Vikings

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Vikings

Vikings, also commonly called Norsemen or Northmen, were Scandinavian seafaring warriors with Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish background. Vikings raided and colonized many areas of Europe from the 9th to the 11th century.
   Vikings were made up of landowning chieftains and clan heads, freemen, and young clan members.
From their home locations, they were independent farmers, but raiders and pillagers at sea. Bands of Vikings would use hit-and-run tactics at cities and towns along the coasts of Europe. Their burning, plundering, and killing gave them the name Viking, which means "pirate" in the early Scandinavian language.
   Viking expansion into the Baltic lands and Russia are often attributed to the Swedes. The colonization of the Orkneys, Faroes, and Iceland is attributed to the Norwegians.
   Viking life was heavily influenced by their religion. Their gods lived in "Asgard." It was believed pleasing to sacrifice an animal (blota) to the gods. Christianity changed the Vikings' religion, but many of the customs continued for hundreds of years.
   Raids in England occured in the late 8th century, but came more heavily in 865 AD, when a force led by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok (Healfdene, Inwaer, and Hubba) conquered the kingdoms of East Anglia and Northumbria, and reduced Mercia from its previous size. Many Viking conquests were halted and retaken by the Wessex of Alfred the Great. The Scandinavian conquests left affects in social structure, dialect, place and personal names.
   To the west, Scandinavian influence touched many areas. Settlers reached Iceland at least about 900 AD, and from Iceland colonies were founded in Greenland and attempted in North America. Norse invasions of "The Isle of Man," one of the British Isles, began about 800 AD, and the isle was of Norway until 1266.

Vikings expanded eastward into the ancient lands of the Ukraine, called Rus at that time. Vikings merged with the local population by chieftains marrying daughters of nobles and druzhyna (footmen) blended with freemen. Several Scandinavian runic stones record the names of men who went with Yngvarr on his journeys to the east...but only accounts of direction and intention survive. Scandinavians would later be the core of the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine emperor, mercenaries in Constantinople (now Istanbul).
   After the 11th century, Viking chiefs became a figure of the past. Norway and Sweden had little force left for adventure, and Denmark conquered any unruly Viking elements left. Olaf II Haraldsson of Norway was basically the last Viking chief in the old independent tradition before becoming king in 1015 AD.
   Vikings would use a longship, or Viking Ship, to sail the waters for more than 1,500 years. Ranging from 45 to 75 feet in length, the longship had a single square sail and was sturdy in rough seas. Examples have been found dating from 300 BC. They carried the Vikings to many locations, including Leif Eriksson, the lucky, to America in 1000 AD. The introduction of the stern rudder around 1200 AD led to the differentiation of bow and stern and the transformation of the longship.
   Leif Eriksson, born around 960 AD and son of Eric the Red, is a well known norse explorer widely believed to have been the first European to reach the shores of North America in the 11th century. Only a few voyages were ever made afterwards.