Vikings

Vikings were a seafaring people from Scandinavia (today's Denmark, Norway, and Sweden). From the late 8th to the late 11th centuries, they raided, traded, and settled in parts of Europe. They sailed as far as the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East, Greenland, and Vinland (today's Newfoundland in Canada, North America). In their homelands, and in some of the places they visited and settled, this time is often called the Viking Age.

The Vikings had a big effect on the early medieval history of northern and Eastern Europe. They helped shape the political and social growth of England, including the English language, and parts of France. They also helped found Kievan Rus', which later became the ancestor of the countries of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.

The Vikings were skilled sailors and navigators, and they sailed famous longships. They built Norse settlements and governments in the British Isles, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Normandy, and along the Baltic coast. They also travelled along the Dnieper and Volga trade routes in Eastern Europe, where they were known as Varangians. The Normans, Norse-Gaels, Rus, Faroese, and Icelanders all grew out of these Norse colonies. Some Rus Vikings travelled so far south that they briefly served as bodyguards for the Byzantine emperor, and later attacked the Byzantine city of Constantinople. Vikings also sailed to the Caspian Sea and Arabia. They were the first Europeans to reach North America, and they briefly settling in Newfoundland (Vinland). As they spread Norse culture to faraway lands, they also brought people from other places back to Scandinavia, often against their will, along with new goods and ideas. During the Viking Age, the Norse homelands slowly joined together from smaller kingdoms into three larger kingdoms: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

The Vikings spoke Old Norse and wrote inscriptions in runes. For most of the Viking Age, they followed the Old Norse religion, but over the 8th to 12th centuries, many became Christians. They had their own laws, art, and architecture. Most Vikings were farmers, fishermen, craftspeople, and traders. The popular picture of Vikings often looks very different from the complex, advanced civilisation of the Norsemen that appears in archaeology and historical sources.

Ideas about the Vikings have changed over time. A romanticised picture of Vikings as noble savages began to appear in the 18th century, and it became widely spread during the 19th-century Viking revival. Today, people still disagree about whether Vikings were violent, piratical heathens or brave adventurers. These views reflect myths that took shape by the early 20th century. Modern popular images are usually based on cultural clichés and stereotypes and are rarely accurate. For example, there is no evidence that Vikings wore horned helmets, a costume element that first appeared in the 19th century.

Etymology

Scholars have long debated where the word Viking comes from, and many ideas have been proposed. One idea is that it comes from the Old English word wicing, meaning 'settlement,' and the Old Frisian word wizing, which appears almost 300 years earlier. Another, less popular idea is that víking came from vík, meaning 'creek,' 'inlet,' or 'small bay.' The Old Norse word víkingr does not appear in written sources until the 12th century, apart from a few runestones. A newer idea, which gained support in the early 21st century, links Viking to a word meaning 'sea mile.' This word first referred to the distance between two shifts of rowers. Language evidence supports this idea better.

In the Middle Ages, viking came to mean Scandinavian pirates or raiders. The earliest English reference to wicing is in the Épinal-Erfurt glossary, from around 700. This was about 93 years before the first known Viking raid in England. The glossary translates wicing into Latin as piraticum, meaning 'pirate.' In Old English, the word appears in the Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith, probably from the 9th century. It was not used to describe nationality. Other terms, such as Northmen and Dene, were used for that. In the Latin work of Asser about King Alfred, the Danes are called pagani, meaning 'pagans.' Historian Janet Nelson says this became "the Vikings" in standard translations. Eric Christiansen argues it was a mistranslation. When the word entered Modern English during the late 18th-century Viking revival, it took on romantic meanings. It came to describe a "barbarian warrior" or a noble savage.

History

See also: Scandinavian prehistory, Battle Axe culture, and Nordic Bronze Age

Main article: Viking Age

The Viking Age was a period in Scandinavian history. It began with the first recorded raids by Norsemen in 793. It ended in 1066, when the Norman conquest of England took place. Vikings sailed the Norwegian Sea and the Baltic Sea on their trade and travel routes to the south. Some Vikings settled in the Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe Islands, in Iceland, in Greenland, and at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. Vikings also took part in the Danelaw. Sweyn Forkbeard and his son Cnut the Great both ruled England. Vikings travelled to Novgorod, Kiev, and the Rus. They went to Byzantium, where Scandinavians served in the Varangian Guard. They even reached Baghdad. Busy trading ports included Birka, Hedeby, Kaupang, Jorvik, and Staraya Ladoga. Traders carried furs and slaves along routes such as the Volga.

Viking expansion into continental Europe was limited. Vikings often fought with the Saxons. The Danes built the Danevirke, a defensive wall, near Hedeby. During the Viking Age, the countries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark did not yet exist as we know them today. Later, these kingdoms slowly became nations. This change happened together with their Christianisation. By the late 11th century, royal families were approved by the Catholic Church. Towns and money-based trade also began to grow. The Viking Age ended as Scandinavia became part of the wider Christendom of Europe. Raiding and taking captives from other European peoples became less common. In 1107, Sigurd I of Norway sailed to the eastern Mediterranean to fight for the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Culture

See also: Old Norse and Saga

The Vikings did not write books, so they left no stories of their own in writing. They did have an alphabet, and they shared messages about themselves and their world on runestones. Most written records about them were made by other peoples they met, such as Christian and Islamic communities. Later writings, including the Icelandic sagas, were written down in the 12th to 14th centuries. They must be read carefully. Some Viking words and place names, such as York, are still used today. Since the mid-20th century, archaeologists have learned more about Viking life by finding homes, crafts, ships, trade goods, and religious objects.

Viking society had three classes: thralls (slaves), karls (free peasants), and jarls (the wealthy upper class). Slaves did much of the hard work on farms and in building projects. Free women had more independence than women in many other parts of medieval Europe. Most still depended on their husbands and fathers. Women could own property, run farms, and sometimes have religious or business roles. Viking ships were used for travel, trade, exploring, and raids. Some high-status people were buried in them, as at Gokstad and Oseberg in Norway.

Vikings ate a varied diet of meat, fish, bread, dairy products, fruits, and berries. They drank beer and mead. Sports such as wrestling, swimming, skiing, and ice skating were popular. Games like hnefatafl were played for fun. People gathered for festivals with music, poems, and stories. Over time, Viking settlers blended into their neighbouring societies. This happened quickly in Normandy, where Frankish culture was strong. Links to a Viking identity lasted longer on the remote islands of Iceland and the Faroes.

Weapons and warfare

Main article: Viking Age arms and armour

Historians learn about Viking weapons and armour from old objects, pictures, and some writings. These include the Norse sagas and Norse laws, which were written in the 13th century. All free Norse men had to own weapons and could carry them at all times. A wealthy Viking had a full set of a helmet, shield, mail shirt, and sword. This showed his high social status. Swords were rarely used in battle. They were probably not strong enough for fighting, so they were likely used as symbols or decorations. A typical free man was more likely to fight with a spear and shield. He often carried a seax as a useful everyday knife. Vikings were unusual at the time because they often used axes as their main battle weapon. The Húscarls were the elite guard of King Cnut and later of King Harold II. They used two-handed axes that could easily split shields or metal helmets.

Fighting was often linked to Norse religion. This religion focused on Thor and Odin, who were the gods of war and death. Fighting was common in Viking Age Norway, but it was less common in Denmark, which had a more organized society. Today, many people think Vikings were wild and angry fighters. However, the words berserkergang and berserker had different meanings for medieval Norse people. Some people have suggested that this fighting style may have been used on purpose by shock troops. Others have said it may have been caused by drinking large amounts of alcohol, or by eating certain plants or mushrooms with psychoactive effects. These include Hyoscyamus niger and the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria. However, Roderick Dale says there is no evidence for this from the Viking Age or from Old Norse literature.

Trade

See also: Trade during the Viking Age, Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, Volga trade route, and Bukhara slave trade

The Vikings set up and joined large trade networks across the known world. Their trade had a big effect on the economies of Europe and Scandinavia. Places such as Ribe and Hedeby in Denmark were trading centres. Scandinavia did not use coins. Instead, people paid with bullion, which means precious metal valued by its purity and weight. Silver was the most common metal used, though gold was also used. Traders carried small scales so they could weigh metal exactly.

The Vikings bought luxury goods from far away. Spices came from Chinese and Persian traders who met them in Russia. Glass was made into beads, and thousands of these beads have been found. Åhus in Scania and the old market town of Ribe were major centres of bead making. Silk came from Byzantium, now Istanbul, and from China. Wine was brought from France and Germany as a drink for wealthy people. Mead and beer were also drunk. To pay for these goods, the Vikings sold many items. Amber was found along the North Sea and Baltic coasts and was made into beads. People sold furs from pine martens, foxes, bears, otters and beavers. They also sold woollen cloth made from wool and down for bedding. The Muslim writer Ahmad ibn Rustah described the Viking Rus' as people who lived by raiding. Many people were taken and sold as slaves, and some were sold in the markets of Atil. Other exports included weapons, walrus ivory, wax, salt, cod, and hunting birds. Norway sent these birds to European nobles from the 10th century. Goods were also traded within the Viking world. For example, soapstone came from Iceland and Jutland, and whetstone was used for sharpening tools. Wool was important for warm clothing and sails. Organised textile work in Scandinavia goes back to the early Iron Ages.

Legacy

The Vikings had a strong influence on Old English, which helped shape Modern English. Nouns lost their grammatical gender, and preposition stranding also entered English. This was a feature already allowed in Old Norse. In England, the Viking Age began on 8 June 793, when Norsemen attacked the abbey on Lindisfarne. The attack shocked the royal courts of Europe. For a long time after, people remembered the Vikings in a certain way. Scholars outside Scandinavia did not begin to recognise Viking artistry, technical skill, and seamanship until the 1890s. Stories from Norse Mythology, sagas, and literature describe Scandinavian culture and religion. Many of these sagas were written in Iceland by Icelanders. In the 19th century, a romantic image of the Viking grew popular, though it was not very accurate.

People have stayed fascinated by the Vikings up to modern times. Richard Wagner and other writers, artists, and filmmakers have used Viking themes. The Minnesota Vikings team takes its name from the large Scandinavian population in Minnesota. Many popular ideas about Vikings are not accurate. Historians believe Viking warriors did not wear horned helmets, and there is no evidence that Vikings drank from the skulls of their enemies.

Main article: Norse mythology in popular culture

Genetic legacy

A 2020 study looked at 442 people from Viking-age sites across Europe. It found that they were closely related to modern Scandinavians, with similar Y-DNA. The most common group was I1, followed by R1b and R1a, especially the Scandinavian R1a-Z284 subclade. The results supported what historians had suggested: Norse settlers often married local women. Some people from Foggia had Scandinavian Y-DNA but southern European ancestry, and they were likely Normans. Similar mixing appeared among Varangians buried near lake Ladoga and among Vikings in England. The study also found Swedish settlers in Estonia and Finland, and Norwegian settlers in Ireland, Iceland and Greenland. The authors noted that Danish-like ancestry in the British Isles could not be told apart from that of the Angles and Saxons, who had moved there earlier.

The same study looked at 42 people from the Salme ship burials in Estonia. They were warriors who had died in battle. They were buried with their weapons and armour, and their DNA showed they came from central Sweden. Studies of female ancestry show Norse roots closest to Scandinavia, such as on the Orkney islands. In farther areas, most Norse ancestry shows up in the male Y-chromosome lines. In Liverpool, up to half of the men in families living there before industrialisation had Norse heritage. High levels also appeared in the Wirral and West Lancashire. Recent research suggests that Somerled, a Celtic warrior who pushed the Vikings out of western Scotland, may have had Viking descent. He was the ancestor of Clan Donald. A warrior buried in Bodzia, Poland, around 1010–1020 AD had both Scandinavian ancestry and links to Kiev. He may have belonged to the family of Sviatopolk the Accursed. He carried haplogroup I1-S2077.