[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#3594) viking.ruleset

["Arnstein Lindgard" <arnstein.lindgard@xxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 6 Mar 2003 15:56:23 -0800
"esr@xxxxxxxxxxx" <esr@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> May I suggest an alternative?  A black raven on a white background.
> For those with even a little knowledge of period history it will
> be quite evocative, it is nearly as recognizable as the horned helmet,
> and it is not a historical error.  
> 
> See http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-raven.html:
> 
>  "... in every battle wherever the flag went before them, if they were
> to gain the victory a live raven would appear flying in the middle of
> the flag, but if they were doomed to be defeated it would hang down
> motionless..."

That's interesting and sounds nice.

> 
> > I always thought the greatest viking achievement was to conquer and
> > rule large portions of Britannia. That was done by a dane, Knud den
> > Store, who's in the Danish ruleset. In a historical Viking ruleset, he
> > could/should be referred to as Canute, I believe.
> 
> No.  Knud or Knut.  Good practice is to use native spellings, not
> Anglicized ones.

Thank you for your sensitivity. Anglicizing is an interesting choice
of words. Here is an excerpt from a Danish web site chronicling the
king in question:

    Mange historiebøger omtaler Knud den Store og hans imperium med
    ærefrygt, og taler om den danske erobring af England. Men da Knud
    fra 1028 til sin død ikke forlod England og endda blev begravet i
    England og aldrig ført til Danmark, er det måske mere korrekt at
    sige, at Danmark i denne periode var en engelsk provins!

My translation:

    Many history books refer to Canute and his big empire with awe,
    and talk of the Danish conquest of England. But as Canute from
    1028 until his death never left England, was buried in England
    and his body never returned to Denmark, it may be more correct to
    say, that Denmark in this period was an English province!

Heh, I couldn't resist quoting. Sounds like a fun argument for
history buffs.


Arnstein