1961. The Annals of Ulster . Edited by Pádraig Bambury and Stephen Beechinor. CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T100001A/index.html.  Grammaticus, Saxo. Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes . Edited by Karsten Friis-Jensen. Translated by Peter Fisher. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2015.  The War of Gaedhill with the Gaill or The Invasion of Ireland by the Danes and Other Norsemen . Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney . Secondary Sources  Ables, Richard. "English Logistics and Military Administration 871-1066: the Impact of The Viking Wars," in Military Aspects of Scandinavian Society in a European Perspective, AD 1-1300, 1997. Retrieved from https://deremilitari.org/2013/07/english-logistics-and-military-administration-871-1066-the-impact-of-the-viking-wars/.  Bidd...
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Introduction

This assignment was created by Brandon Molina for HIST 101: Western Civilization I at Northern Virginia Community College. The purpose of the assignment is to create an imaginary primary source in the use of a travel journal. For this project, the focus is on the Viking Age, specifically in Anglo-Saxon England.  The project is centered around the idea of the use of saga as Viking mainly used oral traditions to pass down stories. Vikings were not illiterate per se, they did know how to use runes. They did not write as much in a way to save the information until after the introduction to Christianity and the Roman alphabet (see Judith Jesch, Women in the Viking Age, p. 180). Olaf's story is passed down through his children and eventually written down to preserve the family story. 
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TROUBLEMAKER FROM DENMARK

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      TROUBLEMAKER FROM DENMARK Olaf Fine-Hair turned out to be a very arrogant son that caused a lot of trouble in Northern Jutland. Olaf bullied the earls and killing some of those out of pure boredom. Olaf was a young Norse man in his twenties, known for his fine hair, and arrogant ways. He hails from North Jutland (modern-day Denmark). His father, Harald Slender-Legs had enough of Olaf's mischievous actions and decided to send him off to learn a thing-or-two about discipline. Harald heard of an opportunity among them, that could save his son Olaf.  It was generational for his family to settle down to the English nation to raid. Harald has done it, Harald's father has done it, and even Harald's grandfather has done it. It was only a matter of time that Olaf was to follow the family tradition of raiding.  In the morning, as soon as it was light outside, Harald, Olaf, and a few of Olaf's friends settled for the Knarr ship for a journey that at least three days ...
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