The Vikings The Vikings era started from the late 8th century to the late 11th century. Some people thought of Vikings as mean and ruthless pirates, but that is not the whole story. In fact they were some which were poets, lawmakers and great artists. Vikings were great warriors who did not kill for sport or burn and pillage without a motive. They made great changes in the land they conquered.
To start off the meaning of the word Viking has changed over the centuries. The word has various meanings depending on the people. According to the organization Hurstwic, “runic inscriptions suggest that a viking was a man who left his homeland for adventure and profit abroad, with the implication that he planned to return home with his newly won fortune
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We still use some of their Old Norse language today. Words like ‘egg’, ‘muck’ and ‘dirt’. People who left raiding in ships were said to be “going Viking,” this started becoming an ordinary word in this era. Not all Vikings were crazy mad about wars, some were peaceful. Some Vikings were farmers, while being skillful in various tasks. Vikings would also sail the seas in look for trading goods. These goods were used “to buy silver, silks, spices, wine, [jewelry], and pottery to bring back to their homes,” this gives us the idea that import and export for trading came from decades ago starting with the Vikings (BBC Paragraph …show more content…
According to website BBC, “In AD865 an army of Vikings sailed across the North Sea. This time they wanted to conquer land rather than just raid it” The Vikings were tired of just attacking and destroying land, they wanted to have a homeland now (Paragraph 11). This battle journey didn’t end here; the Vikings wanted to conquer more land. Ten years later, most of the kingdoms had fallen for the Vikings, all except for one: Wessex. Wessex was ruled by Alfred the Great. The Vikings fought for Wessex for years, but no one ever gave up. There was a time when Alfred the Great made a peace agreement, but even after that the battle still went on. The agreement was “an imaginary dividing line was agreed to run across England, from London in the south towards Chester in the north west” this gave the Anglo-Saxon lands, Northumbria, East Anglia, and most of Meria, to the west and the Viking lands were to the east, known as Danelaw (BBC Paragraph 14). The Vikings wanted to conquer as much as they could, but even after this they settled in various places away from their
The Great Heathen Army was the name of a coalition of Norse armies from the Scandinavian region; Denmark, Norway, and possibly also Sweden in approximately 865CE, and ending in approximately 875CE with the defeat of the Viking army by King Alfred ‘The Great’ of Wessex. There were multiple possible motivations for this invasion, including (but not limited to): revenge for the death of legendary Ragnarr Lodbok, the expansion of Norse control into the British Isles, and the need for fresher lands for agriculture. There are two main sources that tell us about the Great Heathen Invasion; The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle by various authors and Life of King Alfred by Asser, which will be evaluated to determine their reliability as primary sources for the
The vikings first made contact in eighth century Shetland. From there they made their way south to Orkney and Caithness, eventual...
Vikings’ settling down in Iceland and Greenland were important reflection of Viking expansion and they caused Viking civilization to extend on these two islands. Vikings were people from Scandinavia. For many reasons, such as the authoritarian policies of Harald Fairhair (Paine, 2013), the geographical features that lacking of lands for agriculture but having abundant trees for shipbuilding, Vikings were forced to expand into the sea. The two locations’ providing Vikings with lands undoubtedly provided them more chances for surviving.
The Vikings are famous for their violent ways when they pillaged and plundered villages of Northern Europe. Their dramatic exploits commenced during 800 – 1050 A.D, The first being the raid on Lindisfarne Monastery in 793, followed by a chain of attacks all over the coast of northern Europe during the next 200 years. As the years went on the frequency of Viking attacks increased as they became bolder. They were opportunists, raiding when the villages were off–guard or weak and trading when they were powerful. The speed and tactical advantage of the Viking longships allowed them to slip quietly ashore, pillage the village and make a fast getaway via water before the village can summon an army. By this time some Viking plunderers would stay over winter in a village. Soon their raiding camps became settlements and Viking control over Europe began to grow, it was not long before Vikings overran most of England.
They were nomadic, pagan people who did not raid others for the purpose of gaining territory or promoting their religious beliefs. They would ravage communities of their valuables and return to Scandinavia so they would be able to support themselves. Because their main focus was obtaining wealth, they paid immense attention to the trading patterns happening throughout Eastern and Western Europe. This attributes to why they travelled to Western Europe to attack just as the economy flourished. They also paid attention to political changes in Western Europe, as when there was political confusion or tension, they knew that area would be vulnerable to attack. (Bianchini, Lecture).
The Vikings first raid was on a place called Lindisfarne, England. One of Charlemagne’s servants rode out to meet the Vikings thinking they wanted to trade, the vikings wiped them out. They raided the monastery and was the start of the Viking Age. The Vikings continued to raid monasteries and were most commonly know for that. They controlled most of England at one point and were famous for the achievement. The...
The Viking era existed from 800 AD to 1200 AD and during 1000 AD Christianity began to have major influence in the Viking culture (Roesdahl 27). A major religion that shaped the Viking culture is Nordic Paganism (Williams). According to Stephen Henkin who wrote an article called the Viking Fury, the Vikings admired and tried to live up to the character traits they saw their gods portraying(Henkin ). Stephen Henkin suggested that character traits the Vikings saw in the Nordic gods are virile qualities: brutality, anger, lust, and humor (Henkin). The Vikings attempted to try to shape their character from the character traits they saw their gods portraying believing that they should try to acquire these characteristics to make their gods happy. Nordic Paganism was polytheistic with the main gods being Odin, Thor and Frey (“The Pagan Library”).
... the Vikings decided to stay in England and entered into King Æthelred II's service as mercenaries, based on the Isle of Wight.
nowadays when you see vikings in movies or in book the main thing you notice is there weapons and there armour. the vikings are a well known group of people today and the reason is because of the armour they wore and the weapons they use Vikings won wars do to the fact that they had better armour and weapons then the opposing side and they became known be winning wars. The viking armour and weapons were way beyond other groups which made it easier for them to win wars. If the Vikings wore not to have the armour or weapons they have they would not be known today because they would not have been able to win wars and that is why they are known now and back then.in general if you cant not win wars and take over peoples
This essay will address both why and how the Vikings achieved dominance of the seas. The Vikings, through their naval control, raided, settled, explored, traded and invaded, however to understand their motivation behind these actions, an accurate analysis must be undertaken looking at their society, including political, economic and social aspects. Within this we must address both ‘internal “push”’ and ‘external “pull”’ factors...
Trading was a critical part to the culture life of a Viking. This task brought in many important goods that the Vikings needed to live an ordinary life. The Vikings were the international tradesmen of their time. In Constantinople (Istanbul) they traded silk and spices for slaves that they had brought from Russia. They Amber they found in the Baltic area and they brought furs, skins, and walrus tusk ivory to the trading towns in Western Europe from the northern parts of the world such as Greenland. The Vikings founded trading cities in Scandinavia such as Birka, Ribe, Hedeby and Skiringsal. In Ireland they founded terrific trade in Dublin and, in England, they made the city of York flourish to become the most important trading town outside of London (La Fay 149-150). At a time when old trade routes between east and west thro...
The beginning of the ninth century AD to the eleventh was known as the “Viking age”; during this time Iceland was settled by Scandinavians and CeltsCeltics. Some of the settlers were Christian while most were Pagan; together they created a culture
In the earliest years of the Vikings, there was little history recorded due to the polytheistic views that they followed. After the Vikings converted to Christianity, there were eventually written documents created pertaining to their existence. In Viking Warfare, I.P. Stephenson states that the Vikings “first described attack took place in AD 789”(11). The Vikings were also known as Norsemen. They were great storytellers, and that is perhaps how society knows so much about them today. The stories that the Norsemen told were called Sagas. Today, Vikings are often depicted as murderous savages, but while they were not pillaging villages they were actually quite a peaceful civilization. There were three countries that Vikings evolved from; Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Although it may seem that all Vikings were on the same side, they quarreled with each other as well. Despite the fact that Viking battles were bloody and gruesome they were also known to be the most hygienic out of many of the earlier civilizations. There was not a huge percentage of Vikings that went out and raided but when they did they made a huge impact on what Vikings are now known for. The success of Viking warfare and raids relied primarily on the uses of armor, weapons, long ships, and battle tactics.
King Alfred was now in charge of stopping the Danes from occupying Wessex. Alfred was already an experienced military leader, as he had participated in several campaigns against the invading Danes (Bruce 3). The West Saxons had now made an alliance with Mercia. Yet in 868, the Danes met both Mercians and West Saxons; the two nations had formed an alliance, which had been strengthened that year by the marriage of Alfred and Ealhswith, daughter of a Mercian ealdorman (Bruce 4). Alfred and his elder brother King Æthelred personally led the Wessex contingent, yet not even the combined forces of the Mercians and the West Saxons could handle the strength of the Danes.
The most accepted official start of the Viking Age is recorded to have begun on June 8th, 793 AD when Norse raiders landed on the island of Lindisfarne and attacked the Christian Monastery located there, killing the monks and seizing the valuables. Viking raids by op...