Vikings

Vikings Scandinavian warriors who raided the coasts of Europe and the British Isles from the 9th cent. to the 11th cent. During the Neolithic period the Scandinavians had lived in small autonomous communities as farmers, fishermen, and hunters. At the beginning of the Viking Age they were the best shipbuilders and sailors in the world; they later ventured as far as Greenland and North America (see Vinland ). At the height of the Viking Age, the typical Viking warship, the "long ship," had a high prow, adorned with the figure of an animal, and a high stern (see ship ). It seated up to 30 oarsmen and had an average crew of 90. Its square sails were perpendicularly striped in many colors, and the entire ship was vividly painted and elaborately carved. On both sides of the ship hung a row of painted round shields. This is the most familiar Viking ship; the many other types varied according to purpose and period. Among the causes that drove the Vikings from their lands were overpopulation, internal dissension, quest for trade, and thirst for adventure. Many local kingdoms came into existence in Scandinavia, and from them stemmed the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. The Vikings' religion was paganism of the Germanic type; their mythological and heroic legends form the content of Old Norse literature . The Viking Age ended with the introduction of Christianity into Scandinavia, with the emergence of the three great Scandinavian kingdoms, and with the rise of European states capable of defending themselves against further invasions. Many Vikings settled where they had raided. The Scandinavian raiders in Russia were known as Varangians ; their leader Rurik founded the first Russian state. Elsewhere the Vikings came to be known as Danes, Northmen, Norsemen , or Normans .

Bibliography: See T. D. Kendrick, A History of the Vikings (1930, repr. 1968); J. B. Brondsted, The Vikings (new tr. 1965); G. Jones, A History of the Vikings (1968, repr. 1973); P. Foote and D. M. Wilson, The Viking Achievement (1970); O. Klindt-Jensen, The World of the Vikings (tr. 1971); P. H. Sawyer, The Age of the Vikings (2d ed. 1972); W. W. Fitzhugh and E. I. Ward, ed., Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga (2000).

Vikings Scandinavian traders and pirates of the 8th to 12th centuries. In the 8th century the Vikings began one of the most remarkable periods of expansion in history. Setting sail from Denmark and Norway, they voyaged westward in longships through the Shetlands, Iceland, and Greenland, as far as Vinland (modern Newfoundland). They attacked Britain and Ireland, ravaged the coast of continental Europe as far as Gibraltar, and entered the Mediterranean, where they fought Arabs as well as Europeans. From the Baltic they sailed down the rivers of western Russia to a point from which they threatened Constantinople. In Europe they were able to strike far inland, sailing up the Rhine, Loire, and other rivers. Local rulers often preferred to buy them off, rather than resist.

The Vikings were also traders and farmers in the areas they settled, including Normandy, the north of England, and the area around Dublin in Ireland. They were skilled wood- and metalworkers and manufactured superb jewellery. They had a powerful oral poetic tradition, manifest in their sagas. They were an extremely adaptable people, able to absorb the cultures which they encountered while retaining their own vital qualities. This adaptability was perhaps forced upon them because they were greatly outnumbered by the native populations; it was easier to modify existing forms than to impose their own. They adopted languages and quickly modified fighting styles to suit land-based operations. The NORMANS were descendants of the Viking ROLLO's settlement in Normandy, they became a powerful element in Europe, the CRUSADES, and throughout the Mediterranean.

Vikings Scandinavian seaborne marauders, traders and settlers, who spread throughout much of Europe and the North Atlantic region in the 9th to 11th centuries. The Viking expansion seems to have been caused by rapid population growth, and consequent scarcity of good farming land, as well as the desire for new sources of wealth. It was made possible by their advanced maritime technology, which enabled them to cross n European waters in a period when other sailors feared to venture out of sight of land. They were in many respects more advanced than other European peoples, notably in metalwork. Although they first appeared in their ‘longships’ as raiders on the coasts of nw Europe, later groups came to settle. Swedes, known as Varangians, founded the first Russian state at Novgorod, and traded via the River Volga in Byzantium and Persia. Danes conquered much of n and e England. Norwegians created kingdoms in n Britain and Ireland, founding Dublin (c.840) and other cities; they also colonized Iceland and established settlements in Greenland. A short-lived settlement, Vinland, was established in North America by Leif Ericsson in c.1003. In the early 10th century, the Vikings settled in Normandy. Anarchic conditions in 10th-century Scandinavia resulted in the formation of larger, more powerful kingdoms, and Viking expansion declined. It renewed in a different form with the conquest of England by King Sweyn of Denmark in 1013 and the Norman Conquest of 1066.