How Did The Vikings Impact On Society

The Vikings were a group of people who conquered and pillaged much of eastern Europe in ancient times. They had a very interesting mythological religion that could be compared to other polytheistic religions of the past such as ancient Greek. As time went on, the Nordic religion changed and slowly began to fade into a memory of the past. The impacts foreign peoples had on the Viking religion and culture directly impacted Viking society. The long journeys of Viking ships to their neighboring nations and beyond is documented, and there is proof such events impacted their own society back in the Scandinavian region. They ventured into regions such as Ireland, Russia and beyond. They began to gain knowledge of Christianity from the Irish, which

began to take over the Nordic tradition.

The Viking culture in this time period was very complex because of the many foreign influences that went into it.

They had a substantial amount of wealth from their raids, and this wealth allowed them to build infrastructure such as buildings and ports in their towns and maintain strong and well-armed raiders. They had arguably the best navy in the world with very sophisticated ship designs that were able to make long voyages. The Viking ships were faster, stronger and more effective than those of other parts of the world and had two different types of ships which were used. They had “Langskip”, which were used primarily for war and battle, and “Knörr”, which emphasized a large cargo for carrying goods to be sold and traded. With profits from the raids, they were able to trade with neighboring countries, and even those faraway. Places such as Arabia, Spain and Russia engaged in trading and many other forms of interaction with the Vikings in result of their conquests, voyages and expeditions. These engagements were sometimes peaceful, but most of the time the warrior mentality of the Vikings would take over. Many Viking settlements began to pop up all around eastern Europe around Russia (Abram), due to a group of Swedes who were on a journey eastward and got forced to settle in the mid-European woods on their way, the group of people were called the Rus. These peoples mixed their ideologies and abilities with the native people to their regions, and brought them back to

Scandinavia, leading to a changed culture and society.
When Vikings were on a voyage to eastern Europe they traded with the countries on their way. For example when they encountered grapes they began to trade with the locals for the grapes themselves, seeds and most importantly, wine. The Vikings then learned how to cultivate grapes and turn them into wine (Millar). The practice became so widespread and popular that they created their own God for wine, “Ægir”, which in turn made the drink become even more popular. This is an example of outsiders impacting their religion, which in turn impacted the Viking society and way of life. This also shows the adaptability of the Viking religion and their ability to integrate with parts of different cultures. While the Vikings would integrate many things from other cultures into their own religion, many local peoples began to convert to other faiths.

Ireland had an important role in impact on Viking religion.

While the Viking religion was very ancient and untouched for a long period of time (BBC), once the Vikings began their expeditions and encountered other theologies, they began to copy and morph their own religion. One example of this is when the Vikings liked the idea of crucifixion and resurrection in their religion from Christianity and decided to add it into their own. The Vikings morphed the symbol of the wooden cross into a tree and decided that was the way that one of their gods, Odin, had died, yet as in Christianity, he rose again promptly (BBC). These traditions made their way into Viking religion due to contact with Catholic settlements and villages in Ireland during their raids and expeditions. Not only did it take away some of the originality of the religion, it also took away members from the Viking faith. Many of the Viking raiders converted to Christianity during their time in the nation. Many of these converts decided to bring the ideology back to Scandinavia, and in doing so stripped the religion of even more of its believers. This led to the slow decline of the old Viking religion, and the number of Vikings who followed the old tradition to be less than those who decided other ways of life in different religions, mostly Christianity. These religious changes helped the Viking society become much more compatible with the rest of Europe, mainly because Christians were much more welcome in the

mainland of Europe, which gave them advantages in trade and negotiations as they were then seen as equals. Vikings traded foreign goods such as “silver, silk, spices, wine, jewelry, glass and pottery” in exchange for “honey, tin, wheat, wool, wood, iron, fur, leather, fish and walrus ivory” (BBC). They also let their language diverge to a Latin writing system (Kane) due to the bible only allowed to be inscribed in the Latin alphabet (BBC). Not only did the Latin alphabet system seep into the Viking way of life, but many other European social structures as well (BBC). Things such as the religious structure changed. Friars and Saints ventured into the Viking lands, which led to more foreign presence in Scandinavia.

Even though Christianity had a big impact on the Vikings, the Vikings were able to pick up many things from Islam as well. As the Vikings expanded their reach through the eastern European seaboard, they began to encounter Muslim controlled settlements and kingdoms such as Spain and places in the Middle East and traded with the local people. They began to see Arabic scripts, and had the writing engraved on rings, clothing and other items. Muslim religious practices slowly morphed into Viking religion, and Vikings would even chant Arabic religious sayings such as Allah during funerals and religious gatherings (BBC). Vikings picked up the practices that they like from other cultures and make it fit into their own. Muslim culture and religion was able to morph into those of the Vikings in many other ways, the idea of eternal paradise after death in Viking religion originated from the Islamic regions they encountered. This integration may be the reason for the famous Viking boat graves that replaced normal burials for the Viking people in this time (BBC). Also, the idea of dying in battle being honorable may have been influenced by Islamic texts which says "If ye go not forth (in battle), He will afflict you with a painful doom..." (Quran 9:39). The influences from the Islamic world changed how the Vikings not only went about important things like funerals, but also how many items such as jewelry or clothing were marked and made (BBC).

In conclusion, the impacts foreign people had on the Vikings, their religion, and their culture and society was very interesting. With the broad outreach into other parts of Europe, they were able to gather up many religious and traditional practices and integrate them into their own. The Irish impacted the Norse religious structure by introducing Christianity. The Russian peoples taught new smithing and weaponry skills, and the rest of Europe showed the Vikings foreign cuisine and drinks. This was vital because it defined how the Vikings lived their lives, and the reason behind why they did certain things. The legacy of the Vikings show how different cultures can learn from one another and make a better pluralistic society.