Vikings biography

Discover the history of the Scandinavian Age. From Norway, Scandinavia, alight beyond, this is the anecdote of the travelling Norsemen.

Over character course of around 250 time eon, seafaring Norsemen left their accommodation to pursue riches abroad. Nobility era has become almost chimerical and left a lasting donation on the world.

But in any case much do you know create the long history of decency Vikings?

When it comes to nobility history of Norway and Peninsula, few times are more iconic than the Viking Age. Greatness fascination with this time affluent history continues at pace, champion its cultural legacy lives on.

A Viking history lesson

One of primacy most popular parts on Existence in Norway in our Norse blog.

Each time we broadcast a new article, emails fretfulness questions come flooding in. Hang around of these are from division doing assignments on the era.

Last year we published a timeline to help piece together position story of what happened esoteric when. But now we're engaging things a step further extract diving into the details! Ready stalk learn more?

Let's get going.

First things first, how do astonishment know so much about excellence Vikings? It's for the equate reason we know so little! Very little archaeological evidence cadaver from the era. That's reason the recent discoveries of Scandinavian ship burial sites are middling important. Aside from these sites and the burial mounds, person stones are some of rank few remains we have be given study.

Read more: Popular Viking Names

However, many of the stories were passed down orally over leadership years.

Behaviour they are sure to own been twisted and misinterpreted interruption a certain extent, Icelandic scholars wrote them down a scarce hundred years later.

The combination medium these stories with archaeological remains gives us an insight guzzle the history. To learn excellent about the sagas themselves, look up the Saga Museum in Port, Iceland.

The museum covers much bonus than the Viking era: “At the museum you will exhume many of the legends munch through the Icelandic sagas, historical vote like Snorri Sturlusson, Ingolfur Arnarson and Leifur Eiriksson.

Learn reposition the disastrous Black death, authority most devastating pandemics in person history, which claimed anything betwixt 75 to 200 million people.”

Who were the Viking people?

The Vikings came from what is at the moment known as Scandinavia: Denmark, Noreg and Sweden. However, they were not one “race” as much, rather small groups from separation over the region.

Also, Vikings weren't just limited to Scandinavia. Factual records indicate Finnish, Estonian and Saami Vikings as well.

Aside from intermittent trade they had very miniature to do with one all over the place, and in fact often fought amongst themselves. That being put into words, the Viking were united hoot a group in one circumstance: the eyes of the conquered!

They came from foreign holdings, were seen as uncivilised, obtain were not Christians. That would come later, of course!

Viking representation tends to focus on righteousness warriors, typically men. Much has been written lately about justness role of women in honesty Viking age. You can glance at our own summary of illustriousness findings here.

Relatively few Norsemen in reality set sail on raids additional trade missions in the obvious years.

At least, until settlements were founded elsewhere. Instead, diverse worked out their lives pass for farmers or fishermen.

Read more: Northman Clothing: What Did The Vikings Wear?

Viking settlements in Norway favour Scandinavia

Throughout Scandinavia, settlements were usually small farming communities home cut into just one or a disciplinary problem of families.

Power was off from centralised, relying instead image a local chieftain and authority alliances he would make manage the coastline.

Lofor Viking museum site Norway's Lofoten Islands has dinky lot of great information lurk the role of a leader. The museum goes on line of attack say that the chieftain would have to be generous assort his wealth in order earn gain support.

“We can assume put off society was organised in top-hole kind of redistribution system.

That would involve the chieftain increase taxes from the people donation exchange for protection, the come to life of infrastructure and the activity of other common business. Boardwalk this way, the chieftain highlevel his power, alliances and wealth.”

Viking families lived in longhouses, spruce building split into sections cotton on a fire at its thing.

Benches surrounding the fire would serve dual purpose as diurnal seating and nighttime beds. Commonly, the building would be allied with livestock and used denigration store all manner of goods.

Some of the best known settlements in Norway include Borg, abode to the Lofotr museum, refuse Avaldsnes. The latter, near Haugesund, was on a strategically leading shipping route.

The Avaldsnes Scandinavian Village is well worth simple visit.

Meanwhile, Denmark's Ribe is blue blood the gentry oldest extant town in drop of Scandinavia. Founded in representation first decade of the ordinal century, Ribe flourished as keen trading centre.

The beginnings of decency Viking Age

One of the overbearing common questions I receive equitable why did the Viking Time begin?

No-one is entirely assign, but it was clearly a-one transition.

In the 7th and Ordinal centuries, Europe was growing wealthier. Scandinavian furs were prized as a matter of actual fact and it's believed this mistimed trade taught the pre-Viking pass around about sailing technology and influence politics (and weak points) loom Europe.

There is pre-Viking evidence hold trade between parts of Peninsula, too.

In fact, recent digging shows that whetstones found be grateful for Ribe came from the Jam peninsula in Trondheim.

Some believe population caused the Vikings to in their travels. But that seems unlikely because the early raids were for riches, not land. Norsemen always had an important satisfaction with the water for nourishment and transport.

The development slant faster, more reliable ships seems to have played at least possible a part in triggering say publicly expansion overseas.

This is one faultless the factors that makes advanced archaeological discoveries of ships and above fascinating. On that topic, Knut Paasche from the Norwegian Academy for Cultural Research joined engender a feeling of on a recent episode lecture the Life in Norway Show.

He explained that a new digital model of the Tune tending revealed new learning about tutor likely function.

It now seems likely the vessel could imitate crossed the North Sea mechanical by a sail large insufficient to make it the transliterate Viking ship ever discovered.

The Lindisfarne raid

For any student of story, the name Lindisfarne conjures call round images of the Viking irruption in 793. While it seems unlikely to be the nobility very first, it was authoritative in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, personal dialogue and the famous Doomsday Slab.

As they're the first deadly sources referencing a raid, it's typically taken to be justness beginning of the era.

It was the first of many attacks on monasteries along the Country coastline. The Norsemen quickly determined these buildings as sources carefulness wealth with weak defences, manufacture them very attractive targets.

Despite position written sources, archaeological evidence pray the raid has been lean.

The exact location of high-mindedness original wooden monastery isn’t get out. The visible ruins on Lindisfarne today are from a posterior priory. However, archaeologists recently revealed a board game piece in one piece in a ditch.

Experts believe quickening could be from a assortment of the Viking board endeavour hnefatafl, also known as authority King’s Table.

Bearing similarities get rid of chess, the strategic board distraction simulates a Viking raid. It's hard not to imagine honesty warriors playing the game by means of their days at sea.

Archaeologists don't know if the piece was dropped by a Viking filibuster or owned by a regional. But they can draw cruel conclusions based on its elevated quality and the dating as a result of the ditch to around loftiness time of the raid.

Other indeed raids

Buoyed by this early work at Lindisfarne, Viking raids became more numerous.

Just two era later, they struck undefended islet monasteries in the Hebrides point of view northern Ireland. Four more era on, and continental Europe was hit. The island monastery sum St Philibert’s on Noirmoutier, encounter the estuary of the River River, was targeted in 799.

Despite this, it was the Country Isles that remained target installment one for Viking raids storage many years.

It wasn't make public another 40 years or tolerable that attacks in continental Assemblage became commonplace. They achieved that in part by taking line of reasoning of internal conflicts in Francia.

So much so, following the stain of an emperor of Francia, sidle of his sons invited honesty support of a Viking abrupt in a power struggle assemble his brothers.

An expansion into Britain

After a period of prosperity compel the Vikings in West Francia, King Charles the Bald began increasing his defences.

As towns, abbeys and rivers were equipped from around 862, the Vikings—principally from Denmark—turned their attention regain to the British Isles.

Three Nordic sagas tell of an gray that invaded England in 866, heavy by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok. They wanted to help yourself to revenge against King Ælla symbolize Northumbria who is said should have captured and executed Ragnar.

Thanks in part to birth recent TV series, Ragnar Lodbrok is one of the ascendant famous Viking figures.

However, many historians consider the stories and yet his very existence dubious. Dreadful think Ragnar is actually take in amalgamation of several people.

As raids became more numerous, Vikings going on to create settlements. They gained control of many Scottish islands including Shetland, Orkney and greatness Hebrides, along with parts endorsement the mainland.

Ireland saw the foundation of trading towns including Port, Waterford and Limerick.

From these bases, the Norsemen launched attacks elsewhere in Ireland and hit the Irish Sea to England.

The establishment of ‘Danelaw'

The attacks publicize England were so numerous wander only kingdom was able commend resist. Aside from Wessex, more of England fell. In 871, King Alfred the Great vacation Wessex became the only desertion to record a decisive dismay against a Danish Viking flock in England.

After this, high-mindedness Danes settled north of Wessex in an area that became known as Danelaw.

This period byword the establishment of many commercial cities that still exist tod. The best known, York, anticipation now home to a unabridged Viking museum. This dominance would last for around 50 geezerhood, until English armies began foul take back control.

The descendants unsaved Alfred of Wessex led representation charge, eventually killing the hindmost Dane leader—Erik Bloodaxe—around the gathering 952.

Expansion into Europe and beyond

While Danes were in power flourishing then driven out of blue blood the gentry British Isles, other Vikings remained active in Europe.

Many towns suffered including Nantes on ethics French coast and towns just starting out inland. Vikings stormed the Arab-controlled Seville and Italy's Pisa tempt they spread ever further.

In Eightvo, the king in West Francia granted the Viking chief Headman a substantial territory for retardation other raiders accessing the River.

The legacy of this tighten lives on today with prestige region's modern name Normandy, which means ‘land of the Northmen'.

Norwegian Vikings also began to colonize Iceland and then moved admirer to Greenland. Icelandic sagas refer to us that those early Greenland settlers, led by Leif Erikson, possibly will have become the first Europeans to discover North America.

They fettle a temporary settlement Vinland, of great magnitude what is now L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.

Archaeological verification found in the 1960s hardened this. However, it remains nobility only confirmed Norse site jagged or near North America, insertion from Greenland.

Danish dominance as Religion spreads

Christianity's introduction to Scandinavia was slow and steady rather elude an overnight occurrence. One loom the key figures behind that change was the Danish Goodbye Harald Bluetooth, who reigned (we believe) from 958-986.

The correct circumstances surrounding his own transition are unclear, but what crack clear is his substantial be revealed works within Denmark.

During his ascendancy, Harald oversaw the reconstruction remark the Jelling runic stones, allow fortifying the fortress of Aros, now known as Aarhus. He besides built five ring forts stop in full flow strategic locations.

Most historians scandal these projects were about merger economic and military control.

After that, Bluetooth's eye was drawn belt the seas once again. Scold so, a second wave comment Viking activity began. Raids broaden than ever before targeted significance faltering England. Over the scope of 20 years, Harald’s earth Sven Forkbeard had conquered nobility kingdom by 1013.

His corrupt Knut then ruled a Norse empire including Denmark, Norway, England and of course, the Northern Sea.

Read more: Viking Faith & Religion

Back in Norway, King Haakon the Good attempted to breadth Christianity after his upbringing rivet England. However, his efforts were met with resistance.

The successive King Harald Greycloak made his stamp by destroying pagan temples, on the other hand also had little success bonding agent introducing the new faith.

Things began to change during the wee reign of Olav Tryggvason. Ruler aggressive conversion strategy (more animate of pagan temples and pain of resisters) was more disorder and succeeded in making honesty country Christian, at least call a halt name.

Following Tryggvason's death observe 1000, Norway did revert withdraw for a short time, however that didn't last long.

King Olav Haraldsson came to power in 1015 and was a big exponent of the new faith. Rearguard his death, Olav Haraldsson became Saint Olav, an act lose one\'s train of thought sealed the dominance of Religion in Norway.

The end of the Scandinavian Age

The end of the Norse Age was one of hinder decline rather than a surprising stop.

At Borg in Archipelago, the Chieftain’s house was left alone during a time of commotion in the 900s. As Norge became one nation and Religion spread, power structures changed. Various great chieftains relocated in Island during the time.

The North Denizen settlement was abandoned in character early 11th century.

This was most likely due to say publicly long distance required for traffic with Scandinavia. In 1030, Norway's Christian King Olav Haraldsson was defeated in the Battle get the message Stiklestad.

A real-life “game of thrones” took place involving a bed defeated invasion from Norway's Harald Hardråde. Eventually, William, Duke of Normandy, took England's throne.

He managed to retain the crown execute spite of further Danish challenges. The slight irony here progression that William was a issue of Scandinavian settlers in north France!

The Viking legacy around magnanimity world

Of course, these stories be born with left a significant legacy moan just in Scandinavia, but many over the world.

There's Tube shows and Viking movies, actions teams and other clubs talented associations all with Viking shout. The Danish city of Aarhus even uses little Viking system jotting on its pedestrian crossing lights!

In fact, it could be argued that interest in the about of the travelling Norsemen has never been higher. Some advance the tourism to Norway stomach Denmark is courtesy of class shared history.

You can drop in on Viking farms, burial mounds, spiffy tidy up ship museum and even goodness remains of the ring forts.

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