The Viking Age : An Invention Of The Romantic Era

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 reason for the Vikings leaving their homelands and venturing off on trade missions, raids, explorations, and new settlements is largely unknown, due to a lack of evidence (Vikings weren’t huge fans of writing down their day to day lives and history.) However, it can be speculated that they left for a few reasons. The first of those reasons was to escape forced conversion to Christianity by Charlemagne. The Vikings had their own unique religion which differed heavily from Christianity. Add to this the fact that Christians don’t have the best history with accepting other beliefs, it is understandable that the Vikings may have feared Christian conversion and sought to find new lands to escape. This fear of conversion was a large part of the Saxon wars affecting Germanic peoples. It’s worth noting the irony of the Vikings leaving their homeland in fear of Christian conversion considering their leader Harald Bluetooth (935-985), who was the King of Norway and Denmark, eventually converted the Vikings himself to Christianity. The second reason for the Vikings suddenly migrating may be due to their beliefs in relation to inheritance. Vikings gave their first sons all acquired land, this caused younger sons to venture off on their own to gain their own property. Regardless of the reason, the Vikings ventured off in their long ships to raid, pillage,

The title "Viking" includes a wide description of Nordic people; Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, who lived during a period of

After 830, though, the Vikings took advantage of conflicts in Europe to extend their activity further inland. In some cases, rulers were willing to pay off the Norsemen in exchange for being left alone. Viking leaders soon realized they could make deals with kingdoms seeking to be left alone or even desperate for protection.

The Vikings were a very successful group of warriors from Scandinavia. They started raiding and violently attacking other places because of their lack of resources. The Viking homeland was rural and people worked as fishers or farmers. Scandinavian people got their fish from the sea, but because the soil in that area was not very fertile, there wasn’t enough grain being grown to feed the rising population. “As Scandinavia's population grew, food shortage became a common problem. Looking for new sources of food and wealth, some Viking leaders decided to take what they needed from other people” (Doc. A). When the Vikings attacked cities, they took everything they could and then burned what was left of the destroyed city. “And the Vikings came on them just like a storm and cut them down, carried off everything, and burned the place” (Doc. B). Because of this, there was no one left to come after them, or anyone to avenge

The Vikings organized attacks very well, they set more and more extravagant goals, and soon met them. Their attacks on England were successful mostly because no one expected them. In May of 841, Danish Vikings led by a man named Asgeir sailed the River Seine, and they burnt the city Rouen to the ground. Next they moved into St. Denis, but decided that it was in their best interest not to provoke the passing Frankish army. But they went right back at it again in 842 they destroyed Quenstovic, the Frisian harbor town. In 845 they attacked the tri-divided Holy Roman Empire, all at the same time!

It was a time of many small kingdoms and attacks. In the quote the Anglo Saxons explain about the raids of the “Northmen” or the vikings, it tells how

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 word Viking in the Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language says that the word Viking means the following. “Vi•king 1. any of the Scandinavian pirates who plunder the coasts of Europe from the 8th to 10th centuries. 2. a sea-roving bandit: pirate. 3. a Scandinavian. 4. U.S. Aerospace. One of a series of space probes that obtained scientific information about Mars.” (1)

The Vikings’ government was unlike any other at that time. In fact, there was no emperor, king, or lord. The only sagas found about Viking law were written late in the 10th century in Iceland. The people were governed by consensus, and legal issues were resolved by compromise and negotiation. This doesn’t mean that feuds didn’t

Although not the first Viking raid in the British Isles, the surprise attack and pillaging of the sacred Christian monastery on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in 793 CE marked the true arrival of the Viking Age in western Europe. Encountering little resistance, the armed Norse marauders sacked the undefended church, killed or captured the helpless monks, then sailed off unmolested into the North Sea, their longship laden with a heavy cargo of priceless treasures and valuable slaves. (Jones 1984) Unfortunately for the terrified people of medieval Europe, this fateful incident was far from the last time that Vikings would set foot on foreign soil. News of the savage desecration of this once peaceful religious center by an unknown race of bloodthirsty pagans proved to be not just a single scar seared into the collective European consciousness, but in fact an ill omen of a newfound threat gathering in force just over the horizon. In his letter to King Æthelred I of

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

It is not uncommon that an individual will find themselves influenced and persuaded by what they see in the media and entertainment industry, regardless of whether or not their source has any historical evidence, or is written fictionally for entertainment purposes rather than historical resource purposes. For most, media and entertainment outlets, with the obvious purpose of entertaining the public, are the only source of portrayals of Norse society that they will experience. This can be dangerous to the image of Norsemen, as movies and television shows have the primary purpose of entertainment rather than historical accuracy, which can lead to an utmost inaccurate representation of Norse society.