Q 01/05

Where did Vikings first establish a confirmed settlement in North America?

A) L'Anse aux Meadows

B) Greenland

C) Vinland

D) Iceland

Answer · why

A) L'Anse aux Meadows

The site, dating to around 1000 CE, is the only confirmed Norse settlement on the continent.

Q 02/05

To win back his stolen hammer, Thor went to the giant Thrym's hall disguised as what?

A) A beggar

B) A bride

C) A ferryman

D) A raven

Answer · why

B) A bride

A bride: veiled and in a wedding dress, Thor nearly gave himself away by eating a whole ox and eight salmon at the feast, then seized the hammer when ...

Q 03/05

Iceland spar crystals, proposed as Viking navigation aids on overcast days, are nicknamed what?

A) Moonstones

B) Sunstones

C) Starstones

D) Skystones

Answer · why

B) Sunstones

Sunstones, likely calcite (Iceland spar), polarise light so the sun's position can be estimated under cloud; such a crystal was found in the 1592 Alde...

Q 04/05

Which Norse explorer is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental America, about 500 years before Columbus?

A) Erik the Red

B) Harald Hardrada

C) Ragnar Lothbrok

D) Leif Erikson

Answer · why

D) Leif Erikson

Leif Erikson reached a land the sagas call Vinland around 1000; on the way home he rescued a shipwrecked crew, which earned him the nickname Leif the ...

Q 05/05

The raid on what monastery in 793 CE is often considered the beginning of the Viking Age?

A) Iona

B) Lindisfarne

C) Jarrow

D) Monkwearmouth

Answer · why

B) Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne's sack in 793 shocked Christian Europe: the scholar Alcuin wrote in anguish to its bishop, and chroniclers later claimed fiery dragons fly...