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Viking in western europe effecting europe
Viking in western europe effecting europe
The Norms And Ethics Of Vikings
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Many people describe the Vikings as ‘blond, powerful, bloodthirsty savages who attack settlements to rape and raid'. In other words, they were known as the most terrifying people from the 8th-11th century. Too many people Vikings were ‘just brutal raiders' who stole and destroyed everything, sacrificed humans, were sneaky seafarers and some of the most renowned Vikings were only known for being ruthless. Were they actually really that bad though? Studies have shown that Vikings have been misinterpreted by historians and us because of written sources from that era. Was this misleading information biased? Vikings were farmers, poets, very hygienic, they stabilized the economy and they took pride in their appearance. Who were the real Vikings? …show more content…
Is your view on Vikings wrong? Vikings were brutal raiders. Vikings did not just raid settlements, but they raided settlements leaving a trail of destruction. When Vikings raided monasteries they took anything they could including, cattle, money, food and even women.
The Vikings would aggressively burn down villages, which was uncalled for. Vikings wouldn't just raid a settlement and leave them alone, in fact, they would repeatedly return. They used everything as weapons and their greatest invention and their greatest weapon was the long boat. The Vikings came by sea with their narrow bottom longboats which allowed them to travel up rivers and take villages by surprise. Vikings also used bows and arrows, spears, knives, swords and axes, which added to their terrifying appearance. Filing grooves into their teeth meant they wanted to tear their enemy's bones from their flesh. Scaring their enemies with their appearance made their raids all that more successful. Besides killing people during their raids, they would also capture people to take back to Scandinavia and use them as human sacrifices. One way they would strike fear into their enemies was by using the ‘blood eagle'. This was when the Vikings would lay their enemies face down and cut the shape of an eagle with its wings spread on their back. After, they would hack their ribs out and pull their bones and skin out to create a …show more content…
pair of ‘wings'. This was invented by Ivarr the Boneless, one of the most notorious Vikings to scare enemies. He wasn't the only ‘bad-ass' Viking, in fact, most of the well-known Vikings were ruthless and brutal. For example, Eric Bloodaxe who was the founder of a new land and became King of Northumbria killed both his brothers to be the next heir to the throne after his father. Ragnar Lodbrok was known as a very successful raider and destroyer of villages, but King Aelle threw him into a pit of poisonous snakes. Vikings weren't just brutal raiders but were also brutal to their own kind. They destroyed villages, had terrifying appearances, used great inventions as weapons and some of the greatest Vikings were known for being brutal. However, were Vikings really this heartless? No, Vikings weren't ‘just brutal raiders'!
In fact, the average Viking was a farmer for a living. Viking's grew crops of barley, oats, rye and farmed many animals like cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and horses. Being a farmer was hard work and all year round there were many jobs that needed doing on a farm like collecting fire wood, fixing and building fences and making tools. This left little to no time to raid villages. Vikings were also domestic family people and excellent poets; most Vikings sagas were passed down through generations by poetry, they loved poems. Vikings were also very caring humans who shared great inventions, exchanged ideas and lived together in a happily. They not only lived in harmony, but they also invented ‘nice' things like soap and opera. Yes, Vikings did invent soap and they were actually very hygienic people. Vikings took a lot of pride in their appearance and grooming and combs were one of the most common artifacts found by archaeologists. This was because both men and women had long hair. Women and men also wore jewellery, like gold and silver brooches, rings and necklaces. Vikings would have a bath every Saturday, change their clothes regularly and wash their hands before every meal. Vikings were also successful traders and because Vikings traded it helped establish a good economy for Europe. Vikings weren't as ruthless as everyone had thought! They were actually kind hearted, family orientated, hygienic and beautiful people. But why does
everyone think of Vikings as ferocious animals? Vikings got their terrible reputation from the monks. Monks were the highly skilled, intelligent people of the 8th to 11th century and wrote everything down. Most of our facts from the Vikings were from the written resources of the monks. Because the monks were so well educated they had many valuable things and this is who the Vikings raided. The monks were the Vikings victims. Because most of the information we have on the Vikings has been written from the victim's point of view it is biased because to the monks Vikings were ‘brutal raiders', but in reality, they could really be the lovely people. Another reason why Vikings have been misinterpreted was because of their poetry. Vikings poems were hard to understand and misread because of their peculiar word order. For example, in the poem of Ragnar Lodbrok's son's vengeance on King Aelle. It's supposed to mean that Ivar had King Aelle's back carved by an eagle, which is a poetic way of saying he killed King Aelle and allowed Eagles to scavenge his body, which was very common back then. But the verse was misread as someone taking a knife and carving a picture of an eagle in King Aelle's back. This was misread and turned into the ‘blood eagle'. Vikings were misinterpreted through poetry and it is biased against the Vikings to allow the Vikings victims views to be our views because the Vikings possibly could have been lovely and caring.
When the Vikings first attacked England many of the Anglo-Saxons viewed them as people who don’t claim a religion. The thought of the Vikings not claiming a religion horrified the people of England because of many reasons. The main reason was because the Vikings didn’t worship the same God as the people of England and the Vikings also didn’t have any respect to the symbols that connected the people of England together (Gunnell 351). Another reason is that the Vikings had been trying to teach a different view of the world to the English people; which furiated the church because the church had been trying to throws out these beliefs. This view of the world seemed to anger the English people because these beliefs wasn’t written down in a book, it was always told orally which meant
Upon first encountering one another, the vikings and the natives of Scotland often experienced violent confrontation. However, through the passage of time they contributed in shaping each other in equal and sometimes opposite measure. There are several hypotheses that describe the details of the first viking-indigenous interactions.1 Out of the many propositions, two theories appear most often. The first asserts that the vikings set up an earldom and thenceforth ruled over the native Scottish population. Sometimes this earldom is portrayed as peaceful, at other times more violent. The second proposition asserts that a genocide took place in which the vikings eliminated and replaced the native people.2 The evidence for either model is contradictory and variably justifiable. The best explanation therefore is a syntheses of both hypotheses. Namely, that both earldom and genocide took place in different circumstances. Bands of viking ships were often federations, and as such individual rulers within the federation must have had some measure of latitude. In some areas viking captains completely exterminated the indigenous people they found. In other instances, the leaders simply subjugated the people they encountered. In areas where the local population were left alive they influenced the Scandinavian settlers in terms of religion and material culture to different degrees. Conversely, the viking presence in Scotland forced the native inhabitants to become more militant and politically united.3 Furthermore, the natives eventually adopted parts of Scandinavian language, material culture, and custom as well.
Vikings’ settling down in Iceland and Greenland were important reflection of Viking expansion and they caused Viking civilization to extend on these two islands. Vikings were people from Scandinavia. For many reasons, such as the authoritarian policies of Harald Fairhair (Paine, 2013), the geographical features that lacking of lands for agriculture but having abundant trees for shipbuilding, Vikings were forced to expand into the sea. The two locations’ providing Vikings with lands undoubtedly provided them more chances for surviving.
When we hears the term Viking an immediate image of bloodthirsty men with long beards and horned helmets is conjured up in our minds. This is the image the historical sources have given us, and it is partly true. Vikings were merciless when raiding, but they were peaceful when they traded. Their navigational technology was exceptional, and the ones who settled in foreign lands contributed greatly to the lands’ culture.
Inside these tribes was the great tale of the warrior Beowulf. Beowulf was considered to be the greatest warrior from that century. In "Beowulf", they say that "he had the strength of 30 men in each hand". These stories were made up by the Vikings as almost a tale to tell near a camp fire after a great raid or pillage. When the warriors would come back from battle they needed some type of entertainment to keep them at bay with their senses.
The Vikings were known for their ruthlessness and fighting skills that made them so fearless.
The Viking era existed from 800 AD to 1200 AD and during 1000 AD Christianity began to have major influence in the Viking culture (Roesdahl 27). A major religion that shaped the Viking culture is Nordic Paganism (Williams). According to Stephen Henkin who wrote an article called the Viking Fury, the Vikings admired and tried to live up to the character traits they saw their gods portraying(Henkin ). Stephen Henkin suggested that character traits the Vikings saw in the Nordic gods are virile qualities: brutality, anger, lust, and humor (Henkin). The Vikings attempted to try to shape their character from the character traits they saw their gods portraying believing that they should try to acquire these characteristics to make their gods happy. Nordic Paganism was polytheistic with the main gods being Odin, Thor and Frey (“The Pagan Library”).
In that same year on July 17th, 924 AD, King Edward the Elder died while leading an army against a Welsh-Mercian rebellion at Farndon-Upon-Dee and was suceeded by his son Æthelstan (Athelstan). King Æthelstan was King of the Anglo-Saxons from the time of his father's death to 927 AD when he conquered the remaining Viking hold in York, making him King of all of England.
The statement “The Vikings are deserving of their bad reputation” is a deeply inaccurate statement. The bad reputation of being primitive, lawless, bloodthirsty pirates of the dark ages can be challenged by a consideration of the perspectives and motivations of written records such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, as well as archaeological evidence that reveal the Vikings as a technologically developed people whose advanced longboats were used to surpass geographical disadvantage to trade their intricate cultural productions. Furthermore, Viking contributions to British law and linguistics is further evidence that the “heathen Northmen” were multifaceted
nowadays when you see vikings in movies or in book the main thing you notice is there weapons and there armour. the vikings are a well known group of people today and the reason is because of the armour they wore and the weapons they use Vikings won wars do to the fact that they had better armour and weapons then the opposing side and they became known be winning wars. The viking armour and weapons were way beyond other groups which made it easier for them to win wars. If the Vikings wore not to have the armour or weapons they have they would not be known today because they would not have been able to win wars and that is why they are known now and back then.in general if you cant not win wars and take over peoples
One of the most distinct and obvious forms of evil in literature is physical evil and this takes the forms of many things from the Grim Reaper to monsters. The latter of the two is what we see in the Anglo-Saxon heroic story, Beowulf. In this story we see not just one physical evil, but three: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. All of these creatures were described in their own terms, yet all of their nicknames show that they are pure evil. First we have Grendel who was named the “fiend out of hell” (Heaney 9) and also the “corpse maker” (Heaney 21). While Grendel’s mother was called the “monstrous hell-bride” (Heaney 89) and the dragon was called the “nightmarish destroyer” (Heaney 191). These few nicknames barely scratch the surface of describing how truly evil each of these creatures was, yet even though they were pure evil they were still important to the story. Without these evil creatures Beowulf would not be the hero that we know him to be because he would not have anyone to defeat in battle. It is also because of these different physical evils that we get to the end goal of all evil: death. In this case of Beowulf it comes with the death of all the monsters at the hands of Beowulf in various ways, including ripping off Grendel’s arm...
Typically, the image of a Viking is a barbaric, bearded man plundering and destroying a neighboring village. This is actually the stereotypical viewpoint. In actuality, Vikings, have a very different image. For example, Vikings did not wear furry boots or furry armor, they did not have horned helmets, they invaded Britain, and they also were the first to discover America! They were also experts in nautical technology, crafts, trading, warfare and many other skills (Jonsson 1). With all of these traits, the Vikings seem like an unstoppable force in the European continent. But, who were the Vikings? The Vikings were actually venturesome seafarers. This means that they were travelers who were constantly exploring and looking for new areas of land. There roots can be traced all the way back to 6000 B.C. were nomadic men traveled in primitive crafts up the Denmark coast. Fast forward two millennia and these nomadic people have established permanent homes, but still using the boat for food and travel. As stated before, they were not just raiders, although they did do this frequently, but they were actually expert traders, trading all around the world. It wasn’t until around 793 A.D. that a Viking explosion took place in northern Europe (Jonsson 2). Raids began to take place on neighboring villages and their places of worship. To some this is the only type of knowledge they have about Vikings. However, their culture was something to be admired. Trading, religion, and everyday life are all important parts of a Viking culture.
The beginning of the ninth century AD to the eleventh was known as the “Viking age”; during this time Iceland was settled by Scandinavians and CeltsCeltics. Some of the settlers were Christian while most were Pagan; together they created a culture
The most accepted official start of the Viking Age is recorded to have begun on June 8th, 793 AD when Norse raiders landed on the island of Lindisfarne and attacked the Christian Monastery located there, killing the monks and seizing the valuables. Viking raids by op...
In the earliest years of the Vikings, there was little history recorded due to the polytheistic views that they followed. After the Vikings converted to Christianity, there were eventually written documents created pertaining to their existence. In Viking Warfare, I.P. Stephenson states that the Vikings “first described attack took place in AD 789”(11). The Vikings were also known as Norsemen. They were great storytellers, and that is perhaps how society knows so much about them today. The stories that the Norsemen told were called Sagas. Today, Vikings are often depicted as murderous savages, but while they were not pillaging villages they were actually quite a peaceful civilization. There were three countries that Vikings evolved from; Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Although it may seem that all Vikings were on the same side, they quarreled with each other as well. Despite the fact that Viking battles were bloody and gruesome they were also known to be the most hygienic out of many of the earlier civilizations. There was not a huge percentage of Vikings that went out and raided but when they did they made a huge impact on what Vikings are now known for. The success of Viking warfare and raids relied primarily on the uses of armor, weapons, long ships, and battle tactics.