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1. Fash-E :windmill_of_friendship: (fash-e@poa.st)'s status on Wednesday, 14-Feb-2024 00:32:25 JST Fash-E :windmill_of_friendship:
   For the 13th Day of White History Month we celebrate the great warriors and explorers of the Viking Age! The legendary Ragnar loðbrók, his sons Ivar the Boneless, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye of Denmark, Björn Ironside of Sweden, Halfdan Ragnarsson of Northumbria and Dublin. The explorers Erik the Red and Leif Erikson, who discovered Greenland and Newfoundland. The great conquerors Sweyn Forkbeard and his son Cnut the Great. Rollo the founder of Normandy, his greatest descendants Robert Guiscard who conquered Sicily and William the The Conqueror of England. Then finally Harald Hardrada known as the Last Viking.
   
   In 845 the largest Viking fleet ever seen arrived on the costs of France. Sailing up the Seins river, the Viking army besieged and sacked Paris. The Emperor Charles the bald was forced to pay them huge amounts of gold to their leader Ragnar. One viking among the raiding party however was less interested in gold and more in land. Rollo made a separate deal with the Emperor, in exchange for being allowed to keep the land he had siezed, he would swear fealty to the Franks. Charles accepted and the Duchy of Normandy was born. A synthesis of Norse and Frankish culture. Ragnar's son Bjorn Ironside continued south to raid Arab lands in the Mediterranean before returning to Scandinavia and becoming King of Sweden. Ragnar himself sailed for England where he raided lands in the North until the King of Northumbria captured him and threw him into a pit of vipers. Ragnar's sons led an invasion of the Isles known as the Great Heathen Army, conquering lands along the North and East shores of Britain.
   
   Around the year 1000, the Viking explorer Erik the Red was expelled from Iceland for several murders he had committed. His father had been exiled to Iceland from Norway for violence. Now exiled as well, he chose to sail West, where he discovered Greenland, naming it to falsely to encourage others to join his new settlement. Erik's son Leif would go a step further sailing as far West as Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. These voyages coincided with the First Crusade and became associated with a fabled treasure horde buried on Oak Island, Nova Scotia where some say the Vikings stored treasures taken from the Holy Lands.
   
   In 1013, The King of Denmark and Norway Sweyn Forkbeard became the first Viking ruler to successfully invade England and be crowned King after a lifetime of raiding the Isles coasts. His death only one year later would shatter this achievement, each Kingdom passed to different hands. It was left to his son Cnut to regain all three thrones in his lifetime. Beginning with his conquest of England in 1016, Denmark in 1018 and finally Norway in 1028. Cnut the Great establish the short-lived North Sea Empire, becoming perhaps the greatest Viking Conqueror.
   
   In 1030, Harald Hardrada or "Hard Ruler" attempted to retake the throne of Norway from the son of Cnut the Great in a battle but was defeated. Harald had spent the next fifteen years in exile as a commander in Kievan Rus' and a chief of the Varangian Guard in the Byzantine Empire. Returning to Norway in 1046 to be crowned King, he claimed the thrones of Denmark and England as well. Eventually leading to his invasion of England with Tostig Godwinson and defeat at the hands of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. According to the Norse poet Snorri Sturluson, before the battle a man rode up alone to Harald Hardrada and Tostig. He spoke only to Tostig, offering to return his earldom if he turned against Hardrada. Tostig asked what his brother Harold would be willing to give Hardrada for his trouble. The rider replied "Seven feet of English ground, as he is taller than other men". Then rode back to the Saxon host. Hardrada was impressed by the rider's boldness, and asked Tostig who he was. Tostig replied that the rider was Harold Godwinson himself.
   
   In 1057, the Norman Viking Robert Guiscard sailed into the Mediterranean sea, sailing for Sicily. The Vikings conquered both Byzantine and Muslim lands in southern Italy. Winning major battles against both the Greeks and Arabs as well as fighting amongst each other. They founded the Norman Kingdom of Sicily under the Hauteville Dynasty which would rule Sicily until 1194. Robert's son Bohemond would go on the lead the First Crusade, bringing Antioch under Norman rule in 1098.