Vikings - All You Need To Know

Viking refers to a member of the Norse (Scandinavian) peoples, famous as explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates, who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late 8th to the early 11th century.
These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far west as Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. This period of Viking expansion is known as the Viking Age, and forms a major part of Scandinavian history, with a minor, yet significant part in European history. Once seen through the classical mindset of the "barbaric North", the historical image of the Vikings, although still under the shadow of traditional views, now shows the Vikings as aspirational, adventurous peoples, with ingenuity in ship and town construction, and a proficiency as seafarers and traders to match.

Viking expansion

The Vikings sailed most of the North Atlantic, reaching south to North Africa and east to Russia, Constantinople and the middle east, as looters, traders, colonists, and mercenaries. Vikings under Leif Eriksson, heir to Erik the Red, reached North America, and set up a short lived settlement in present-day L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Weapons and warfare

Our knowledge about arms and armor of the Viking age is based on relatively sparse archaeological finds, pictorial representation, and to some extent on the accounts in the Norse sagas and Norse laws recorded in the 13th century. According to custom, all free Norse men were required to own weapons, as well as permitted to carry them at all times. These arms were also indicative of a Viking's social status. A wealthy Viking would have a complete ensemble of a helmet, shield, chainmail shirt, and animal-skin coat, possibly reindeer hides, among various other armaments. A lesser off man, however, could only afford a single weapon, and perhaps a shield. The spear and shield were the most basic armaments of the Viking warrior; most would probably also wear a knife of some description, commonly of the seax type. As an alternative, or perhaps in addition, to the spear a warrior might carry a bow or axe. The wealthiest Vikings would have worn a sword in addition to his primary arms and have had access to body armor, such as a helmet and a mail hauberk.

Ships

There were two distinct classes of Viking ships: the longship (sometimes erroneously called "drakkar", a corruption of "dragon" in Norse) and the knarr. The longship, intended for warfare and exploration, was designed for speed and agility, and were equipped with oars to complement the sail as well as making it able to navigate independently of the wind. The longship had a long and narrow hull, as well as a shallow draft, in order to facilitate landings and troop deployments in shallow water. The knarr, on the other hand, was a slower merchant vessel with a greater cargo capacity than the longship. It was designed with a short and broad hull, and a deep draft. It also lacked the oars of the longship. Longships were used extensively by the Leidang, the Scandinavian defence fleets. The term "Viking ships" has entered common usage, however, possibly because of its romantic associations (discussed below). In Roskilde are the well-preserved remains of five ships, excavated from nearby Roskilde Fjord in the late 1960s. The ships were scuttled there in the 11th century to block a navigation channel, thus protecting the city, which was then the Danish capital, from seaborne assault. These five ships represent the two distinct classes of Viking ships, the longship and the knarr. The remains of these ships can be found on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. Longships are not to be confused with longboats.

Decline

Following a period of thriving trade and settlement, cultural impulses flowed from the rest of Europe to affect Viking dominance. Christianity had an early and growing presence in Scandinavia, and with the rise of centralized authority and the development of more robust coastal defense systems, Viking raids became more risky and less profitable.

Snorri Sturluson in the saga of St. Olafr chapter 73, describes the brutal process of Christianisation in Norway: “…those who did not give up paganism were banished, with others he (St. Olafr) cut off their hands or their feet or extirpated their eyes, others he ordered hanged or decapitated, but did not leave unpunished any of those who did not want to serve God (…) he afflicted them with great punishments (…) He gave them clerks and instituted some in the districts.”

As the new quasi-feudalilistic system became entrenched in Scandinavian rule, organized opposition sealed the Viking's fate – 11th century chronicles note Scandinavian attempts to combat the Vikings from the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, which eventually led to Danish and Swedish participation in the Baltic crusades during the 12th and 13th centuries, and contributed to the development of the Hanseatic League.

Al Capone`s Life

Al Capone still remains one of the most notable residents of "the Rock." In a memoir written by Warden James Johnston, he reminisced about the intensity of public interest around Capone's imprisonment, stating that he was continually barraged with questions about "Big Al." Each day newspapers and press flooded his office with phone calls, wanting to know everything from how Capone liked the weather on "the Rock," to what job assignment he was currently holding.

Before arriving at Alcatraz, Capone had been a master at manipulating his environment at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta. Despite strict convictions from the courts, Capone was always able to persuade his keepers into procuring his every whim, and often dictated his own privileges. It was said that he had convinced many guards to work for him, and his cell boasted expensive furnishings which included personal bedding along with many other amenities not extended to other inmates serving lesser crimes. His cell was carpeted, and also had a radio around which many of the guards would sit with Al conversing and listening to their favorite radio serials. His friends and family maintained residence in a nearby hotel, and each day he was flooded with visitors.

Capone started his life of crime at a young age. Rumored to have started pimping prostitutes before reaching puberty, he was raised on the tough streets of Brooklyn and earned extra money as a bouncer in various brothels. By the age of twenty, Capone had moved to Chicago and was managing a popular nightclub named The Four Deuces. By 1924, Capone had his hand in various rackets, including prostitution rings, bootlegging, and gambling houses and was believed to be earning over $100,000 per week.

Capone had mastered the art of politics, and as a wealthy, powerful gangster figure, he attempted to balance his activities. Despite his illegitimate occupation, he had become a highly visible public figure. He made daily trips to City Hall, opened soup kitchens to feed the poor, and even lobbied for milk bottle dating to ensure the safety of the city's children. City officials often were embarrassed by the politic strength of Capone, and began leveraging his illegal activities through police raids, along with setting intentional fires to his places of business.

In the beginning, the public glamorized Capone's activities and identified with him as a modern day Robin Hood. It wasn't long, however, before the public started weighing against him when it was believed that he had ordered the death of a famed local prosecutor named Billy McSwiggin. The young prosecutor had before tried to pin Capone with the violent murder of a rival gang member and he had a reputation for going after bootleggers. Although many speculated against Al's involvement in McSwiggin's death, there was a great outcry against gangster violence, and public sentiment went against Capone.

Capone quickly went into hiding, fearing he would be tried for McSwiggin's murder. He remained out of sight for nearly three months, and then after realizing he couldn't live the remainder of his life underground, he negotiated his surrender to the Chicago Police. The authorities eventually recognized that they lacked sufficient evidence to bring Capone to trial, and though very unpopular with public opinion, he was set free. The public was outraged and law officials were left embarrassed. "Big Al" had become one of the most powerful crime czars in Chicago. It was said that Capone was now big as life, and more powerful than the mayor himself.

By 1929, Capone's empire was worth over $62,000,000, and he was ready to wage war on his most prominent bootlegging rival, George "Bugs" Moran. Bugs was also one of the principal Chicago gangsters. He was known to publicly talk against Capone, and maintained a sense of spiteful arrogance that was said to anger Capone so much that Moran became one of Al's routine topics of discussion. It was rumored that Capone gave orders to take Bugs down by assassinating his gang members from the bottom, not stopping until they reached Bugs.


Capone was living lavishly in Palm Beach, and assigned one of his top associates "Machine Gun" McGurn to mastermind the hit. McGurn had one of his bootleggers lure members of the Moran gang into a garage to buy liquor at an unreasonably cheap price. The deal was made and the delivery was scheduled to take place on Valentines Day. McGurn and his men awaited them in stolen police uniforms. When they arrived, McGurn's gang pretended to be police making a bust, and ordered all of Moran's men to stand facing the wall. Thinking that they had just been caught by police, seven members of the Moran gang turned to the wall awaiting arrest. McGurn and his men opened fire with machine guns, fatally killing the gangsters. Bugs, who saw the police car before stopping and thought it was a raid, fled the scene. Capone was credited with what would be deemed one of the most famous mass murders in American history, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre received national attention, and Capone was glamorized in books and newspapers across the country. Capone was a high class, family oriented and self-made gangster-millionaire who now had the attention of everyone. Many of the local politicians were complaining about Capone and his self proclaimed political stature. The publicity ultimately backfired and attracted the attention of President Herbert Hoover. Having just started his presidential term, Hoover demanded that Capone be brought to justice. Andrew Mellon, the Secretary of the Treasury, was pressured by Hoover to spearhead the government's battle against Capone. Mellon collected harsh evidence against "Big Al" which exploited his gang affiliations, bootlegging, prostitution rings, and flagrant evasion of taxes.

It would take nearly five years and an intensive undercover operation before Capone was finally convicted. On October 17, 1931, Alphonse Capone was sentenced to 11 years, $50,000 in fines, and was forced to pay court fees totaling over $30,000. The judge refused to allow Capone to be released on bail and he was confined at the Cook County Jail until arrangements were made for his transfer to Atlanta. On May 4, 1932, Capone began serving out his federal prison sentence at Altanta. Capone quickly flaunted his power and started to again have the ability to dictate his privileges. He was given unlimited access to the Warden, and was said to maintain large reserves of cash hidden in his cell, often generously "tipping" guards who would assist him by yielding to special requests. His time spent at Atlanta would not be as plush as when he was confined in Cook, but he still had means to manipulate the system.


In 1934, Attorney General Homer Cummings along with Sanford Bates, the head of the Federal Prisons, made arrangements to send Capone to a facility where he would be unable to leverage the system. Alcatraz was the perfect answer to a problem that no one could seem to control. In August of 1934, without any formal notice, Capone was placed on a secure prison railroad car, on a journey along with 52 other inmates to America's Devil Island.

From the first moment of his arrival, Capone worked to manipulate the system. Warden Johnston had a custom of meeting the new "fish" when they first arrived at Alcatraz, and usually participated in their brief orientation. Johnston wrote in a later memoir that he had little trouble recognizing Capone while he stood in the lineup. Capone was grinning, and making quiet smug comments from the side of his mouth to other inmates. When it became his turn to approach Warden Johnston, it appeared that he wanted to show off to the other inmates by asking questions on their behalf in a leader-type role. Johnston quickly provided him his prison AZ number, and made him get back in line with the other convicts. During Capone's time on Alcatraz, he made several attempts to con Johnston into allowing him special privileges, but all were denied. Johnston maintained that Capone would not be given any special rights and would have to follow the rules as would any other inmate.

Capone eventually conceded and one day made the comment to Johnston, "It looks like Alcatraz has got me licked." Capone spent 4 ½ years on Alcatraz and held a variety of jobs. Capone's time on Alcatraz was not easy time. Capone got into a fight with another inmate in the recreation yard and was placed in isolation for eight days. While working in the prison basement, an inmate who was standing in line waiting for a haircut, exchanged words with Capone and stabbed him with a pair of shears. Capone was admitted into the prison hospital and released a few days later with a minor wound. Capone eventually became symptomatic from syphilis, a disease he had evidently been carrying for years. In 1938, he was transferred to Terminal Island Prison in Southern California to serve out the remainder of his sentence, and was released in November of 1939. Capone died on January 25, 1947, in his Palm Beach Mansion from complications of syphilis.

Top 10 Secret Societies

Genuine secret societies have existed for centuries, conducting their business in darkened backrooms, and more often than not, exerting a mysterious influence upon our culture.

From political organizations to college frats, these groups require their members to conceal their activities -- and sometimes even their identities -- from the public. Go behind closed doors as we examine 10 of the world's most prominent secret societies, both past and present.


Number 10
Skull and Bones
Arguably the world's most secretive college fraternity, Skull and Bones was founded at Yale University in 1832 and counts some of America's most powerful and influential citizens among its alumni; George W. Bush and John Kerry are both members. Also known as "The Order of Death," the society inducts 15 upcoming seniors for the year prior to their graduation and requires them to take a solemn vow of secrecy.

The most likely new member is from a family with longstanding ties to Skull and Bones and is someone who is energetic, resourceful, political, and above all else, willing to sacrifice his independence for the order's mysterious "common goal." Although some insist Skull and Bones is responsible for running America, others simply believe it to be an illustrious old boys' network.

Interesting Fact: According to a 1999 report, Skull and Bones had assets of $4,133,246.

Number 9
Order of the Bull's Blood
Established at Rutgers University in 1834, The Order of the Bull's Blood is a longstanding college fraternity that shares much in common with Skull and Bones. Each year, members of the Order "tap" 12 juniors and invite them to join the society for the coming year. New members are then encouraged to prove themselves by engaging in a number of elaborate pranks against the school's principal rival, Princeton University.

One of their most noteworthy pranks was the stealing of a cannon at Princeton in 1875. The Order of the Bull's Blood counts among its alumni current NBA Commissioner David Stern, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, former Vice President of the United States Garret A. Hobart, and former Director of the FBI, Louis Freeh.

Interesting Fact: The Order of the Bull's Blood is the oldest currently active secret society at Rutgers.


Number 8
Krypteia
The Krypteia was an ancient rite of passage for promising young Spartan men who had completed their formal education. Naked and armed with only a knife, these 18-year-olds were instructed to survive by any means necessary as they patrolled the countryside in search of revolts and misdeeds. Those who survived (and indeed many did perish) were welcomed with open arms into the Spartan Army.

Interesting Fact: According to tradition, members of the Krypteia were permitted to kill serfs known as "Helots" without fear of blood guilt.


Number 7
The Fenian Brotherhood
The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish nationalist organization dedicated to eradicating British rule in Ireland. Founded by John O'Mahony in 1858, the American-based group hoped to achieve its aims by invading British-occupied Canada and holding it hostage in return for Ireland's emancipation.

As far-fetched as their plan may sound, it wasn't without merit. After all, the Brotherhood counted among its members thousands of men who had fought during the American Civil War and it had the financial support of tens of thousands of Irish immigrants. Equipped with military training as well as patriotic love, the Fenians attacked Canada on three separate occasions in 1866, 1870 and 1871. On each occasion, they were repelled by a combination of Canadian voluntary forces and American government intervention.

The movement eventually fell apart, but its legacy is still felt: According to many historians, the risk posed by the Fenians was one of the most important impetuses for the confederation of Canada.

Interesting Fact: The Fenian Brotherhood was named in honor of the Fianna, a brave band of ancient Irish warriors.


Number 6
Club of Rome
The Club of Rome is a global think tank composed of prominent intellectuals and decision-makers such as Fernando H. Cardoso, the former president of Brazil, and Rafael Hernandez Colon, the former Governor of Puerto Rico. These and other members have met regularly since 1968 to discuss solutions for what they call "the world problematique."

According to their manifesto, it is their aim to act as "a global catalyst of change that is free of any political, ideological or business interest." Despite their noble intentions, many conspiracy theorists are still wary of the power they possess. Some even believe that the Club is secretly dedicated to overthrowing America and transforming the world into 10 distinctive "kingdoms."

Interesting Fact: Those who fear the Club of Rome most believe it has the power to create worldwide economic recessions and depressions.


Number 5
The Bilderberg Group
The Bilderberg Group is a collection of approximately 130 influential businessmen, financiers and politicians who meet once a year at an invitation-only conference. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is a member, as is World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz. The group derives it's name from the Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands, where it held its first official (and highly secretive) meeting in 1954. At the time, the group's intention was to promote understanding between Western Europe and North America through informal, off-the-record meetings.

These days, however, many believe the Bilderberg Group serves a much more sinister purpose. According to some conspiracy theorists, the group and its collection of elite leaders are responsible for overthrowing governments, rigging elections and even arranging assassinations.

Interesting Fact: Many believe this shadowy collective is responsible for having John F. Kennedy murdered.


Number 4
Beati Paoli
Literally translated, Beati Paoli means "the Blessed People" and refers to a secretive sect believed to have flourished during the 1600s. According to legend, the Beati Paoli was composed of nobles and intellectuals who belonged to the congregation of San Francisco di Paola in Sicily, and was formed to oppose the abuse of authority that was rampant at the time. Members of this revolutionary sect took vows to avenge wronged women and punish corrupt officials.

Due to the sensitive nature of their work, they protected their identities by wearing black hooded cloaks and operated only at night. When they caught a suspect, they would bring him back to their underground refuge beneath the city of Palermo, where they would conduct a trial and execute their sentence.

Interesting Fact: Although little is known of the Beati Paoli, many scholars believe the group eventually evolved into the Sicilian mafia.


Number 3
The Knights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus is a Catholic men's fraternal benefit society based in New Haven, Connecticut. Although not a secret society per se, the members must take a vow of secrecy regarding their ceremonials, which serve to advance members to full knighthood. Founded by Father Michael J. McGivney in 1882, the Knights pride themselves upon providing aid to the sick, disabled and needy. To that end, the order offers social fellowship through "educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war relief, and public relief works." Any Catholic man over the age of 18 is invited to join, and indeed, many have.

The Knights of Columbus currently has over 12,000 councils and 1.7 million members around the world. Although its charitable work is praiseworthy, many outsiders dislike its pro-life stance and often rabid support of the Church.

Interesting Fact: John F. Kennedy and Babe Ruth were both members of the Knights of Columbus.


Number 2
The Illuminati
The Order of the Illuminati was an 18th-century group of enlightened thinkers that formed in the state of Bavaria. Although it counted among its members literary giants such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder, its existence was ultimately short-lived. Eight years after it formed, the Bavarian government banned all secret societies, bringing it -- and many like it -- to an end.

Nonetheless, it attracted its fair share of champions and detractors during its time. Men of high character like Thomas Jefferson praised the Illuminati for its view of morality, while others claimed the group was secretly conspiring to replace all nations with a single world government.

Interesting Fact: At its height, the Illuminati numbered 4,000 members with branches in most European countries.


Number 1
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a global fraternal organization that was founded in England around 1390. Over 600 years later, it now has over six million dedicated members scattered around the globe. Among its famous alumni are Mel Blanc, Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill Cody, Henry Ford, Arnold Palmer, Charles Lindbergh, and many more. Those wishing to join these days must be freely elected in a secret ballot. In order to qualify, a potential Mason must first be a man over the age of 18 who is of sound mind and body, believes in a "Supreme Being" and has at least one reference from a current Mason.

Once elected, a Mason is forbidden to disclose many of the details of his membership to the public. Freemasonry claims this veil of secrecy allows its members to comfortably explore ethical and philosophical issues without outside interference, but conspiracy theorists think otherwise.

According to some, Masons are involved in everything from brainwashing to brokering interplanetary alliances. Perhaps not surprisingly, one of the organization's earliest and most vocal detractors was the Roman Catholic Church, which viewed Freemasonry and its message of religious tolerance as a threat to clerical authority.

Interesting Fact: Freemasonry was banned in Germany shortly after Adolph Hitler's rise to power.