Scholars at Cambridge University feel that Vikings have gotten a bad rep, and they have set out to right it by way of a campaign "to recast them as 'new men' with an interest in grooming, fashion and poetry."

Cambridge's Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies has published a guide debunking many of the myths about the Norse. "It seems that the Vikings may not have been as hairy and dirty as is commonly imagined," the guide says. "A medieval chronicler, John of Wallingford, talking about the eleventh century, complained that the Danes were too clean - they combed their hair every day, washed every Saturday, and changed their clothes regularly."

Thanks to Dragomir for the link to the original story.