American Reacts to The Finnish Vikings: Full History

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Hey guys, welcome back to the channel.

[00:00:01]Today I'm going to be a reaction to a video called The Finnish Vikings full history. Well, I know that each country in Scandinavia was not Scandinavia, it's the other is it's I can't remember what that part of the world is called, but I know that there were Norwegian Vikings and Scandinavian and Swedish Vikings and whatever. So, I'm excited to learn the history about Finland in particular. So, let's check it out and comment, like and subscribe. Hey welcome everyone. The Finnish Vikings. So, continuing my series on the Vikings from different countries, okay? Technically, we can't call the Finns Vikings. You all know by now that the Vikings referred to a profession actually. The Vikings were actually just the small percentage of fighting age men living in Scandinavia who went out raiding anytime from about the year 793 to 1066. So, what about an ABC or referred to as Vikings if we use the correct term. So, we can't really include the Finns in that. But, either way, if there is one country outside of Norway, Sweden and Denmark that was most connected to a Viking society, it was the Finns, okay? For many reasons involving trade, relationships and especially the spirituality, but also some evidence that the Finns did actually take part and join up with their Scandinavian cousins in raiding and maybe we can actually refer to them as Vikings. So, buckle up while I tell you about my favorite group of people from the late Viking Age.

[00:01:39]The late Viking Age, is that 1700s or 1800s?

[00:01:42]Now, before you guys get all upset, let me tell you why the Finns are my favorite of the late Viking Age.

[00:01:49]My favorite people in the north of Europe changes over time. In the early Viking Age, the Danes were my favorite. They were the best Vikings.

[00:02:00]But before the Viking age, the Swedes were number one. They were the most badass.

[00:02:05]In the mid-Viking age, getting into the late Viking age, it was definitely the Norwegians, not even debatable. But at the very end of the Viking age and post-Viking age, definitely my favorite group of people were definitely the Finns. How do you have a post-Viking age? Did you have favorite Vikings after there were no Vikings? today. Honestly, the Finns are my favorite people in the north of Europe, even being Norwegian.

[00:02:30]Don't get me wrong, I love everyone.

[00:02:31]I'll [laughter] tell you all why in a minute. But first, let's look at the word Finland, because the Finns of the Viking age were very, very different to the Finland of today.

[00:02:42]Finland country today has only actually been independent for about 100 years.

[00:02:47]That's a very short [clears throat] amount of >> Russia before that and it was a part of Sweden way before that for a very long time. So, yeah, as far as a country or territory, It's newish, younger. Finland has kind of been the same for a long time.

[00:03:01]But culturally, linguistically, and spiritually, the land of the Finns was much larger back then. Back in the Viking age, >> did they speak? all of these people living in these areas were referred to as Finns. Most of Finland, large parts of northern Norway and Sweden, the Baltic states even, and even getting into modern-day Russia. That's insane.

[00:03:25]In the Viking age, that area was called Bjarmaland.

[00:03:28]What's that?

[00:03:29]>> Bjarmian tribe. There were also tribes called the Kvens and the Karelians.

[00:03:35]We also have some very old records referring to some of them as, you know, Sami or Laplanders, which is what we call them today. Oh, right. The ones living in north of Scandinavia. Um All right, the Do the Sami live in in Lapland or are there other people there?

[00:03:50]I'm sure there were way more many small tribes back then, but just realized that the Norse >> [laughter] >> the Vikings back then considered all these people Finns. They just referred to them Okay. all [laughter] as Finns.

[00:04:02]So, basically There's a anyone in the north of that time in the Viking age who wasn't culturally Norse or Germanic, they referred to as Finns. So, the Finns were So, it was an outsider basically.

[00:04:16]Anything that's not me, well, it's the >> very much a part of Scandinavia in the Viking age, of course.

[00:04:22]But, they actually come from a completely different background than the Norse did. For example, the Scandinavians of the time were a Germanic people speaking a Germanic language, of course, Old Norse, and following the Germanic branch of that religion.

[00:04:38]The Finns, completely different and unrelated language family. We call these the Uralic language. Oh, that's why they speak so weird.

[00:04:46]>> that you see here, you know, different languages today like Sami, Finnish, and even Hungarian, and the northern tribal Russian languages even, they're all in the same family. Yeah, it's another family. unrelated to the Indo-European Germanic language family.

[00:05:01]And actually, it's quite mysterious where it all originates, and we're not 100% sure on where that comes from, or even where these ancient peoples came from. Ooh, I love that. Also, the religion of the Finns back then is not related to the Norse pagan religion or any other Indo-European one. Oh, so what they come from of the Finns is actually closer to the type of shamanism that you might find in Siberia than their neighbors following the Old Norse religion. Oh, but it makes sense. With the Norse, there was a ton of similarities too, and that I have a lot of cool stories about that I'm going to tell you. But, finally, to speak about the genetics, this is a very difficult question, and I don't like speaking about these types of things cuz people get so pissy about it. [laughter] And it really I don't think it matters at the end of the day. Look in the mirror, look into yourself and your ancestry, and that will tell you more about your genetics than any test can. [laughter] >> Of course it will.

[00:05:57]>> Fins today are definitely mixed. There's a lot of Scandinavian Germanic DNA in there in Finland. I have no idea what either of those words mean. East Lapland and Central Finland, I know that. Lots of light features, looking pretty much identical to their neighbors in Norway or Sweden, but there are also people with a lot of darker features that look like the typical Sami or the North Russian tribal people, and a lot of people are just mixed in Finland. That is today. That would be >> Some will be very Germanic, some will be very Uralic in their DNA. I would assume as well, if you're not in an island, people are going to mix around, especially if your family has been there for quite a bit.

[00:06:34]>> But remember, this is actually more than a thousand years of mixing with each other. So, how did they look in the Viking Age? It's hard to say. We have some [laughter] descriptions of it, but if you Who knows? I think they probably had a lot more of that Uralic DNA a thousand years ago than they do today, and they would have looked quite different to the Norwegians and the Swedes of the time. Whereas today, the people of Finland actually look more Swedish than most Swedes do today, but >> [laughter] >> yeah, >> that mean?

[00:07:03]>> you guys can look at the genetic research yourself. I'm not going to talk about it, and it's going to get me in trouble anyway, so >> [laughter] >> let's get back to the sources and the Viking Age story. If I could sum up the Finns in the Viking Age with one word, it would be magic. Now, you guys know why the Finns are actually my favorite people in the Viking >> know. because of that, it's because of their magic, their connection to the nature, their connection to the spiritual world, and the Norse at the time had very much started to lose this.

[00:07:35]So, I'll get into the sources in a minute from the Viking Age, but let's talk quickly about the Finns before the Viking Age as I like to call the Germanic tribal era really this we call this antiquity or the migration period whatever. It's about 800 years before the Viking Age when all these Germanic tribes in these areas here were all whooping some Roman ass and now [laughter] the best source on the Germanic tribes is Germania written by the Roman historian Tacitus in the first century. And in here he speaks about many tribes.

[00:08:11]One of the ones that really stands out is the Fenni and we think that is what the early Finns were called although the exact locations they lived in was And in busy poverty destitute of arms of horses and of homes their food that they come in herbs their apparel skins their bed the earth their only hope in their arrows which were one of iron they point with bones. Oh my god and in wonderful savageness. Okay, they were the wild people. Uh this Roman historian lists them as a tribe among the Germanic peoples which of course they are not Germanic as I already spoke about but Tacitus or any other Roman from the time would not have known the difference because we And [snorts] their children not other shelter have they been even for their babies against the violence of tempest and ravening beast than to cover them with the branches of trees twisted together. And they were so far away from where the Romans were and he could only rely really on second or third hand accounts. Uh but this is what he wrote about the Fenni. Basically that they were beastly savages who ate meats and flesh and wild herb.

[00:09:15]>> [snorts] >> I'm wondering if this is I don't know what that Finn Fenni mean. That was the wilderness they're the wild people over there. or animal skins as clothes and sleeping on the ground and they were completely happy with that and they did not need any more very much like still the hunter-gatherer people and this has led scholars to think that the word Fenni might actually come from the Proto-Germanic word Sunthion, and denoting like wonders or hunting folk.

[00:09:43]>> Oh, hunting folk. [clears throat] So, in the first century there, remember, the Finns were seemingly quite a bit far behind other Germanic peoples in their evolution, and very far behind the Romans. But, you know what? That's why I love them the most, because I don't see it as an evolution at all. I see it as a decaying society when something turns into a large civilization. The Finns were the ones living like beasts with nature, just like the Germanic tribes were maybe doing a few hundred years ago, and the Romans or Greeks were doing [music] many, many hundreds of years ago.

[00:10:19]Uh but, that is our natural way of human life, and I like that a lot, just in case [music] you want to know.

[00:10:26]>> And also, you will see this in some of the other sources that I go over, too.

[00:10:30]The Finns tend to be always a few hundred years behind in technology and development from the rest of Europe.

[00:10:37]They were put too far away.

[00:10:38]>> makes them so great.

[00:10:40]Another source from around this time um is Ptolemy, who produced his Geographia, >> and he lists the Finnoi [laughter] as living in northern Scandinavia, and also in the East Baltic area. So, he could be referring to the Baltic countries or Finland here, of course. Uh the Finns are mentioned also a few hundred years later in Jordanes' work Getica. He lists three types of Finn, one called the Skridfinni, the Finnaithae, and the Mitifinni.

[00:11:15]Um those basically mean the skiing Finns, the ones that ski, the Finns living in Finnveden, Does it skiing as in the actual skiing? How old is skiing?

[00:11:26]What?

[00:11:26]>> in southern Sweden, and the Mitifinni, meaning the uh softest Finns. We don't know What are those? three who these people were, where these tribes come from. I think Scandinavians today uh know, but I'm not going to say.

[00:11:43]How about any of you Finnish people?

[00:11:45]Which ones of you would you say are the softest ones? Which ones are the best skiers? You can all argue amongst each other. I don't want to get into >> Okay, yeah, sure. Anyway, that's about it for They have their own stereotypes, so I do not know. What whatever. and migration period, uh the earliest records of the Finns, uh so you have a good idea. Now, let's get on to the Viking Age. Now, Golden Age. where do we start with this? I'm going to go over some of the most famous sources and coolest stories mentioning the Finns.

[00:12:17]How long ago was it? How many years? It was 300 years ago? mentions of Finns.

[00:12:21]All you have to do is read any Viking saga, and within a few minutes you will see some mention of the Finns. Now, the relationship was at first quite complicated. Sometimes us Norsemen just raided the Finns. Sorry to say it, guys, but you were the top target for the raids.

[00:12:40]But also, they had very positive relationships, too. The Finns were the biggest trading partners of the Norse.

[00:12:47]They had things like animal skins and other very valuable goods to trade.

[00:12:52]But they were also allies of the Norse, too. They definitely teamed up and fought together sometimes, especially when Christianity came in, and the Norse and Finn pagans stood together and fought for their religious beliefs. So, >> The enemy The enemy of my How is the word? The enemy of my of my enemy is my It's my friend. But let's get on to the first subject, the raids. Sorry, Finns, the bad news is you were usually the first target for a raid from us Norsemen.

[00:13:25]>> I'm guessing they've got no worries. It was a long time ago. religious or small and small tribes. You were easy targets, you know, coming from a physical standpoint and you weapons, armor, battle tactics, and even shorter and smaller people. That's no secret. Feel bad. All of Europe was shorter and smaller and weaker than the Vikings.

[00:13:47]But in a way, the Finns were the most feared raiding target too. Not necessarily because of their battle abilities, but because of their magic.

[00:13:56]It was an easy raid physically >> magic but the Finns, if they caught you and they used some magic, you were in deep, deep And in Ynglinga saga, there was a large series of raids on the Finns by the Swedish king Agne.

[00:14:13]It's disputed whether the old Norse concept back then of Finland referred to the present country of Finland or or actually just the Finn people. Could be northern Norway or northern Sweden. Oh.

[00:14:26]It could have been Sami. We're not sure.

[00:14:29]But another source is No Gesta Thordar and that tells of the Kvens, which were a Finnish tribe and they actually were raiding in Sweden in the mid 700s. And in the late 9th century, Swedish king Eric Anundsson was said to have conquered all of Finland on after his raids with several other eastern countries. And this is regarded as a bit of an unreliable source.

[00:14:58]Guys, you can't conquer all of Finland.

[00:15:00]It's not [clears throat] possible, especially back then because so many tribes were way too remote and way too strong, just like the Germanic tribes were against Rome a few hundred years before. It's impossible. And this is really how Finland has remained badasses for more than 2,000 years now, really.

[00:15:18]Just kind of small and tribal and hard to get to. You can conquer maybe certain towns and certain regions, >> but you can't conquer the whole country.

[00:15:27]I like it.

[00:15:27]>> One very It's so inhabitable that people just can't conquer you. So, great, you know, good that's a good news.

[00:15:33]>> is a raid of a temple of the Bjarmians that the Norwegian king Olaf the Saint conducted. And that description it mentions that the god of the temple was called Jumala and that the Bjarmians had their valuables and mixed it with earth in the burial mounds. And it's one of the few records of temples we actually have in the Norse sources. Oh, there's no temple anymore?

[00:15:59]successfully completed the raid, but the local inhabitants attacked them with bows and arrows. Olaf and his crew fled, but the Finns actually used magic to whip up a storm and almost sank King Olaf's ship.

[00:16:14]>> Wow. And we have quite a few similar tales to this of Finns Just luck [clears throat] was on their side. They didn't actually summon anything. magic to fight off a raid.

[00:16:24]A couple more stories on the raids that are interesting. We have a couple of runestones in Sweden.

[00:16:30]The runestone GS 13 describes the death of a Viking named Egen on a raid to Finland led by Freygard and some How Okay, how big is this stone? I thought runes were kind of coin-sized. No, this is a huge thing. And this is telling a story apparently.

[00:16:48]>> time in the early half of 1000s.

[00:16:51]Runestone U 582 describes a Viking named Utrik. Oh, I think I get it now. Okay, so the little runes are the the symbols, right? And that's you know, they know that that's those are words basically.

[00:17:04]>> He was killed in Finland and according to his I think it's crazy that this is telling a whole story. This is insane to me.

[00:17:10]>> historian Uno Salto, the raid was done between 10:30 and 10:50. So, those are just a few records we have of the raids on the Finns.

[00:17:20]But there are a lot more. But it's time to get on to my favorite part, the magic.

[00:17:26]This too, there are dozens and dozens of mentions of the Finns being good with magic. As a matter of fact, almost every example of magic that you can read about in the Viking sagas, it was practiced by some Finn. And this lasted long into history, even from folktales that we have from as recent as one or 200 years ago, it was always the Finns who were mentioned to be good with magic. They even >> [snorts] >> had a word for magic in the Old Norse and it was basically called Finnfurth, which meant take a trip to the Finns on a spiritual journey looking for divination or spiritual help or consulting the Finns. There was even a law in Norway that forbids Finnfurth, that you were not allowed to go to the Finns on a trip and consult with them about witch trials. Oh my god. help. So that's just the main kind of intro to it, this idea of Finnfurth, but there are dozens of more sources. I can't go into them all, but I'll share my two favorite stories.

[00:18:33]In Halfdan the Black Saga, the Norwegian King Halfdan was having a huge feast. A Finn came who was supposed to be good with magic, who was said to be a wizard.

[00:18:44]And all the food was gone and everyone thought that this Finn came in and he ate all the food or used magic to take away all the food. So the Norwegians took him prisoner and tortured him and it was actually Halfdan's son, Harald Fairhair, as a young boy actually, who made friends with this Finn and begged his father to let him go. Eventually, this young Harald helped the Finn escape and the Finn thanked Harald and used magic to kill his father, King Halfdan, by making him fall through the ice. And that is actually when Harald Fairhair first became king when his father died and he was just a teenager.

[00:19:24]>> Of course he did.

[00:19:25]>> Another story as told in If you ask me, I'm a little bit of a skeptical person, so I think what happened is that he killed the the dad and then he said, "Oh, this Finn magical guy came and he killed him. Now I'm king."

[00:19:37]>> saga, >> [snorts] >> uh Harald Fairhair's son, Eric, when he was just a boy, he came across a woman in Finnmark. She was Norse, she was a Norwegian, and she had been sent to the land of the Finns to learn magic from two Finn men who were said to be the best magic practitioners in all of Finnmark. It was the north of Norway back then, but they referred to them as the Finns. It's still called uh Finnmark today. And these two Finns who were said to never miss a shot with an arrow or spear, and they were kill someone with their gaze. But Gunnhild, this woman who went there to learn, she [snorts] was so beautiful that the Finns kept her prisoner and didn't let her leave. And Eric Bloodaxe and his men helped her kill the two Finns and helped her escape.

[00:20:28]So, there'll be a couple more stories about Finnish magic and I'm going to speak about in just a minute, but those are basically my two favorites. But on to the next subject, we can't speak about Finland without speaking about women and marriage. Finn women, or Finnkona as they were called, were very, very attractive for marriages for the Norse. Many, many Viking kings took Finnish wives because they were the most beautiful and also they were good with magic. We have many stories of this.

[00:21:04]It's good to have an enchantress or a witch on your side. Say. [laughter] You don't want to get hexed.

[00:21:08]>> I can sympathize. I've got a thing for Finnish girls.

[00:21:12]>> [laughter] >> My girlfriend's going to be pissed. I know blah blah blah blah blah. Yeah, of course your girlfriend's finished. No, I don't. I only said that in last video that I kind of have a thing for Dutch girls, too, but I've only said that twice cuz there's only two countries in the world where I have a thing for the girls there, and it's Dutch girls and it's Finnish girls. Why? Well, they are the only hot ones in the world that can actually take a joke and have a sense of humor. There are beautiful girls all throughout the world, okay? Okay, let's >> girls who can take a joke throughout the world, especially in Scandinavia. Plenty of beautiful girls, uh but they are pretty boring, okay? And they definitely can't take a joke. They get offended at every little thing.

[00:21:56]Finnish and Dutch girls, not only will they laugh at my offensive jokes, but they'll come back to me and say something even more offensive with that dark humor, and that's wife material, okay? And I think >> No comment. the Vikings [laughter] 1,000 years ago kind of saw this, too, and they had this same attraction and they were bored of the Norse women at home. So, one great story coming from a couple hundred years before the Viking Age as told in Ynglinga saga, Swedish King Agne and his men went on a series of her raids in Finland. The Finns had had enough of it, and a great Finnish chieftain named Frosti gathered all the Finns together to >> Frosti.

[00:22:40]>> The Swedes won the battle and killed the chieftain Frosti, Oh my. and the King Agne took Frosti's daughter named Sgyalf to be his wife because she was the most beautiful women in the north.

[00:22:54]>> They always are. She said, "Okay, but only if you >> didn't say okay. [laughter] funeral feast for my father." Mm. Agne did that.

[00:23:02]He held a feast for the kill of the Finnish chieftain, but then his daughter Skjalf sneakily strangled Agni to death with a necklace during the night. Oh, love that. From quite a bit before the Viking Age, a Swedish king Vanlandi stayed with a Finnish chieftain over the winter. His name was Snær the Old, and King Vanlandi fell in love with Snær sounds like snow. Snær's most [laughter] beautiful daughter named Driva, and they got married. Long story short, King Vanlandi didn't pay enough attention to her, and he left and he didn't return to Finland to see her for many years. And after that, his Finnish wife used magic to call him home. But when he still didn't come home, she sent an máðe or this hag-riding spirit to basically kill him in his sleep. This serves as a valuable lesson to Finnish women. If you find the right one, they are the most beautiful, fun, friendly, and loyal long-term partners if you stay on their good side.

[00:24:11]Like, hey, a lot of you guys have messaged asking, "Oh, what kind of girls do I like? And what's what's your girlfriend like? Is she into magic? And if I'm that into magic, does she my girl have to be a völva or magic practitioner?" Hell, no.

[00:24:25]I cheat, okay?

[00:24:27]>> [laughter] >> I cheat. See, if you piss off a regular girl, nothing happens. She ain't got no hands.

[00:24:34]Maybe she will get her friend to send you a couple of mean messages, no big deal. But if you piss off a girl who knows magic, she can do some very unpleasant things, >> [laughter] >> and I have learned my lesson, especially with Finnish girls, even if they're not that spiritual or into magic, they have some energy about them, and I pretty pretty have cheated on all of them that I've been with.

[00:24:57]And they have made some way to make me pay. So, that's just a warning for any of them that don't mess with Finnish women.

[00:25:07]Another story, my favorite one involving Harald Fairhair. He had many, many wives and about 30 children. Something like that, just in case you didn't know.

[00:25:18]But, his favorite wife was a Finn >> So, they practiced Heathenry, apparently. That was their religion.

[00:25:24]>> called Snaefriður.

[00:25:26]Snaefriður was Svasi's daughter. And King Harald was at a Yule feast one day held by the Finnish chieftain named Svasi. And he introduced him to his daughter Snaefriður. The chieftains had come over with lust, as the [clears throat] story said, and wanted to bed Snaefriður. But, her Svasi would not allow his daughter to just become a concubine for the king.

[00:25:52]So, he said, "You have to marry her."

[00:25:54]And Harald agreed to take his, probably his 12th wife, so he could just bang her pretty [laughter] much. He agreed to marry her. But, it ended up with Harald loving this woman more than any other.

[00:26:05]So, Harald spent all of his time with this Finnish woman, Snaefriður. And he actually neglected his kingdom.

[00:26:12]And during the three-year long marriage, she gave birth to four of his children, which were famous Halfdan here.

[00:26:21]But, one day Snaefriður Three kids in four years, or four kids in three years, that's not healthy. suddenly died. And Harald basically got mad with grief and sadness. And he basically kept her body for many months, I think even many years, because the body never turned into a corpse and rotted for a long time because Well, it's the same story as the other Well, there there have been many monarchs who have done this, you know, kept their hearts, kept their bodies because they were mad with grief. And they kept the bodies of their spouse.

[00:26:52]>> so magical.

[00:26:54]Told us all the >> Eventually Harald's servants convinced Harald to let them change her clothes and move the body.

[00:27:00]>> go, please.

[00:27:01]>> When this happened, they changed her clothes and lifted her body. The body turned blue and started to smell awful and toads and snakes and lizards crawled out of her body and this made Harald in disgust. He loved her so much and he thought he was so magical.

[00:27:17]>> And for the rest of his life after that, he hated magic practitioners. He even had four of his sons that Snæfríðr gave birth to, he sent them all away because he didn't want anyone practicing magic around and he even sent his most loyal and beloved son Eric Bloodaxe to murder Harald's other son by Snæfríðr and that was Oh my god. because he was starting to take after his mother and be a very good magic practitioner. Oh my god.

[00:27:47]>> Crazy story, is it true? Who knows, but that is >> Oh, they don't know?

[00:27:51]>> one uh in I thought taking away the magic aspect of this, I thought all those stories were true.

[00:27:56]>> Fins basically. So you can see how complicated the Norse and Finn relations were.

[00:28:02]The Fins honestly were not treated that well by the Norse most of the time. They were the number one raiding target. And other than that, the Vikings just wanted to take your most beautiful women as wives and you know, go to you for help whenever we needed some spiritual guidance. Doesn't sound that nice from most of the stories we hear, but there were some very friendly relations with the Fins too through trade and other relationships. We needed it.

[00:28:32]>> friendly stories. Like I mentioned just a couple minutes ago in Harald Fairhair Saga, the Norwegian noblewoman Gunnhild was actually sent to the two magical Fins remember by her father Åsulf to learn magic.

[00:28:48]>> [snorts] >> And it seemed actually like this was a pretty common practice going to learn magic from the Finns and they were respected teachers. So, if you wanted your child in Scandinavia to learn magic, you'd send them over to the Finns.

[00:29:03]>> In another saga, the one of Olaf the Saint, the legendary Tore Hund, who was a Norwegian chieftain, What was the name?

[00:29:12]>> controlled the Norwegian trade with the Finns. Uh the main uh goods that the Finns provided was different types of animal furs and Tore actually had a great relationship with the Finns because of this. Although he he there's one story of Tore Hund raiding the Finns in Bjarmaland in Russia area, but he was friendly with the Finns in the north of Norway. Even so much that they made him and his men some magical reindeer hides that protected them from any sharp weapon in battle, so they could not even be killed. This is one of the I wouldn't put that to the test. reason that the pagans won at the Battle of Stiklestad against Olaf the Saint, by the way.

[00:29:54]I also remind you that I carry both Finnish and Norwegian reindeer furs in my shop if you like those. We have another famous story in the saga of Olaf Tryggvason.

[00:30:06]The horrible King Olaf was torturing people who didn't want to convert to Christianity.

[00:30:11]Eivind >> Oh. Norse chieftain was being killed by a bowl of uh burning embers basically put on his stomach because he refused to convert to Christianity. Oh, this is torture.

[00:30:24]>> breath, he said, "I cannot receive baptism because I am spirit quickened in a man's body by the wizardry of the Finns for my father and mother had no child before that was done." I'm all confused. What does that mean?

[00:30:39]>> translation. What does that exactly mean? I don't know. I'd I'd have to see the original old I thought I was I thought I was tripping. I was what does that mean? I don't think I'm that clear on this. What? Let me go back.

[00:30:50]I am a spirit. Okay, so I'm not alive basically. And before that I my mother and father had no child before that was done. It's some weird thing. Probably I'm just a spirit.

[00:31:00]>> English translation, what does that exactly mean? I don't know. I I I'd have to I'm in a corporeal body.

[00:31:06]It's basically implying that the Finns had a good relationship with Aven's parents enough to help them bear a son who would be spiritually protected for life. Ah. We even had one source in Gesta Danorum that mentions the Finnish King Matull and the Bjarms and they actually supported the Swedes against the Danish King Yngvar in a battle. Gesta Danorum is not the most reliable source, but the Suomen kronika dates the event to 818. So, it definitely could have happened. The Finns teaming up with the Swedes to fight off Denmark for a certain period of time. And I'm sure there was a lot more than this what we find recorded in the sagas. The Finns teaming up with the Norse, especially as Christianity came in, but We have to stay together.

[00:32:02]>> to an end. Scandinavia stopped being pagan and they became Christians in the late Viking Age. And that is where I will end the video for here. So, I'll leave it at that guys because technically the Viking Age ends in the year 1066.

[00:32:20]But this is only just the start of the history of the real Finland, okay?

[00:32:25]After the rest of Scandinavia became Christian around that time, the Viking Age technically ended and Finland after that received an onslaught of raids and crusades mostly from Scandinavia and the Christians and Norwegian and Swedish kings, but also from Eastern European kingdoms, too.

[00:32:45]They were all trying to Christianize and take over Finland at the same time, and it took them more than 200 years to do so. The Finns fought off every attack and upheld their pagan religion like absolute legends. Great.

[00:33:01]>> Though, you know, now at that point, the whole of Europe had become Christian, and the Finns were the last standing pagans. And all the other European rulers tried to force their ways on Finland.

[00:33:15]Some say the Finns were never truly Christianized, but that is a long and very great story for another day. So, let me know if you guys like this video, and I'll continue that history because there's a lot more of it in the next couple hundred years after the Viking Age ended about the Finns, but that's all for today.

[00:33:36]Well, this was an epic story. I have a lot of questions, probably I have more questions, actually, than than you can answer.

[00:33:45]>> [gasps] >> But, I I was thinking, there's just so so many things.

[00:33:50]First of all, I would say again that Finland is just a very interesting country, very interesting region. I think it's really funny how they were mentioning, well, he was mentioning how Finland in around that time period, I'm a little confused, though, to begin with by the Viking situation. He was you can't call them Vikings, but they were because the Viking was something that people did or some sort. It wasn't just as a people that were there, right? So, I guess that's what he was just a profession. I guess, if I understood this correctly, it was more, I don't know, they were, I don't know, they were hitmen, probably not hitmen. I'm I'm no, more like military men. So, I sort of as in you would go and you would say, "Yeah, they're in a Navy SEAL." or they're a royal royal army or whatever, just another type of army guy, but also army person but in another country. So, this is what I I think that's the thing, right? Vikings was just something that people did, but it's not necessarily, you know, it's not an always it came with a culture as in military culture of of course it it still exists. Although obviously again, you can have people of different nationalities, but still sort of culture culturally it's sort of there are some things that remain. So, I would assume it's similar to this. Although yes, you know, the Vikings were not just people that were oh, it's culturally they were a group of people. Yeah, well, they were group of people, but it wasn't as if they were in one specific place.

[00:35:08]They came they were in in different places, they were in different regions, and the whole thing they had in common was their culture and what they did was apparently was I don't know what Vikings actually did. I mean, I think they were just raiding around and they were again and they had a very rich culture and they had a purpose by doing but well, they were doing this for a reason. They were being eaten together stuff, but it was well, that's their way of life you I'm not going to ask I'm not going to ask white people a thousand years ago, oh, what is your purpose in life? Well, who knows, right?

[00:35:38]They were just pillaging and and and ravaging because what else were they what they were going to do? It's sort of their their only livelihood or whatever.

[00:35:46]Then so I if I understood this correctly, apparently Finland is sort of separated from the rest of Scandinavia, which I think it's really again, I understand the concept because yes, of course, you know, he did a really great job at explaining this. And of course, what I was going with the whole Finland apparently it wasn't just you know, when I think of Finland always I think of the country, right? I think of the country in the in northern Europe. But no, apparently at one point it was Finland it was not necessarily that. It had they had parts of it that were I think present Sweden. That that's really normal. I think I would I would expect it. You know, I know that at some point they were part of Russia, at one point they were also part of Sweden because they're kind of they're they're close together, they're neighbors. And I think usually that's what you would expect to happen, right? Oh, yes, you know, borders have changed and territories have changed throughout the years. Of course, they're going to They're not going to remain unchanged.

[00:36:37]So, that's not surprising. Oh, yeah, there were parts of Russia, there were parts of Sweden, but they were part in the Baltic Sea, like really down below.

[00:36:44]That's surprising to me and even way up in Russia, that is in I don't know, bare mainland Russia, which I think it's crazy. Just because, again, it's so far away from what I think it's present-day Finland. But, again, borders back in those days, who knows what they were and of course they differ probably there's little tribes that we don't really know.

[00:37:02]Because probably they were they they just I don't know, they disappeared. So, probably there's no recorded history.

[00:37:07]Because probably the smaller tribes just disappeared and there's again sad, but well, probably they did probably they didn't disappear. Sometimes maybe they just got together with another group and then they were absorbed by that by that tribe by that tribe, which hopefully is the best case scenario. But, I think it's kind of funny that to me and what I what I was saying isn't the whole It's not Scandinavia. I constantly get them confused. I know, I know it it's wrong of me. But, it's funny that oh no, they're seen as this separate thing as oh, you know, Finns are sort of separated from the the Denmark and Sweden and Norway. I think it's the three main ones. Because to me, it's sort of oh my god, they're they're kind of the same, right? They're neighbors and this they're all in the same they're all in the same sort of region. But, no, the more I learn about this, the more I realize they see this as something completely different. They culturally they're not, you know, we're not Scandinavia, we're quite different. Even their language, which I think is also very important. They have a different language that it's not really related to anything. I would love to know what are the theories as in where exactly Apparently, there's a mystery as well as where exactly they know it was not Indo-European or is the case it is Indo-European and the others are I can't remember that are however it is. The point is that they're they don't really know nobody really knows where Finn people came from, which I like. I love a mystery. I think there's just some of them are, you know, nobody knows where these people came from. A lot of them are theories and of course, you know, that's all all all good. Yes, of course, you can have a lot of theories, but I love all all all those little mysteries in which don't people don't really know specifically where that people came from. It's sort of yeah, we think they know we think they came from this place, but we know we have to make more studies. We have to I don't know, who knows? Maybe in the future they'll they'll actually find out. And of course, they kind of know a little bit of that because of the language and all of that, but so they can sort of trace it back a little bit, but it's not 100% sure. But I love it. I think that it really adds to the mysticism of of it all. And that's why probably because they were so separated from it all and they were so, you know, mystical and they were all all you know, they're they're like gods, but not really. I think that's probably why, you know, they're all so even in in the in this DNH they're seen as something separate and as something different. And again, even the fact that it's a mystery, you know, where did these people came from?

[00:39:19]Nobody knows. And I think that's that adds a little bit to the whole oh, you know, they're magical people and they knew how to practice magic and they were wizards and they were all of that because of kind of they they they're so separated, I think from everything and from the rest. Well, yeah, of course, you're going to be such a mystery thing and especially I think around that time period, you don't really again, it's as they say, you know, back in ancient times or when we know ancient times, but 300 years ago, 250 years ago, there were more ghost stories and legends because there was no there was no power, there was no light. People were just lighting things without it, you know, with with gas. I don't know what they were lighting things with. But now, of course, when the electrical power sort of became more of a widespread thing, ghosts started to disappear a little bit and ghost stories started to disappear a little bit because yes, you know, we have light now. So, a lot of those stuff were things that again, you can't really explain it and of course, as technology advances, there are more, you know, there there's less explained phenomena in a way. So, I wonder obviously it's a little bit of that. So, it's it's nice of you to obviously Oh, you know, you have this sort of mystical thing, and I like that. Of course, you have to remain a little There's a whimsy-ness that I think it's nice that that it remains.

[00:40:28]Although, part of me wants to go on all those great stories that he was mentioning. I can maybe guess Oh, there were so they obviously had some basis in reality, and I can see sort of the reality of this. I said, yes, they they they the king sort of they had they the king didn't want the the the daughter taken by you know, the rival tribe. And then, you know, he promised to do something. He was like, "Oh, yeah, whatever." But then, he fell in love, and then you know, the wife died, and he was heartbroken.

[00:40:55]And then, he was Oh, I'm I'm I hate people that practice magic when he when she died because he was so completely heartbroken. Well, yeah, sure, but it wasn't as if the corpse and he kept the corpse. Yeah, but the corpse didn't it started to produce it was he turned blue, and the the go the corpse did this. Yes, of course, those things are probably, you know, they were embellished, you know, throughout history. But I think the basis has I got to know all of those stories, even the magical ones. They had some really They had a basis in You can also like you can sort of assume what happened, taking away the magic of it all. Of course, again, it's nice of that a whimsy-ness remains. I think it's really nice. But I think also again, if you're a little bit more of a let's let's think about things without, you know, a more serious way, of course, you can also do that. And again, it's very interesting. I think he was mentioning We Who knows if it happened? So, I thought Oh my god, I thought these stories were all true. But apparently, there's a little bit of we don't really know if it if this actually happened because it was all legend. And I think probably it's because it's all recorded in written history. So, we only have written history to go, and we don't really have the actual sort of evidence.

[00:41:54]Which of course, is crazy, right? This happened a thousand years ago. There's not going to be any evidence before besides you kind of take my word for it.

[00:42:01]I kind of believe it. I I think Yeah, of course, I I believe it. Again, not a lot of the magical things, but I think a lot of these things are have basis on reality. And do I I there was this king that did this, and there were or chieftain that did this and that of course I believe it because they're believable stories but again the magical ones well I'm a little bit less than sure. Although I do have to say the story again that the story about the the the the guy keeping the wife body for a long time kind of crazy. This is again this it has I can think of at least three or four times this has has happened throughout history and again I'm not super aware of this but again I can think of like four times in which had happened with monarchs. So it's sort of okay so people back in those days they have the tendency to just I'm going to keep the body because again I'm so I don't know what they were expecting you know again they were sort of heartbroken or maybe again they were I don't know that the servants and you know the butlers well not the butlers that you know the plots or whatever they were I don't know for some reason they were oh my god we hate this monarch so we're going to invent this story. We're going to create this story about this guy keeping or this woman keeping the heart or keeping the body of the deceased you know spouse to I don't know I don't know for what purpose but it's kind of funny that oh my god this is like the fourth time this had this had happened which I think it's a lot because who knows I don't think that's quite [laughter] normal. It wasn't normal back then it's less normal now but I think it's kind of weird that it has happened you know a few times throughout history. But yes this was lovely this was incredibly interesting but that was it for today and I'll see you next time. Bye.