Timeline..Who lived when?

[mrts]

I was wondering. Were there any vikings during the medieval age? Is it realistic to make a scene of vikings attacking a knights castle?

And what about vikings and pirates? Is a sea battle between vikings and pirates realistic? I'm not sure...

Who lived when?

[snefroe]

first, Vikings were traders when they arrived in western europe; they were not armed, nor were they at war with europe; they settled in several villages and cities and used their longboats to get deeper inland. once in a while they decided to raid other towns, but mostly churches and monestaries, places where people kept gold, money, ... nobody really knows why or how that worked in reality, we only have religious documents talking about them... the viking era started about 800 to 1000 . that was a vital timeframe for europe. Carl the Great's empire was falling apart, that's why there was no army crushing the viking troops.

there were knights, obviously, but not in the way as Lego created knights. for instance, knights back then did not have painted shields, heraldy is something of the 11-12th century... castles must have been fairly primitive as well, probably built with wood instead of stone...

a sea battle with vikings is in any case out of the question. the longboat was a ship for undeep waters, like rivers and coastal areas. they did have other ships as well, but nobody knows what they looked like... don't forget, most longboat examples come from burial sites... pirates are a lot more recent, not before 15th century anyway... a fight between vikings and pirates is like Roman troops fighting Napoleon...

[mrts]

ok thx for all the information. Everything is clear to me now. *y*

[Minifig Lecturer]

... a fight between vikings and pirates is like Roman troops fighting Napoleon...

Considering Napoleon always had his right hand tucked up his blouse I bet the outnumbered and out-armed Corsican would lose that fight.