The Viking Expansion

The reason they raid was because it represent status and power. Since they did not believe in the afterlife, the Vikings knew that their name and reputation were extremely important to be remembered. Therefore, they had to rise above everyone else by combat. Vikings loved combat and believed it as a healthy way of life. A Viking who participate in raiding would instantly gain a higher social status than who stayed home (The Vikings Raids). The Vikings believed raiding was very different from theft and saw it as an honourable challenge to fight. Typical values they raided consists of weapons, tools, clothing, jewelry, precious metals, and people who could be sold as slaves. By raiding, they were able to obtain weapons by other neighbouring Vikings and/or enemies to use in battle against them to have the upper

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.

Were the Vikings barbaric, or were they civilized? The Vikings were a civilized and organized culture. The Vikings’ political system was essential to the Vikings’ everyday lives by giving them a stable lifestyle and a reliable colony.Traditions and religion were an important part of the Vikings’ culture. Their interaction with the environment was crucial to survival in the Vikings and their civilization. Interacting with the environment, the Vikings managed to locate and design food and shelter. The civilized traits in the Vikings’ world were demonstrated through its political, culture, and interaction with environment.

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 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.

Unfortunately for the Valencia Vikings, their playoff run didn’t end with ‘happily ever after.’ The Vikings fell to the St. John Bosco Braves (Bellflower) in quarter final play Tuesday night, as the Braves targeted Valencia’s Chibuzo Ikonte to gain the 68-54 victory.

1. Each prospective Queen must have a six month probationary period. During this probation, the prospective Queen is not permitted to date or participate in any sexual activity with a current Viking King.

Some of the motivational factors that initiated the Viking invasions were: The death of Charlemagne, the consecutive weakening of the Frankish Empire and a Baltic Sea with a fragile and broken down trade. But one of the main factors for the actions of the Vikings was the growing population of young Vikings looking for settlement, adventure and wealth.

This initial wave of movement westward sparked a larger movement over time of larger Norse populations towards Iceland, where at one point, there were "as many as 12,000 Viking immigrants ultimately settled there, taking their farm animals with them" (Lemonick and Dorfman 2). This mass migration and settlement outside of the native Scandinavian territory mimics the conquest and expansion of other great Empires, the only difference in the Vikings situation is that they did it by sea and all other nations did it by land; that, and the fact that the more westward they moved, the less they had to deal with other nations and more with the fury of the

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.

During the dark ages vikings attacked, sickness ensued, and the people had either lost their lives or their will to keep living. These harsh conditions lead to feudalism and with it the Roman Catholic Church. The feudal system consisted of different social classes, a persons daily activities and expectations would depend on which social class that person was a part of. If someone was a peasant or serf they would be in the lowest class they would have had to work on fields and raise livestock. If someone was a knight they would have spent years training and sworn loyalty to their lord and church, they would also be very chivalrous because that was expected of them. If someone was a lord or lady they would live a very comfortable life, they would

The effect of the Vikings during the 800 AD to 1100 AD, was kind of stable as they were skilled at adapting into the local population. The Viking culture had a great impact on the society, technology and trade of each culture they come across. Vikings may have seen as barbarian attackers by people, but they were great expert traders and, also explorers, who discovered many new lands during their short period of control on the early European empire. The Vikings started trade network that ultimately covered all Europe, the Middle East, India, and China.

During the Viking Age, Scandinavian men and women had already travelled to many regions of Europe and beyond Europe as well, in a cultural diaspora witch has left its touches from Newfoundland to Byzantium. By the late 11th century, royal families had been legitimized by the Catholic Church and begun asserting their prowess and might with of course extreme authority and determination, and the three famous empires of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden had already got into shape. Towns seemed functioning as both secular and religious administrative centers and market places, and even the monetary economies had begun to arise being influenced upon the English and German prototypes. Christianity had occupied in the roots of Denmark and Norway with the

Jack and Annie discover the horrible world of the Vikings in ' The Attack of the Vikings' by Mary Pop Osborne, when they were searching for the super old story about Serpens Magna. They find out that the words are in Latin which was used in the 'Dark Ages' in Europe for writing. The' Dark Ages' was a time period when schooling and culture nearly diapered in Europe. Although,the Irish Monks kept Western civilization present, while Jack and Annie went off to search for the ancient story. They also found out the answer about the Serpens Magna at the end, when they were rescued by a great serpent who lived in the sea. The sea serpent was named Sarph, a Celtic creature who was associated with the Milky Way.