The Viking Essay -- History Historical Vikings Essays

The Vikings Viking History The Vikings were a group of Scandinavian raiders that were around from about the 8th century to the 11th. They mainly attacked the British Islands , the Frankish empire, England, but they also plundered places such as the Iberian peninsula and northern Africa. Vikings did not always settle into the places that they found, for instance after exploring North America they left the place never to return again. Even so, after landing on Greenland they colonized themselves there, and ancestors of the Vikings still live there today. So now that you know a little about the history of the Vikings lets go into detail about the specifics of the Viking age. (Peter Sawyer, Oxford Ill. History of the Vikings p. 1-19) On the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne, which is located between England and Scotland Irish monks had built a monastery; there they wrote many holy and beautiful books, called the Lindisfarne Gospels. These monks were peaceful people, wouldn’t hurt a fly, pity they were chosen by the Vikings, on the 8th of June in 793 to be the first major victim of one of their raids. Their arrival was seen first far off, they could see dragon head carvings on their well crafted ships slowly coming closer and closer to the shore. As soon as they got out of their boats the Vikings poured onto land ripping off the monk’s clothing and tearing their bodies apart with their sharp swords, and sometimes drowned them. Viking raiders tipped over the cross of Bishop Ethelwold, which was built out of stone. Before they left that hot day the Vikings had taken all of the monk’s treasure, set each building aflame, and killed the monk’s cattle to feed themselves on. Then, in an instant they go t into their ships and left. This was the first major Viking attack, as you can see it was pretty gruesome, but they were just getting started. The next summer there were several places on the British North Sea coast attacked. After 799 the Vikings managed some raids on Friskan-Frankish coast, forcing them to set up a coastal watch to warn citizens of the area. (Oxenstierna, Eric, The Norsemen p. 49-74) The Vikings in the 8th century mainly centered in places along the Dutch coast, but the Norwegian Vikings were settled in the Orkney and Shetland islands. Throughout the 9th century the Viking’s expanded their empire to engulf Ireland, and Northwestern England. In t... ... a mixture of clay and dug them to make them draff and weatherproof. Vikings lived with their animals, the animals kept their houses warm, and it secured them from being stolen, because cattle was very valuable. Women did all the work around the house while men worked in the fields, and on the farms, of coarse they also fished and hunted when that was needed. There was not much wood in Sweden and Norway, except in the south where softwoods like conifers were used for building. They also provided for the long straight horizontal timbers that served as the joints. Viking Relationships The military leaders of the Vikings were Earls (called Jarls) and sometimes even priests. The freeman (bonds) were the farmers and merchants. The slaves (thralls) worked on other people’s farms to pay for their share in profits from raids. (Purves, pg. 10) Viking family life did not include much free time for personal enjoyment. They ate slept and worked in one room of their house. The 2 most important objects in the room were the firepit and the weaving loom. There were no cupboards, tier belongings were hung on the wall or in chests that were at the edge of the room. (Gibson, Michael pg. 18)