The Scandinavian Lords of Scourge: The Vikings

The Scandinavian Lords of Scourge: The Vikings

During the 11th Century Europe was at a rise of power, The Visigoths (more commonly known as the French this Century,) had just fully taken the Roman Empire out of Power by defeating the Last of the Roman rule in Gaul. However, during the time that the Visigoths were growing in power, another force was plaguing the rest of the water ridden by pillaging and burning towns, raping woman and slaughtering townsfolk. These brutal warriors originally of Scandinavian decent (who also were the descendants of the Danish seafaring warriors,) are more currently known as the Vikings. The Vikings were an excellent naval force, whenever they traveled into a town it was usually by the sea or the riverbed, as there ships would allow them to slip into areas such as rivers and peninsulas.

There were two types of Viking ships at the time, the long ship usually referred to as the “Drakkar,” which was a Norse’s (or Scandinavian’s) corruption of the word “Dragon.” The other type of ship was the longboat, which was a smaller ship, carried in a Drakkar in case there was an emergency or there was a need to flee. The Drakkar Ships were more commonly used by the Scandinavian’s defense fleet referred to as the “Leidang” which was there basic naval force. Other Norsemen that needed to travel by sea and were not part of the Leidang would use longboats to get around doing things like trade, migrate and were possibly used to pillage villages.

When the Vikings traveled about to sea they were required to carry weapons at all times in case of an attack. Weapons and armor that the Viking wore were also associated with social status. Norsemen with more wealth would have a helmet, a chain mail shirt, a shield, and a sword, while a common Norseman would only carry a spear and shield and would usually carry a seax, (a knife-like Scandinavian weapon,) to use as a utility knife. The leaders of the naval fleets would usually carry axes as it was a much more efficient weapon in close range combat and could be used to chop wood if more Drakkars or longboats were needed to be built.

Vikings were not only known for there naval strength and pillaging ways, but were also known for there expeditions. Since the Norsemen had so much time at sea, they utilized it to explore new lands that they have never seen before, one of their greatest discoveries were Greenland and Iceland. The names of those two countries were to give a misconception about the countries. Greenland was given its name because it was the opposite of what it really was; most of Greenland is just barren tundra and dirt. Iceland was named on the same principle for having lush plains of grass and land that was farmable.

Of course, with the Vikings coming into power there had to be a way to give a significant message that an area was under Scandinavian rule, the Vikings showed were they held power over with Runestones. Runestones where stones that had messages encrypted into them by the Runic Alphabet, which was formed in the adoption of the Latin Alphabet system, which was used to write in Germanic Languages. The Main 6 letters of the Norse’s version of the Runic Alphabet was F, U, Þ, A, R, and K (Þ standing for the word “thorn [Which was translated into “giant” in Scandinavian poems.].”) These Runestones helped the Norse know where they had power and where they did not.

With more expeditions that the Vikings were forming and the power Vikings were gaining, it only meant one thing, more pillaging and more arson. Although Vikings were known for, there great naval capacity they were also known for premeditatedly destroying villages and setting them on fire. As Vikings sailed up to a village they would leave there ships, set fire to the buildings, rape the local woman they found, kill many innocent people and lute (steal) everything that was not tied down, Vikings were the early form of the term “pirates.” The pillaging and arson was another way Vikings grew economically because everything that they stole was usually what they traded for their goods. A Viking's usual trading merchandise was wood, furs, and stolen goods such as ale, wine, silk and anything that they raided a village for.

Vikings were also famous for another one of their differences, the gods that they worshiped. Viking gods of worship that archeologists have found, are the twin gods Frey and Freyja, the god and goddess of fertility, Thor god of Thunder, and the “Chief god” Odin. Odin, the “Allfather”, was god of warfare, death, wisdom, justice and poetry. Norsemen believed that Odin only had one eye and was the god with the most power. Later in the religion there appeared to be a Christian influence on Odin because he was sacrificed to himself by being hanged on a tree and pierced in the side with a spear, and resurrected a few days later, which gave Odin a “Jesus-like” quality.

Thor was known to be incredibly stupid but also incredibly strong. Thor had a hammer called “Miollnir” which was crafted by the dwarfs in Viking beliefs. Thor was the main defender of the gods who protected against “Giants.” Because Thor was god of thunder he was partially worshiped by seafaring Norsemen (and other seafarers, who believed in the Viking’s pagan religion,) they believed that he controlled part of the sea because thunder and lightning are the first signs of a storm. Because many Vikings believed this, they would carry a silver amulet that was in the shape of Miollnir for protection.

Although not much is said about Frey and Freyja, the must have had an important role as the gods of fertility because any society without agriculture is likely to die. Along with the major gods there was also a cast of minor gods that played some role of importance in the Eddas (the Viking sagas.) the Eddas also told of the god(s)’ relationship to dwarfs, giants and men. Sagas were first passed down by oral tradition (word of mouth) until written by Christian scholars. The other type of written text that told of the Vikings were the chronicles (a series of events), although the chronicles were not as popular in the west it was a relevant source of information on the Vikings for the east. The Chronicles that were included in this period were the Nestor chronicles, Novgorod chronicles, Ibn Fadlan chronicles, and the Ibn Ruslan chronicles.

Although their beliefs in their religion were strong many Norsemen felt it necessary to convert to Christianity because of the growing conflicts with the missionaries and the Visigoths. Because Christian missionaries were extremely under guarded, it was a main target for Viking plundering. Since the missionaries were such easy targets, the Vikings would steal everything not tied down then trade it back to the missionaries or other merchants for a profit. Because the Christians were robbed so many times they had to rebel and started retaliating against the Vikings so in 878 A.D. the Treaty of Wedmore was formed. The treaty stated that the Viking ruler Guthrum must accept Christianity with his godfather Alfred of Wessex. Alfred then in turn (return) recognized Guthrum as king of Anglia, this is were the term, “Anglo-Saxon” was developed.

The treaty also affected trade between the Vikings (now more commonly being referred to as the Anglo-Saxons) and the Christians because Christians were not suppose to trade with pagans. However, the Christians would still trade with pagans if they agreed to conceder Christianity by ‘primsigning’ (first-signing.) Although it was, only a halfway point into Christianity it showed that the Vikings had tolerance for the Christians. More pressure came to the Vikings to convert to Christianity because they started taking residence alongside Christian neighbors. By settling down started, the one thing no Force would want to happen, the decline of the Viking power.

Because the Vikings started settling down instead of staying at sea, there power had started to decline in number. The Vikings had started to become local residents of the town that they may had once plundered and not stayed out at sea, the Viking population began dwindling down and the once scourgeful, powerful Vikings had become regular European commoners. During the decline of the Vikings, many written words were still being recorded such as the Anglo-Saxon epic of Beowulf and Grendel, but the one Scandinavian dominant Vikings were no longer plaguing medieval Europe.

Today there are many misconceptions of the Norsemen that lived in the past, such as that all Vikings wore helmets, which had horns on each side however, this is not true because as said before many Vikings did not wear helmets and the ones that did were Noblemen who could afford them. Another misconception about the Vikings believed today, is that Vikings hated Christianity, this is also not true because the Viking god Odin was based off the model of Jesus Christ and it is also a false claim because, many Vikings became Christians in the middle ages. The last misconception that many societies believe is that all Vikings were Anglo-Saxon; this theory could not be true until the Treaty of Wedmore was passed also Vikings had been on earth before the treaty was official in most of medieval Europe and later, Greenland and Iceland.

The Vikings, an unstoppable force had met with an immovable object. They were strong, courageous, excellent sailors and magnificent warriors had there ancestry taken away by the effect of change. As time progressed, more change formed and the Vikings had become just a memory in European and the rest of the world’s eyes. Although there are no true Vikings today, there memory still lives on with the written literature we have found that they had left for history. Nevertheless, if Vikings were forgotten in the eyes of Europe, why do we still have so much knowledge about them?


Citation

Bentley, Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditions and Encounters. 2nd Ed. New York City, New York: Primis Custom Publishing, 2000. (Bentley and Ziegler Chp. 17)

Williams, Gareth. "Viking Religion." British Broadcasting Company- History 01-11-2001 1-6. 1 Mar 2009 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/religion_01.shtml>.

Siddorn, Kim. "Vikings!." Regia Anglorum. 04 July 2006. Regia Anglorum . 1 Mar 2009 <http://www.regia.org/vikings.htm>.