Vikings in Worcester County - Hurstwic.org and their work

Higgins Armory Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, originally uploaded by Claudia Snell.

As promised in my last post, this one is all about Hurstwic.org and their work. If you didn't read the other post, I've included part of that post with a brief description of what they do.

Hurstwic is a loose association of individuals who have interest in researching and demonstrating Viking Age / Anglo-Saxon history and culture. The members of the group do demonstrations at museums and schools. Some of what we learned was that not all of the people we'd call "Vikings" were wild, pillaging barbarians - only some of them went on raids and only on a seasonal basis. They were farmers first so the pillaging had to fit into their schedule.We also learned that "Viking" is probably not the right word for them since it means "pirate" and as I just noted, they didn't all pirate and not all the time. So, probably not fair to call them all "pirates". Interesting.There's a whole bunch of other interesting stuff and events posted on the Hurstwic site. Below are some things I learned - go check out their site and see what you can learn.

Some things I learned from the Hurstwic.org web site

Norse society was complex. They even had three social classes. I always pictured them as the wild people pillaging stuff that we see in movies. It's not exactly an accurate picture. Most of them belonged to the middle class but there was also a noble class and slaves. Their society allowed for people to move from class to class - so you weren't necessarily stuck with what you were born with. Sounds familiar, doesn't it. Read more about Norse social classes.

A Norse farm would have been maintained by the land owning farmer, his family and extended family members. They all lived together in Longhouses. In earlier times, animals also lived in the Longhouse. Later, they were moved to secondary buildings. A Longhouse was a building that housed everything; living quarters, stalls for animals, workshop/tools - it all went in the Longhouse. Information about Norse living quarters is detailed on this page

The farms had both cultivated fields (hay, rye, oats, flax and a few other crops when they could), and animals. Cows, sheep, goats, pigs, horses and oxen were all kept. Cows were the most valued. The Norse word for cattle is the same as for money. The Norse people used their animals for sources of goods and food - also to help them work the farm. Dairy products were very important to their diet. Pigs, sheep, cows and at one time horses were all sources of meat in their diet. There is additional information about farming techniques and crops on the Hurstwic site.

Norse people had healers and performed some medical procedures. There is evidence that they even performed surgeries on occasion - sounds like a form of ancient malpractice insurance. There are records in Norse law protecting individuals who performed medical procedures for the good of someone else. They also used magic and "luck" to try to prevent or cure illness. I guess with the number of diseases and things that could go wrong on a farm or in a battle they'd need all the help they could get. Read more about Norse health and medical practices.

Studying Norse/Viking arms and armor is difficult. It was common practice to bury arms and armor with their owners (or decendents of the original owners). The way they were buried didn't protect the gear from the elements very well - rot and rust has destroyed much. The pieces that survive are few in number and typically not in great shape. There just isn't much to study. Also, the Norse/Viking people didn't leave behind training manuals or other texts about their arms, armor or fighting techniques. Knowledge has to come from references to things in their other texts OR from descriptions by people who were Viking victims - not a great source since they'd have good reason to depict the Vikings in a really bad light. Hurstwic.org has a lot of information about the research being done on this topic.