Why did the Vikings stop raiding?

                          
The answer is hard to define not just because there no Vikings nowadays but also because they have ``disappeared´´ such a long time ago, but we can explain that changes took place in European societies that made raiding less profitable and desirable for the Vikings. Changes occurred not only in the Norse societies, but also throughout Europe where the raids took place.

Regarding to them, The Viking homelands were divided into separate kingdoms, led by rival kings, these new kingdoms became independent with leaders of their own.

On the other hand, by the end of the Viking age by AD 1100 , most European lands had strong central authorities, including trained, standing armies capable of mounting effective defenses against Viking attacks. Generally, the Vikings were not trained, organized troops. The violent attacks from the Vikings were ineffective against trained, professional soldiers supported by the king.

Another change that occurred as a result of the Viking attacks was that some of the more desirable targets were fortified or modified, making them less susceptible to Viking raids. Monasteries built easily defendable towers, where valuables and people could be moved quickly in the event of a raid. Some monasteries were moved inland, away from the reach of the Vikings´ raids.

On the other hand the Christian church arrived in the Viking lands at the end of the Viking age and they became Christians. Then, in my opinion this could be another important reason to the Vikings to stop raiding or at least to stop plundering monasteries, we have to remember that they loved to plunder monasteries because they had a lot of silver inside.

We could say that the Viking age ended when the raids stopped. The year 1066 is frequently used as a convenient marker for the end of the Viking age.  If you remember and read my articles, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the Norwegian king Haraldr harðráði was repulsed and killed when he attempted to invade England. It was the last major Viking incursion into Europe as we said in the previous publication.

My conclusion to the question of the title is that the raids slowed down and stopped because the times changed. It was no longer profitable or desirable to raid. In no way the Vikings weren't conquered ever.  Did the Vikings disappeared then? No, actually they just were setting up and became, not Vikings, but Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Greenlanders or whatever depending on where they set up although mostly these places were where they set up.

Why were they so powerful?

Well we must ask us in this point what did make the Vikings so successful and powerful men? Nobody could stop them and everyone feared them.
                                       

The answer could be obvious if you notice that they had got the most fast, resistant and best prepared ships to sail of the period. Their vessels or Drakkars that were longships, narrow and very flexible vessels were used by the them for trade, exploration, and warfare. They were also called "dragonships" because they often had a dragon-shaped. The Longships had been the symbol of the Vikings' naval power for a long time. They were expert sailors,  they didn´t even need ship's compass in order to orient themselves, they just took advantage of the position of the Sun, Moon or stars to get orientation or symply they sailed alonside the coast but not only they used the sea, they used the rivers as well, thanks to this, they got into all parts of Europe. Their vessels were not too much big and they could got inside any river, spreading out like a plague throughout Europe. One remarkable thing is that they had to put up with storms, torrential rains while sailing because of these vessels were completely open. Probably many Vikings would died from hypothermia and others things associated with the cold, just only imagine that dark nights throughout open sea during winter, with strong storms etc you can realice how terrible had to be and how powerful were these men.
                                           
Another important reason was their cruelty and wickedness bigger than the rest of the tribes of Europe at that particular time, they were plunderers and killers. Actually we can say that the Viking were warriors, fierce warriors without compassion of any kind, they killed everyone, even babies, children and women, although women alao used to be sold by the Vikings after being raped for the Vikings. Their most important weapon was the axe, they had a great skill using it, they threw them against their enemies with such accuracy that mostly the enemy died with the impact or got disabled.
                                                         

One easy target and too much desirable for them were the churches and monasteries, because of the monks didn´t put up any ``resistance´´ and they had so much silver inside them. For the Vikings silver was their more desirable treasure like gold for Spanish in the 15th century but actually they didn´t want these treasures although it was very important for them so these were a mean of exchange.

Ambition and greediness were other factors for the Viking´s conquest, the more they had got, the more they would want to. The conquests and plunders became in a current activity for them like commerce. These Viking warriors didn´t like work for a living, they prefered robbing.

Viking language

Good evening!


Today we are going to talk about the language that Vikings used and its repercution in the nowadays english language. I think it could be interesting to know the way in which it has developed over the time.

Here you can apreciate some of the letters of the viking alphabet and their pronunciation!

Old Norse pronunciation

What was the language vikings spoke?

Well, vikings started to speak Old Norse, which was an ancient Germanic language from the north of Germany. It is closely related to Old English and it was also the language the modern Scandinavian Languages sprang, such as Swedish, Danish or Norwegian.

Nouns had three genders; masculine, femenine ans neuter, two numbers as in nowadays english ( singular and plural) but declined into four cases; nominative, acusative, dative and genitive.

Verbs were conjugated for person ( first,second or third), number ( singular,plural or dual), tense ( present or preterite) and mood ( indicative or subjuntive). Most of this inflection has been lost in the Modern Scandinavian languages which have moved towards more analytical structure. 

Most probably that was a language similar to the one used by the Norsemen. Nowadays the most similar one would be Icelandic as an example of  isolated medieval Norwegian.

Now I wanted to show you some text written in Viking language. So I have found this one:

Sample texts in Old Norse:

Þórr heitir áss, ok er sterkr mjök ok oft reiðr. Hann á hamar góðan. Þórr ferr oft til Jötunheima ok vegr þar marga jötna með hamrinum. Þórr á ok vagn er flýgr. Hann ekr vagninum um himininn. Þar er Þórr ekr, er stormr.

Translation:

A god is named Thor. He is very strong and often angry. He has a good hammer. Thor often goes to Gianthome and slays many giants there with the hammer. Thor also has a carriage that flies. He drives the carriage through the sky. Where Thor drives there is storm.

 This text I have found it in the next web page: 

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldnorse.htm

The Vikings´ costume!

Hi everyone!

Today we are going to talk about the fisical aspect of the vikings.

The image that we normally have when we think about vikings is totally wrong. Vikings never ever wore a horned helmet! didn´t you think the same, right?
Films usually show the originary habitants of Scandinavia ( the vikings) as violent warriors with  red bear, naked torso and wearing a horned helmet. But the reality was different.
Indeed, viking society was violent, in almost every grave, were found arms, cause a warrior had to be well armed!. They must wear sword, shield, spear, ax and bow with arrows. Actually these tools they used in their daily lives to hunt, eat or cut wood, and also useful to crush heads when they went to war.

                                



Specifically, the helmets with horns have never ever been found between the objects which come from the viking era. It is rather an invention from the XIX romanticism, it exagerated and idealized the force of those warriors.



                              

The images that appears in films do not represent the real aspect they truely had. For example, it is asumed that they wore metalics helmets with horns, but metal was really expensive in that period. A sword cost the same that a house, just the richier got one. What they really wore was a leather helmet with metal reinforcements, if they could afford it.
So then, why do we think that vikings wore a horned helmet?
Well, it´s a mith created in XIX century, during the romanticism, when everything was exagerated, overstanding things.


Now, we are going to see some of the most important tools they used:

Viking Spears

Here I show you one of the most common and important weapon that a Viking warrior had to wear, it is a spear. Viking spears have metal heads usually on wooden.Viking warrior used the spears for both throwing and thrusting with one hand.

Viking Swords

It is an interesting object in this period. Vikings owning a sword as a  matter of high prestige and wealth. This is the Viking sword  which was a single handed weapon. Vikings were able to swing faster and have harder strokes and at the same time, allowing to bend and not break.

Viking Axes

Axes of the Vikings were also called the Danish Axe, that were an early type of polearm. Viking Axes are made light enough to withstand throwing with there forged heads and hardened edges. This tool also was used on farms and cutting wood for their Viking ships!

Viking Clothing

Viking used more wool than anything else for making clothing. Viking men were a long woolen Viking tunic and long trousers.In cold weather and for feet protection, they wore Viking boots that were made of leather. 

It is very curious that the vikings made their own clothes from cloth woven from a loom by women and children in their own home. Most men wore long hair and beards as a protection from the cold weather.

Viking Shields 

The use of Viking shields went essentialy  to parry blows from an opponent. The Viking shield was typically round. The Viking shield was made of planks of woods. It usually contained a hole at the center that supported a hand grip at that point, covered by a metal boss.

Viking Coins

It might come as some surprise to find that the Vikings did indeed use coins; not everything could be traded for and not everything could be gotten from raiding other villages and cultures. These are a number of Viking coins, which were primarily used by Vikings, Normans, and Saxons as currency during history. Each of these Viking coins are made from antique-plated pewter and based on an actual historical coin, such as the penny.

How interesting!! Don´t you reckon? :)

Viking Constructions

Hi everybody!

    I would like to show you some constructions that Vikings have built around the world. The word Viking comes from the ancient language called Old Norse and means "pirate raider". 

   First, I am going to talk about the Viking ships, called Longships, which were very important in the Viking Age. As we know, the Vikings of Norway, Denmark and Sweden were the undisputed masters of the seas from the late 8 ^th  to the 11 ^th century. The Vikings livelihood depended on vessels beyond where they could fish and carry out their formidable pirate raids. Archaeologists have discovered remains of huge long ships of the 9 ^th century along the northern coast.

Representation of Drakkar

   In general, all parts of a Viking ship was made ​​of wood, even the rivets. The Vikings used axes to cut down trees and wedges to make them fall in the desired directions. The last step in the construction of a Viking ship of war, called Drakkar, was added fierce dragon heads at the front to ward off evil spirits and sea monsters. They retired them after the 
ship docked in earth again, 
in order to not scare the spirits from 
the friendly earth that helped them.                                                

                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                             

Representation of Knar

   There were different types of ships according to size and function. For example the Knarr, which was used for longer voyages, or the Karve which was used for human transport. Both of them were very similar.

          

   These impressive boats gave Viking civilization a tremendous advantage over their competitors in the open sea. The Vikings’ warships brought conquest and changed Europe and the North Atlantic in these centuries. The first forays may have been caused by trade disputes. 

   The Vikings started to invade Britain about 789 AD and continued to arrive for about 200 years. Just as the Anglo-Saxon had done 400 years earlier, the Vikings came across the North Sea. They imposed their culture on all the sites in which they settled, spread their religion and values ​​across the continent and even their languages ​​mixed with the native languages ​​of Britain and Wales to form the roots of modern English. They may even have been the first Europeans to reach North America. 

   Now, I am going to talk about the Viking houses. I could find so much information about them. Most Vikings lived on farms. The Viking house shaped like the Viking ship with oval sides, called Long houses, and somewhere between 30 and 50 people living together in a house, the entire family and their slaves, and often domestic animals in a stable room at one side. 

Viking house reconstruction. Denmark.

   This Viking house reconstruction at the Fyrkat Viking Fortress in Hobro, Denmark, is a typical Viking house design. Note the many poles at the sides, supporting the walls and the roof, which is made of small wooden roof tiles.  




   The house usually had only one room with a cooking fire in the middle. The smoke from the fire escaped through a hole in the roof. The houses were often close to each other to form a settlement or small village. This also gave good protection in the event of an attack on the village by enemies.

   The Vikings lived mainly along the coastlines of the countries or along the rivers which ran into the sea. Some Vikings lived further inland but, like most settlements and villages, they were often located near to rivers. 

Viking settlement

Viking mythology´s reminds

The Vikings worshipped many gods, some of them remind nowadays in the days of the week in the Anglo-Saxon world.

One of the most important gods in the Viking World was Odin, with the name of Woden, which gave origin to the English word and day of the week`Wednesday´, his wife Frigg, gave as well origin to another day of the week and a new word, Friday. Thor another god very popular in the Viking religion or Viking mitology whatever you like, it´s that one who hold a hammer, he was the god of thunder and also gave origin to the name of another day of the week and a new word in English, in this case Thursday. Finally the god Tiw or Tiwaz, god of the war by the way, very important issue in the Viking world as we know, gave as well origin to the word and day of the week Tuesday.

Looking at their gods we understand a little more about the Viking mentality, I mean, for the aspect of them, it seems that they wanted to look like their gods, that is, big, powerful and agressive ones and so did they.

This is probably the most visible Viking influence in the Anglo-Saxon world, but that many people ignore, I mean, everyone are always saying these words, working with these days and for sure the mayority of them don´t know about the origins of these English words. The rest of the names of the days of the week as you´ll know come from the Romans, who spoke Latin and had invaded England as well long time before, from their influence we have; Saturday (the Saturn´s day, day dedicated to this planet), Sunday (day dedicated to the Sun) and Monday (which means the Moon´s day and dedicated to it). I have to say that we could have spoken about the Romans which influence was bigger than the Viking one and this blog had been easier to do it but I think the Viking world is more interesting maybe because I´d like to understand that kind of mentality, that culture and style of life... they lived to fight, didn´t have fear to death and they loved invading, plundering the world without cared anything. I wonder if they had feelings after all, maybe they kept them only for them.

Anyway during the Viking age in England, from 793 AD to 1066 AD, the Vikings had to coexist with Christianity and we can confirm that they accepted the Christian god alonside their own very well.

How and Why came the vikings in England?

           

Welcome to the blog about the Viking´s influence in the Anglo-Saxon period. We are going to talk about this theme considering different points of view. It is an interesting subject for us because we are English students and we think it could be useful to share our knowledge with other people.

   The different parts could be for example, the language the vikings used or their influence within the English´s society, as well as what kinds of  ruins are from them. But I think that the main point is how and why they came to England. The vikings attacked Britain´s holy places they found, sacrificing monks who lived there and carried away their treasures. Moreover, they counted with  well designed boats and convenient winds helped these raiders to come and go as they pleased.

   Viking´s influence is an important contribution in whole Great Britain´s history because they introduced new constructions as for example new ships. We  can mention for example the Knarr, the Karve or the Longship. In fact, the war ship has become the cultural icon of  the Vikings.

With such technological improvements, the vikings began making more ocean voyages, as their ships were in a good state to navegate any longer.

The Vikings needed to develop methods of precise navigation, most commonly, a ship was piloted using ancestral knowledge.

     

   We can talk about kinds of ships and their functions,but we also can mention the influence they had in the development of some towns built in Britain and in Ireland. Indeed, nowaday some of them still exist.

I will show you some examples!

This one is settled in Norway, as one of the settlement made for the vikings,and it seems to be a kind of church or a little castle made up of wooden.

                                 




We can see in these pictures of the vikings long house the slight curvature of the roof . This is a direct reflection of techniques and ideas borrowed or cultivated in the building of ships.
The people continued to organizwe in cooperative farmstead, a practice established as early as the Bronze age. A single farmstead would support a number of people, the extended family of the farmer. The long house remains the primary structure for living.
                                     


                 

Why did the Vikings remind in England?

                                                             

                                    
    

In the popular history, the Vikings, sometimes called Norsemen, had a frightening reputation of plunderers and they were too much respected, in Isbylia, for example now Seville, the people from there knew them very well, for that reason, they built strong and high walls around the city to avoid new sackings against the city after the plundering of 844, in which they sacked, set on fire the whole city, killed everybody and raped many women, do not think the Vikings did hate the people from Isbylia, actually that was the common way of exploration of the Vikings. We can say about them that their mainly activities were colonising and trading, but more colonising!

They were originally from Denmark, Sweden and Norway. During the late 8th century and 9th century they started their attacks against England, threatening the stability of England.

We must answer the question of why did they invade England and remind there at least till their defeat of Stamford Bridge in 1066.  It seems that the vikings colonised for necessity. Probably they had excess population, that has not to do with space but with food. There are another theories but this seems the most provable. They attacked many places like Portugal and even Spain but they never remainded in that particular places, buy they did in England or at least they wanted! Why?! Well it may seem a obviour anwser, that is, because of England is very close to Denmark, Norway and Sweden (lands they were from), another reason is because England have always been a rich country full of natural resources like food, gold, silver and so on, also England was a country easy to conquer, that´s it, England was a country where lived little tribes throughout the country, so they didn´t found too much opposition in England and moreover the geographical position of England makes this country very attractive, since England´s lands they had power over the doors of Europe´s west and also a direct way to America,  where they did some incursions in Greenland without developing permanent colonies. Anyway coming back to England where they did permanent ones, they left also a great legacy...for instance on the English language, on the culture, customs and even in the English people´s genetic we found Viking blood. All these things make the Vikings an important issue on the history of England that we cannot forget.