Danish Vikings about to plunder Winchester in the 9th century.
J.W. Kennedy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Viking of the Norse lands dominated trade and exploration from 793 until 1066 CE.a time period known as the Viking Age. The Viking homeland was Scandinavia which consisted of three major countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Overpopulation drove these countries to seek new lands in order to feed their people and livestock on which they depended. The wealth of the monasteries and the prosperity of the English and French indicated by their coinage attracted some of the Norsemen more interested in getting rich through hit and run raids.
The Danish concentrated on the eastern shore of England and the western coast of France. While the Swedish Vikings began to explore, trade and raid Eastern Europe with an influence in the Caspian Sea, Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. In Russia they founded a dynasty in Kiev that ruled for over 600 years. The rulers were called the tsar until the Communist Revolution.The Vikings of Norway explored the North Atlantic and expanded westward to Iceland and Greenland. These Norwegian explorers landed in North America 500 years prior to Columbus.
The Horned Beasts
Attack on Lindisfarne Monastery
In the year 793CE. Out of the mists surrounding a tiny island off the northeast coast of England there appeared what seemed to be ...“ dragons, huge water serpents, carrying within their bowels the very demons of the devil growling, uttering curses,,swinging deadly axes and swords with horns protruding from their skulls and fire from their bellowing mouths.” [An eyewitness account - Lindisfarne Monastery 793 CE.]
Archaeologists have yet to discover any evidence of horns as described but have found iron and leather caps.
The ruined Abbey on Lindisfarne
Russ Hamer, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The demons were marauding Norsemen from Denmark who came to raid the defenseless monks slaughtering all within their path and taking with them a treasure trove of the gem encrusted silver and gilded symbols of the Christian worship. The most important items were the manuscripts the monks were creating by translating the Gospels into illuminated pages for the church. Called Illuminated Manuscripts not only for their content but they were decorated with gold on the covers and through out.
The attack at Lindisfarne was not the first such raid on a Holy place but it became the most prominent throughout Christian Europe due to the report written by the monks. The monks, the only men who could read or write, were the chroniclers of the Age reporting events as they saw them. As a result of the horrendous raid the name Viking described a ruthless, godless people and the mighty pen condemned them as pirates whereas most Scandinavians were not. The name Norse/Northmen and Viking remained interchangeable in historical references.
The bright colored Viking sails grew to be dreaded as Vikings spread fear in the Christian Europe.
Monro S. Orr, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Viking/Norse can be traced to 6000 BCE. and are descended from Germanic tribes as were the tribes of the Goths, Vandals and Franks that fanned out across Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries and brought down the Roman Empire. Their ancestors lived among 600 islands and fjords where they built small leather boats to fish and forage; they called themselves’ Vikin’ which translates to ‘island people’.
Although they brought terror and violence to many parts of Britain and Europe, they were more than savage and illiterate warriors. The studies of anthropologists suggest that the typical lifestyle of the Scandinavians of the Medieval Ages did not involve the barbaric heathenish ongoing celebration of death and destruction but one centered on family, guided by laws and their religious beliefs.
Clannish by necessity they preferred to live on compounds centered on a long hall where extended family accommodations were provided.
While the men engaged in fishing the matriarch was in charge of the farm where the livestock of dairy cattle provided the protein and sheep their warm clothing. The basic diet included fish, cheese, and porridge certainly not a meal that the gentle monks envisioned for demons!
On occasion the men might join a feud with other families and used their boats in battle therefore they were adept in the martial arts with axe and sword as the chosen armament.
The morality of the Norse was not controlled by their religious beliefs but rather by a set of laws.They had a strong sense of justice and developed a representative government to devise and uphold the laws.Their laws were committed to memory by a learned’ lawgiver’ and recited as needed when the occasion arose.
If a jarl/earl (Nobleman) or a bondi (middle class person) committed a crime they were brought before a group of their peers to hear the lawgiver and pass judgement. Witnesses could testify for both parties and if the judgment was not accepted by the accused a blood feud could follow.
Examples of Viking accusations and punishment:
Wounding a peer-Payment of doctor fees plus money and food for the victims family.
Touching a woman on her wrist,elbow and ankle without permission was considered an unseemly -required apology and an award of a series of fines to her family.
Theft or murder- The punishment was banishment called outlawry could last for months even years , the culprit could not fish, trade or join expeditions.( The Viking love of camaraderie made this the cruelest of all punishment.) Outlawry was a reason for expansion to other lands since the criminal was allowed to take his family and followers with him.
A group of lawmakers called the Althing or Thing formed a representative government comparable to the parliament developed by the British centuries later.
The Dragon Ships
Reconstructed Viking Longship via Wikimedia Commons
Expansion as well as pirating was made possible by the ships they learned to build. The Vikings turned paddling of little boats into becoming the quintessential seafarers of their Age and the finest shipbuilders known to man.
Known as longships they were built of a thin planking which was an adaptation of their leather skinned boats.The ship types varied but were generally characterized as flexible, slender crafts equipped with a keel for directional ability, a huge sail and oars for emergency when winds died. A shallow draft allowed them to enter rocky coastlines, shallow rivers and the ability to be carried overland.
The sail, usually red and white striped, made it possible to move swiftly through the water. Made of wool with the propensity to become heavy when wet was a seemingly unlikely choice of material but the problem was solved by the Viking women and their specially bred sheep who produced large amounts of lanolin in their wool. The weavers also treated the cloth with fish oil to shed even more water.
Along with celestial guidance their navigational skills were improved with nautical equipment such as a sunstone made of cordierite which gave it a compass like ability and the shadow board which allowed them to use the sun to determine latitude.
The average length of these ships was 65 ft. with the longest recorded as 165 ft. were truly splendid to behold especially for those in Medieval Europe who barley journeyed more than a few feet from their places of birth.
The observation of a Moorish merchant, who were in fact fine mariners in the Mideast reported that “...the Vikings could skitter over the maps like water birds over a pond.”
Finally, the starboard and the stern were designed to lift high above the deck and the starboard carved to resemble a dragon. These great ships did in fact resemble ferocious water serpent racing through the water to devour its prey! On the other hand, anthropologists have unearthed a Viking ship to resemble a graceful swan, a breathtaking example of the talented shipwrights of the Viking Age.
Sea voyages described as vikingr, Old Norse for expeditions from their Norselands, began in the 9th century due to the population explosion discussed earlier and were made easier by the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. Their destabilized satellite countries of Britain and France were left vulnerable to assault. France recovered under the leadership of Charlemagne, in the late 8th century and early 9th century who achieved greatness through the advocacy of fair government and education. He was such a powerful leader the Vikings did not attempt to raid his lands until after his death in 814 CE. The death of this great man left his kingdom fractured by a political division among his sons subject to Viking interference.
The Angles and the Saxon of the lands on the northern coast of France, kindred of the Scandinavians, resisted his command to become Christianized and fled to Britain. They seized the country for settlement by pushing the remainder of the Britons west “.. to the very cliffs of the sea.” Known as the Anglo Saxon kingdom, its political division weakened the government which made it susceptible to Viking raids.
The owners of these great ships were part of a high social status and the captains, usually a celebrated hero, commanded their ships as though they were ‘sea castles.’ To engage in an attack they would lash their ships together to form a raft-like fortress where they could hack away at the enemy with sword and axe. Too often the enemy was another Viking and the attack was a result of a blood feud. (The Vikings fought more blood feuds at home than the enemy abroad.)
The truly great battles were immortalized in sagas and epic poetry memorized by the appointed historians and passed down through the centuries by word of mouth. These vivid tales provide insight into the Viking spirit and character. The Vikings enjoyed nothing better than to join in celebration and song to share the valor and cleverness of the hero of the battle. The hero would be awarded after death by a summons from Odin, the God of War, to celebrate at his great hall Valhalla and fight forever.
Another god, Thor the hammer wielding, red haired slayer of dragons was the favorite of seafarers as it was he who controlled the winds, thunder and rain. The essence of the pugilistic Viking era was also a favorite of the farmers who prayed for rain.
Christianity did not reach Scandinavia until the 10th century even though initially the Vikings only considered the Christian God as a helpful addition to their pagan worship; they were to embrace the religion in the future centuries building churches and abbeys. In Normandy the Abbey of Bec was a center of learning in Europe.
The chieftains who were able to attach other chieftains to themselves by their successes were elevated to the highest status of a jarl or head chief by the nomination of the approved wise men called ‘law givers.’
The expeditions eventually grew from raiding parties and short expansion trips to exploration across the vast Oceans of the world.
The Merchant Mariners
As bold and tenacious explorers they sailed their mighty ships down the rivers and across the waterways of European and African Continents They clashed at the gates of Constantinople to defend the Roman Emperor and remained the service of the Byzantine Empire as mercenaries.
They continued their travels throughout the Persian Gulf to trade with the merchants who described them as “..tall as palms and smell of a goat,” and to their credit they were quick to acclimate wherever their journeys took them.
On their visits to Arabia, as welcome merchants, they observed the superlative equestrian ability of the mounted Arabian warriors. The Norseman’s love of horses was legendary so they could not return home without Arabian stallions to breed in their homeland. The knowledge of armed men on horseback was implemented by the Norman army in the 11th century with great success.
Everywhere they ventured they left graffiti in the form of a Viking alphabet language called a rune which was carved into carved into stone or wood. a wall in Istanbul is the name Halfdan, a Viking warrior, no doubt, while another rune inscription has been found on a marble lion that once guarded an Athenian port simply announced that a Viking had come this way.
Through many years of beneficial trade the “smelly goats” were exposed to new insights and knowledge especially that of the rudiments of finance and the art of bartering. This information secured their place in history as the finest merchants of the Medieval Age. (Birka, Sweden was the leading commercial center of the world.)
The Journey's End
The need for expansion and exploration was met by the 11th century and the massive invasion of England by the Norman duke,William the Conqueror, a descendant of the Viking chieftain, Rollo, signaled an end to the Viking Age .This famous invasion may have kept the history of the Norse and their dragon ships alive for the curious student and the scholars of history.
Much of the spirit of the Viking would have been lost had it not been for Christian monks who arrived in Iceland in the 10th century as missionaries. The monks took quill in hand to write of the great exploits of this race of men.
Photo: Rollo, Duke of Normandy via Wikimedia Commons
The manuscripts written on calves skin embellished with colorful illustrations demonstrate the serious intent to depict their subjects lifestyle and unique character. They are an authors’ vision from a different morality, yet able to convey through their works that human beings who delivered the worst fate to others can be worthy of remembrance.
These invaluable manuscripts preserve the collected epics, poem, songs and stories that represent the rich heritage of the Viking as their true treasure trove. Ironically it was the pen that condemned them and the same tool saved their memory for all time!
Compiled by Sandi B. Johnson, Historian
This document has been compiled by Sandra B. Johnson as an example of the interrelationships that merged the Anglo-Saxon and the Franco Norman Families. The Anglo Norman of England ARE the English of the present time.
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