vikings_who.pdf

Who Were The Vikings?

The Norse

(1) Twelve thousand years ago, human beings living in central

Europe and the Middle East slowly made their way northward into

what is now Scandinavia . They followed the plants and animals

that began to reoccupy lands left bare by the melting. Over the

twelve millennia , this land and the sea around it shaped

generations of these northern people called the Norse. By the

end of first millennium (1000 A.D.) they were known by a

less flattering name- the Vikings .

Origin of the Word Viking

(2) The word “Viking” has been used to identify all the people

who lived in Norway, Denmark and Sweden in early medieval

times- about 700 to 1200 A.D. The origin of the word Viking is

unclear. Anthropologists, people who study societies old and new,

believe it was a name given to the Norse by the English using the

old Norse word “vik” which meant “explorer” or “adventurer”. But,

it probably came from the Norse themselves. In their language the

word vikingr meant “pirate“.

Images of the Vikings As Raiders and Pillagers

(3) To “go a viking” , meant to go raiding and pillaging .

For four hundred years, groups of Viking men looted one another

and raided many communities along the coastlines and riverbanks

of Europe. Unfortunately, the name “Viking” earned all medieval

Scandinavians a bad reputation , one that has lasted for over a

thousand years.

(4) Our impressions of who the Vikings were and how they lived

have been influenced by Europeans who were victims of Viking

attacks. It is not surprising that in their writings, the Vikings are

described in the worst possible way. Another influence has been

Viking sagas. These stories were written by thirteenth century

Christian Viking poets who did not want the Norse oral

storytelling traditions lost. Because sagas are tales of

adventure and conquest, they have added to the Vikings’

notorious reputation. In modern times, books, movies and

cartoons have continued the barbaric image. Most recently,

however, this image is starting to change. Archaeological

evidence being unearthed in Europe and western Russia over the

past few decades is helping to create a more positive image of the

Vikings. While there is little doubt some Vikings were very brutal,

new evidence suggests not all of them lead a life of a blood-thirsty

raider.

Images of the Vikings As Farmers

(5) While raiding cities, towns and monasteries may have been a

quick and sometimes easy way to get rich, it was not the only

means by which the Norse supported themselves. Far a majority

of Vikings, the resources they needed to survive came not from the

spoils of raids, but from the sea, fields and forests that surrounded

their homes. Based on archaeological finds such as iron sickles,

picks, hoes and ploughshares and the preserved remains of

livestock and plants like oats and barley, we know the Vikings

were very skilled craftsmen and highly successful farmers. They

made the tools they needed, raised domesticated animals for food

and clothing, and fished the ocean. Only some Viking men left their

farms in the summer to become infamous raiders.

Images of the Vikings as Traders and Merchants

(6) As Vikings were the best seafarers in their time. They felled the

trees of Scandinavian's forests and built their famous cargo ships to

trade these goods with each other and with other merchants across

Europe and parts of east Asia. The Vikings traded valuable amber ,

ivory, furs and timber from their Scandinavian homeland for French

iron and Arabian silver, gold, silks and spices. They traded for and

bought iron which they used to fashion the finest tools and

weapons. And, they turned their traded and ill-gotten gold and

silver into stunning jewellery .

Images of the Vikings as Artisans and Craftsmen

(7) The Vikings were also skilled artisans . They often used the

silver and gold they traded and looted to create exquisite jewelry

such as finger-rings, arm-rings, torcs, bracelets, pendants and

broaches. They built homes of wood, stone and sod and

created large and sometimes well-fortified communities in the

areas of Europe they explored, conquered and eventually

settled. The remains of these homes have been used to

identify a Viking presence in England, Ireland, Scotland,

Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland- the site of the only

proven Norse presence discovered in North America.

Relying on local materials, they built homes of wood,

stone and sod to create large and well organized

communities in the areas of Europe they conquered

and settled. They even contributed to the language of

the areas they colonized .

Images of the Vikings As Explorers

(8) The seafaring Norse were explorers too. Their ships, which

resembled large open canoes, were able to sail open seas and

navigate shallow rivers coastal water. From Sweden, Vikings called

Rus (a word meaning “red” from which the country of Russia gets it

name) rowed and sailed the rivers of eastern Europe that lead to

the Black Sea and the Middle East. The daring and adventurous

Norwegians went westward to settle Iceland in 860 and still further

west to colonize Greenland about a hundred years later. By the

end of the first millennium they had even reached North America.

Their camp at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, was inhabited

nearly five hundred years before the voyage of John Cabot to

Newfoundland in 1497. Many historians have argued that if it were

not for their remarkable ships, the Vikings would not have been

able to leave their homeland and the Viking Age as we know it

would not have occurred.

The Influences of Christianity

(9) Like most other human beings of their time, the

Vikings developed a system of religious beliefs.

Considered paganism , the these beliefs were built

around the cycles of nature. They attempted to

explain the natural world, everything from swans to

earthquakes. The Viking religion was centred around

a series of gods who were much like themselves-

adventurous and daring. Lacking the ability to write

books, this religion and the myths associated with it,

were passed down from one generation to the next

through storytelling. Around 1200, these

beliefs were recorded by an Icelandic

monk and represent the only record of

Viking Age religion written by the Vikings

themselves.

(10) The Vikings encountered many

cultures and lifestyles in their travels.

When they returned home to

Scandinavia, the Vikings used some of

these ideas to shape and reshape their

own society . The greatest influence on

them was Christianity. Conversion to

Christianity, sometimes at the point of a

sword and sometimes because it was

more profitable to do so, ended some of

the Vikings’ warring ways and by 1200,

the Viking Age itself. The cross featured

prominently on the memorial stone

pictured here, reflects a Christian

influence.

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