Who are the Vikings?

Who are the Vikings?

• Scandinavian warriors who raided N Europe, E Asia, & E North America.

• From Norway,

Sweden & Denmark

Where did they go?• Land rocky & infertile. Hard to grow crops

• England was rich (lands & treasure), & warmer. Wanted to settle here.

• Moved west into Iceland in 860 & colonized Greenland

• Swedish Vikings went across Baltic Sea into Poland, Latvia, Lithuania & Russia.

• Reached NA

500 yrs before

Columbus.

Eighth centuryNinth centuryTenth centuryEleventh centuryAreas that were frequently raided

• Mostly farmers, raise livestock, fisherman, colonists, traders

• Aka Norse or Northman,

*Viking means to “lurk” in

a Vik (bay) or pirate

*Viking Age began 750 AD

• End was in 1066 when

Norwegian King Harald

Haraade lost a battle to the English King Harold

One of the earliest Icelandic Manuscripts in Old Norse, the Viking language.

How do we know about the Vikings?

*Left behind many settlements

*Few written accounts, mostly written by churchmen,

typically about

attacks on

monasteries &

portrayed as

heathens

‘Over 1200 years ago, sails were seen off the coast of Lindisfarne. The monks in the monastery watched as the long ships came closer and landed.

The warriors were fierce and frightening. The monks were skilled fighters but could not hold them back. The Viking raiders took gold from Lindisfarne back to Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

‘On June 8th, 787 AD ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God’s church on Lindisfarne with plunder and slaughter’ (Anglo Saxon Chronicle)

LONGSHIPS

• Made of wood planks w/ metal rivets & twisted hair in gaps to water proof

• Used for transporting cargo, trade, exploration & raids!

• Powered by sails or rowing oars

Don’t write• Long, lean & flexible. Hulls made oak planks split from felled trunks. Planks

trimmed w/ axe & adze to shape, then riveted together with iron nails. At the junction of the planks, a thin rope of twisted hair soaked in pitch (boiled birch tree sap) was trapped. as a flexible waterproofing membrane. Hulls built first. When hull was finished, the ribs were tied in with the thin fibrous roots of the Larch tree. At sea, the hulls were watertight & because of their flexible nature, twist & bend

Don’t write!

• There were two types of Viking ships:

• The longship was used for warfare & exploration.– designed for speed and agility

– equipped with oars & sail – Long, narrow hull allowed it to travelin shallow water

• The knarr was a slower merchant ship with alarger cargo capacity.

Archaeologists have discovered many wrecks of longboats at the bottom of the ocean or buried in the ground.

The evidence can be used to reconstruct the boats.

We now know enough to make new longships that will sail exactly like the Vikings did.

Vikings even used their boats to bury great warriors at sea. They used to set fire to the longships.

The Vikings seemed to get everywhere...

Constantinople was the main city of the Byzantine empire. The Vikings traded there.

Eric the Red founded a new settlement in Greenland.

The Vikings were the first Europeans to reach America.

The Vikings had settlements in Iceland in the ninth century.

The French king gave the province of Normandy to a Viking duke named Rollo to stop him attacking.

The Vikings settled in an area called Rus. The name Russia comes from this word.

Leif

Ericson

• Son of Eric the Red

• Born in Iceland

• Visited Norway &

sent to Greenland to

convert settlers by Olaf 1st to Christianity (1000AD)

• Sailed off-course & arrived in a place he called 'Vinland', because of the abundant grapes growing there,

• In 1963, archaeologists found ruins of a Viking-type settlement in n Newfoundland, which fit Leif's description.

Religion!• 53 Viking Gods, gods for everything

• Die in battle, granted a place in after life called Valhalla (hall of the dead) for eternity (why Vikings were bold & fearless in battle.

• Left meat & beer outside

the main hall for gods

Rune stones honor

gods

The Vikings believed in many different gods that lived in a place called Asgard.

Odin or Woden was the god of war. Rode an 8 legged horse.

Loki was half god & half fire spirit. He played tricks to cause trouble.

Thor: hammer-wielding god associated w/ thunder, lightning, storms, oak

trees, strength, the protection of mankind, healing & fertility. Quick tempered, good hearted

Fryja was Frey’s sister & the goddess of love. She could turn into a bird.

Frey made sun shine, the rain fall & the crops grow. He kept a magic boat folded in his pocket.

King Earl Craftsman Woman Slave

Viking Social Structure

Chieftain & Wife

Skilled labor,

Warriors

Serfs, blacksmiths,

Craftsmen, freemen

Slaves

Don’t write• Swordsmiths highly skilled & respected.

• Thin bars of iron were packed in red-hot charcoal to form steel; then cut up, twisted

& reforged several times, & filed into shape.

*Strips of especially fine steel were welded

onto the sides to form the cutting edges & then hardened by alternately plunging it

into fire & cold liquid. Last, it was filed down & polished by rubbing with acid.

• ! The hilt was made of iron, bone, ivory or horn, often inlaid w/ precious metals.

Viking Marriage (don’t write)* married around 17 (short life expectancy) *Men paid bride’s family lots of silver tomarry daughter.

*Priest blessed new couple w/ spells to have kids.*Wedding feast lasted days. *church ceremony if Christian *After marriage, 1 would their belongings into the home of the other family

*If woman wanted a divorce,she declared her reasons tothe witnesses of her marriage.Same for a man

Family Life

• Loyal, extended family, all

look after each other

• Mother made decisions when father away

• May own slaves

• Kids taught

by parents

Family social structure

Father

Mother

Children

Viking Houses (don’t write)* Houses made of wood & soil, w/

straw thatch or wooden shingles for roof.

*Often the whole house was completely covered in a thick layer of soil, used to insulate the house,

* Big enough to house up to 40 people.

* Each family had smaller, private house. Slept in main hall beside the fire pit (w/ farm stock)

* When Vikings conquered new land or any Viking, could claim as much land as he could walk around in 24 hours.

Common Viking house

Viking Education*No school. Taught by parents to fight, work land, build houses & longboats, sail, ride horse & cook.

*Lots of play fighting future battle & plundering. Children taught to huntdeer & forage for berries.

*Runes used for writing (16 letters)

*Often carved into wood,

metal, stone or bone.

Compare Viking childhood with your childhood (Don't write)

• do not go to school

• learn to fight

• learn to hunt and forage

• serve guests at feasts

• may have a job at the age of 14

• sleep around fire

• serve at banquets and feasts

• hunt for food

• may get married as early as 15

• build my first sword and

construct my first shield

• learn battle tactics

• take daily archery lessons

• eat around fire

• learn about the gods

• travel by horse

go to school

do not work

buy food from shops

study for tests

eat in house

play with friends on

the weekend

play video games

watch TV

read books

sleep in bed

live in a house

go on vacation

travel by car

eat ice cream

My childhood Viking child hood

helmet axe shield

spear

sword

• swords most valued. Passed down from father to son.

• symbols of authority, & used for oaths of allegiance

Viking Food*lots of foods, drank beer & mead (honey based alcoholic drink)

*Viking feasts went on for

hours or days. Held outside

or in long houses. Celebrate

births, funerals, victories. • eggs *dried fish *wine•beer *dried venison *pork• mead beef * shell fish *crab• berries *boar *goat• nuts *chicken *lamb• dried crab *horse meat *bread• dried plums *honey

* Clothes made of linen, wool or fur

*Dyed bright colors from natural sources.

*No pockets, tied their items to themselves by using a belt, or they would hang them from a pin at the front of their garments.

* Viking women wore ankle length dresses w/ apron & a shawl, scarf if married

• Viking men wore tunics, jerkins, pants held up w/ a sash or drawstring & leather boots.

• Decorated with fancy braiding Wear cloaks of linen or fur depending on the climate.

Clothing

Don’t write!

• Skilled craftsmen made objects from stone, wood & metal.

• Some jewellery was made to be buried with dead or used as magic charms

• Brooches used to fasten tunics (no buttons)

Viking Art & Music

1. Painting, wood crafting, metal working, glass work.

2. learned from overseas experience & trade.

3. Loved poetry & stories

4. instruments include

pan flutes, horn pipes,

lyre, rebec, harp,

lurs & singing.

Viking Funeral

• When Chieftain or Nobleman died, funeral lasted days.

• Celebrate man’s life & grant safe passage to Valhalla (not women)

• Burned the body in a longboat along w/ young lady to keep him company, cow, 4 chickens, sword

& armour, all of his

clothes & 2 servants.

TREASURE!

• 1000 hoard of treasue have been found (often buried in coruntyside near landmarks

• From the 8th to 11th Centuries, Viking pirates, mainly from Norway, Denmark and Norse

• settlements in Scotland, made violent raids all round the coasts of Britain, Ireland, and most

• of Western Europe, including the Mediterranean lands; and also up many major rivers.

• ! The first recorded Viking raid on Britain was on the monastery at Lindisfarne (Holy Island), off

• the coast of Northumberland in 793.

• ! Monasteries were often targeted by Viking pirate raiders because they contained religious

• treasures, and wine used for Mass. But towns and villages were also regularly attacked.

• ! Monks, nuns and people of high social status were often captured alive by the pirates for

• ransom. Others were sold as slaves.

• ! The Icelandic Sagas - quasi-historical stories about the Viking Age, but first written down

• several centuries later - mention how powerful farmers indulged in pirate raiding as a part-

• time activity to increase their wealth. Even kings went raiding to fill their coffers. The 13th

• Century book, Orkneyinga Saga, says that when King Eirik Blood-Axe, who ruled York for

• some of the 10th Century, “...ran short of money... he spent the summers plundering”.

• ! The prevalence of piracy contrasts strongly with the fact that the Vikings had many laws and

• also a highly developed sense of honourable and moral behaviour. This emphasised

• behaving altruistically towards one’s own group; caution, moderation and fair play. The worst

• faults were considered to be disloyalty or treachery towards a friend or relative.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MAZzSow5Uc (horrbile h. viking report

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GuN61M380s (beliefs)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qSkaAwKMD4

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrBnIoONit0 poetry

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwaSSVOPwSE attack

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQFD8FFMLZA