Viking Culture

When the vikings raided, and traded, they sometimes took over countries too. Countries ended up with viking kings and the rules would change. Women started doing more jobs, and had more freedom. There are other reasons for Viking raiding, women. There is some evidence like ancient mass graves to prove the point. Evidence says that at the start of the viking age there was a shortage of single women and many of the richest vikings intended to have multiple wives. This shows that many other women were probably taken from their countries, to marry Viking men. As the viking region expanded and more countries were owned by the vikings, the lives of other women changed as their countries. Compared to the viking women, other women of their time had much harder lives, just cleaning, cooking, and doing all the household work. Whilst the viking women were free to do so much more. The vikings, and the viking women, did influence other women and their

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.

We all think of Vikings as pirates who sail around slaughtering people, but there is more to it than just smashing and killing. The Vikings actually caused the Charlemagne Empire to break-up faster, they caused Europeans to have a society based off of Feudalism, and they changed the English language.

People are always making Vikings seem like rough, unhygienic, vicious pirates. Vikings are much more than that. They are poets, artists, and they were a lot more hygienic and clean than most people of their time period. Vikings were very intelligent and crafty people. People do not realize how interesting and unique the Viking society was. There are a lot more to the Vikings than we

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

In Norse society, the word Viking meant a sea-borne raider. It was used similarly to the way we use the word “pirate”. To go a-viking meant to undertake sea-borne raiding. The word itself was a job description and did not pertain to everyone. The word Viking did not apply to women, children, slaves or others who did not go raiding. It wasn’t until the nineteenth century when the word passed into common English usage, where it has come to be used to describe the people of Scandinavia in the period from the late eighth to eleventh centuries, not just for those who carried out the sea-borne raiding.

The innovation is not around today; however, its existence spurred the creation of other medieval European ships and aspect of its design can be still seen today, such as with the common speedboat. Not until Medieval times was the superiority of the longship able to be surpassed by “mainland Europe’s later advancements in shipbuilding, where the taller, more powerful ships dominated over the short and swift Viking craft” (“Viking-Age History). Nevertheless, no other watercraft can ever compare to the glory of the longship, with its ingenuity and its versatile design in being able to travel both forwards and backwards, and having the fastest traveling speeds of its day. The longship allowed the Vikings to “colonize, trade and ultimately extend the boundaries of the medieval world”, which changed the course of history (“Viking Ships -

The Vikings were a very large group of people from three different countries which were Norway, Sweden and Finland. A lot of people don’t know the simplest of things about the Vikings which are they were not all murderers and some didn’t even raid. So what were the things that people didn’t know about the Vikings?

The Vikings were Norsemen who set out on expeditions, often in ships, for trade or plunder. The word Viking eventually became a common word meaning sea-raider. Often the entire Norse people were referred to as Vikings. The life of a Viking was dangerous, but sometimes very rewarding. Vikings were warriors, farmers, merchants, and explorers. A Viking lived in a complex and sophisticated society that was based on more than violence and raids. A successful Viking had time to enjoy music, eat a variety of foods, and make and drink alcohol. As a Viking, you could trade with or explore distant lands. You might also enjoy silks and other exotic luxuries.

Other groups began to form trade routes, with artifacts from Uzbekistan, Russia, and Ireland found in Viking settlements supporting this. Neil Price , who specializes in Viking-Age Scandinavia, believes there is enough evidence to conclude that Vikings were trading their state of the art swords and knives for exquisite jewelry and precious stones throughout the

Vikings were not professional privateers or full time soldiers. Originally they were full-time fishermen and farmers who spent much of the year at home.

Viking ships were a huge part of ancient history. Vikings are known for one of the greatest warrior cultures ever. Vikings valued the gift of strength and power and you could definitely see this in their ship building designs. These long ships on the sea gave many people fear of setting foot on the water. Vikings made strong and powerful designs on the head of the ships to scare away anything in their way. Most of the time the ship design would be a dragon head that was the Vikings symbol.

By the Xth century the Vikings (also called ‘ Northmen’) used to raid one European monastery after another (Richards, 2005). The news about that spread all around Europe and caused much chaos. It was the source of fear and panic among the European lords and Christians (Graham-Campbell, 1980).The Vikings appeared from nowhere, killed people, robbed the monasteries and vanished. They were so impetuous that were considered to be irresistible tribes. Their actions were described as insulting, appalling and often immoral. They were called ‘pagan marauder seamen’ (Graham-Campbell, 1980). The early writings about the Vikings (Richards, 2005) make us aware of the fact that their raids on Europe were mostly devastating and ruinous. Due to that, a certain stereotype of their being wild, rude, aggressive and destructive prevails in human history. They became notorious for being merciless barbarians, pirates, ravagers and beasts. But were they really like that? To what extent

The Viking age refers to a historic period from around 800 until 1100 in Scandinavia and Northern Europe using historical events as marks in the timeline: the attack of the abbey of Lindisfarne in 753 and the battle of the Stanford Bridge 1066. The amount of sources is quite low and many pieces of information come from foreign chronicles or a later time period which leads to different interpretations. The Vikings as they are being called nowadays were mostly farmers and traders who used the long ship to trade all around Europe. They were able accumulate a great amount of wealth which consist of coins from the different areas around Europe. The sea and the long ship were not only used

From approximately 793-1066 BC, large groups of Scandinavians left their homelands and set out on raiding sprees and voyages of exploration all throughout the coastal sites of Britain, within continental Europe, and throughout other islands. While the exact reasons for the Vikings’ raids and explorations are unknown, many speculate that overpopulation in their homeland, their knowledge of shipbuilding and navigation techniques, the desire for trade, the growing economy, and internal conflicts of Europe were all key motivators. Further, while the Vikings are no longer a live group of peoples, there are an abundance of long-term effects still found within the lands they settled.