How Did The Vikings Impact On European Culture

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)

When one sees the word Viking, the mind firstly shifts to men who are uncivilized and unprincipled. Using evidence of achievements and victories will not only show how much they impacted Europe, but how sophisticated Vikings actually were. As Charlemagne’s empire ended, the people of Europe showed extraordinary resilience toward the new movements of the era. From 800 to 1200 CE, Vikings ruled medieval Europe. These Vikings, along with thick soil, are credited with shifting Europe from endemic violence toward cooperation and legal order. An attack on the Lindisfarne monastery off the coast of Northumberland in northeastern England marked the beginning of the Viking Age. Vikings began to appear in Europe due to Scandinavian raiders repeatedly visiting the Christian countries of Europe. At first they were content with just raiding lands, but soon they began to seize land and proclaim rule. They sought riches, not land. With this established rule, Vikings promised safety and began to reform the lands they had acquired. The people agreed due to starvation and possible attacks from eneimes. The new lands had a need for settled agriculture, defensive warfare and commerce. As the Vikings began to fulfill these needs they saw an expansion in cooperation and rule of law among the villagers.

The records in the mid 9th century talks of destruction, war, criminals, and poverty. This Document also supports my claim that there were dark times during this time periods that were devastating. Travel was difficult there were negative experiences going on. However, this happens during many if not all time periods because we are all humans attempting to figure things out. This document might also have a bit of a religious bias because they are referring to the Vikings north as “Heathens”. They wouldn’t even refer to them as a tribe, but a group that is not in their

The Vikings lived about one thousand years ago in the lands that we now call Iceland, Lapland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. To most people the Vikings were raiders that got in their longboats and sailed somewhere and then went from town to town killing and pillaging. This is not completely true, because the Vikings were also

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 Vikings were so successful because of their tactics, weaponry and element of surprise. If the Vikings died in battle they believed they would go to Valhalla (Viking heaven). Which made them ruthless and cut throat in battle. If they die they get to go to heaven and feast & binge drink for eternity,they don't die they get to raid and become wealthier. It was a win/win. But don't get me wrong, their religion wasn't the only reason they were so successful, on of the reasons were their Element of surprise.The first attacks occurred before people realized there was a danger from the ships. Even after such raids became a reality, the Viking ships could sail out of sight of land, had shallow enough draft to go inland up rivers, and could easily

From the late eighth to the late eleventh century, the Vikings dominated Europe and sailed across the world, far from the reach of Russia to the eastern coast of North America. During the Viking raids, Vikings often had religious targets due to churches being very wealthy. Many Vikings also traded, farmed, settled, and manufactured items, making their mark on nearly every region and civilization they touched.

The Napoleonic wars helped create modern Europe politics and abolished feudalism (having the 3 classes nobles soldiers/knights and peasants)

Paragraph 1: The age of the Vikings was from 790 AD to 1066 AD. This span defines the first raids to the invasion of England by the Normans. During this time, the Vikings invaded coastal settlements passing through the Norwegian and the Baltic Seas to Southern regions. The vikings started off from countries such as Scandinavia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The name Viking comes from the language “Old Norse” and means “Pirate Raid”. Vikings

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe needed stability, so feudalism began. Feudalism impacted the military and political structures of this time. In this system, everybody had their own place. Owners of large tracts of land (kings and lords) gave some of their land away to knights and nobles known as vassals in exchange for protection and loyalty, and many of these vassals became lords of lands by giving land to less powerful vassals.

In 793, Vikings raided and colonized large parts of Europe. They invaded and eventually settled in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. This area became known as Scandinavia. The Scandinavian population consisted of mostly Vikings during its early years.Scandinavian people spoke Old Norse, a North Germanic language developed in the area. It was spoken from the 9th to 13th century.

The Viking Age started in the 9th century and lasted until the 11th century. During this time, Viking ships sailed from Scandinavia, at the center of the Viking World, out across the Northern Hemisphere. They went out on voyages of piracy and invasion, and journeys of exploration, commerce, and settlement. The Vikings expanded their empire over a great distance. To the east, they traveled as far as the Black Sea and to the west they sailed at least as far as the coast of North America. No one knows exactly why the Vikings decided to expand. Some believe their quest for expansion was due to the overpopulation of their homeland, while others believe that climatic conditions and crop failure forced their migration.

Question 1) All of the ethnic groups that we studied impacted medieval europe in many ways, but the one culture that had the most effect were the Normans. The normans came from the places up north such as Norway. They were originally part of the viking raids, but when they got to France, they stayed there. They were given some territory so that they would not raid France all the time, and they grew into a huge and powerful civilization.

The largest portion of the population was the serfs, so naturally they were hit the hardest because of disease being density dependant. This calamity had a bright side. It allowed for the amelioration of the serfs life. They could ask for more pay and better living because the lord couldn’t just throw a serf in the dungeon and get a replacement. There were no other serfs to get so the lord was forced to leave them. The rise of nations led to the fall of feudalism in England because William the conqueror declared that he owned seventy percent of britain and the nobles owned thirty percent. Later on when Richard the lionhearted was to become king but died on his way home from the crusades, his brother John Softsword became king instead. John was an awful king. At the time england controlled a good portion of France. In fact england wanted to own France but John lost all of the land that they had in France. The nobles bullied john into signing the Magna Carta and forming parliament. This restricted the monarchy and will eventually give power to the people thereby shifting the system. In france a similar thing happened. There was a series of

The era from about 500 to 1000 C.E. is sometimes referred to as the "Dark Ages" in European history, partly because many aspects of the Roman civilization were lost, such as written language, advanced architectural and building techniques, complex government, and access to long-distance trade. For the most part, these early people of Europe could not read or write, and lived much as their nomadic ancestors had. In their isolation, they slowly cleared the forested areas for farming, but their greatest need was for protection. However, the need for protection grew to be most important when the Vikings from Scandinavia invaded many areas of Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries, followed by the Magyars, who came from the east in the late 9th century. In response, Europeans established feudalism as a way to unite and protect them.