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Victim of the Battle of Visby in 1361. Source: Gotland Excursion

The Harrowing Remains of the Battle of Visby's Medieval Massacre

The Battle of Visby was a violent medieval battle near the town of Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland, fought between the inhabitants of Gotland and the Danes, with the latter emerging victorious...
Detail depicting the unusual death of King Edmund Ironside as portrayed in a 13th-century illustrated Anglo-Norman manuscript of the Life of St Edward the Confessor. Source: Cambridge University Library / CC BY-NC 3.0

King Edmund Ironside Was Killed on the Toilet by a Cesspit Assassin

Having ruled England for less than a year, King Edmund is primarily remembered for his unusual death. In one of the most uncomfortable murders in history, legend has it the Anglo-Saxon king was...
Aethelred II or Aethelred the Unready sitting on his throne unaware that history would judge him to be unready for what lay ahead as the Anglo-Saxons battled the Danish Vikings. From the illuminated manuscript, The Chronicle of Abindon, circa 1220 AD. Source: The British Library / Public domain

Aethelred II: Aethelred the Unready, or Was He Just Unlucky?

Immortalized forever as an incompetent, ill-advised monarch by his epitaph, King Aethelred II has been viewed unfavorably by history. Over the last decade, historians have made moves to reinterpret...
Amongst the last of the Polabian Slav tribes to fall were the Rani who boasted one of the most powerful Slavic cult religious sites, called Arkona. This powerful fort fell to the Danes in 1168, when King Valdemar sacked it and toppled the pagan idols which stood there. Source: Public domain

The Polabian Slavs: A History of a Vanquished People

Not all of history’s tales have a happy ending. In fact, most of them are rife with sad fates and great turmoil, with the ruthless passage of time erasing entire nations. One of these tales it that...
Viking longship replicas at Catoira, Galicia. Did the Vikings also make it to Madeira?  Source: CC BY-SA 4.0

Mice Remains Indicate a Viking Visit to Madeira

In a recent article on the Vikings in South America , it was indicated how scientists had put forward an untenable theory to account for the presence in Chile of the Bundsö dogs from Denmark before...
Medieval miniature of Æthelflæd in genealogical roll of the kings of England 13th century.(Public Domain)/ Æthelflæd as depicted in the cartulary of Abingdon Abbey

Æthelflæd, The Medieval Queen Who Took on the Vikings to Save Her Kingdom

While her name is a mouthful, and quite a convoluted one at that, Æthelflæd of Mercia's role in early medieval England is rather straightforward. More importantly, the part she played in the conquest...
Bluetooth Before the Internet: What Ideas Are Transmitted by the Jelling Stones of Denmark?

Bluetooth Before the Internet: What Ideas Are Transmitted by the Jelling Stones of Denmark?

Harald Bluetooth survives history as among the most famous Viking chieftains, primarily because his personal rune stone has been repurposed for the Bluetooth software programmed into our phones, cars...