Vikings Dbq Essay

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 were important in the Middle Ages. The warriors disrupted a lot of European countries. Europe benefited the attacks because it helped spead of tech. , trading and settling. Vikings were explorers and conquered lots of settlements throughout Europe. Vikings stated from the time they began their raids. In 793 the Vikings raided France. They killed lots of monks, destroyed churches and took treasures. The British were shocked and mad about these raids. Most of the raids were targeted to monasteries. The monasteries was place of learning and the raids disrupted the education in Europe. The Vikings broke up power structure in England and Scotland strengthing the Scots. According to

In popular media today, the Vikings are remembered as a race of barbarians. They are depicted as warriors, wearing horned helmets and carrying swords, ransacking and burning villages to the ground. Admittedly, there is some historical precedent for their aggressive reputation. Between 793 AD and 1066 AD, the Vikings expanded their territory from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, into neighboring regions, including Eastern and Western Europe, the British Isles, and Greenland. The Vikings were indeed a hard people. However, this was not due to their culture or character, but rather the difficult environment they lived in. Although Vikings are remembered as aggressive expansionists, the factors that led to their voyaging to new lands were competition

The Vikings were so successful because of their tactics, weaponry and element of surprise. If the Vikings died in battle they believed they would go to Valhalla (Viking heaven). Which made them ruthless and cut throat in battle. If they die they get to go to heaven and feast & binge drink for eternity,they don't die they get to raid and become wealthier. It was a win/win. But don't get me wrong, their religion wasn't the only reason they were so successful, on of the reasons were their Element of surprise.The first attacks occurred before people realized there was a danger from the ships. Even after such raids became a reality, the Viking ships could sail out of sight of land, had shallow enough draft to go inland up rivers, and could easily

The Vikings are commonly known as barbarians, evil, sometimes even marauders. However, the Vikings didn’t just raid prospering villages or monasteries. They also spent a lot of time exploring overseas. While the rest of Europe was squabbling over what land belongs to who, the Vikings were isolated, all alone on their three little peninsulas. This left them plenty of time to expand their knowledge on ships and navigation. It also led them to bring ships into their culture.

The Frankish emperor Louis “the Pious” and his sons were at war. The Norse people continued to attack some and became allies for others. Louis’s son Lothar welcomed the Norse people and used them in future battles as mercenaries. After Louis’s death in 843 CE the Treaty of Verdun ended the civil war and the kingdom was separated into 3. Charles “the Bald” became king of the West Franks. During his time, near the Loire River, the Vikings founded a settlement. This was a major disadvantage to the Franks and their trade routes. Norse men then began to travel up rivers to find more monasteries and villages to attack within the Frankish kingdoms. Charles made several attempts to fortify the towns to protect them, but not enough to overthrow his rule. None of these strategies were very efficient. Charles made an extreme mistake in 845 CE in an attempt to deal with these Vikings in a new and less painful way. He tried to buy peace from the invaders. Paying in large amounts of gold and silver to the Viking’s he simply asked not to attack him. This had the opposite effect he intended and led to waves of Vikings attacking him, all of which sought to just be “paid off”. After the death of Charles “the Bald”, his grandson Charles “the Simple” developed a much better plan to deal with this threat (I love their nicknames). He gave the mouth the Loire River to a Viking leader under the

“We and our fathers have now lived in this fair land for nearly three hundred and fifty years and never before has such a terror been seen in Britain as we have now suffered at the hands of a pagan people. Such a voyage was not thought possible. The church of St. Cuthbert is spattered with the blood of the priests of God.” These are the words of Alcuin of York, an Anglo-Saxon scholar, describing the first recorded presence of Norsemen warriors and their attack on Lindisfarne, a holy monastic undefended island of the coast of England in 793 A.D. This attack by pagans from Scandinavia introduced a new kind of warrior to the known world and established a new chapter in history known as the Viking Age. From this moment and for the next

Vikings do live up to their name as being a brutal and barbaric pirates, sailing towards villages in their long fast sailing boats towards settlements, taking all the treasures, materials and livestock they could grab a hold of for their people. Slaughtering everyone who had lived in the village, and tortured people if they stood up against them. When they left the village, the village was on fire in mass destruction. Vikings destroyed monks, churches, villages and farms all for the sake of them. Brutally murdering people. Then sailing away with the treasures not caring for what they have done, not double thinking if they should’ve killed the wives and children. A monk wrote what happened, during the battle in fear, ‘On the seventh of the 13th of June, they reached the church of Lindisfarne, and there they miserably ravaged and pillaged everything; they trampled the holy things under their polluted feet, they dug down the platforms, and plundered all the treasures of the church. Some of the comrades they killed, some

In modern society, the Vikings are seen to have been bloodthirsty savages and are often portrayed in cinema as such. They are usually portrayed wielding axes and wearing horned helmets, destroying everything and anyone in sight. The truth is that the archaeological and historical records can only reveal so much about the Viking conquerors of England. They did not wear horned helmets and they left behind beautiful trinkets just as the Romans did hundreds of years before. Cinema likes to portray Vikings as bloodthirsty savages because it makes for a good story, but they also like the hero to always be victorious. What is left of the archaeological and historical records show that the Vikings were no worse than the Romans or any other conquering army in Britain.

During the Viking Age, parts of Europe experienced a communal force of wild seamen travelling and raiding for treasure up and into the Mediterranean from Scandinavia. The civilized world viewed the Vikings as terrifying warriors. They also considered the barbarians to be also pagans because of their Norse religion which involved the gods like Thor, Odin, and a warrior heaven (Valhalla). In addition, to define the Viking community, according to Vikings: Raiders from the North, “The derivation of the term is unknown… To go ‘a-Viking’ meant to go forth on expeditions... to acquire riches.” (17-18) This expresses that the original word “Viking” means to voyage and to attain wealth, although the phrase A-Viking can provide an explanation. Applying the term A-Viking with the Merriam-Webster definition of a community, “a unified body of individuals: such as a body of persons having a common history or common social, economic, and political interests,” Vikings or a Viking community can mean a person or a group of persons proceeding on a common expedition towards wealth. Although, the combination provides a decent definition, it lacks the cultural aspect and way of life behind the Viking community. A lust for wealth only surfaced the general concept of their voyages. The Viking community is significant due to the fact that their culture provides inspiration to people to write about the Viking’s way of life. Examining their beliefs is the first indication.

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

This is one of the first account of the raid which the Vikings carried out in England in 793, which had instigated fear and shock throughout Europe. Not only because it had not been anticipated, but mostly due to the destruction of the House of God which had fundamental functions and symbolism in Medieval Christianity. The infamous Vikings of Scandinavia had left a ruthless impression on the rest of Europe, thereby defining the beginning of the Viking Age. Many nations feared the raiding’s which the Vikings were capable of, again fueling the image of the Vikings having immense strength and brute. However, to understand what historians call the ‘Viking Age’, (which is argued to be from late 8th Century to mid 11th Century) one must understand

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.

When thinking of the culture of Vikings, the most significant characteristic that most people think of is the Vikings use of raids. However, this was not always the case, prior to the prevalence of raids, many Scandinavian and other Viking cultures were primarily traders. With that brings up the question of what exactly caused the rise of Viking raids? Through an in-depth analysis of religion, the want of wealth and power, climate change, and even the effects from previous persecutions during this time period, we can see what were the key causes of the Viking’s use of raid warfare.