- This article is about the Viking people. For other meanings, see Viking (disambiguation)
The vikings or Varangians were traders, settlers (and most certainly pirates after many unsuccessful ventures) from Scandinavia who in the years between 800 and 1050 colonized, 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) (modern Scandinavians still refer to
themselves as the people of the North, nordbor). Their ruthlessness and courage in battle is well-documented, but they
also built settlements and were skilled craftsmen and traders. In Russia and the
Byzantine Empire, the vikings were known as Varangians (Væringjar, 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.
Etymology
The etymology is somewhat unclear. One path might be from the old Norse word 'vík', meaning 'bay', 'creek' or 'inlet', and the suffix '-ing', meaning 'coming from' or
'belonging to'. Thus, "vikings" would be 'people of the creeks', especially in the area Viken. Later on, the term became synonymous with 'raider of the sea'. The word "vikingr" ("vikings") appears on
several rune stones found in Scandinavia. However, it was mentioned for the
very first time in the ancient Anglo-Saxon poem "Widsith" from the 6th or 7th century. Hence, the
second path suggested steems from Old English wíc, i.e. "trading
city", (from latin vic, "village"). Even a third path is
suggested, where viking comes from avviker ("dissenter"); that is "mariners that left (avviker) from home".
According to the Swedish writer Jan Guillou, the word in its positive
sense was popularized by Erik Gustaf Geijer in the poem The
Viking, written at the beginning of the 19th century. Now, the word
was taken to signify brave sea warriors who had very little to do with the politics shared by the actual vikings in the Catholic history. This change of meaning was however, quite political: a myth about a
glorious and brave past was needed to give the Swedes the courage to retake Finland,
which had been lost in 1809 during the war
between Sweden and Russia. Finland had belonged to the kingdom of Sweden for about 600 years. The Geatish Society, of which Geijer was a member, popularized this myth to a
great extent. Another author who had great a influence on the perception of the Vikings was Esaias Tegnér, another member of the
Geatish Society who wrote a modern version of Frithiofs Saga, which became widely popular in the nordic countries, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Historical records
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 around the year 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 (see Danelaw). 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 Faroe Islands, 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 Herjólfsson. Leif Ericsson and
Þórfinnur
Karlsefni from Greenland attempted to settle the land which they dubbed
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
(see Freydís Eiríksdóttir). 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 use of
the longships ended when technology changed and ships constructed using saws instead of axes. This led to a lesser quality of
ships and together with an increasing centralisation of government in the Scandinavian countries, the old system of Leding---a
fleet mobilization system, where every Skipen (ship community) had to deliver one ship and crew---was discontinued.
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 Sæmundur "fróði" ("the Wise") Sigfússon 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 right to be heathen 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 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 its name around that time, and its 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, Faroes,
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.
Myths about vikings
There is no evidence whatsoever that the vikings on any occasion 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. See Bohuslän.
See also:
External links
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