The Origins Of The Viking Age

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

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

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.

These Vikings’ were the most feared and brutal, being that their self-control was lost frequently in battle. Fighting and raiding to the Vikings could be seen as a hobby. Scandinavians went on raiding adventures and were heartless to who they killed. Women and children were killed as brutally as men were. Europeans were so terrified of the Vikings coming, some French churches created a special prayer for protection: “God, deliver us from the fury of the Northmen.”

The Middle ages in the period of the 5th century to 15th century was the rise and fall of many important events in Europe. The Medieval period was known to be started with the fall of the Roman Empire, being overthrown by the barbaric Germans. Since Rome was conquered the beginning of that era was called the Dark Ages. With the fall of one empire rises another group or force and they were called the Vikings. The Vikings were known to be “ship-born warriors and traders” (Vikings). They were a moving group traveling by ship across Europe to expand and conquer lands. The people of the Vikings were trusting and depending on each other to succeed. With that trusting aspect, laws for the Viking period was that all free men were expected to own weapons.

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

It is widely believed that the Vikings were little more than barbaric and brutish warriors that had little to no lasting influence on European societies. This belief, however, is wrong. The viking age lasted approximately from 800 CE - 1100 CE and created a lasting influence on things such as art, technology, cultures, trade and currency. There is still currently a firm hold of the concept of Vikings in Danish societies and there are traces of Scandinavian dialect in places like Scotland and North England. The Vikings, while they did have an excellent military system, were more than a violent society of people and they have made many last influences on modern society and were a prominent and important empire in early Europe.

The Vikings are often represented in modern culture as burly, horn-helm wearing savages, who ruthlessly plunder and destroy towns and countrysides, and while this might be an exaggeration, it is not completely untrue. In the 9th century, the Vikings from Scandinavia exposed the weakness of Charlemagne’s self-confident regime, they sought to loot the now-wealthy Franks and replace them as the dominant warrior class of northern Europe. It was their turn to extract plunder and to sell off slaves across the water. They succeeded because of a deadly technological advantage, ships of unparalleled sophistication, developed by Scandinavian sailors in the Baltic Sea. They were light and agile, with a shallow draft, which allowed them to penetrate

793 A.D was the first recorded raid, “an attack on the Lindisfarne monastery off the coast of Northumberland in northeastern England marked the beginning of the Viking Age.” They made regular raids around the coasts of England stealing treasure and other goods, and capturing people as slaves. They particularly targeted Monasteries because the building often had expensive thing inside like gold and silver. The Vikings begin

The PBS video agrees with that but also that they were traders. They liked to explore new markets and trade for different goods. So their society was not centered around raiding because there was another aspect to them which was trade. Moreover, the video shows a Viking ship that was found near the bottom of the Baltic Sea that proves Source 4 in Wiesner’s text. The bigger of the two boast was 55 feet long and 10 feet wide which seems to match the reaction of Wiesner’s boat. Furthermore, there were 34 dead bodies found in the backend of the ship. In the ship there were many artifacts such as swords and cultural items. The video explains that the Vikings were advanced when it came to their ability to work with iron. That is something that both Diamond and Weisner would also a agree

Jeremy Moore English 101 April 27, 2015 The Vikings beyond the Myths Vikings were prominent figures in European history from around 750 A.D. to about 1100 A.D... Much is known about the Vikings through writings of the people who encounter them. As history would have it not all the writings were good.

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

There is much debate among historians about what drove the Viking expansion. One widely held idea is that it was a quest for retaliation against continental Europeans for their previous invasions of Viking homelands, such as Charlemagne's campaign to force Scandinavian pagans to convert to Christianity