VIKINGS IN EUROPE

Vikings in Europe

THE VIKINGS

The Vikings

* The vikings came from Scandinavia.* They robbed gold and things that had big value.* They have often been drawn wearing helmets with

horns, but it’s a myth that this helmet was typical for vikings.

* They sailed with big ships and they discovered new places and islands.

* The Vikings are still regarded today as cruel brigands.* The Vikings also came on peaceful errands, to trade and

to colonize. * The Viking Age culminated in 1066, when Norwegian

King Harald Hardruler and his men were defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in England.

• The Vikings came from three countries of Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The name 'Viking' comes from a language called 'Old Norse' and means 'a pirate raid'. People who went off raiding in ships were said to be 'going Viking'.

• The Viking age in European history was about AD 700 to 1100. During this period many Vikings left Scandinavia and travelled to other countries, such as Britain and Ireland. Some went to fight and steal treasure. Others settled in new lands as farmers, craftsmen or traders.

Viking expansion

The Vikings explored the northern islands and coasts of the North Atlantic, ventured south to North Africa and east to Russia, Constantinople, and the Middle East.

*Many scholars regard the looting in 793 of the monastery of Lindisfarne, off England's northeast coast, as the beginning of the Viking Age.

*Norwegian Vikings settled in the Orkney Isles, the Shetlands, the Hebrides, and on the Isle of Man.

* The mainland of northern Scotland and Ireland also became their home, and Dublin, founded by the Vikings in the 840s, was under Nordic rule up to 1171.

Vikings in Britain and Ireland

Vikings in Iceland, Greenland and America

On Iceland and Greenland the Norwegian Vikings found uninhabited land. There they settled and built communities.

Present-day Iceland descends directly from the Viking colonization. On Greenland the Norse communities died out a few centuries later.

The Sagas relate that it was Leif Eriksson who discovered "Wineland the Good" in the year 1001, but present-day scholars claim that other Vikings had reached America before him.

VIKINGS in PolandArcheologists found the presence of Vikings on Polish land from VIII

to IX century in places like: Janów Pomorski, Wolin, Kałdus, Dziekanowice, Ostrów Legnicki.

First contacts with Vikings were connected with trade, the proof of it was founded, in VIII century, first harbour – Trusco, the biggest Baltic port (today Janów Pomorski).

In X and XI century Vikings served in Polish army. They lived in important both political and strategic

towns, they shared their military experience, married with Slavic women.

Also, there were contacts on the summit of power – Polish and Scandinavian marriages: princess

Świętosława married first Eric the Victorious - king of

Sweeden and then Sweyn Forkbeard - king of Denmark.

Sweyn Farkbeard

Some of scientists believe that Polish Wolin was the legendary Jómsborg – military camp, where the Vikings

lived 1000 years ago.

VIKINGS IN FRANCE

Rollon or Hrólfr is given Normandie

Rollon swears to stop sacking and to convert to christianism.

Federico II

The Normans conquered Sicily and southern

Italy leaving wonderful proofs of

civilization and culture.

FAMILY LIFEMen and women

Women baked bread.

They did spinning and weaving to turn sheep

wool into cloth. They looked after the

children, made the family's clothes and

cooked the two meals a day most families ate.

On the farm, women milked the cows and

made cheese.

Most Viking men were all-round handymen, but

some had special skills. There were boat-builders, for example and potters,

leather-workers and smiths. Most Viking men

knew how to handle a boat. And most could fight if they had to, to

protect the family or to support their chieftain.

Children

Babies were given little Thor's-hammer charms, to protect them from evil spirits and sickness. A boy usually took his father's name too - so Eric,

son of Karl, became Eric Karlsson. Girls often took the same name as their mother or grandmother.

Viking children did not go to school. They helped their parents at work, and learned Viking history, religion and law from spoken stories and songs, not from books. By 15 or 16 they were adult. It was common for a girl's father to choose her

husband.

Roving and trading

A young Viking man might go off on a trading voyage, or

become a raider. He hoped to come home rich so he could buy a farm. Vikings met at

markets, like the markets at Hedeby in Denmark and Jorvik

in England. They traded by exchanging goods (a wolf skin for a pair of shoes, perhaps) but also used gold and silver

coins. Traders valued coins by weight, and carried small folding scales to weigh

a customer's coins.

Authors: Dawid GoclanSylwia KupiecLouis HecqYanis JoachimGiorgia PalmisanoEgle E. Leah MassaRonni Mjellelid, Dagny Sæbø Nesse