The answer preceded by *** is the correct answer to the question.


226. Which of the following is a task Vikings would NOT do to portage a longship?

1. Beach the ship
2. Remove the ballast
3. Lower the mast
4. ***Remove the gar strake
5. Insert poles or oars through the oarholes, across the ship
6. Lay out a track of wooden runners in the grass, smeared with grease and oil
7. Use harnessed horses when available

227. Which was NOT true about sorcery and magic in the Viking world?

1. Only women could acceptably perform magic.
2. Men who performed magic were considered effeminate, but Odin was considered a master of magic
3. A staff was frequently employed, possibly with sexual connotations.
4. A seeress, a völva, performed the magic called seiðr.
5. ***The person who performed magic had a diminished social status.

228. Which was NOT true about drinking among Vikings?

1. Ale and mead were usually consumed all at once, unless passed around.
2. Vikings drank solidly at the funeral of a leader, and at times, to death.
3. ***Drinking at funerals continued for no more than nine days. More was considered disrespectful.
4. Conical vessels were used for drinking wine.
5. In Valhalla, “On wine alone does weapon-glorious Odin live”.

229. Which was most likely NOT true about berserkers?

1. They went into battle in a trance-like fury.
2. The word means “bear shirt”, as derived from “bjǫrn” or “ber” & “serkr”.
3. They wore no armor, but did use shields.
4. They are depicted as bare-foot and bare-chested, but some were clad in wolf skins.
5. ***Viking age helmets have been unearthed decorated with impressions of berserkers.
6. Berserkers fought for King Harald Fairhair at the battle of Hafrsfjord.
- or -
7. All have been associated with berserkers.  

230. What is NOT true about the Rök rune stone?

1. It displays the longest runic inscription in stone, around 760 characters.
2. It is inscribed in a version of the Younger Futhark runes.
3. ***It weighs about 1,100 pounds and stands in Östergötland, Sweden.
4. The local village is named after the rock, which, in turn, is named after the village.
5. Part of the inscription uses a skald’s kennings, and part of the inscription is encoded in cipher runes.

231. What territory is the Viking Rollo famous for founding? 

1. ***Normandy
2. Frankia
3. Northumbria
4. Rus'

232. What is Gram a reference to?

1. A small unit of measure invented by Norse merchants
2. An important food source used in certain regions of Denmark that they relied upon to survive winters
3. Another word for warrior or king
4. ***The sword of Sigurd called Wrath used to kill Fafnir and capable of splitting an anvil in half

233. What color is woad dye when dissolved in the dyeing pot, usually? 

1. Blueish
2. ***Greenish
3. Golden
4. Reddish
5. Brownish
6. Blackish  

234. Who or what are the Einherjar?

1. Sámi hunters who repeatedly repelled Viking raiders during the ninth century
2. Volcanic eruptions that drove settlers from Northeastern Iceland
3. ***The immortal warrior dead
4. Fire giants who emerge from Niflheim at Ragnarok
5. Horses with flaming hooves who carry the Aesir across Bifröst

235. Which of the following are swords from Viking history and Norse mythology?

1. Durendal
2. Joyeuse
3. Dáinsleif
4. Tyrfing
5. Tizona
6. Leggbitr
7. Gram
8. ***c, d, f and g
9. b, e and f
10. c, e and g

236. What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen European Swallow? 

1. 5 mph / 8 kph
2. 11 mph / 17.7 kph
3. 19 mph / 30.6 kph
4. ***24 mph / 38.6 kph
5. 28 mph / 45 kph
6. 36.8 mph / 59.2 kph
7. 44 mph / 70.8 kph  

Gratuitous source link



237. How is Iron made? 

1. Earth, wind and fire
2. Ore, charcoal, air and heat
3. Trees, bog nodules, bellows and furnace
4. It falls from the sky
5. Magic (“any sufficiently advanced technology that is indistinguishable from fantasy”)
6. All of the above
7. ***Some of the above
8. None of the above  

238. Which of the following was NOT true about Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir?

1. She was the main protagonist in the Laxdœla Saga.
2. After divorcing her first husband, her second husband drowned at sea.
3. She wanted to go trading and raiding with Kjartan Óláfsson, the man she loved, but he refused to let her go.
4. Her third marriage was to Bolli þorleifsson, foster-brother to Kjartan Óláfsson. At her goading, Kjartan was killed.
5. Bolli was killed by Kjartan’s brothers. Guðrún’s sons got revenge on them years later.
6. ***Her fourth marriage was to þorkell Eyjolffsson, a rich man. When he died, she became the Jarl.
7. Her regret was, “I was worst to the one I loved the most.”

239. What is NOT true about the St. Brice’s Day (November 13th) Massacre launched by Æthelred Unræd in 1002 AD?

1. King Æthelred launched the massacre as a result of ongoing Viking raids and the Danegeld his kingdom paid.
2. An undetermined number of Danish settlers were killed in the English area south of the Danelaw.
3. ***Viking settlements within the Danelaw, including Leicester and Buckingham, were burned to the ground.
4. Border towns like Oxford were involved in the slaughter.
5. Gunhilde, sister of Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard, was the wife of Pallig Tokeson, Earl of Devon.
6. Gunhilde was killed in the massacres.
7. Thereafter, Viking raids became continual large-scale attacks. 

240. The Stora Hammars I stone tells the story of Hilðr from the Hjaðningavíg saga. Which of the following was NOT true?

1. When Hǫgni was away, his daughter Hilðr was kidnapped by a prince named Heðinn.
2. Hǫgni finally found her and the island where Heðinn waited with his army.
3. ***Hilðr convinced Hǫgni to take shelter and taunted her father’s hirðmen.
4. Hǫgni had already drawn his sword, so battle ensued and they fought all day and many died.
5. In the evening Heðinn and Hǫgni returned to their camps, but Hilðr stayed on the battle-field.
6. Hilðr resurrected the dead with incantations and the fallen soldiers started to fight anew; the never-ending battle went on until Ragnarök.

241. Which of the following is NOT true about Giants?

1. ***Giants are, most importantly, beings of tremendous size.
2. The word jötnar from Old Norse was mistranslated as giant and probably better translates to devourer.
3. Their driving desire was to drag civilization back to primordial chaos.
4. All creation was formed from the body of a giant.
5. Thor’s mother Jörð may have been a giantess.
6. Thor sired his son Magni by a jötunn named Járnsaxa.
7. Freyr the Vanir fell in love with a jötunn named Gerðr.
8. Surtr, king of the Fire Giants, engulfs the world in flames at Ragnarok.  

242. What is a Seax?

1. A musical instrument using a vibrating reed to produce sound
2. A collection of textile-based containers
3. ***A knife or short sword
4. A merchant of expensive goods
5. A procedure for firing someone from their job  

243. What is the meaning of the word Scramaseax?

1. Ship’s knife
2. Cleaning knife
3. ***Wounding knife
4. Running knife
5. Fish knife

244. To the Vikings, it was important to be healthy and without defect. Despite this, their gods were not perfect. Which of the following is NOT true?

1. Odin is one-eyed, exchanging an eye for wisdom.
2. Thor has whetstone shrapnel in his head, resulting with his clash with Hrungnir.
3. Tyr is missing a hand, losing it to bind the wolf Fenrir.
4. ***Freyr is weaponless, having given away his fabled axe forged by dwarves.
5. Loki assumes the shapes of animals, bears children himself and endures dripping venom.
6. Frigg enables Baldur’s death by an error of omission.  

245. Which of the following is probably NOT true about a Holmgang?

1. ***The duel may have been fought on a holm, a small island, nine days after the challenge.
2. Someone who did not turn up for the duel could be declared outlaw.
3. It could be a matter of vengeance, honor, ownership or property.
4. In theory, anyone offended could challenge the other party to a Holmgang regardless of their differences in social status.
5. Sometimes a capable warrior could volunteer to fight in the place of a clearly outclassed friend.
6. The combat would normally end on the first blood.
7. Berserkers abused the Holmgang by claiming rights to land, women or property, legalizing robbery.

246. Which of the following was probably NOT exported from Viking homelands?

1. Slaves
2. Walrus ivory
3. Dried herring and cod
4. Wool measured in ells
5. ***Silver coins and jewelry
6. Terror and outright extortion
7. Walrus hide rope
8. Furs and hides

247. What was NOT true about Ottar/Ohthere, visitor to the court of King Alfred?

1. Ottar was a Viking chieftain and merchant, “north-most of all Norwegians”.
2. Around the year 890 AD, he traveled from Hålogaland in Arctic Norway, via Kaupang to Hedeby before sailing to London.
3. He owned 600 reindeer, cattle, sheep, pigs and horses.
4. His greatest wealth came from taxes paid by the Sámi people.
5. Taxes paid to him were in the form of seal skins, bird feathers, pelts from bears, pine martens and reindeer, otter skin tunics and walrus hide ship ropes.
6. He presented Alfred with a gift of walrus ivory.
7. ***Alfred was disinterested in his tales, but his scribe took careful notes on the details of Ottar’s travels.
- or –
8. They were all true.  

248. Which of the following is NOT true about trolls?

1. There are two types of trolls: trolls of the mountain and forest and trolls of caves.
2. Mountain or Forest Trolls are large, dumb, brutish creatures who frequently use trees as clubs.
3. Cave trolls live underground, are smaller than human beings, and use their nature skills to baffle and deceive humans.
4. Trolls ask clever riddles that most humans can solve.
5. Trolls are repelled by church bells and lightning.
6. Trolls turn to stone when exposed to sunlight.
- or –
7. ***All of the above are true.

249. What was the main color of cats on Viking ships?

1. Black
2. White
3. Gray
4. Tan
5. ***Orange
6. Blue
7. Brown
8. All the above
9. None of the above
10. Vikings didn’t have cats on ships

250. Which of these was NOT associated with someone identified as a Drengr in Viking society?

1. Honor, manliness
2. Fairness and respect, at least for those in the same class
3. Willingness to fight, even if doomed, in defense of self
4. Brave, independent, self-reliant
5. Recklessly courageous
6. ***Male, since a different Old Norse word applied to women with similar traits
- or –
7. All are associated with Drengr
   
   
   Want to see the test without the answers? Click here.
   
   Sources (among many others):
   • Dr. Jackson Crawford, YouTube Lecture Series
   • Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology
   • John Grant, An Introduction to Viking Mythology
   • John Haywood, Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age
   • Judith Jesch, Women in the Viking Age
   • lifeinnorway.net/norwegian-trolls
   • Niels Lund,ed., Two Voyagers at the Court of King Alfred -
     The ventures of Ohthere and Wulfstan
     together with the Description of Northern Europe From the Old English Orosius
   • Fiona Macdonald, 100 Facts - Vikings
   • norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/
   • NOVA, multiple episodes
   • Neil Price, Children of Ash and Elm - A History of the Vikings
   • Wikipedia.com
   
     © For information contact Jack Garrett at info@vikingsofbjornstad.com