#Brókartök Glíma | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ek-vitki · 3 years

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Here’s something I’m really excited about: I edited and republished a historical work! Search “Icelandic Wrestling: A Study on Brókartök Glíma: A Viking Martial Art” to find it on Amazon! You can also check out vinlandhema on Instagram if you’re interested in this sort of thing, all the techniques in this manual are detailed on that page (check out the Brókartök highlight).

Brókartök Glíma is a martial art and folkstyle of wrestling, part of the broader umbrella of Glíma brought to Iceland by its Viking settlers. Glima is an authentic viking martial art, still practiced today. Brókartök is the most well known aspect of Glíma, the pants grip variation of Glíma, where both players take and use a fixed grip on the pants throughout the match. There’s a few theories on why, and my afterword for this text explains every theory I’ve come across. Brókartök literally translates to pants-grip from Icelandic.

If you’re interested in Brókartök Glíma, learning more about this exciting and dynamic historical martial art, or just willing to support my work on HEMA (especially Viking HEMA), picking up this book would be a great way to do it. Even just liking and sharing to boost would help a lot !!!

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ek-vitki · 3 years

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Here’s a bit of information about Johannes Josefsson, the Icelander who brought Brókartök Glíma to America. Josephsson was born in Iceland, and was a lifelong student of his native Glíma. He wrestled in the 1908 Olympic Games in Greco-Roman Wrestling, unfortunately being forced to withdraw due to injury. He followed his olympic performance with competition in several mixed martial arts and prizefighting matches, regularly beating jiujitsu and Judo experts, and on at least one occasion, subduing a bear. Josephson then traveled with a circus in Europe, where he refined his act pitting his Glíma against boxers, knife fighters, and multiple assailants. Josephson later moved to America to travel with Barnum and Bailey’s, meeting and competing with American Catch Wrestlers and of course, more Jujitsu exponents, knife fighters, boxers, and multiple attackers at once.

After traveling for nearly 19 years, Josephson retired to his native Iceland with nearly $120,000 to his name, where he opened a hotel he called Hotel Borg (fortress).

If you’re interested in Glíma, check out Vinlandhema on insta! We practice a reconstruction of the Viking martial art, including this material by Johannes Josefsson.

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