![FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT...The Vikings](https://cdn.magzter.com/1422873872/1707979024/articles/yHDHzsFGM1707982976155/FIVE-THINGS-YOU-PROBABLY-DIDNT-KNOW-ABOUTTHE-VIKINGS.jpg)
1 A Viking wedding involved a bed and eight people
The people of medieval Iceland are best known for their sagas-vivid stories written about their Viking ancestors. Yet they also possessed a lawcode, and these laws reveal a curious marriage custom that shines a light on gender relations in Icelandic society.
For a marriage to be legitimate, a groom had to be seen by six witnesses entering the same bed as his new wife, "without concealment". The idea that marriage was witnessed ensured that children from the union were seen as legitimate - an important matter for the descent of property and for family honour. After all, the keeping of mistresses was far from uncommon and the sexual mistreatment of female slaves so widespread it appears that it was barely worth recording in sagas.
All this is worth bearing in mind when considering the Viking cemetery in Birka, Sweden - in which a skeleton buried with an array of weapons turned out to be biologically female. Many Viking women enjoyed greater freedoms than their counterparts across Europe. But there were still limits to their power. Did the person buried at Birka express their identity like that of a male warrior because of such limits?
2 Vikings converted to Christianity earlier than we thought
In c965 AD, King Harald Bluetooth made a bold - and striking - claim. On a runestone erected at Jelling on the Jutland peninsula, the Danish monarch declared that he had "made all the Danes Christian". It was the earliest 'official' statement on Christianity made in Viking Scandinavia.
So does that mean that Christianity didn't gain much traction in the Viking lands until the late 10th century? Perhaps not. For, in 2016, on the Danish island of Funen, a metal detectorist discovered a Scandinavian gold crucifix pendant from the early 10th century.
This story is from the March 2024 edition of BBC History UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 2024 edition of BBC History UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
!["It had been a tiny triumph, but it had been a British triumph"](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/8opIdMhdd1717680864049/IT-HAD-BEEN-A-TINY-TRIUMPH-BUT-IT-HAD-BEEN-A-BRITISH-TRIUMPH.jpg)
"It had been a tiny triumph, but it had been a British triumph"
MAX HASTINGS talks to Rob Attar about a daring airborne raid that provided a much-needed boost to Britain's morale in the darkest days of the Second World War
![Dancing with the Devil](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/z3tczrcbD1717680698593/DANCING-WITH-THE-DEVIL.jpg)
Dancing with the Devil
ROGER MOORHOUSE is impressed by a book that traces the fortunes of the diplomats charged with managing the west's wartime alliance with Josef Stalin
![Victorian cucumber ice cream](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/XihiPLmM11717680253090/VICTORIAN-CUCUMBER-ICE-CREAM.jpg)
Victorian cucumber ice cream
ELEANOR BARNETT samples the delights of an unusual and refreshing version of one of the world's favourite summer treats
![Anne Boleyn, ‘princess' of France](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/FN-z5WT8v1717680017211/ANNE-BOLEYN-PRINCESS-OF-FRANCE.jpg)
Anne Boleyn, ‘princess' of France
JOANNE PAUL is impressed by an account of how the Tudor queen's continental connections shaped her meteoric rise and dramatic fall
![FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT...Roman Britain](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/2Rmu-B6bk1717679721651/FIVE-THINGS-YOU-PROBABLY-DIDNT-KNOW-ABOUTROMAN-BRITAIN.jpg)
FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT...Roman Britain
Rob Collins, who is teaching our new HistoryExtra Academy course, shares five surprising facts about life in Britain during the Roman occupation
![War and pieces](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/j0-whLbkb1717679070748/WAR-AND-PIECES.jpg)
War and pieces
Far from idle pursuits, games have transformed the way societies have made sense of life and death, order and conflict for centuries. Kelly Clancy picks five examples that reveal how playtime has often been a serious business
![Gulbadan Begum The Mughal Jane Austen](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/PF1DtMyfw1717678792372/GULBADAN-BEGUM-THE-MUGHAL-JANE-AUSTEN.jpg)
Gulbadan Begum The Mughal Jane Austen
Gulbadan Begum was meant to live a quiet life in the confines of a Mughal harem. Instead she made her mark on history twice: first, embarking on a pioneering pilgrimage to Islam’s holy cities; second, writing a remarkable history of her dynasty. RUBY LAL tells her story
![Succession 1603](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/_ZQ6raIkd1717678256662/SUCCESSION-1603.jpg)
Succession 1603
The passing of the English crown from Elizabeth I to James VI & I was welcomed by a nation hungry for change. But, writes Susan Doran, it wasn't long before tensions began to rise between the incoming king and his new subjects
![Horror in France](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/sK1_OhLUO1717677733111/HORROR-IN-FRANCE.jpg)
Horror in France
On the morning of 10 June 1944, the residents of Oradour-sur-Glane were going about their lives as normally as was possible in occupied France: cooking, washing, shopping, playing. Little did they know that they were about to become the victims of one of the most infamous massacres of the Second World War.
!["IT'S TIME TO WRITE WOMEN BACK INTO THESE WORLD-CHANGING ANCIENT EVENTS"](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/6FQpECvQ51717677224816/ITS-TIME-TO-WRITE-WOMEN-BACK-INTO-THESE-WORLDCHANGING-ANCIENT-EVENTS.jpg)
"IT'S TIME TO WRITE WOMEN BACK INTO THESE WORLD-CHANGING ANCIENT EVENTS"
Daisy Dunn tells the story of the Greco-Persian Wars through the deeds of the extraordinary female figures who shaped them