People didn't get a lot of choice, or options, in days of yore. Maybe she was swayed by those luxurious furs…

When it gets too gory for my taste I switch over to whatever is on Turner Classic Movies.

Me too!

I don't get the "collect 'em all" promotions. This isn't Saturday morning TV. On the other hand, I never look at video games, so maybe I'm out of touch.

I was much intrigued by King Ecbert's interest in the Romans. If this is the year 800, then on Christmas Day Charlemagne is going to be proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor. I wasn't sure about those Latin scrolls - Roman scrolls survived in Britain? Then I thought, whether Aethelstan copies them or not, they're going to…

Ragnar may love 'em both, but he's going to have to have them one at a time. According to the Irish laws recorded in the same era, a man could have a concubine but the (first) wife always had superior status. A concubine with sons, however, did have superior legal status to one without sons.

I did appreciate that they gave Ragnar his share of scars.

They can always have Floki describe it, with relish. Or a character we respect, like Ragnar, tell the tale in a darkened hall, firelight on his horrified face…

This was cited in Robert Ferguson's book "Vikings: a history", which the series' creators drew upon. I don't think he mentions the crucifixion specifically.

Despite their reputation for bloodthirstiness, supposedly there were no martyrs among the Norse.

This might have been answered last season, but what's with the black eyeliner/face tattoos, on Floki and the Norse priests? Did the Vikings actually do that? On Floki it makes him look half-crazed. He reminds me of Christopher Lloyd.

I was musing about the nuns being dragged off to be raped, and how circumscribed everyone's life and worldview was at that time. You had to have powerful faith because you didn't have much else. As a boy St. Patrick was kidnapped by pagan pirates - Irish ones, I believe - and was a slave for a number of years until he…

BTW Dennis, it was Dante's Inferno where the lowest circle of Hell was for the betrayers (unless "Paradise Lost" had circles of Hell too). Great observations, keep up the good work!

Dramatically, perhaps. i gather that in reality Rollo would have been outlawed, which would have been no picnic either.

I think that by the time Ragnar and Bjorn are re-united that he will have transformed into the new guy.
I liked young Bjorn. I got a kick out of seeing a 12-year-old swilling beer and trying to look all fierce!

I don't know about the Norse, but among the Irish of the same period a woman had the right to divorce and take whatever property she brought to the marriage. They could have shown some goats and their kids in her cart.