Viking hygiene according to Chronica Joannis Wallingford

A lot of people say that the Vikings had very good hygiene and that this was rare and unusual in medieval Europe.A lot of other people say that the Vikings were vile and disgusting and that this was common and normal in medieval Europe.Both these contradicting perspectives are based on two single sources, one Christian and one Muslim.In this article I will look at the medieval Christian source and explain what is reliable and what is unreliable about it and what it actually proves about hygiene among Viking-age Scandinavians.I will analyse the Islamic account in another article. Important: Like all my articles, this is a work in progress. That means that I will change what I wrote when I learn new things, people find mistakes, etc. Chronica Joannis Wallingford Between AD 1220 and 1258 an unknown Benedictine monk at the Abbey of St Albans, wrote about the St. Brice’s Day massacre of the Danes in 1002.People often assume Joannis/John wrote it but it just belonged to him.We don’t know…