The Viking Age

• The Viking Age is the name often given to the period from 800 AD to 1050 AD. It was during this period that the people from Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) had a huge influence on Europe. Most Vikings came from farming backgrounds in their own countries and it has been suggested that they began raiding in order to survive as the population of Scandinavia grew rapidly during this time.
• 1. They first came to notice by attacking monastries and other poorly defended targets. Such attacks were only carried out by small groups of Vikings, often to settle and colonise the areas the had attacked.
• 2. After an area became well known to the Vikings, they arrived in larger numbers. They drove the natives from their homes and begun to settle and colonise the areas they had attacked.
• 3. From these new colonies, they began to trade with the towns and countries around them all the way back to their homelands.
• 4. they continued to sail from their homelands and from their colonies to make larger raids on cities such as Paris and Byzantine.
• 5. They also began to explore new lands and colonised Iceland, Greenland and North America.
• The first Viking attacks were on poorly defended monastries and churches. These were easy targets because they were often located in remote areas ad because they were wealthy. Monasteries would have had many crucifixes and chalices made from gold and silver frames.
• they treated the monks ruthlessly and often killed many men, women and children. such behaviour was not uncommon and so many were killed in some dispute between one local ruler and another.
• What set thes attacks apart from other wars was that Vikings were pagans and that they frequently attacked religious sites.
• In the 200 years, Vikings sailed up the river of the Baltics, France and Spain as well as attacking any targets they could find on the coastline of Western Europe.
• The Vikings began to set up winter villages so that they could remain and continue their raids in the spring. They had to do this because they could not bring enough food to survive n their longships. They began to realise that the lands were good for farming and many decided to stay and start new lives.
• Norwegians:

  During the 9th century Vikings from Norway settled in western Scotland,eastern and south-eastern Ireland, the south of Wales as well as the Orkney Islands ,the Shetland Island and the Isle of Man. The cities of Dublin, Cork, Wexford and Limerick were founded by the Vikings at this time. Norwegian Vikings were also responsible for the colonisation of Iceland, Greenland and for reaching North America.
• Danish Vikings raided the east coast of England and all along the western coast of Europe,stretcing into the Mediterranean. There they raided Spain, North africa and Italy. They established long-term territories in Normandy and England.
• The Danes in England regularly fought against the native Saxons. Under an agreement with the King Alfred the Great, a seperate Danish area called the Danelaw was set which controlled much of eastern England. The city of York was founded by the Danes and became a major trading centre. in 1016 King Canute united the kingdoms of England and Denmark. Control oof England was disputed after the death of Canute.
• As the numbers of Danes attacking up the river Seine increased, their control of the Normandy region also increased. On some of these raids hundreds of longships were used. Paris was attacked several times and the Vikings only wentr away after the payment of large sums of money. In 876 a payment of 5000 livres(about 2 1/2 tonnes of silver)was paid by the Frankish King so that the Vikings would leave Paris alone.
• Evetually in 911 Charles the Simple gave the Duchy of Normandy to Rollo, a Viking ruler to stop Viking attacks on Paris
• In 1066 the Duke of Normandy, a desendent of te Vikings who had been given Normandy, successfully invaded and conquered England. By the end of 11th century, Normans also controlled the south of Italy and Sicily.
• Swedish Vikings sailed down the river of the Baltics and Russia. Their travels were more peaceful than the Norwegians and Danes. They set bases to trade with the local people along the rivers, especially on the river Volga. They were responsible for the founding of cities such as Novgorod and the kingdom of Kiev. From there they traded as far south as the Black sea and the Caspian sea.
• They even tried to raid Byzantium n a number of ovasions but the Byzantines were too strong. The Byzantines recognised the value of thes vikings however, and hired many of them to form a unit of personal bodyguards for the Emperor. They were called the Varangian Guard and stayed there for three centuries
• Most of the written history of this period was written by monks and other churchmen.

  as a result, histories written about the Vikings have been biased.