Since the Vikings settled as well as pillaged their way across the top half of the known world (especially within the Danegeld), you might have a bit of Norse blood... as well as some Pict or other prehistoric tribe. The "Saxons" were a Teutonic people living in continental Europe near the base of Denmark. They made period forays into neighboring countries, partly as a result of pressure from other peoples spreading west. The Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians kept hitting Britain after the Romans faltered and left (about 400AD). It is believed by many scholars that there was a real life Romano-British warlord or commander who defeated the Saxons so thoroughly that it was a hundred years before they returned... and that this led to the "Arthur" myth. At any rate, when the Saxons returned they settled in pretty thoroughly for a few centuries. It wasn't until Aethelred the Rede-less paid the Danes tens of thousands of silver pounds a year, year after year, that the Saxons were doomed. Few nations pay for their own invasion, but Aethelred was a spectacularly awful king. He balanced out the greatness of Alfred. History is so much fun! Your "more prosaic" degree probably was job-worthy. Few can make a living reading musty tomes or tracing patterns along ancient trade routes. Carolly