How Did The Vikings Affect The Medieval Ages

The most common consensus was that though the time period of 800 AD to the 11th century (1066 AD), the Vikings did not last long enough, but within that time period, they had some major impacts on the European civilizations.

Coming from Scandinavian countries, predominantly Denmark and Norway, the Vikings began raiding the British Isles in the late 700s (James). The Vikings primarily targeted monasteries, because that is where most of the wealth was concentrated (Loughrey). These raids were very violent, people were killed, and the survivors were sold into slavery (Loughrey). These violent raids earned the Vikings the reputation of barbarians, much like the Mongols a few centuries later in Asia. After some time, once the Vikings exhausted most of the wealth in the monasteries, they turned their interest into settling the British Isles (James). By the late 9th century the Vikings had conquered most of England (James). However, even though these Viking kingdoms did not last very long, the Scandinavians who resided there stayed. These Scandinavians would go on to change the British Isles in many ways. Despite the violent and negative impacts of Viking raids on the British Isles, once the Vikings settled down, they had a significant and positive peaceful impact on the British Isles culturally, politically, and economically.

The Vikings were Norse seafarers, who mainly spoke the Old Norse language. They raided and traded from their Northern European homelands across wide areas of northern, central and eastern Europe, during the 9th to 11th century. The Vikings originated from Scandinavia, and the beginning of the Vikings expansion often originates from the raid of the Lindisfarne Monetary on 8 June 793. The Vikings were the first Westerners to sail to Iceland, Greenland, and over to the New World. However, the story of the Vikings is also an important story for the development of the Christian world in the West. Throughout this essay, I will explain the importance of Viking religion, Viking trade, and how the Viking age had an impact on the way Western and

Viking raids were not gigantic wars, they were small, lightning-quick hit and run smash and grab raids. They did not attack in the center of kingdoms, they instead attacked the outer rim of kingdoms, usually small villages or monasteries. They did this because it was simply easier. These attacks, however while looking like they only benefitted the Vikings, actually changed medieval life for hundreds of years to come. That change is feudalism. The kingdoms were very large, with the king somewhere in the middle of it. When Vikings would make these, to a king’s perspective, small attacks, it would take more than a week to

burn and pillage their way across civilized Europe. During this period much progress was achieved in terms of Scandinavian art and craftsmanship, marine technology, exploration, and the development of commerce. It seems the Vikings did as much trading as they did

“Everywhere the Christians were the victims of massacres, burnings, plunderings: the Vikings conquer all in their path, and no one resists them” (Doc. C). This shows that when people saw the Vikings, they didn’t even bother trying to defend themselves, and instead immediately surrendered. That is how well known they were. The Vikings have also been described as devils or warriors. “The monks. . . described it often as if the devils from hell are being unleashed on them” (Doc. D). The Vikings were very similar to the Mongols, in the sense that they both were warriors who raided Central Europe, and survived off of fear, intimidation, and terrorism. The Carolingians were so scared of the Vikings raiding, that they began to pay them protection money. “And these payments were so enormous that there were years when the empire had no currency anymore” (Doc. F). Because of this, people living in Central or Western Europe had to barter for what they

The Vikings were a group of Scandinavian raiders that were around from about the 8th century to the 11th. They mainly attacked the British Islands , the Frankish empire, England, but they also plundered places such as the Iberian peninsula and northern Africa. Vikings did not always settle into the places that they found, for instance after exploring North America they left the place never to return again. Even so, after landing on Greenland they colonized themselves there, and ancestors of the Vikings still live there today. So now that you know a little about the history of the Vikings lets go into detail about the specifics of the Viking age. (Peter Sawyer, Oxford Ill. History of the Vikings p. 1-19)

In terms of barbarian invasions, Viking attacks, and city raids. The first source of information is from DBQ 1 Doc 1, “The barbarians have broken through the ramparts. The Saracen invasions have spread in successive waves over the south. The Hungarians swarm over the Eastern provinces… they sacked the town and village, and laid waste the fields. They burned down the churches and then departed with a crowd of captives.” This piece emphasizes more on the barbarian invasions and helps to show what kind of a world Europe was like to live in during The Middle Ages. It shows how there was lots of violence, how they had taken captives and burned the churches. The churches were very important to Europe. Burning them, deeply showed how dark this time was. “The Northmen plundered and burned the town of Dordrecht. The Northmen with their boats filled with immense booty, including both men and goods, returned to their own country” (DBQ 1, Doc 2). Another excerpt focuses on the invasions and stealing in the Middle Ages. Vikings would come into towns and steal the goods. These invasions did not occur just once, it was every few months. Which leads me to my next point, the Vikings. The Vikings were a group of people who essentially lived on their boats in the water. They would raid the whole town, then leave and go to the next. If you did not want to be raided, you would have to pay a large sum of money each

They had trade route practically everywhere places like Russia, The Middle East, Northern India, China. The result of having such luxurious and flowing and well developed trade routes were that very expensive income came in. that kept Viking controlled places going and flowing. Without the use of trade the Vikings and their territory would have or could have stumbled and then crumbled and just fell apart. They developed market towns that needed people to work in them. So, jobs came into play along with the concept of currency. With invasions and war in or near the towns; the language was affected like the American language

     The growing population of Vikings in towns such as Birka in Sweden, Ribe and Hedeby in Denmark, and Kaupang in Norway prospered for the trading that took place along this string of cities. The trading flourished even though Danish and the Norwegian Vikings were raiding all the cities over in Europe. The Scandinavian towns were built on major waterways that were easy to reach by ship which in turn made trading much easier.

Viking history and culture have been depicted in many movies, television series, and stories. Vikings are commonly known as barbarians that raid villages and intimidate others with huge ships with dragon heads, and horned helmets. This information is based on facts, but has been distorted and exaggerated over many years and tales. Viking history spans from the years 780 until 1100, which is the time span of the Viking raids. Not every Scandinavian was a Viking; Vikings were known as the men that conducted raids and bloody battles. The old definition of Viking was synonymous with the term pirate. The modern definition is relevant to the Scandinavian medieval culture, to include farming, crafting and trading.

The era of history known as the Viking age lasted from the late eight century to the late eleventh century A.D. The society to which we refer to as Vikings represented different groups of merchants, warriors and explorers, including the Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes, who were often divided into smaller kingdoms. Vikings were people who spent most of their time on the ships, and thus the history usually describes them as the masters of the sea. They are considered as the ruthless and fierce pirates, pagans, ravagers and despoilers who inhabited Scandinavian territory during the medieval times. However, it is important to say that the view of Vikings is sometimes usually misunderstood and misinterpreted. Although they were ruthless raiders,

Vikings were just brutal raiders all they did was kill and steal I mean try being the people who got raided you would get killed of torched for a long time I mean stuff that. “This Viking raid on the island of Lindisfarne, just off the Northumbrian coast, was not the first in England. A few years before, in 789, ‘three ships of northmen’ had landed on the coast of Wessex, and killed the king’s reeve who had been sent to bring the strangers to the West Saxon court.” http://www.english-heritage.org.uk. In Lindisfarne, the Viking barged

The Vikings had been seafarers from part of Europe known as Scandinavia, which incorporates Denmark, Norway, and Sweden these days. The Viking spread out from Scandinavia from the eighth through the 11th century. During the Viking ages, the Vikings unfold through Europe and the North Atlantic and conquered or colonized many territories. Even though the Vikings have been warriors, they had been additionally merchants, explorers, and settlers.it is frequently suggested that the Vikings started on their seafaring expeditions for the purpose of exploring and colonizing new land

The Vikings spent most of their time raiding villages and killing people. They sailed very far distances in their longships to find land to raid. The Vikings mostly raided western and eastern parts of Europe. They also raided places like Greenland and Canada. While raiding the Vikings would basically kill anyone that got in their way and they would destroy villages completely. If you survived a Viking raid, you were extremely lucky. When the Vikings raided they would steal anything they could, including money, food, cattle and loot from churches. The Vikings would usually not leave places alone. Once they had raided them one time, they would do it again and keep stealing and killing. One famous raid that the Vikings did was in Northumbria, North-east England. Here the Vikings arrived in their longships and burned down buildings, murdered monks, stole things and frightened everyone. Apparently some of the Christian church leaders said