The answer preceded by *** is the correct answer to the question.

51. What was Gungnir?

1. One of Freya’s chariot cats
2. ***Odin’s spear
3. Thor’s belt
4. A warning sign/glyph used by dwarves
5. Home of the elves

52. Which of the following was NOT among the races described in the Icelandic legends?

1. Aesir
2. Jotun
3. Vanir
4. Elves
5. ***Halflings

53. Which of the following was NOT associated with Valhalla?

1. Feasting on pork and mead
2. Warriors doing battle every day
3. ***Games of skill and chance
4. 640 doors
5. A roof of spears
6. Shields and coats of mail

- or -
7. They are ALL associated with Valhalla

54. Which of the following was NOT associated with the Ragnar Loðbrok of the Norse sagas?

1. The father of Ivar, Ubbe, Halfdan and Bjorn Ironside
2. Won a wife, Thora, for slaying two giant serpents
3. Was the husband of Lagertha, a female warrior
4. Put to death by Ælla, King of Northumbria in a pit of adders
5. Besieged Paris in 845 AD with 120 ships

– or-
6. ***They are ALL part of Ragnar’s stories in the sagas.

55. Which was NOT true of the stories about Rollo (d. c. 928 AD)

1. He founded the duchy of Normandy
2. He attacked Chartres in 911 AD
3. He was baptized in 912 AD
4. He was outlawed by Harald Fairhair for piracy
5. ***He was defeated by his son William Longsword

- or –
6. They are ALL associated with Rollo

56. Which was NOT true of the stories told about Thor?

1. He owned a hammer named Mjöllnir, which returned when thrown
2. The Norse wore his hammer talisman for good luck
3. ***He wore a belt that tripled his strength
4. He had a pair of iron gloves
5. He traveled in a chariot drawn by goats

- or –
6. They were ALL told about Thor

57. Odin was an active searcher for knowledge. Which was NOT true of his search?

1. ***He was led to the well of knowledge by Ratatosker
2. He sacrificed an eye for a drink of water
3. The well’s name was Mímisbrunnr/Mímir
4. The water flowed beneath the world tree Ygdrassil
5. The waters contained much wisdom
6. He hanged himself for nine days

58. Which of the following was NOT a type of ship used in the Viking age?

1. Faering
2. ***Sessa
3. Knarr
4. Drakkar
5. Snekke

59. Which of the following is NOT associated with Ragnarok in the sagas?

1. Preceded by three years of greed and treachery among humans
2. Preceded by three years of winters without summers
3. ***The wolf Fenrir will swallow the moon
4. Frost giants will sail in a ship made from the untrimmed nails of dead people
5. Loki and Heimdall will fight and kill each other
6. Ygdrassil the world tree will survive

– or –
7. All of the above will occur

60. The members of the Varangian Guard were employed by:

1. The Miklegard Imperial Guard
2. The Constantinople Constabulary
3. The Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate
4. ***The Byzantine emperor
5. The Huscarls of King Harold

61. Which was true of the Rus?

1. They founded the city of Kiev
2. ***They originated in southeastern Sweden
3. They settled in Slavic lands of mountainous terrain
4. The Russian Primary Chronicle identifies them as ethnic slavs
5. They were defeated by Rurik of Kiev

62. What was NOT true about the Althing?

1. ***Its site was protected by a group known as the JomsVikings
2. The country's most powerful leaders met to decide on legislation and dispense justice
3. It is the oldest existing legislature in the world
4. It was an annual gathering for legal judgments in Iceland
5. All free men could attend

63. What were the names of the first humans?

1. Grani & Gulfaxi
2. Eitri & Fafnir
3. Móði & Magni
4. Eomer & Eowyn
5. ***Ask & Embla

64. Which is true about a Trefoil?

1. It was used for winter travel
2. ***It connected three belts or straps
3. It bridged the gap between the Jotunheim and Alfheim
4. It was a large chalice stolen by Thor from the giant Skrymir

65. What was a quern used for?

1. To anchor Loki with entrails as punishment until Ragnarok
2. To anchor ships in a harbor
3. As a foundation for longhouse construction
4. ***To grind grain
5. As a test of courage: “Fear is the Mind killer.”

66. What were Hugin & Munin?

1. Two dwarves who forged Gungnir
2. Two elves who built the longship Mora
3. Two humans who restart the human race after Ragnarok
4. Two stags who eat among the branches of Ygdrassil
5. ***Two ravens who bring information to Odin
6. Two frost giants slain by Thor

67. In Norse legends, Friday, the day of the week, was named after:

1. Freyr, the god of peace, the harvest, rain and sunshine
2. ***Frigg, the goddess of the sky, motherhood, love and marriage
3. Freya, the goddess of love, beauty, sex, lust and seiðr magic
4. Friggin, the god of annoyance and frustration
5. Frey, the god of prosperity, battle, virility and sunshine

68. What event happened in 865 AD?

1. Bjarni Herjólfsson sighted Iceland
2. Charles III of West Frankia granted Normandy to Rollo
3. Prince Oleg moved his capital from Novgorod to Kiev
4. ***The Great Heathen Army invaded England
5. Bjorn Ironside raided the Mediterranean

69. With which of the following people did the Vikings NOT interact?

1. Saxons
2. Franks
3. Rus
4. ***Burgundians
5. Bulgars
6. Mercians

70. Which was a food NOT consumed in Scanidinavia in Viking times?

1. Beef
2. Pork
3. Tomatoes
4. Chicken
5. Shark
6. ***Potatoes
7. Salmon
8. Carrots
9. Herring
10. Wheat
11. Barley

71. Which was NOT founded or settled in by Vikings?

1. Dublin
2. ***Helsinki
3. Sliasthorp
4. Waterford
5. Kiev

72. What was the Gulaðing?

1. ***A set of Norwegian laws, formalized in the 11th century
2. A serpent gnawing at the roots of Ygdrassil
3. The bait used by Thor when fishing for Jormundgandr
4. The second beast killed by Beowulf
5. The bay or cove between Norway and Sweden

73. Which of the following was Erik the Red NOT known for?

1. ***Banished from Denmark for manslaughter
2. Used the name “Greenland” to attract people to the new land
3. Of 25 ships, only 14 made it from Iceland to Greenland
4. Built the first Christian church in Greenland
5. Father of Leif Erikson

74. Which of the following was NOT part of the legends associated with Berserkers

1. Worked themselvs into a “berserk” frenzy
2. May have bitten their shields to provoke or demonstrate ferocity
3. ***Fought with hardened boarskin armor
4. Wielded the Dane axe to intimidate opponents
5. Egill Skallagrimsson’s father, a berserker, killed a maid over a ball game
6. May have worn wolf skins or furs

75. What is a kenning?

1. A formation used to defeat a shield wall
2. A small fishing boat with four oars
3. ***A literary phrase used to describe objects or situations
4. An overwhelming defeat of an opposing force
5. A tomb or crypt for a revered warrior

Want to see the test without the answers? Click here.

Sources (among many others):

• Dr. Jackson Crawford, YouTube Lecture Series
• Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology
• John Grant, An Introduction to Viking Mythology
• John Haywood, Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age
• Judith Jesch, Women in the Viking Age
• lifeinnorway.net/norwegian-trolls
• Niels Lund,ed., Two Voyagers at the Court of King Alfred -
  The ventures of Ohthere and Wulfstan
  together with the Description of Northern Europe From the Old English Orosius
• Fiona Macdonald, 100 Facts - Vikings
• norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/
• NOVA, multiple episodes
• Neil Price, Children of Ash and Elm - A History of the Vikings
• Wikipedia.com

  © For information contact Jack Garrett at info@vikingsofbjornstad.com