3.4 The Vikings - T -

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1

AGE 3: The Time of monks and knights

3.4 The Vikings

texts

Word Duty

raid: a short sudden attack, usually by a small group of people

objective: not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased

KEY WORDS

What you can explain /  do after this lesson

• Explain who the Vikings were and where they came from
• How the Vikings attacked Dorestad
• What Viking religion was like and how they clashed with Christianity
• How the Vikings explored the Atlantic Ocean
• How the Vikings settled in different parts of Europe

In 793 a Viking raid on the English monastery of Lindisfarne scared many people throughout the Christian West. The year 793 is often called the beginning of the age of Viking raids. 

Invaders from the north

Around the year 800, many raids from the sea took place in Western Europe. Vikings quickly landed and quickly disappeared, after looting and arson. These foreigners from the far north, with their short incursions into Europe, appealed enormously to the imagination. 

For centuries these strangers were surrounded by the most fantastic stories and myths. The most common image of them in our history is that of barbarian perpetrators of violence. But is this image correct? What have these Normans really done? Is a more objective view possible?

Raiding and looting

Originally, the Vikings came from the Scandinavian countries. Many young men left Scandinavia in search of new places to live. Due to the rapid growth of the population, there were many shortages. That is why they colonized Iceland in 874 and Greenland in 985. Vikings tried to build a new life as farmers there. In western, central and northeastern Europe, where riches in the eyes of the Vikings were up for grabs, Vikings undertook looting. Monasteries and trading towns in particular were a popular target, because this is where the most could be achieved. In 834, for example, the Dutch town of Dorestad (now Wijk bij Duurstede) was attacked, with many inhabitants being killed or taken as slaves. A city like Dorestad was very interesting for Vikings, because it was located at a crossroads of trade routes over the water and there was a lot of trade in weapons, tools, woolen cloth and jewelry. Vikings showed up unexpectedly near this city with their fast ships. The Vikings used a lot of violence and robbed, raped and set fires.

Vikings and Franks

Charlemagne regularly came into conflict with the Vikings. He waged wars against the Saxons, a Germanic people and allies of the Normans. Moreover, the Vikings had preyed on the riches in the Frankish empire. Finally, Charlemagne saw it as his task as a Christian to convert the Vikings to the Christian faith.

Before the Vikings were converted to Christianity they had their own polytheistic religion. Norse mythology  has greatly influenced our modern culture, from the days of the week, to the Lord of the Rings and the Marvel universe.  Check it out here.

Viking explorers

The Vikings were more than just pirates however. They set out to sea as traders. They brought their trading goods, such as animal skins and walrus ivory as far as Asia. They were also settlers. They sailed to Iceland and Greenland to settle there. The Vikings had already sailed to Newfoundland (Canada) long before Christopher Columbus arrived in America in 1492. In 1002 Leif Erikson and his crew went ashore there.

The Vikings were also rulers, not only over the sea, but also on land outside Scandinavia. From 841 Rorik  reigned over a part of the coastal area of the present Netherlands. The Viking Rollo received a fief from the French king in 911; the land was later named Normandy. The Vikings in Normandy were later called Normans (= men from the north).

Last but not least, the north of England was under Viking control for a very long time.

Anne Stine Ingstad was a Norwegian archaeologist who, along with her husband explorer Helge Ingstad, discovered the remains of a Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1960.

Leiv Eiriksson discovers North America.

Painting from 1863

Adapting to western Europe

The Vikings continued to plunder in western and central Europe until the eleventh century. But gradually the attacks became less. That had a number of reasons:

1. At first, the Vikings only came by to rob and loot, but over time various Vikings families decided that the families wanted to continue living in the areas. The Vikings founded settlements there that were permanently inhabited, where the Vikings subsequently mixed with the local population.
2. The Vikings converted to Christianity. For a long time the Vikings had fought fiercely against Christianity because they wanted to keep their own religion. From the year 1000 several missionaries ventured to the north to convert the Vikings and the missionaries were successful.
3. Peace treaties were signed between European rulers. For example, in 911 a peace treaty was signed between the West Frankish king Charles the Simple and the Norman Rollo. In this treaty the French region of Normandy was granted to the Normans as a fief in exchange for an end to the looting.

Summary 3.4

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