Ancient Vikings

The Vikings or Varangians were traders settlers, and most certainly pirates after awhile of unsuccessful ventures, from Scandinavia who in the years between 800 and 1050 colonised, raided and traded the lengths of the coasts, rivers and islands of Europe and the northeastern shores of North America.

They called themselves Norsemen (Northmen) and they still refer to themselves as the people of the North (nordbor). Their ruthlessness and courage in battle is well-documented; however, it should be noted that they also made settlements and traded with their neighbors. The Viking Age is the name of the latter part of the Iron Age in Scandinavia.

In Russia and the Byzantine Empire, the vikings were known as Varangians (V�ringjar, meaning "sworn men"), and the Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. Other names include Danes, Northmen, Norseman Germanians and Normans. The modern day nations descended from the vikings are Icelanders, Norwegians, Danes, Swedes and Faroe Islanders.

The viking propensity for trade is easily seen in large towns such as Hedeby; close to the border with the Franks, it was effectively a crossroads between the cultures until its eventual destruction by the Norwegians in an internecine dispute in c. 1050.

The earliest date given for a Viking raid is 789, when according to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, Portland was attacked. A more reliable report dates from 793, when the monastery at Lindisfarne on the east coast of England was pillaged by foreign seafarers. For the next 200 years, European history is filled with tales of Vikings and their plundering.

Vikings exerted influence throughout the coastal areas of Ireland and Scotland, and conquered large parts of England. They travelled up the rivers of France and Spain, and gained control of areas in Russia and along the Baltic coast. Stories tell of raids in the Mediterranean and as far east as the Caspian Sea.

The Viking World

The Vikings founded cities such as Jorvik (York), Kyiv and Dublin. The Danes sailed south, to Friesland, France and the southern parts of England. In the years 1013-1016, Canute the Great succeeded to the English throne. The Swedes sailed to east into Russia, where Rurik founded the first Russian state, and on the rivers south to the Black Sea, Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. The Norwegians travelled to the north-west and west, to the Faroes, Shetland, Orkney, Ireland and the northern parts of England. Apart from Britain and Ireland, Norwegians mostly found largely uninhabited land and established settlements.

In about the year 1000 A.D, North America was discovered by Bjarni Herj�lfsson and settlement attempted by Leif Ericsson and ��rfinnur Karlsefni from Greenland who called it Vinland. A small settlement was placed on the northern peninsula of Newfoundland, near L'Anse aux Meadows, but previous inhabitants and a cold climate brought it to an end within a few years.

The archaeological remains are now a UN World Heritage Site. It has now been scientifically established that at the height of the Viking expansion, the northern hemisphere entered into a period of unusual and long-lasting cold which continued for several hundred years. This miniature ice age decimated the Greenland colonies, stopped the Viking westward expansion and hampered the Viking homelands.

Besides allowing the Vikings to travel far distances, their longships gave them tactical advantages in battles. They could perform very efficient hit-and-run attacks, in which they attacked quickly and unexpectedly and left before a counter-offensive could be launched. Longships could also sail in shallow waters, allowing the Vikings to travel far inland along the rivers.

A reason for the raids is believed by some to be overpopulation caused by technological advances such as the use of iron, although another cause could well be pressure caused by the Frankish expansion to the south of Scandinavia. For people living along the coast it seems natural to seek new land by sea. Another reason is that in that period several European countries, particularly England, Wales and Ireland, were in internal disarray and easy prey; the Franks, however, had well-defended coasts and heavily fortified ports and harbours.

Pure thirst for adventure may also have been a factor. The reliance on Longships was also detrimental to the Vikings later on. As other cultures developed larger, faster and more powerful ships, the Viking failed to maintain the technological ship building race.

Sagas

Norse mythology and Old Norse literature tell us about their religion with heroic and mythological heroes; however, the transmission of this information was primarily oral and we are reliant upon the writings of (later) Christian scholars such as Snorri Sturluson and S�mundur Fr��i "the Wise" Sigf�sson for much of this, both whom were Icelanders and an overwhelming amount of the sagas were written in Iceland.

Decline

After decades of trade, settlement, and fighting over their rights to be heathen and do those things in Christian lands, resistance in these parts of Europe became more effective and Christianity was introduced into Scandinavia, which led to suppressive tendencies toward enterprises under heathen banners, in order to assimilate into Europe easier.

Apparently, going against the tide of influences of wealth from Rome did not appeal to some people, who eventually inherited the thrones in the North. Under the firm hand of the Christians, the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark and Sweden evolved out of power consolidation to only those who praised Christ and tipped their hats to the Pope. That was the way some believed to make the most profit, rather than put their lives on the line to be judged forfeit by an expanding power structure which resembled the Roman Empire.

The Holy Roman Empire was it's name that time around, and it's borders were closer to home, so they became like the Germanic foederati of old Roman times. They would in turn, like the tribes South of them, adopt the Roman religion and banners, to convert and assimilate other peoples of the Baltic and Russian states.

It was only the insular Scandinavian lands of the British Isles, Faeroes, Iceland, Greenland and Vinland which did not attempt to take other people's lands from them under a Christian banner, and pretty much tried to live locally during that time, sometimes asserting their right to secede from their former governments in their colonies, but generally adopting Christianity as a way of staving off the inevitable forced conversion by these former governments(such as Norway) and their newer ones (such as England, France, Russia), which made sure they would continue relations with them for trade and other economic reasons.

Vikings Myths

There is no evidence whatsoever that the vikings on any occasions wore helmets with horns. This is a latter-day myth created by national romantic ideas in Sweden at the end of the 19th century, notably the Geatish Society, and further imprinted by cartoons like Hagar the Horrible or Asterix and numerous fictitious movies.

The people living in Scandinavia during the Bronze Age did, however, wear horned helmets during ceremonies, as testified by rock carvings and actual finds. Helmets with horns are found on rock-carvings in Bohusl�n, dated back to 900-500 B.C., long before the Viking Age, together with people having sex with each other and animals. These ristnings are still mysterius since no archeology artefacts have been found supporting this cult.

Tell Your Friends About This Web Site