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The Vikings: Adventurers, Raiders, And Settlers

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The Vikings
Adventurers, Raiders, and Settlers Come and take a journey back into time where worlds collide, armies rise, and kingdoms fall. Perhaps the biggest clash of worlds has to be the Viking world versus eighth century Europe. The term Viking often has a negative connotation associated with it. This is because the Vikings were viewed as bloodthirsty savages that went around and destroyed everything in their way. But, Viking life was not just about raiding and killing, they also had efficient ways of governing and devising war strategies, which allowed them to become skillful at warfare, this skill allowed them to conquer a large portion of England and other places in Europe, once they conquered an area the Vikings would settle in …show more content…

They were originally trapped between seas, fjords, rivers, and lakes. So they were forced to become seafaring people. They became skilled at building boats and ships, turning their barriers into highways. “Boats and ships became central to society” (Williams 34). This was because they were the only way in and the only way out of the Viking world. The merchants, traders and warriors relied on the farmers for the produce and food to survive on the open seas. “A Viking farmstead raised crops of oats, barley, rye and cabbage to supplement the haul from the sea, and it raised flocks of geese and herds of cattle, goats, sheep and pigs to provide both food and raw materials” (Wernick 21). These goods would provide the merchants, traders and warriors with food, tools and clothing. The Vikings also had a rather sophisticated legal system for such a barbaric land in the 8th …show more content…

Just like in modern day court, he could plead either guilty or innocent. He also had to plead his case by having witnesses who could vouch for his honesty and character. This is because “honor and daring, valor, strength and agility” (Wernick 27) were valued by the Vikings. At the request of the accused or commanded by the judges, he could under-go trial by ordeal. Trial by ordeal always began on a Wednesday when the judges would order the accused to hold hot stones or metal for a few moments. Then the wounds were bandaged and the court would adjourn until Saturday. On that day, they would remove the bandages and the wounds would be examined. Robert Wernick in his book The Vikings describes how the judges looked at the

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The Vikings were a group of Germanic sea dwellers who traded with and raided towns all across Europe out of their Scandinavian homeland. During the late 8th to 11th centuries they ruled all of Europe through their barbaric ways. Even other cultures outside of Europe saw the barbaric ways in which the Vikings acted towards the villages that they encountered. One such case of this was a Muslim Chronicler, Ibn Fadlan, recounting of the Vikings as “[T]he filthiest of God’s creatures.” While they were very savage in their actions, this very trait gave them the ability to be able to roam through and ravage an entire town fully unopposed and within a very miniscule timeframe.

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In the late 800’s King Alfred the Great was a great influence to Anglo Saxon literature because his “military and political success” (Amodio) led to a period of stability where culture and literature thrived, but that period of time did not last very long. The English were fearful of the Vikings coming to attack

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The first documented Viking raid occurred in 793 when they attacked. Lindisfarne Monastery. The raid was highly successful due to valuable metals and jewels in the church and the lack of protection. Upon the discovery of defenseless Monasteries Vikings began to increase their raids, especially along the Western European Seaboard and British isles. They were able to to invade extremely efficiently along the coast due to their long, shallow bottomed boats which could both cross rough waters like The North and Baltic Seas and float on top of shallow inlets.

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And since the Vikings had expert exploring skills along with their amazingly crafted boats it was very easy to sneak up unsuspecting villages.that not all the Vikings did they had very humble lifestyles back then. Religion,Vikings believe it or not had a religion which was pagan which consisted of many gods. With this religion Vikings invented their own alphabet. It was called the Futhark it was made up of runes or letters. The alphabet was mainly made up of straight line because it was easier to carve into wood or stone.

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117 Words | 1 Pages

Trade played a major role in the Viking expansion as many trades ended up as raids. However, the Vikings established many trade routes throughout Europe. They also set up many trade centers.   As well as this, craftsmen and merchants went to England, Germany and other countries to barter their goods. These trades were usually only performed once or twice every year.

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Earlier, in one of the stories within the story, Queen Modthryth is brought up. Near the start of her rule she “perpetrated terrible wrongs” and chose to “punish the innocent” (133) for offenses so minor they wouldn't even be called offenses. Even in viking culture, some of the things she did, such as binding, torturing, racking and slaughtering with a sword were considered brutal. However, despite these cruel things, there was still a level of respect for her. In fact one man had enough respect and faith in her that she eventually changed and became “less cruel minded” (133).

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How could such a people instill so much terror on civilized Western society for centuries with almost no risk of retribution? The Vikings' great success in warfare and their subsequent expansion were a direct result of their cultural necessity for war, desire for wealth and glory, geographic location, advanced seafaring

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In Viking society every freeman was expected to own a weapon and be familiar with its use. Weapons had a major impact on Viking society for many diverse reasons. Depending on what they could afford, every free Viking must have been able to use a weapon, a weapon like a spear was very common as it was cheap and easy to make and a weapon like a sword was only common to people with a higher social ranking and someone with more money. In the Viking culture honour played a very important role; any discouragement of honour was sorted through using weapons. As well as honour, pride was very important to the Vikings.

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For this reason, the Vikings would spend a lot of time on the burial ships. Valhalla was one of the Vikings afterlife halls, and Valhalla was thought of to relate to the king of the gods. Vikings also buried their dead with treasures, as the Egyptians had, so that they could take those belongings with them to the afterlife, and hopefully gain social status. It was also believed during that time that if a body was not buried the right way it would not have a place to go in the afterlife.

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Beowulf is a classic tale of a hero who undergoes certain trials and tribulations and proves his bravery. However when one glances under the surface, it is clear that the story is about so much more. Over the course of the poem Beowulf has to learn to balance two opposing sides of his personality-his monstrous, angry, berserker-like side with more restrained and civilized character. In Germanic culture in general, a dichotomy lies between the reverence of famous berserkers, who when enraged become the most fearsome of warriors, and the values of self-restraint placed on people, specifically in the feasting setting. Beowulf is all about the navigation of that tight line of cultural tension between the two options.

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Viking long-ships were lean, speedy, lightweight ships that could easily cut through the most vicious waves that the ocean could throw at them. At the time, no other civilization had been able to achieve such an amazing naval feat, so this gave the Vikings a great advantage over medieval combat, political affairs, and even the trading industry. Since the ships were so fast, the ships were great for transportation of soldiers, or merchandise. “The Viking longboat was the key to the Vikings success in traveling.” (Legends and Chronicles, Paragraph 14).

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As we have seen, the introduction of Christianity to the Vikings had significantly contributed to the end of the Viking Age in mid 11th Century, not only due to the persuasive Christian missionaries, and the realization of the benefits of Christianity, but also the forcible nature of Scandinavia king’s conversion of their subjects (which will be looked into in more detailed in due course). One must bear in mind that most of the evidence we have on the conversion of the Vikings is through archaeological excavations, as Gareth Williams explains that “we can see it in the archaeological evidences [that] Pagans buried their dead with grave goods, but Christians normally didn't, and this makes it relatively easy to spot the change in religion.”

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Languages have always changed and developed over long periods of time. Words and definitions change and eventually reaches a point when a whole new language is formed. When looking back at old writings of a certain language it is plain to see how much a language has changed. One example of this phenomenon is the epic poem Beowulf the first poem to ever be written in English. Despite being in English, it is incompressible compared to modern English meaning that it has to be translated to a more modern version of English.

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The Viking expansion started in 793 with the first raid and ended around 1050. The division of the geographical core area is important, because this division also separates Vikings in the way took part in the expansion Norwegians travelled west- and southwest to colonise. The Danes went southwest for their conquests and the Swedes proceeded east- and south-eastward for their raiding and trading. Raiding and trading routes Raiding and trading

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The Viking longboats are sleek wooden vessels with shallow hulls and rows of oars along the side. They were faster, lighter, more flexible and more easily maneuverable than other ships (Goodrich). Their exploring skill also had to do with their skill as navigators. The Vikings relied on tools such as the sun compass, which uses calcite crystals known as “sunstones” to determine the position of the sun even after sunset, a sophisticated piece of technology. These new innovations gave the Vikings a great advantage when traveling long distances to foreign lands.

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