The Vikings Research Paper

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

On the other hand, the weaknesses of the Anglo-Saxons needs to be considered in terms of its contribution towards the success of the Vikings with this particularly being centred around King AEthelred. This particular alternative factor is noteworthy as AEthelred's reign (978-1013) was characterised by the return of Viking raids in Britain. His mistakes are particularly significant due to the expectations of him to live up to the reputation of King Alfred the Great and his success against the Viking threat at the battle of the Edington (878) and through the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum. Reference to AEthelred as being “the unready” already allows us to have some idea of his abilities as king. Firstly, one particularly unsuccessful strategy he took on involved Vikings being employed as mercenaries which started in 994 and also involved a pledge of loyalty in exchange for gifts (including both land

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 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

France was in Carolingain Empire, which was a problem. The Vikings took advantage and raided France. They fastened the fall of Carolingain Empire. Then they changed the ways of the place they attacked. They were also great explorers, they conquered settlements in lots in of countries they invaded. In 860 they discovered Iceland. The Vikings describes this by quoting from the Landnamabok "Once upon a time, men some say it was Naddod the Viking set out from Norway bound for the Faroes but drifted into the Atlantic and found a large new island." They settled on Iceland in 870. The Vikings conquered and settled in Greenland. Throughout exploring the Vikings expanded Europe's knowledge of their surroundings. Vikings also settled on parts of the countries they raided, and they rebuilt the towns. Many of this made of damage cause by the raids. They also had craftsmen and merchants sent to England, Germany and other countries to trade or sell their goods. Trades were only performed once or twice every

The people from the north, Norsemen, lived in villages and on dispersed farms in various regions. The Norwegian Vikings were from Iceland and Ireland. The Danish Vikings were from France and Britain. The Swedish Vikings were from Russia. Regardless of region, Vikings are addressed as one group of people. Written documentation from this era, sagas specify the region of Vikings being recorded.

The Vikings were people of Nordic origin, whose expansion led to the conquering of much of Europe, and the colonization of Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. Three main reasons for their expansion include: Escaping emerging Christian rule in their homeland; expansionism fueled by raiding and resources in the homeland becoming scarce, and in Leif Erikson’s journey to make a name for himself.

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

The Vikings were seen as heathen pirates by those that experienced their attacks. Many people had every reason to be frightened as their warships sailed from their homelands in Scandinavia. The Vikings were actually several different peoples who lived in we now know as Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Many people think of them today just as warlike raiders but some were farmers, merchants and architects. Their artists and craftspeople produced beautiful objects. Many Vikings set off from their homelands in search of new lands to settle and farm, such as Iceland. Other voyages were carried out for plunder first, then for settlement. Norwegian Vikings began to settle in the islands off the northern coast of Scotland at the beginning of the

From the 8th century to the 11th century, the Vikings, used their stronghold in the Scandinavian Peninsula, to exploit westward to Iceland and Greenland, even Canada, southward to mainland Western Europe and southwestward to Britain and Ireland. Tyranny and poor living conditions might be the main reasons for their invasions (Owen 1999 10). There were two invader sources, one was from Norway called ‘Norse’, the other was from Denmark called ‘Danelaw’. At the beginning of the Vikings’ expansion, piracy and trade were the dominant elements, however, after a period of time, they began to settle down in their colonies, such as Britain, France, Ireland and Russia.

The age of the Vikings begins with the earliest recorded raids in the 790s and continues until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 (Barrett). Geographically, the Viking Age cannot be confined purely to pre medieval Scandinavian lands

One of the key motivations for the rise of raiding in Viking culture was the want of wealth and power. Most Viking raids were to gain wealth by plundering, as noted by their, “hit and run” style of warfare tactic (Sawyer, 9). As stated before, prior to the rise of raids, the Scandinavian economy was controlled by trade. However, due to the rise of silver coinage and an expansion of wealth in England, Scandinavia and other Baltic regions became the premier exports of fur and skins (Sawyer, 4). This expansion of trade also led to the spread of knowledge. One key aspect, in particular, was the increase of wealth in other parts of Europe (Sawyer, 7). This connection through trade also gave them knowledge of western Europe’s ship designs, which would greatly influence the design of Vikings ships (Sawyer, 6). It can also be shown that power was a key factor in the rise of