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The Vikings were a group of Scandinavian raiders that were around from about the 8 th century to the 11 th. 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, wouldnt hurt a fly, pity they were chosen by the Vikings, on the 8 th 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 monks 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 monks treasure, set each building aflame, and killed the monks cattle to feed themselves on. Then, in an instant they got 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 Frisian-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 8 th century mainly centered in places along the Dutch coast, but the Norwegian Vikings were settled in the Orkney and Shetland islands. Throughout the 9 th century the Vikings expanded their empire to engulf Ireland, and Northwestern England.
In the 10 th century they settled in Iceland then claimed Greenland and set up shop there. Here in the late 900 s Vikings raids thinned out due to civil wars in Scandinavia. Even so in the 11 th century they set up temporary residence in North America in what they called Vinland. (Barnes & Noble New American Encyclopedia Vol. 19 p. 594 - 596) The first Viking attack on Ireland was in 820, and like the monks attacked in 793, the people of Ireland had no chance against the powerful Viking army. In the years following the first attack Vikings gained leadership, and by 839, a brave Viking chieftain named Turges, declared himself king of Ireland.
Turges sacrificed the Irish kings Armagh and Clonmacnois, to Thor, a Viking god. The Vikings organized attacks very well, they set more and more extravagant goals, and soon met them. Their attacks on England were successful mostly because no one expected them. In May of 841, Danish Vikings led by a man named Anger sailed the River Seine, and they burnt the city Rouen to the ground. Next they moved into St.
Denis, but decided that it was in their best interest not to provoke the passing Frankish army. But they went right back at it again in 842 they destroyed Quenstovic, the Frisian harbor town. In 845 they attacked the tri-divided Holy Roman Empire, all at the same time! Ragnar Lodbrok, a legendary Viking hero and his army sailed up the Loire River and conquered Paris by defeating half of Charles the Balds army.
The other half were on the other side of the river and watched as Ragnar hung 111 of Charles men as a sacrifice the another Viking god, Woden. The Vikings finally left after Charles gave them 7, 000 pounds of silver. After a while paying the Vikings off was the best way to get rid them, but it ended up costing the Christian lands of Europe a lot of money after a while. (Oxenstierna, Eric, The Norsemen p. 49 - 74) Even though the Vikings were very good at offensive tactics, they still were good at defending themselves. In the late 10 th century the Viking King of Denmark, Harald Bluetooth collected a lot of tax money, despite the fact that he was not well liked by the people, to build four similar well defended forts. These forts were protected by large barriers, or ramparts. All of these forts were divided in four parts with four longhouses in each division, all arranged in small squares.
These longhouses were where man and their families lived, where weapons and tools were made, horse stables, and storage places. Viking coastal towns were also well protected, they built them right up on the coast using the ocean or lake as a barrier. Then they built floating buoy walls and spikes to cripple enemies ships as they ran along the coast. The two foster brothers Ingolf Anderson, and Leif Hrodmarsson are the two adventurers credited with discovering and inhabiting the island of Iceland. The two brothers traveled 700 miles, to a land with lush green cliffs, very beautiful at first glance but once the Vikings traveled inland they discovered large snow covered volcanic peaks.
Leif and his brother entered Iceland at a fjord in waters that were full fish and other sea life. Next they carefully scoured the lands searching for people to attack, despite a few Irish monks that werent that big of a deal the massive island was humanness. All of the information in the next three paragraphs come from translated Viking reports and some of the truths to these reports may or may not be stretched. In 900 a Viking voyager that was seeking land was driven off coarse towards the west and accidentally met up with some islands, so he named them after himself, the Gunnbjorn Islands. Not until 82 years later was this land in the North Atlantic paid attention to when Eric the Red called it to his attention. After Eric was banished by the thing (the Vikings kind of government) for killing two sons of one of his enemies, he decided to explore the area to the west of Iceland.
He sailed to the west and noticed a large island, this island was not very appealing, the climate was not to warm and the terrain was not very good for habitation. As he sailed southward of this island he noticed that the climate got somewhat warmer, he came upon a fjord area and settled. Eric called his settlement Osterbygden, this means eastern settlement, even though it was on the west coast. Eric liked this area because hunting was plentiful there and id had room for pastures. He decided to name this area Greenland because according to him more people would want to go if it had an appealing name. America came to be discovered by the Vikings in an interesting way, Bjarne Herjulfsson, a man looking for his father who had left with Eric the Reds fleet from Iceland on its way to Greenland.
So Bjarn took his boat from a fleet of 26 on a mission to Greenland from Iceland all alone across previously untrammeled ocean. Bjarn knew few details about Greenland that he learned from what people had told him, so he and his faithful crew started off. On his third day at sea Bjarne's ship hit fog and he was driven off coarse. He kept going until, one day he struck land, but he immediately knew that it was not Greenland, no high hills and to many trees, this was probably what is now called the Baffin Islands, but since it was not what he was looking for Bjarne sailed away in search of his father. He floated around the area and found many islands but none of them were Greenland and he was not interested.
By the fourth island they hit, Bjarn knew he found Greenland, it matched the description. He met with his father Herself, and lived with him until his death, and stayed even after. When Leif Ericsson, Eric the Reds son, learned of this new unexplored land from Bjarn he jumped on the chance to venture unto it. Leif too Bjarn's old ship that had already made the trip and 35 other men, he sailed from Greenland and followed Bjarne's precise instructions, to get to these new islands. The first island that he came upon he named Helluland, The Land of Flat Stones.
Next he hit an island that was heavily wooded and had white sand shores, he named it Maryland, meaning Woodland. Heading south he came upon a third land and this one had grape trees, Leif's crew cut these trees down and took the grapes for wine-making and kept the trunks to take to the wordless Greenland. Not all of this information is to be trusted as true since all of it sounds so fake and made up, we must look at these reports however so we can get whatever truth that can be drained from them. The Vikings relationships inside the family show how the households gender roles and life-cycle rites and rituals all work together. The Vikings had large families which shows that they needed a strong authority in the family. The very strict weddings and funerals show how there was a lot of respect in the household.
The family was the most important thing to the Vikings. they valued their ancestors and knew about them through the many generations. The members of a family always stood by each other in good and bad times. There was much honor inside the families. If one family member was insulted it was insulting the whole family. Inside the family there was much respect, but much freedom.
Fathers let their sons find the way of life they wanted and they usually let their daughters marry against their will. The authority in the family never over powered their children, but helped them through their life. Women status allowed them to own land and had as much authority in families as men. Women could run the house and farm while their husband was gone. The man stuck by his family no matter what happens, and in return he received the same from his family. His job was to protect and guide his family in the right direction.
If he failed to do these things, he could be outlawed from his family. Children were raised at the home where they could be taught the importance of the family. Most children were brought up at home, but a child could be raised at another household. Boys were sent to other families when the other family was in need of help. They could also be sent there if there was a feud between two families and the sending of him would stop the fight. It was hard for a child to get a education from a school.
The schools they had were very small and there was very few of them. Children were taught how to farm and, do other household tasks from their parents. Boys were taught how to fight and practiced with their elders or brothers. If a child showed a talent in any tasks he was sent somewhere, where he could perform it to his best ability. He usually was sent to a household where they specialized in his talent. If his own household specialized in his talent then he would just stay home, History, poetry, and knowledge of law were passed on by the elders of the family.
Children were expected to work hard and not sit around while the rest of the family worked. The Vikings family did not tolerate a lazy child. A Viking child was respected if he had a bold spirit. If a child stood up to their elders, he was admired for it rather than punished for it. Once a boy turned twelve he was legally an adult.
He would either stay at home for a couple of years more, or he would go on a Viking expedition. After a boy has made enough money, he came home to a life of farming. If the boy was married he would live with his father, or usually he would build a house next to his fathers. A boy could choose to live over seas and start a new settlement, or he could choose a life in the Viking ships as a fighting man. Relationships were important and also played an important role in the Viking life.
Giving and receiving gifts was more than politeness; it bonded a relationship. It could bond a lord and follower relationship or bond a host and guest relationship. If a gift was given the receiver was to give something back in exchange or offered protection and loyalty to the other person. Friends could mm their friendship into a blood-brotherhood by swearing of it.
Friendship is not just important in two common people, but in lords, followers, hosts, and guests. A woman was not forced to marry and choose who would be her husband. A man could have many wives, or he could only have one. Each wife was distinguished by a thing called the "bride price" which her husband paid for her. She could also receive a dowry from her father and a gift from her husband on the day after the wedding. The sums that became her property are the first and third, if the marriage ended in divorce then the dowry was paid back.
On the wedding day, for it to be legal, there must be a drinking of the "bridal ale" in front of witnesses. The witnesses must then lead the man to the wife's bed. A wife would never disconnect with her family by keeping her name. If her family and her husband got into a fight, she could choose either side. Divorce was an easy task in the Viking culture. All you had to do was make your complaint, and of the intention to divorce before witnesses.
The only way the divorce went through, was if it fell in these categories: improve...
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Research essay sample on 8 Th Century North America
