Vikings: The first Norman king of England

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In 1004 AD, Leif's brother Thorvald Eiriksson sailed to explore Newfoundland with a crew of 30 men and spent the winter at Leifsbúðir (Leif's camp). In the Springtime, Thorvald attacked nine of the local indigenous people, whom the Norsemen called “Skrælingar”(Skræling), that were sleeping under three skin-covered canoes. One of the victims survived the attack, escaping and came back to the Norse camp with a force. The indigenous people retaliated by attacking the Norse explorers and Thorvald was killed by an arrow that had passed through their defensive barricade. Brief hostilities continued as the remaining Norse explorers stayed through the winter until they left the following Spring.

Thorvald and Leif's brother, Thorstein Ericson along with his wife Guthrith (Gudrida), sailed to the New World to retrieve his dead brother's body. Unfortunately, his expedition got lost and never reached Vinland. Turning back, they returned to Greenland and by the end of the first week of winter they landed at Lysufiord, Norway where Thorstein fell ill and died. The following Spring, his wife Gudrida returned to settlement Greenland of Brattahlíð, called Ericsfiord at the time.

In 1009 AD, Thorfinn Karlsefni (Thorfinn the Valiant), with three ships that contained livestock and 160 (some sources say 250) men and women, sailed south and landed at Straumfjord in Newfoundland. However, they later relocated to Straumsöy, Newfoundland. The Norse settlers began with peaceful relations between the indigenous people(Skræling) as they bartered with furs and gray squirrel skins for milk and red cloth. The Norsemen claimed the natives tied the red cloth around their heads, wearing them as a sort of headdress.

A bull that belonged to Thorfi...

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...led in their attempt.

King Edward the Confessor died in January of 1066 AD, without an obvious successor and this caused much controversy as both King Harald of Norway and Duke William of Normandy believed they were the rightful heirs to the throne of England. However, Harald Hardrada (Harald Sigurdsson) whom also had a claim himself as the rightful heir to the throne of England, landed with a Viking army in hopes of taking control of York and thus the English crown, but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. This event is often cited as the end of the Viking era as the last Viking invasion.

However, the era is better marked as coming to a conclusion when William the Conqueror (also a descendant of Vikings) successfully took the English throne and became the first Norman king of England in the same year of 1066 AD at the Battle of Hastings.

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