In addition, Vikings would raid for perhaps the most obvious reason, the riches. England was a very rich country at the time, and the monasteries, in particular, had a lot of valuable objects, such as precious silver and gold. British monasteries were also usually located on small islands or other remote areas, so monks could live there in seclusion, away from distractions. However, this meant that they were also isolated and unprotected from attacks, which the Vikings used to their advantage. As stated earlier, sailing expeditions became popular during the Viking Age as the Vikings searched for new lands to conquer and settle in. This led to the discovery of the uninhabitable lands Iceland and Greenland. Iceland was discovered by Naddodd, a Norwegian who was one of the first settlers in the Faroe Islands. Naddodd had set a course back to Norway from the Faroes, but a storm knocked him off course, and he landed in present-day Iceland. He didn’t see anyone else living there and claimed it for Norway. Within the next 50 years, thousands of settlers migrated to Iceland and all the fertile land was claimed. On the other hand, Greenland was discovered by Erik the Red. Erik the Red was a condemned murderer banished from Norway to Iceland, and then banished from Iceland. He decided to head west rather than east and discovered a new …show more content…
This was a very slow process that transpired during the entire Viking Age. Old Norse literary works from this time such as The King’s Mirror and Håkonar Saga both mention God’s protection of the king. In The King’s Mirror, it is stated that the king is a representation of God, and “disobedience to him is tantamount to disobedience towards God”. In Håkonar Saga, Håkon is the rightful ruler, but refuses to fight for it and simply trusts in God instead. The mentioning of God in these texts prove that Christianity was becoming