#birger magnusson

[andiatas]

25 Nov. 1298 - The wedding between Birger Magnusson and Märta of Denmark was celebrated in Stockholm. At the time of the wedding, Birger was de jure King of Sweden but the country was governed by a marshall until Birger came of age. Märta, whose official name was Margareta (Danish: Margrete/Margarethe), was the daughter of the Danish King and became engaged to Birger as a child.

The wedding celebrations were described as elaborate, with tournaments, a procession of knights, and amateur theatre by nobles. Märta was praised after she allegedly asked for no dowery other than the freedom of Magnus Algotsson, a noble arrested for involvement in the abduction of a bride in 1288. Regardless, she was given Fjärdhundraland (which today would approximately be Western Uppland) and Enköping as a morning gift.

The marriage was said to have been a happy one.

Photo 1: Photograph of a plaque in St Bendts Kirke, Ringsted, Denmark, where it is mentioned that both Birger and Märta are buried in the church. St Bendts Kirke was until the middle of the 14th century the main burial church for members of the Danish Royal House (photo taken from Wikimedia Commons). Photo 2: Limestone painting of Birger ca. 1320, also from St Bendts Kirke, Ringsted, Denmark (photo taken from Wikimedia Commons).

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[camothecastlelover]

Nyköpingshus is one of my favorite castles. I've always wanted to go there but never really had the chance. Nyköpingshus lays along the Nyköpingsån (Nyköpings river) and was originally founded in the late 12th century as a motte, however the specifications of this tower is unknown and in the 13th century it was rebuilt into a castle. The Erikskrönika (an account of Swedish political history in the 13th century) states that future king Magnus Ladulås shall have ducal rights over all of "Sudermanland ok nyköpungs hwss" in 1266, which may be the earliest mention of the castle to date. The earliest verified record however is in 1308 when Erik Magnusson signed a bond on the castle. In Swedish history the castle is particularly well known as the place of the gruesome Nyköpings gästabud in 1317, where after a political divide, king Birger Magnusson imprisoned his brothers duke Valdemar and Erik, who later starved to death inside the castle. Subsequently the castle was stormed and largely razed by supporters of the duke.

In the 16th century, the castle was rebuilt, however suffered catastrophic damages as a result of a large fire. The castle was subsequently not rebuilt, however much of the scavenged materials were used in the reconstruction of the Stockholm palace.

Map of the castle after the reconstructions which ended at around 1611. The oldest parts of the castle are at the top near the river. The castle has a lot more history than I've been able to talk about right now, but this should have covered the basics. Have a great day everyone!

[ulkaralakbarova]

Arn: The Knight Templar

Arn, the son of a high-ranking Swedish nobleman is educated in a monastery and sent to the Holy Land as a knight templar to do penance for a forbidden love. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Arn Magnusson: Joakim Nätterqvist Cecilia Algotsdotter: Sofia Helin Birger Brosa: Stellan Skarsgård Magnus Folkesson: Michael Nyqvist Sigrid: Mirja Turestedt Eskil Magnusson: Morgan Alling Bishop Bengt:…

[medievalart]

Letter of protection by king Birger Magnusson to womankind of Karelia (October 1, 1316)

This is the oldest surviving original medieval document in my country.

“All who will see this letter, we Birger, by the grace of God King of the Swedes and the goths, Salute wishing eternal Salvation in Lord. Through this note we will for both those to come as well for those living now, following the advice and consent of the Noble men Gentlemen Canute Jonsson, the judge (lagman) of the ostrogoths, Thor Kætilsson, and Johannes Brunckow, our high chancellor (drots) and other members of our council, firmly pass a statute, to be obeyed as a law, that all wives and women who live subjected to our castle of Vyborg or in the land of Karelia be they married, widows, nuns or virgins, shall enjoy peace and security like in our realm Sweden herself for both in property and person, so that our royal punishment will most severely meet the transgressors. Therefore all and everyone are strictly prohibited from burdening the foregoing wives and women with any kind of injustice or molesting, or inflicting on them any kind of corporal violence, if he wants in our kingdom to avoid the punishment, which is what is in our Swedish realm told in the due law. Date Yninge Anno Domini 1316, on the first of October.

Translation: https://histdoc.net/history/birger.html

image source: http://df.narc.fi/document/275#picture

[squke]

Birger jarl

Shot at Medeltidsmuseet on 5 March 2017

[qqueenofhades]

I know you mention often you don't have much time to read history books...but if I wanted a fundamental knowledge of Russian history leading up to where we are now--God help us--where should I start?

Okay. This post will consist of two parts: one, a suggested reading list, and two, some discussion on what you (or anyone) should do if they want to think, write, or speak about this situation in a remotely constructive way, and not one that just mindlessly amplifies destructive propaganda on any side of the conflict. I have a long-standing, if amateur, interest in Russian history, literature, and language; I started reading about Catherine the Great and the Russian Empire in high school, and over the last few years, I have been expanding that with work on the medieval Kievan Rus', the USSR, and post-Soviet Russia. So I have actually read almost all of these sources, which vary between the academic and the popular. I have starred and bolded the ones that I think will be the most accessible for a layperson and/or the most relevant.

This is a long post, but I have tagged it "long post" if for some reason anyone wants to filter. However, given the urgency of this moment, I feel as if it is more important to read in full than look away.

READING LIST

Medieval Kievan Rus'

Fonnesberg-Schmidt, Iben Marie. The Popes and the Baltic Crusades 1147–1254 (Leiden: Brill, 2007).

Isoaho, Mari. The Image of Aleksandr Nevskiiy in Medieval Russia: Warrior and Saint (Leiden: Brill, 2006).

Lind, John. ‘Early Russian-Swedish Rivalry: The Battle on the Neva in 1240 and Birger Magnusson’s Second Crusade to Tavastia’, Scandinavian Journal of History 16 (1991), 269–95.

———. ‘Scandinavian Nemtsy and Repaganized Russians. The Expansion of the Latin West During the Baltic Crusades and its Confessional Repercussions’, in The Crusades and the Military Orders: Expanding the Frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity, ed. Zsolt Hunyadi and József Laszlovszky (Budapest, 2001), pp. 481–97.

Nielsen, Torben K. ‘Sterile Monsters?: Russians and the Orthodox Church in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia’, in The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier, ed. Alan V. Murray (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), pp. 227–52.

Ostrowski, Donald. ‘Alexander Nevskii’s ‘Battle on the Ice’: The Creation of a Legend’, Russian History 33 (2006), 289–312.

*Plokhy, Serhii. The Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation, from 1470 to the Present (New York: Basic Books, 2017).

———. The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)

Selart, Anti. Livonia, Rus’, and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century, trans. Fiona Robb (Leiden: Brill, 2015).

The Cold War and the USSR

*Plokhy, Serhii. Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe (New York: Basic Books, 2018).

———, The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union (New York: Basic Books, 2014).

———, The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine (New York: Basic Books, 2015).

Sarotte, Mary Elise. 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014).

*Westad, Odd Arne. The Cold War: A World History. New York: Basic Books, 2017).

Post-Soviet Russia and the Rise of Putin

*Belton, Catherine. Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2020).

*Gessen, Masha. The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia (New York: Riverhead Books, 2017).

———, The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin (New York: Riverhead Books, 2013).

*Maddow, Rachel. Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Most Destructive Industry on Earth. (New York: Crown Publishers, 2019).

* Sarotte, Mary Elise. Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021). (This one is my own reading this weekend.)

ABOUT THE PRESENT SITUATION

First, I would argue that calling it the "Ukraine crisis" is deeply misleading, due to the fact that a) it's no longer a crisis, it's a full-fledged war, and b) it makes it sound as if Ukraine is the instigator or aggressor in the situation, while conveniently removing blame from Russia. This is not unprecedented in Russia's post-USSR or Soviet history (see: invasions of Georgia in 2008 and annexation of Crimea in 2014; invasion of Afghanistan in 1979), but it certainly represents the most serious breach of international law and outright war in Europe since the end of the Yugoslavian conflicts. (Everyone is saying 1945 and the end of WWII, but that erases the Balkan civil wars which happened in the NINETIES, when most of you were already alive, not to mention the Bosniak Muslim genocides.) I didn't rule out the possibility entirely, but I (like everyone else) was skeptical of Putin actually taking such an insane and suicidal step. (We'll get to that.) However, it's happened, and it needs to be taken seriously.

First, the usual impulse among terminally-online leftist circles is to engage in "whataboutism," point out Europe and the USA's own long and sordidly shameful history of colonialism and imperialism (believe me, I know, I have written many posts in that vein), and otherwise act as if Putin is somehow correct for "showing up" the West. I am obviously a sympathetic outside observer to Russia and I know a lot about it, so trust me when I say: bullshit. There is absolutely no call to soften or ameliorate Putin's actions, or try to excuse him or the paranoid imperial autocracy (with nuclear weapons that he has gone so far as to hint using on anyone who tries to stop Russia's current insane crusade) that he and the siloviki (ex-KGB security men who form his inner circle) have deliberately built in the ruins of post-Cold War Russia. You don't need to show that you Know About The Bad Things the West Has Done. Right now, what matters is that a sovereign democratic country has been violently attacked and is going to suffer another generation of bloodshed, destruction, and dysfunction for absolutely no other reason than Putin's paranoia, ego, and revanchist desire to rebuild the Russian Empire. Ukraine has already overthrown and/or gotten rid of several pro-Russian leaders in the last decade, and Putin is punishing them for that. As noted in his rambling speech "recognizing" Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent," he doesn't think Ukraine has any right to exist as a separate state, and he wants revenge for their daring to buck the good old days of absolute Russian/Soviet rule. That is the beginning and end of it.

Next: I'm already seeing a lot of Westerners insisting that, basically, "all Russians support Putin" and they're willing to follow him to the bitter end and there's no reasoning with them. Once again: this is bullshit. I have been reading a LOT of articles on this whole mess, including those from the Russian perspective, and I haven't seen one single ordinary Russian who is happy about this. Even those who do support Putin politically and think he was right to recognize the separatist republics don't want a war, are afraid of what it's going to do to their young people and/or economy, and otherwise don't feel great about it. Young Russians particularly hate it and are in despair about how their future has, again, been robbed from them. Bankers and businesspeople are worried about the crushing impact of expected sanctions on their savings and ability to plan for the future. One verbatim reaction was "only an absolute idiot would want war and sanctions instead of diplomacy and improvement of Russia's international reputation." They bemoaned the awkward, ludicrous, satire-worthy televised meeting of the National Security Council, where members of Putin's cabinet were forced to come to a microphone and tell him they supported recognizing the breakaway republics. (Putin went so far as to berate the head of the FSB, the KGB's successor organization, for forgetting his lines.) The members of the Duma, or Russian parliament, are widely hated among the Russian public for existing as a puppet rubber-stamp for the Kremlin's decisions and extorting bribes. Some people have gone so far as to say that sanctions on the otherwise-unaccountable Russian elite would be welcomed by 99% of the Russian population. So.

Not to mention, if you say, "all Russians support Putin," you are openly legitimizing Putin's own insane talking point that he is acting in the Name of All Russians, they all agree with what he's doing, this is a united nationwide effort, so forth and etc. You are supporting a ruthless dictator's own propaganda lines about himself and playing into the exact Cold War-era stereotypes about the Red Menace that give Putin his fodder to stoke domestic resentment against the West. If we're not going to agree that the lunatic fringe far-right Trumpist cultists represent All of America and the majority of its political views, we're not going to do the same with the lunatic far-right fringe of Russian politics. It is impossible to overstate how brutal and repressionist the Putin regime has been, and how much ordinary Russians are punished for speaking out. There is credible evidence that the 1999 apartment bombings and the 2002 Moscow theater siege, both attributed to Chechen terrorists and which shored up support for Putin at the start of his reign, were false-flag operations by the FSB. We all know what has systematically happened to Putin's political enemies. The government has stripped funding from any independent or critical media entity and forced them to flee the country, so the only "news" available on TV are the federal propaganda channels. The massive crowds who came out to protest the treatment of Alexei Navalny (who is somehow both still alive and still has access to Twitter: @navalny, which I recommend looking at; even if you don't read Russian, Twitter usually offers an auto-translate option) were arrested, investigated, and otherwise treated in bad-old-days Soviet fashion. The brave few who have openly come out in Moscow to protest this war have been immediately arrested. Modern Russia under Putin is a dictatorship, full stop. As the Russian opposition keeps saying, this war is going to hurt Russia as much as Ukraine, and turn the country once more into an isolated international pariah. If Putin was so confident that his plans and the party of United Russia were so fully supported by the Russian public, he wouldn’t need to completely destroy its limited democratic functions to prevent it from ever being replaced.

Likewise, there are some exceptionally deluded dirtbag leftists who like to do the same thing to Russia as they do to America: insist that the murderous right-wing authoritarian dictator (Putin/Trump) and the human but flawed democratic politician with some regrettable past statements/positions (Navalny/Biden) are fundamentally the same and that there's no point in differentiating between them. This reflects the immature, self-righteous, zero-sum logic that has increasingly developed on social media, where one side is the Good/Passive Thing that has Morally Problematic Things Done To Them, and the other is the Bad/Aggressive Actor who is solely responsible for Doing Morally Problematic Things, and that there are no other categories or shades of grey between them. This, obviously, is (again) bullshit, and if you come across ignorant westerners spouting this kind of rhetoric, you should push back hard. Once again, this removes the moral weight of this catastrophe from Vladimir Putin, the person who deserves to shoulder it, and makes it into some sort of abstract occurrence that would (apparently) have also happened if, in some better timeline, Navalny was the president of Russia. Because something something unchangeable Russian nature, straight-from-the-Cold-War nonsense. Do better.

In short, it's the same logic where certain elements of the so-enlightened Twitterati are now acting like this is Biden's fault, because he somehow should have magically stopped an insane dictator from launching an entirely unnecessary war, and that it isn't said insane dictator's fault at all. The current Russian system is a master of disinformation, denial, and turning the west against itself (indeed, that's its entire communications strategy) and the reason the Biden administration kept warning for weeks that this was coming, even when almost everyone didn't take them seriously and Moscow itself was in Deny Deny Deny mode, is because the US is belatedly realizing that they're going to need to play the information game at the same level. The US's almost-unprecedented real-time release of intelligence and calling out the false-flag attacks as they happened was one of the reasons that Putin kept having to shift his invasion strategy/pretext for launching hostilities.

Likewise: sanctions, especially if the US and EU go all the way and launch them to the level of cutting Russia off from SWIFT (the global banking system) and the ability to trade in the US dollar, are punishing, but they are not a magic bullet, and they won't stop the conflict immediately. Putin will take pride in being punished by the Unjust West, and it's going to take a long time for the pain to be felt; as noted, they are also going to hurt a lot of ordinary Russians who have nothing to do with this, and once more destroy the country's development and attempt to join the post-Cold War world. In the meantime, it's the people of Ukraine who are going to do the most suffering, and that's where our focus needs to remain.

There has been lots of talk about how the Russian oligarchs need to be sanctioned, but it's a mistake to think that they control Putin or set Kremlin policy. Their arrangement is that they give Putin money whenever he needs it and in return, they don't go to jail. Hitting them will definitely hurt the Bank of Putin, but it won't fundamentally influence Putin's current policy, because he listens to nobody but himself. Hitting his inner circle of enablers, the Duma, the security services, the siloviki, the military commanders, the top-level financial fixers who actually put his decisions into practice, and fueling their resentment against Putin for cutting off access to the lavish Western lifestyles they like to enjoy, will be much more effective. This will also require an effort of will on the West's part that is far from a given. The reason the UK initially launched such pathetic sanctions (five banks and three individuals already on the US sanctions list since 2018) is because they have done extremely well for themselves taking gobs of dirty Russian cash and turning London into "Londongrad." If we're condemning the Russian actions that led to this, we also need to take a hard look at how ravenous, undiscerning, late-stage capitalism where any money and any mega-fortune is a good thing, has directly contributed to the general breakdown of society.

Anyway: as I said last night, for someone who claims to be a student of history, Putin is remarkably oblivious to how the Russian empire ended twice (once in 1917 with the murder of the tsar, and in 1991 with the total collapse of the polity he now desperately yearns to rebuild.) As with most dictators, he somehow thinks that he will be exempt from this fate. I hope more than anything that the world can show him, sooner rather than later, how wrong that is.

[tarjeismoeworknews]

Here is a very bad copy of a clip from 1975s movie Olsenbandens siste bedrifter where Tarjei’s grandfather, Torgils Moe, plays Biffen, a thug that is employed by main character’s enemy(Holm-Hansen) to finally eliminate him and take back Bedfort diamonds that he stole. 

 Torgils(📷 Fanbanden FB) and Tarjei as their characters in Olsenbanden

After Saturdays Oslobanden promotion clip where Tarjei mentions that his grandfather also played in Oslobanden movie I decided that he deserves(another) a post on this blog.

Torgils Moe worked as an actor, musician, pianist and singer, which is where he first came to prominence. He also worked as an opera singer in the baritone voice range. During this time he became known as a performer of works by Birger Sjöberg . He released some of his compositions, melodies, poems and pieces of music together with the Norwegian artist Jakob Sande. 

Performing at the show Husker du(05.12.1984);source: NRK

He had his debut in the film in 1962 in musical Operasjon Løvsprett. Due to his strong stature and his height of more than two meters, he often got roles of criminals or negative characters, such as B assigned roles as bouncers, bodyguards, thugs, and debt collectors. As Yngve Kvistad once wrote in VG: “He was a man for the big roles.”

In Brødrene Dal og professor Drøvels hemmelighet - 9. episode (1978); source: NRK

That didn’t stop him from sharing screen with James Caan and Christopher Lambert in his last appearance on the big screen in the movie North Star.

As Magnusson in North Star(1996)

Imdb

Discography

Wikipedia 

YT links: Link1, Link2, Link3, Link4

NRK:   Bridge, bratsj, fille-bom-bom-bom

-actor: Montreux: OlympiCOMEDIADE(1972), Liker De hunder?(1975); Fleknes-Radioten(1976); Ta pulsen på by'n-Gatelangs i Sommer-Oslo;  Brødrene Dal og professor Drøvels hemmelighet- 9. episode(1978)

-singer: Og takk for det nye(1970); Husker du-22 February 1979,

- Og takk for det..(5 episodes, 1969)

[rabbitcruiser]

Bohus Fortress, Sweden (No. 8)

‎At the beginning of the 14th century, a power struggle broke out between Sweden’s King Birger and his brothers, Dukes Erik and Valdemar, all sons of King Magnus Ladulås. Duke Erik was married to Ingeborg, daughter of King Håkon V Magnusson of Norway, and thus had strong ties to the Norwegian royal family. Through the marriage, Duke Erik had gained control of ragnhildsholmen castle, which was built in the 13th century. The castle was located on an island, opposite the town of Kungahälla, but today you will find the ruins of the castle on Hisingen’s beach, in the municipality of Gothenburg.‎

‎Ragnhildsholmen became an important support point for dukes Erik and Valdemar, who soon controlled large parts of today’s West Sweden. Håtunaleken and Nyköping’s feasts are two known events during the power struggle, which had the character of a Nordic civil war.‎

‎None of the Nordic kings had an interest in the dukes Erik and Valdemar growing too strong, which sealed their fate. The previous alliances had been severely undermined and the Norwegian king Håkon V Magnusson wanted his son-in-law Erik to return his favours. The Duke refused, and a siege of Ragnhildsholmen Castle began.‎

‎According to the Swedish Erikskrönikan, it was Count Jacob Nielsen who in 1308 called on the King of Norway to erect a fortification on the high cliff where the Göta River divides. Thus, Duke Erik’s opponents were able to take control of communications to and from Ragnhildsholmen and the superior strategic location meant that Ragnhildsholmen Castle had very soon played its part. Now Bohus took over the function as Norway’s southernmost outpost.‎

(automated translation from Swedish to English)

Source

[anirobot]

Kaupunki rajattiin ja rakennettiin ensimmäistä kertaa 1310.

Bertil Festing

[clancarruthers]

CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS - BIRGER JARL MAGNUSSON

CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS – BIRGER JARL MAGNUSSON

BIRGER JARL CARRUTHERS ANCESTOR   Through the Carruthers DNA Viking Project, we have found that Birger Jarl Magnusson is a direct match to the Carruthers through forensic DNA.   Our geneticist first gets the information and verifies it and sends it to us to verify the genealogy behind it. With our Viking DNA Project we use two of the museums for their assistance in this.  We have not been…

[galloperthompson]

-I don’t mind that there were no spoilers, but referencing the 4 chambers of the tomb and then completely throwing out the information we got (or will get, for newer players) in the quests dealing with those chambers does irritate me. It’s like if the reference to commemorating fallen heroes at Doyle’s abbey was followed with something like “but modern Druids do not”. It’s referencing a quest and then refuting the information revealed in that referenced quest

-lol it was just an image that popped into my head as I read the little story: Gunnar convincing the Jarl that yes there’s Damascus steel in these mines, crazy lucky I know! Unfortunately his real name is in doubt because of how much information has been thrown out by these tours. The story Linda told which gave his name goes directly against what the tours said, as does any in game lore we got about him in the past. If these tours are indicative of the new canon, all that information is automatically invalid, or at least in doubt. This thought ruined my amusement at the story

-no matter their activities, Scandinavian sailors from outside the Viking age are not referred to as Vikings purely because they did not operate during the Viking age. But a lot of traditional Viking behavior (most notably, trading slaves) stopped anyway when Scandinavia was christianized. That’s why some put the end of the Viking age as early as 1000, since that’s the year Iceland—the last holdout—officially converted

-yes, but the tours acted as though Jon Jarl was the first to realize there were already people on Jorvik. They can’t pick which route they want to take with the information, trying to keep some things that don’t work with the “new lore”. They can’t say “the island was never unpopulated” in reference to the dark side of Jon Jarl’s rule, claim he was the one who drove people into hiding, all while saying he was not the “discoverer” of Jorvik. Even if he was the first to commit crimes against the people of Jorvik in this scenario, the island’s population wouldn’t have come as a surprise considering a. “Viking” settlers had been there since the 11th century (200 years!) according to the tours and they would have established contact and b. they apparently weren’t in hiding until jon jarl came along, so it would be pretty impossible for these Vikings to not have encountered anyone in all that time. It would be like saying “there was a dark side to King George III’s reign. North America was never unpopulated” like...duh? Why does this make it sound like he discovered this information? It doesn’t work if Jon Jarl is not the one who “discovered” Jorvik. Basically, even if these Vikings didn’t try to violently seize power over the whole island (which I’m not sure they wouldn’t) and it did take 200 years for someone to do just that, the tours act as though the Vikings didn’t even have contact with the druids and kallter, which makes no sense. They’re really just shoehorned in there without thought

-they present it as originally being the “jarl’s palace” while also reaffirming the old backstory of Jarlaheim always having been “the walled city” within the same paragraph. “Palace” indicates a personal residence, which contradicts the simultaneous (and previous) presentation of Jarlaheim as a city since it’s founding. Once again, star stable refuses to pick one and instead tries to have it all. If they’re trying to say Jarlaheim was at first a palace and later a city, they didn’t get it across very well, and it would go against Jarlaheim’s established history.

-the last Swedish Jarl died in 1266. His name was Birger Magnusson, but while he was Jarl he was known as Birger Jarl. For whatever reason, this was how Jarls were titled back in the day. And Jon Jarl lived and died (or did he? Everything’s in question now, including him dying in 1263) during the time when this convention was followed. Jarl also implies a superior that is answered to, as Jarl was the title below king. There’s lots of ways they could’ve gone with this—maybe I’ll make a post—to explain why he’s called king but still known as Jarl. But in typical star stable fashion, the worst route was chosen

-star stable is adamant to keep this road and it’s name. What’s funny is it’s part of Galloper Thompson’s lore—he was said to patrol the road after his execution. It’s strange, though, that they would explain the castle (and by extension its name) but ignore how that doesn’t make sense with the name of the road they’re obsessed with keeping (I’m still wondering if something was there before Marchenghast castle was built). I suppose it’s consistent with the rest of the tours, though.

-he is connected to the valley; he was said both to patrol the old king’s road, and also to “live on as a sort of bogeyman” in the valley. The winter spirits haven’t been mentioned in ages, though, and at this point I don’t know if they’re still in play.

The “new lore” makes no sense. It consists of picking and choosing little parts that they liked and sticking them all together, then pretending it makes sense. The tours could’ve been much better used to correct past mistakes, or if they really wanted to change things, to do it in a way that makes sense. Instead we have this mess

Great things star stable did on the tours:

-jokes

-references

-the legend that the demascus mines were originally named the Damascus mines to trick jon jarl, who wanted Damascus steel for his weapons and was apparently too clueless to realize Damascus steel (like all steel) is made, not mined, and it wasn’t made outside of Asia

-the image provided by the story of Gunnar Thrymson lying to the Jarl about this

-sick burn of jack goldspur

Horrible things star stable did on the tours:

-making me visit the jarl’s tomb

-changing game lore once again, only this time it’s all the established history of Jorvik that they’re flouting

-like literally despite mentioning the four chambers in the Jarl’s tomb during the tour, all the information given in the quests that lead to opening two of them is completely disregarded

-new information is either contradictory in itself, immediately followed by contradictory information, or just generally spoiled by aforementioned contradictions casting doubt on all tour information

-amusement at the demascus mine story immediately followed by realization that the canonicity of galloper’s real name is in doubt now more than ever

-compensating for the mislabeling of jon jarl as a Viking by making him the “first king of modern Jorvik” instead of the “discoverer” of Jorvik

-moving the first Scandinavian settler arrivals from the 13th century to the 11th century, and then referring to the settlers as Vikings despite the Viking age ending in the mid 11th century, casting doubt on the claim that these settlers were Vikings, and ultimately fixing nothing about the original mistake

-acting as though jon jarl was descended from the original Viking settlers, then in the same breath claiming he was the one to wreak havoc on Jorvik (despite Vikings being infamous for being shitty people?? Why would they wait around for 200 years before brutally taking over?)

-literally, LITERALLY this information was worked with two weeks ago with the quiz trails; “what year did jon jarl arrive on Jorvik?” had the answer “1218”

-why the hell did you decide to do this star stable??? When I said “the lore changes with each weekly update” I was joking. It was not an invitation to prove me right or a suggestion to legitimately start changing the lore each week

-no substantial information is given on these first “Viking” settlers of Jorvik

-Conrad slander, calling him crusty and stubborn

-referring to Jarlaheim as the jarl’s palace and the old capital city within 2 sentences, possibly in an attempt to remedy the jarl’s missing castle situation, while also trying to preserve the established history of Jarlaheim as “the walled city”

-claiming jon jarl was a king despite his title being jarl, and not specifying if or when his title changed from jarl to king and why he is still known as Jon Jarl (no seriously do they think “Jarl” is his last name instead of his title?)

-slandering Governor Gareth without context when context is sorely needed, since the claims made on the tour disregard the backstory they gave him (which was presented as objective fact, and established during quests referenced in the very same tour where they slander him)

-if marchenghast castle was not built by jorvegian royalty, why is the road to it (still) named “old king’s road”?

-the part about Aideen’s whisper requiring a journey to pi’s “backyard” where the pandoric crack was, instead of the canyon itself? Why?

-mention of ydris but no slander of him? shameful

-attempting to mix game lore and the game’s history; commendable effort, but in a tour that seeks to destroy the game lore, muddying the waters isn’t helping. The good-time-ruining content of the tours kills any joy I might’ve felt

-feeble attempt at explaining the pass to wildwoods being out in the open; confirming it was used in the past, which destroys the idea presented in the wildwoods quests of the pass being secret and hidden; again not fixing the original problem at all, and in fact creating more problems (hmm..I’m sensing a pattern)

-making me wish I worked at this company solely to fix all of this

-no galloper mention despite bringing up the living pumpkins from the halloween event (come on, his legend is part of the history of goldenhills. Or is that in doubt now too)

-making me grateful for no galloper mention by making these tours so awful

-placing historical dates relating to Jon Jarl and Galloper Thompson in doubt

-placing these dates further in doubt with the proclamation that Jorvik Stables’ first stablemaster was appointed 700 years ago, when all other information suggests it was closer to 800 years

-giving me hope that maybe the 700 years is used because it’s not quite 800 years yet, and the old information is still in play

-mentioning Linda, bringing her good name into this shitshow

-creating an environment so filled with casual disregard of established concepts that I was willing to accept saying Steve’s barn was yellow as just another falsehood presented as fact

-immediately crushing my spirit with the addition of “wait it’s red now?”, practically confirming my suspicion that all this was intentional and not a mistake

-referring to the southsilver waters as a “river”, instead of using the correct term: strait

-making me seriously consider sending a strongly worded email to star stable about this whole thing

[milanima]

It’s been 700 years since the dukes Erik and Valdemar were imprisoned and straved to death by their brother, king Birger Magnusson in what is called Nyköpings gästabud (the Nyköping Banquet), so here’s a blogpost.

[wherethehellisryszard]

Wstapilem do Orebro na jedno popoludnie, a zostalem cztery dni. Drugiego dnia przestalem wozic lancuch do wiazania "kozy". Chyba oprocz poludnia kraju, Szwedzi panuja nad "multi kulti". Latem minie trzydziesci lat od pierwszego spotkania ze skandynawia. ❤️Opocz samochodow w skadynawii bez zmian. Ludzie na ulicy nadal pazdrawiaja sie nawzajem, rowniez nieznajomych. Podobnie do reszty: skandynawow, Holendrow i coraz czesciej nawet Niemcow.

Orebro. Zamek -twierdza. Renesansowa przebudowa za krola Karola IX Waza.

Pierwotna warownia w Örebro wzniesiona została już w XIII wieku. Jej fundatorem był ówczesny szwedzki możnowładca i wybitny mąż stanu Birger Magnusson znany także jako Birger Jarl (1210-1266). Głównym zadaniem twierdzy miała być kontrola miejscowej przeprawy mostowej na rzece Svartan. W XIV wieku zamek został rozbudowany na polecenie króla Szwecji - Magnusa Erikssona (1316-1374). W XVI wieku w obliczu zagrożenia ze strony Danii ówczesny król Karol IX Waza (1550-1611) polecił przebudować warownię w potężną renesansową twierdzę. Główną inspirację stanowiły ówczesne okazałe zamki nad Loarą.

[honey-piie]

Reading Swedish medieval history at university is making me appreciate my 9 year old brain for remembering any of the kings at all cause this is all very confusing to my 22 year old brain as well

[ohhthatssosarella]

May 31

[1279 BC] Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great became Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

[1321] King of Sweden, Birger Magnusson died.

[1410] King of Aragon and Sicily, Martin died.

[1433] Sigismund is crowned emperor of Rome.

[1434] King of Poland, Władysław II Jagiełło died.

[1443] English noblewoman, Margaret Beaufort was born.

[1469] King of Portugal, Manuel I was born.

[1557] Tsar if Russia, Fyodor I was born.

[1594] Italian painter, Tintoretto died.

[1613] Elector of Saxony, John George II was born.

[1678] The Godiva procession became part of the Coventry Fair.

[1740] King of Prussia, Frederick William I died.

[1753] French statesman, Pierre-Victurnien Vergniaud was born.

[1754] Marshal of France, Dominique-Catherine, Marquis de Pérignon was born.

[1790] The United States established copyright law.

[1809] French General, Jean Lennes, duc de Montebello died.

[1827] French politician, Pierre-Louis Prieur died.

[1859] The Great Clock housing Big Ben started keeping time.

[1879] New York's Madison Square Garden opened its doors for the first time.

[1889] A flood ravaged Johnstown, Pennsylvania, causing more than 2200 deaths.

[1910] Louis Botha formed the first government of the Union of South Africa.

[1913] The 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for direct election of senators, was ratified.

[1915] A German zeppelin made an air raid on London.

[1916] The Battle of Jutland, an encounter between British and German naval fleets in World War I, began.

[1921] The Tulsa race massacre began in Oklahoma.

[1923] Rainier III, Prince of Monaco was born.

[1930] American actor and director, Clint Eastwood was born.

[1935] 7.7 magnitude earthquake destroyed Quetta in Balochistan, British India (now Pakistan), killing an estimated 40,000 people.

[1947] Communist seized power in Hungary.

[1962] Former SS commander, Adolf Eichman was hung by the State of Israel.

[1970] 7.75 Ancash earthquake off coast of Peru kills 66-70,000 and sets off world's deadliest avalanche.

[2005] Deep Throat revealed himself to be former FBI agent Mark Felt.

[2009] Millvina Dean, the last known person to have survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, died.

[2013] The widest tornado ever recorded hit El Reno, Oklahoma.

[2014] Psy's "Gangnam Style" became first video to reach 2 billion views on YouTube.

[wraith-of-thiodolf]

some-how i always find it in my-self to chuckle at birger magnusson