Random Historically Inaccurate Details From History Channel's 'Vikings' (11 items)

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  (#10) Soldiers Of Wessex Wear Italian Helmets Seven Centuries Ahead Of Their Time

  If you don’t have an issue with how fashion has progressed throughout history, this minor historical inaccuracy might not bother you. But a true history buff should be annoyed with how the show depicts the soldiers of Wessex. In the land of King Egbert's rule, soldiers can be seen wearing helmets that not only didn’t exist during the period (they came about 700 years later), but also were designed in Italy, not England.

  See, what the soldiers of Wessex wear in the show are burgonets of an Italian style that came into existence in the 16th century and became particularly popular in Renaissance Florence. 
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  (#4) The Show’s Geography Is All Over The Place (Except Its Actual Location)

  According to the Old Norse poetry and sagas from the Viking Age, the real Ragnar Lodbrok was the son of the Swedish King Sigurd Hring and a relative of the Danish king Gudfred. Logically, he probably lived in Sweden or Denmark. However, in the series, Ragnar’s kingdom is located in a deep fjord that looks exactly like the ones you would find on the west coast of Norway. What complicates things even more is that Denmark and Sweden do not have fjords like the one in the series.

  In the eighth episode of the first season, viewers see Uppsala for the first time, and the temple of Odin is shown as a wooden stave church in the mountains. In reality, the temple was actually situated on flat land, while stave churches were a hallmark of Christian architecture from the 11th century onward. After spotting these geographical inaccuracies, the fact that the Vikings refer to the British Isles as “England” when this name didn’t even exist at the time shouldn’t surprise anyone. 
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  (#8) Christians Didn’t Use Crucifixion As Punishment Or Execution

  Many significant things took place in the fourth episode of Season 2, including Athelstan’s crucifixion, which, no matter how you look at it, is WRONG. Thankfully, Athelstan didn’t die because King Ecbert ultimately saved his life, but it's likely the case that - because of that wildly inaccurate scene - the show lost many religious fans. See, no matter how hard you might try, you won’t find a single recorded incident of the early Church in Britain using crucifixion as a tool of punishment for apostates.

  And if you think about it, why would you place a heathen in the same position as the person you worship? Especially during a period when Christians were trying to peacefully proselytize the pagans all around them. If history's any indication, you wouldn't.
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  (#11) Saint Ansgar Is Depicted As A Failure In The Show (Which Was Not The Case At All)

  Many of you might not even remember the young Christian missionary who was executed after he failed to impress Queen Aslaug in Season 3. This young man was Ansgar, one of the most famous missionaries of medieval Europe and the first archbishop of Hamburg. Ansgar was cordially received by King Björn and became the first-ever preacher of the gospel in Sweden. He also organized the hierarchy in the Nordic countries and was declared Patron of Scandinavia.

  What’s even more impressive is that Ansgar succeeded in thwarting a pagan rebellion before returning to his homeland, Bremen, in 854 CE. Despite his immense historical impact in Scandinavian countries, the writers decided to portray him as an absolute loser who died violently at a young age. The real Ansgar died peacefully at 64, quite an advanced age for his time. 
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  (#3) The Vikings Didn’t Call Each Other “Viking”

  During the Viking Age, the people of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden spoke a language called Old Norse, but there’s no historical evidence that they used the word Viking to ethnically identify each other. This, despite the fact that viewers see them proudly calling each other a Viking throughout the series. There are various theories as to how the word Viking came to be, but there are no credible historical sources that verify what the Vikings called themselves.

  What scholars know for a fact is that the people the Vikings invaded, such as the Saxons and the Franks, usually referred to them as Nords, Norsemen, Northmen, or Danes. In reality, the word Viking became popular worldwide for the first time during the Romantic era in the nineteenth century, when the study of Viking-age history became fashionable. 
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  (#6) Viking Clothing In The Show Is Completely Wrong

  It’s an undeniable fact that the Vikings left very few images and written descriptions of their clothing and general fashion. What makes things even worse for people trying to recreate their clothes for TV is that archeological evidence is extremely limited as well. Thus, historians and researchers examining the evidence usually come to different conclusions. However, they would all agree that the Vikings didn’t dress with the kind of leather biker outfits that the show often depicts.

  Instead, they probably constructed their clothes from wool, using surprisingly complicated patterns with many pieces that needed to be cut out of the fabric and sewn back together. Also, they definitely didn’t limit their choice of color to black, brown, and gray as the show presents, but they instead loved vivid colors like blue, red, and yellow.

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