Vikings were
warriors from
Scandinavia who in the years
between 800 and 1050 colonised,
raided and traded the lengths of the
coasts[?] and
islands of
Europe and
North America. They called
themself
Norse. Although they are commonly
conceived of as a people bringing
terror and destruction in their wake,
it should be noted that many also
made settlements, traded and
peacefully co-existed with their
neighbours. The
Viking Age is the name of the
latter part of the early
Iron Age in Scandinavia.
The achievements of the Vikings
were quite exceptional. For instance
they made distance tables for sea
voyages that were so exact that they
only differ 2-4% from modern
satellite measurements, even on long
distances such as across the
Atlantic Ocean. They founded
cities such as Jorvik (York),
Kiev and
Dublin. A colonisation of
America was started but was never
completed. Some also think the
Vikings made it as far south as
Mexico.
The Germanic word-stem vik
or wik has to do with
markets, and was the usual suffix to
mean "market town" in the same way
that burg means "fortified
place". Sandwich and
Harwich in England
still show this termination, and the
recently excavated
Frankish port town of
Quentovic shows the same
ending. The Viking propensity for
trade is easily seen in market ports
such as
Hedeby; close to the border with
the Franks it was effectively a
crossroads between the cultures,
until its eventual destruction by the
Norwegians in an internecine dispute
in c.
1050.
The first report of a Viking raid
dates from
793, when the monastery at
Lindisfarne on the east coast of
England was pillaged by foreign
seafarers. For the next 200 years,
European history is filled with tales
of Vikings and their plundering.
Vikings conquered most of
Ireland and large parts of
England, they travelled up the rivers
of
France and
Spain, and gained control of
areas in
Russia and along the Baltic
coast. Stories tell of raids in the
Mediterranean and as far east as
the
Caspian Sea.
The Danish sailed south, to
Friesland, France and the
southern parts of England. In the
years 1013-1016,
Canute the Great succeeded to the
English throne. The Swedes sailed to
east into Russia, where
Rurik founded the first Russian
state, and on the rivers south to the
Black Sea,
Constantinople and the
Byzantine Empire. The Norwegians
travelled to the north-west and west,
to the
Faroes,
Shetland,
Orkney,
Ireland and the northern parts of
England. Except in Britain and
Ireland, Norwegians mostly found
largely uninhabited land and
established settlements. In about the
year
1000 A.D,
North America was discovered by
Bjarni Herjólfsson and settlement
attempted by
Leif Ericsson and
Thorfinnur Karlsefni[?] from
Greenland who called it
Vinland. A small settlement was
placed on the northern peninsula of
Newfoundland, near
L'Anse aux Meadows, but previous
inhabitants and a cold climate
brought it to an end within a few
years (see
Freydis). The archaeological
remains are now a UN World Heritage
Site.
Besides allowing the Vikings to
travel far distances, their
longships gave them tactical
advantages in battles. They could
perform very efficient hit-and-run
attacks, in which they attacked fast
and unexpectedly and left quickly
before a counteroffensive could be
launched. Longships could also sail
in shallow water, allowing the
Vikings to get far inland along
rivers.
A reason for the raids is believed
by some to be overpopulation caused
by technological advances such as the
use of iron, although another cause
could well be pressure caused by the
Frankish expansion to the south
of Scandinavia. For people living
along the coast it seems natural to
seek new land by sea. Another reason
is that in that period several
European countries (particularly
England, Wales and Ireland) were in
internal disarray and easy prey; the
Franks, however, had well-defended
coasts and heavily fortified ports
and harbours. Pure thirst for
adventure may also have been a
factor.
Norse mythology and
Old Norse literature[?] tell us
about their religion with heroic and
mythological heroes; however, the
transmission of this information was
primarily oral and we are reliant
upon the writings of (later)
Christian scholars such as
Snorri Sturlusson and
Sæmundur Fróði "the Wise" Sigfússon[?]
for much of this.
After decades of plundering,
resistance in other parts of Europe
became more effective and
Christianity was introduced into
Scandinavia, which led to milder
tendencies. In addition the kingdoms
of
Norway,
Denmark and
Sweden evolved and it is to be
believed that their kings wanted more
peaceful circumstances.
In Russia, the Vikings were known
as
Varangians (Væringjar),
and the Scandinavian bodyguards of
the
Byzantine emperors were known as
the Varangian Guard. Other names
include
Danes,
Northmen[?],
Norsemen
Germanians[?] and
Normans.
There is no evidence whatsoever
that the Vikings on any occasions
wore
helmets with horns[?]. This is a
latter-day
myth created by national romantic
ideas in
Sweden at the end of the 19th
century, notably the
Geatish society, and further
imprinted by cartoons like
Hagar The Horrible[?] or
Asterix and numerous fictious
movies. The related
Celts may have used horned
helmets for ceremonial purposes
however.
See also:
Norse mythology,
Hedeby,
Adam of Bremen
