Amerikaner - I
Viking History
The History of the Vikings is a part of the History of
Scandinavia, and the modern history of Denmark,
Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Åland , Faroe
Islands, Greenland, Jämtland, Lapland, Scania and
Schleswig-Holstein.
The Vikings are a vital entity of the vast complex of
the Three Germanic Races that made themselves
known about three hundred years before the Birth
of Christ. However there is evidence that the
Germanic races existed more than 2000 B.C. and
possibly as old as 5000 B.C.
The three races of the Germanic people were
originally a part of the Indo-European group of
races, until it was determined that those three
races which constituted over a thousand separate
tribes, all speaking a similar sounding language
with their own alphabet, and which had a similar
heritage, and whose heritage bore similar traits,
that over time it broke away from the Indo-
European group of languages and formed their
own, which the Roman Historian Tacitus described
in His Germania, in the first century A.D.
The influx of the three Multi-tribal nations
originated from the plains of Asia, possibly from
areas in China, Mongolia, and Russia in Asia.
Originally fair skinned with blond hair with nomadic
tendencies, they fought among themselves and
others, striving for a superior place among their
own tribes, and among the various tribes that made
up the three divisions of their Teutonic Germanic
origins. These Three Divisions were originally the
East, West and North Germanic races. The East
Germanic tribes of the Ostragoths, Visagoths and
Vandals are completely extinct at this time, having
been vanguished from within and among each
other. The Vikings, however, among the ages
assimulated with the other Germanic tribes. But
before that happened, they were a seafaring people
that constituted Pirates, Plunderers, Raiders,
Explorers, merchants, who raided and colonized
vast areas of the European Continent, including the
British Isles, and settled originally in the northern
areas of the Peninsula which later became known
as Norway. They established a city, which later
became known as Trondheim which became the
seat of their Kings, and also the burial grounds of
their deceased nobility. Later, this peninsula
became known as it is today, as the Kingdom of
Norway.
Today, the Vikings and their Germanic language,
maintained their language roots in the Saetersdal in
Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and other parts of the
world. Of course the name of the Viking language
has been changed to Icelandic, Greenlandic, etc.,
but historically the language is still Viking.
These Norsemen used their famed longships to
travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga
River in Russia, and as far west as Iceland,
Greenland, and Newfoundland. This period of
Viking expansion is known as the Viking Age, and
forms a major part of the medieval history of
Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland and the rest of Europe
in general.
A romanticized picture of Vikings as Germanic
noble savages emerged in the 18th century, and
expanded during the Victorian era Viking revival. In
Britain it took the form of Septentrionalism, in
Germany that of "Wagnerian" pathos or even
Germanic mysticism, and in the Scandinavian
countries that of Romantic nationalism or
Scandinavism. In contemporary popular culture
these clichéd depictions are often exaggerated with
the effect of presenting Vikings as caricatures.
In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the
Anglo-Saxon poem, "Widsith", which probably
dates from the 9th century. In Old English, and in
the writings of Adam von Bremen, the term refers
to a pirate, and is not a name for a people or a
culture in general. Regardless of its possible
origins, the word was used more as a verb than as
a noun, and connoted an activity and not a distinct
group of individuals. To "go Viking" was distinctly
different from Norse seaborne missions of trade
and commerce.
The word disappeared in Middle English, and was
reintroduced as Viking during 18th century
Romanticism (the "Viking revival"), with heroic
overtones of "barbarian warrior" or noble savage.
Geographically, a "Viking Age" may be assigned
not only to Scandinavian lands (modern Denmark,
Norway and Sweden), but also to territories under
North Germanic dominance, mainly the Danelaw,
formerly the Kingdom of Northumbria,[6] parts of
Mercia, and East Anglia. Viking navigators opened
the road to new lands to the north, west and east,
resulting in the foundation of independent
settlements in the Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe
Islands; Iceland; Greenland; and L'Anse aux
Meadows, a short-lived settlement in
Newfoundland, circa 1000 A.D. Many of these
lands, specifically Greenland and Iceland, may have
been originally discovered by sailors blown off
course. They also may well have been deliberately
sought out, perhaps on the basis of the accounts
of sailors who had seen land in the distance. The
Greenland settlement eventually died out, possibly
due to climate change. Vikings also explored and
settled in territories in Slavic-dominated areas of
Eastern Europe, particularly the Kievan Rus. By
950 AD these settlements were largely Slavicized.
A reconstructed Viking Age long houseFrom 839,
Varangian mercenaries in the service of the
Byzantine Empire, notably Harald Hardrada,
campaigned in North Africa, Jerusalem, and other
places in the Middle East. Important trading ports
during the period include Birka, Hedeby, Kaupang,
Jorvik, Staraya Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev.
There is archaeological evidence that Vikings
reached the city of Baghdad, the center of the
Islamic Empire. The Norse regularly plied the Volga
with their trade goods: furs, tusks, seal fat for boat
sealant and slaves. However, they were far less
successful in establishing settlements in the Middle
East, due to the more centralized Islamic power.
Generally speaking, the Norwegians expanded to
the north and west to places such as Ireland,
Iceland and Greenland; the Danes to England and
France, settling in the Danelaw (northern/eastern
England) and Normandy; and the Swedes to the
east. These nations, although distinct, were similar
in culture and language. The names of
Scandinavian kings are known only for the later
part of the Viking Age. Only after the end of the
Viking Age did the separate kingdoms acquire
distinct identities as nations, which went hand in
hand with their Christianization. Thus the end of
the Viking Age for the Scandinavians also marks
the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages.
Another explanation is that the Vikings exploited a
moment of weakness in the surrounding regions.
For instance, the Danish Vikings were aware of the
internal divisions within Charlemagne's empire that
began in the 830s and resulted in schism.[citation
needed] England suffered from internal divisions,
and was relatively easy prey given the proximity of
many towns to the sea or navigable rivers. Lack of
organized naval opposition throughout Western
Europe allowed Viking ships to travel freely, raiding
or trading as opportunity permitted.
The decline in the profitability of old trade routes
could also have played a role. Trade between
western Europe and the rest of Eurasia suffered a
severe blow when the Roman Empire fell in the 5th
century.[12] The expansion of Islam in the 7th
century had also affected trade with western
Europe.[13] Trade on the Mediterranean Sea was
historically at its lowest level when the Vikings
initiated their expansion.[citation needed] By
opening new trade routes in Arabic and Frankish
lands, the Vikings profited from international trade
by expanding beyond their traditional boundaries.
[citation needed] Finally, the destruction of the
Frisian fleet by the Franks afforded the Vikings an
opportunity to take over their trade markets.
[citation needed]
Decline:
Following a period of thriving trade and Viking
settlement, cultural impulses flowed from the rest
of Europe to affect Viking dominance. Christianity
had an early and growing presence in Scandinavia,
and with the rise of centralized authority and the
development of more robust coastal defense
systems, Viking raids became more risky and less
profitable.
Blar a' Bhuailte, site of the Vikings' last stand in
SkyeSnorri Sturluson in the saga of St. Olaf,
describes the brutal process of Christianisation in
Norway: “…those who did not give up paganism
were banished, with others he (Saint Olaf) cut off
their hands or their feet or extirpated their eyes,
others he ordered hanged or decapitated, but did
not leave unpunished any of those who did not
want to serve God (…) he afflicted them with great
punishments (…) He gave them clerks and
instituted some in the districts.”
As the new quasi-feudalistic system became
entrenched in Scandinavian rule, organized
opposition sealed the Vikings' fate. Eleventh-
century chronicles note Scandinavian attempts to
combat the Vikings from the eastern shores of the
Baltic Sea, which eventually led to Danish and
Swedish participation in the Baltic Crusades during
the 12th and 13th centuries. It also contributed to
the development of the Hanseatic League.
One of the primary profit centers of Viking trade
was slavery. The Church took a position that
Christians should not own fellow Christians as
slaves, so chattel slavery diminished as a practice
throughout Northern Europe. Eventually, outright
slavery was outlawed, replaced with serfdom at the
bottom rung of Medieval society. This took much of
the economic incentive out of raiding, though
sporadic activity continued for a few decades
beyond the Norman conquest of England.
According to custom, all free Norse men were
required to own weapons, as well as permitted to
carry them at all times. These arms were also
indicative of a Viking's social status: a wealthy
Viking would have a complete ensemble of a
helmet, shield, chainmail shirt, and sword. A typical
bóndi (freeman) was more likely to fight with a
spear and shield, and most also carried a seax as a
utility knife and side-arm. Bows were used in the
opening stages of land battles, and at sea, but
tended to be considered less "honorable" than a
hand weapon. Vikings were relatively unusual for
the time in their use of axes as a main battle
weapon. The Húscarls, the elite guard of King Cnut
(and later King Harold II) were armed with two-
handed axes which could split shields or metal
helmets with ease.
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