The Jomsvikings formed the
Jomsborgelag Texas in July 2004. The American fighters that would make
up the new elag had trained for several years and were honored to be
members of the Army of Jomsborg.
Our story begins in the summer
of 2000. Thordis, a warrior and our Household liaison, visited Iceland,
Sweden and Newfoundland in celebration of the one thousandth anniversary
of Leif Eiriksson’s voyage to the New World.
Thordis first met the Jomsvikings in Iceland. With video camera in hand she took as much footage as she could. Fighting, cavalry, kit, camp and everything else went down on tape. She also became the first Texan to take classes in the Jomsviking System.
When Thordis came back from
her trip, she told some of us “SCA” Vikings how things were done
in Europe and after seeing the video, we were hooked. Three of us started
practicing with rattan swords, then axe handles and finally wooden wasters.
We used Thordis’s experience from the trip and the videos to learn
the basic Jomsviking System.
Thordis brought Phil Burthem,
the Jarl of the Jomsvikings, to Texas to train us for a week, in 2002.
Every evening, after work, we went to train with Phil. We fought with
wasters, learning the fives, tactics, take away moves and everything
else Phil could fit in during the week. At the end of the week, we ordered
our swords through Phil and were on our way.
We received our first Paul
Binn’s swords in March 2003 and never looked back.
Weekly practice and luck found
us with a large scale European style market in 2004. This was Viking
Fest 2004. The first such market in the US, we had 35 Viking fighters
from Europe, 9 US fighters and even more non fighters. Our impressive
showing at Viking Fest 2004 proved to the Jomsvikings that the group
in the US was serious.
After Viking Fest, Regenwulf, Camric, and Ronvaldr were invited to Poland for the festival in Rynia, June, 2004; the Jomsvikings had decided the US was ready for an elag.
In July of 2004, it was made
official. The first Jomsborgelag in the US was to be in Texas and Regenwulf
would be its first Styrsman.
The 2004 event was such a success
we did it again in 2005, this time with different sponsorship and a
bigger show. Viking Invasion grew out of Viking Fest and now is a successful
annual event bringing together Viking Age re-enactors from around the
country and the world.
It’s been three years since
the Jomsvikings started the elag in Texas and we have seen tremendous
growth. We now have over twenty fighters and a large household.
The future looks great for
the Jomsvikings in the US. If you are interested in becoming part of
our group or learning more about the Jomsvikings or the fighting system,
please contact us.