The World Of The Vikings Essay Research

The World Of The Vikings Essay, Research Paper

The Viking age has long been associated with unbridled piracy,

when freebooters swarmed out of the northlands in their longships to

burn and pillage their way across civilized Europe. Modern scholarship

provides evidence this is a gross simplification, and that during this

period much progress was achieved in terms of Scandinavian art and

craftsmanship, marine technology, exploration, and the development of

commerce. It seems the Vikings did as much trading as they did

raiding.

The title “Viking” encompasses a wide designation of Nordic

people; Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, who lived during a period of

brisk Scandinavian expansion in the middle ages, from approximately

800 to 1100 AD. This name may be derived from the old Norse vik(bay or

creek). These people came from what is now Denmark, Sweden, and

Norway, and had a self-sustaining, agricultural society, where farming

and cattle breeding were supplemented by hunting, fishing, the

extraction of iron and the quarrying of rock to make whetstones and

cooking utensils; some goods, however, had to be traded; salt, for

instance, which is a necessity for man and cattle alike, is an

everyday item and thus would not have been imported from a greater

distance than necessary, while luxury items could be brought in from

farther south in Europe. Their chief export products were, iron,

whetstones, and soapstone cooking pots, these were an essential

contribution to a trade growth in the Viking age.

The contemporary references we have about the Vikings stem

mainly from sources in western Europe who had bitter experiences with

the invaders, so we’re most likely presented with the worst side of

the Vikings. Archaeological excavations have shown evidence of

homesteads, farms, and marketplaces, where discarded or lost articles

tell of a common everyday life. As the Viking period progressed,

society changed; leading Chieftain families accumulated sufficient

land and power to form the basis for kingdoms, and the first towns

were founded.

These market places and towns were based on craftsmanship and

trade. Even though the town dwelling Vikings kept cattle, farmed, and

fished to meet their household needs, the towns probably depended on

agricultural supplies from outlying areas. They also unfortunately did

not pay as much attention to renovation and waste disposal as they did

to town planning, as evidenced by the thick layers of waste around

settlements. In contemporary times the stench must have been

nauseating.

Trade, however, was still plentiful, even in periods when

Viking raids abounded, trade was conducted between Western Europe and

the Viking homeland; an example of this being the North Norwegian

chieftain, Ottar, and King Alfred of Wessex. Ottar visited King Alfred

as a peaceful trader at the same time as Alfred was waging war with

other Viking chieftains. The expansion of the Vikings was probably

triggered by a population growth out stepping the capacities of

domestic resources. Archaeological evidence shows that new farms were

cleared in sparsely populated forests at the time of their expansion.

The abundance of iron in their region and their ability to forge it

into weapons and arm everyone setting off on raids helped give the

Vikings the upper hand in most battles.

The first recorded Viking raid occurred in 793 AD, the holy

island of the Lindisfarne monastery just off the Northeast shoulder

of England was pillaged, around the same time, there are recorded

reports of raids elsewhere in Europe. There are narratives of raids in

the Mediterranean, and as far as the Caspian Sea. Norsemen from Kiev

even attempted an attack on Constantinople, the capital of the

Byzantine Empire. Unfortunately, in the picture handed down to us in

written accounts, the Vikings are portrayed as terrible robbers and

bandits, this is strictly a single sided view; and, while the above

statement is probably true, they had other traits as well. Some of

their leaders were very skillful organizers, as evidenced by the fact

that they were able to establish kingdoms in already-conquered

territories. Some of these, such as the ones established in Dublin

and York did not survive the Viking period; Iceland, however, is still

a thriving nation. The Viking Kingdom in Kiev formed the basis of the

Russian Empire.

The remains of fortresses dated to the end of the Viking

period, have been found in Denmark; the fortresses are circular and

are divided into quadrants, with square buildings in each of the four

sections. The precision with which these castles were placed indicates

an advanced sense of order, and a knowledge of surveying techniques

and geometry in the Danish Kingdom. The farthest westward drive

occurred a

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