The VIKINGS are back! Meet King Björn, ruler of Sweden's modern day beserkers who live just as their ancestors did (but luckily raiding is banned)



Björn Jakobsen is the ruler of a band of modern-day Swedish Vikings

Lives in a small village and lives exactly as a Viking would have done

He and other villagers live Viking lives 24hrs a day, 365 days a year



Says he has no plans to return to modern life and loves the peace

Sadly for Björn, Vikings can no longer go on raids so UK coast is safe

They were a race of ferocious warriors, famous for their terrifying seaborne attacks and incredible shipbuilding abilities.

But if you thought the age of the Vikings was past, Björn Jakobsen, 66, king of a band of modern-day warriors from Malmö in Sweden, is living proof that for some, they never really went away.

Part of a community living and working in the Viking town Foteviken on the southern Swedish coast, Björn says the life of a Viking is a fascinating one and adds he has no plans to return to modern life.

Viking life: King Björn (centre) and the other Vikings live and work in the village 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

'It's a mysterious lifestyle,' he elaborates. ' Of course I can go into modern times as soon as I step outside the village.



'I could just go and watch the TV but when I do come back to the village after [venturing out], I realise how beautiful [living like a Viking] is.'

For King Björn and his band of Viking warriors, daily life in Foteviken includes making time to work the surrounding fields and feasting on porridge, although as king, Björn doesn't have to work if he doesn't feel like it.

'I just declared it,' he says of the moment he was crowned king of the Viking village. 'I said OK I am king. It was my decision.

'We have people visiting the village every day and I spend time communicating with them,' he adds.

Home: King Björn outside his traditional Viking home in the village of Foteviken near Malmö



Peaceful: Björn, who unilaterally declared himself king, says he loves the relaxed lifestyle in Foteviken



THE BEAR-SKIN CLAD WARRIORS WHO MENACED BRITAIN

Fiery portents, a dragon seen streaking across the Northumbrian sky and whirlwinds lashing the coast could mean only one thing to the fearful Anglo-Saxons watching the heavens in 793 - doom was imminent. And doom duly came in the shape of the Vikings, who between 793 and 1066 were a hazardous part of life for the Anglo-Saxons. Most came from Denmark, although Norwegian Vikings were also known to have had a taste for British gold.

Either way, following the Lindisfarne attack, Viking power and influence grew until by 849, the year King Alfred the Great was born, they held much of the north and east.

Although he managed to halt their advance, raids didn't cease until after the Norman Conquest.

And while the Vikings may be gone from British shores, their influence does live on in the English language.

Beserk, which means murderous rage, comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'beserker' or clad in bear-skin - an early term used to describe the Vikings.

'All the other Vikings will be out working in the fields and working on the farm but I can spend my time just looking around, or sailing or enjoying a chat or playing a game.'

But while Björn ensures life in the Viking village is as authentic as possible, there's one part of Viking life that he's not allowed to recreate.

' Really, it depends what you mean by raids,' he muses. 'We have friends in [other Viking communities] in Europe and we visit each other and each other's markets.



'We swap Viking tools. We travel all over the place because there are Vikings all over Europe.'

While raids on the British coast might be out of the question, there are still some other forms of entertainment available to Bjorn and his band of modern-day Vikings.

Most exciting of all are the feast days when Bjorn and his cohorts get to swap their daily fare for a meat-heavy feast.

'Everyone thinks it was meat and meat and meat,' he explains of his Viking forebears. 'But it wasn't, they ate with their hands and it was berries and pork.



'They eat porridge and bread every day along with a very light beer. If they kill an animal they don't waste it, they eat it.'

He adds: 'If a Viking has done well like pulling in a ship then they get a strong beer and meat as a reward - as a celebration of what they've done.'

Björn, who says his family - all of whom do normal jobs and live in modern homes - come to stay with him in the village in the summer, is also keen to rehabilitate the reputation of the Vikings.

They weren't, he says, just ferocious warriors and they most certainly didn't live in furs and horned helmets - for some of the time at least.

Old fashioned: All cooking in Foteviken is done over open fires, while food comes from the fields or storerooms

In charge: Björn doesn't have to work so spends his days chatting to visitors or sailing his boat



'Everyone thinks that Vikings have horns,' he complains. 'They don't. They wore clothes made from silk and linen and had a bow and a spear for killing.

'Some Vikings had helmets to protect themselves and some might have had pieces of metal sticking out but not horns.



'You can't have horns because if you think about it, if you are fighting with horns, someone could grab those horns and drag you down - it's very dangerous.'

Happily for Björn, there's not much fighting to be done when you're a modern-day Viking and he says he wouldn't have it any other way.

'Modern day life is so rushed with all this modern technology,' he explains. 'Here you can relax and look at the sea and see the sunset. You can sit still.'