HBR, Vikings

The Vikings

They came from the cold North.
They robbed Monasteries, burned down Villages, and from the end of the 8'th century this Prayer could be heard from the churches all over Britain...

Oh God !
- free us from the wild Normans That, Oh God, ravage our Country...

But their Prayers were not heard....

The Vikings were more than just a bunch of raiding pirates.
They also were venturesome Seafarers, farmers, settlers and great ambassadors of the nordic culture.
From Scandinavia they spread through Europe and the North Atlantic in the period of vigorous Scandinavian expansion (AD 800-1100) known as the Viking Age.

From Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, they appeared as traders, conquerors, and settlers in Finland, Russia, Byzantium, France, England, the Netherlands, Iceland, Greenland and NewFoundland in Canada.

For many centuries before the year 800, such tribes as the Cimbrians, Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, and Angles had been wandering out of Scandinavia.
But this time, they came in their Longships by the Sea road.

The word Viking is not, as many believes, the name for all the people living in Scandinavia in that period.
'Vik' is the norse expression for bay, and the expression was originally used for the Seafares or more accurate, used for what they did. To say - They were, or laid in Viking, would be a more correct use of the term.
And - Vikings did NOT wear horned helmets.

The Vikings were different because they were Sea Warriors and because they carried with them a Civilization that was in some ways more highly developed than those of the Lands they visited. Scandinavia was rich in iron, which seems to have stimulated Viking cultural development. Iron tools cleared the forests and plowed the lands, leading to a great increase in population.
Trading cities such as Birka and Hedeby appeared, and became the Centers of strong local Kingdoms.

Following the Routes of the Map shows how far they ventured - the Danes and Norwegians went Westward and South, and for a period most of England was under the Danish Kingdom. The vast area of England called Danelaw or Danelagen still has numerous places and cities founded and named by the Vikings.
40.000 Danish Vikings conquered Paris - and a Chieftain was given a large area of France to protect it from other raiders - that area was called Normandy, Land of the Norsemen.

Norwegian Vikings were most explorative - they came to Iceland and from there they went on to establish several settlements in Greenland and Leif Ericson (Leif the Happy), Son of Eric the Red, went on to what he called Vinland - a place on the coast of New Foundland, L'ance aux Meadows.

The Swedes went East.
The Northeastern Slavic tribes called the Swedes 'The Rus-people' (from the Sweedish area "Rus- or Roslagen")
These Vikings were asked to rule the land of the tribes and they united the Cities and areas of Novgorod and Kijev, and thus the foundation for a new country was created.
They named the new founded country, Rusland - or Russia in English.

Through the rivers of Russia they ventured as far as the Caspian Sea and longer.
They took service at The Emperor of Byzanz as his lifeguards (Vangarians) and even the Caliph of Baghdad was honored with a visit.