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Viking AgeThe Viking Age is the name of the period between 793 A.D and 1066 A.D in Scandinavia. This corresponds to the latter half of the early Iron Age. During this period, the Vikings, Scandinavian warriors and traders, raided, and explored large parts of Europe, the Middle East, northern Africa, and even reached North America. The beginning of the Viking Age is commonly given as 793, when Vikings attacked the important British island monastary of Lindisfarne, and its end is marked by the failed invasion of England attempted by Harald Hårdråde in 1066. The clinker-built longships used by the Scandinavians were uniquely suited to both deep and shallow waters, and thus extended the reach of Norse raiders, traders and settlers not only along coastlines, but also along the major river valleys of north-western Europe. Rurik founded the first Russian state with a capital at Novgorod. Other Norse people, particularly those from the area that is now modern-day Sweden, continued south on rivers to the Black Sea and then on to Constantinople. France was particularly hard-hit by these raiders, who could sail down the Seine with near impunity. The region now known as Normandy, after its Norse raiders, was profoundly disrupted during this period. In 911, the French king, Charles the Simple, was able to make an agreement with the viking warleader Hrolf Ganger, later called Rollo. Charles gave Hrolf the title of Duke and granted him and his followers possession of Normandy. In return, Hrolf swore fealty to Charles, converted to Christianity, and undertook to defend the northern region of France against the incursions of other Viking groups. The results were, in a historical sense, rather ironic: several generations later, the Normans descendants of these Viking settlers not only identified themselves as French, but carried the French language and culture into England in 1066, after the Norman Conquest of England. ==Timeline== ==Geography== There are various theories concerning the causes of the Viking invasions. For people living along the coast, it would seem natural to seek new land by the sea. Another reason was that during this period England, Wales and Ireland, which were divided into many different warring kingdoms, were in internal disarray and easy prey. The Franks, however, had well-defended coasts and heavily fortified ports and harbours. Pure thirst for adventure may also have been a factor. A reason for the raids is believed by some to be overpopulation caused by technological advances, such as the use of iron. Although another cause could well be pressure caused by the Franks expansion to the south of Scandinavia. One important center of trade was at Hedeby. Close to the border with the Franks, it was effectively a crossroads between the cultures until its eventual destruction by the Norwegians in an internecine dispute around the year 1050. York was the center of the kingdom of Jorvik from 866, and discoveries there show that Scandinavian trade connections in the 10th century reached beyond Byzantium (e. g. a silk cap, a counterfeit of a coin from Samarkand and a cowry shell from the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf), although they could be Byzantine imports, and there is no reason to assume that the Varangians themselves travelled significantly beyond Byzantium and the Caspian Sea. ===England=== The Danes sailed south, to Friesland, France and the southern parts of England. In the years 1013-1016, Canute the Great succeeded to the English throne. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, after Lindisfarne was raided in 793 Vikings continued on small-scale raids across England. In 865 a larger army, supposedly led by Ivar, Halfdan and Guthrum (and other 'landless' kings) arrived in East Anglia. They proceeded to cross England into Northumbria, where some settled as farmers. Most of the English kingdoms, being in turmoil, could not stand against the Vikings. However, Alfred of Wessex managed to keep the Vikings out of his country. Alfred and his successors continued to drive back the Viking frontier. A new wave a Vikings appeared in England in 947 when Erik Bloodaxe captured York. Viking presence continued through the reign of Cnut (1016-1035), after which a series of inheritance arguments weakened the family reign. The Viking presence dwindled until 1066 when the Danes lost their final battle with the English. See also Danelaw ===Ireland=== The Vikings conducted extensive raids in Ireland and founded a few towns, including Dublin. At some points, they seemingly came close to taking over the whole isle; however, the Vikings and Scandinavians settled down and intermixed with the Irish. One of the last major battles involving Vikings was the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, in which Vikings fought both on High King Brian Boru's army and on the Viking-led army opposing the High King. The Normans invaded Ireland in 1172. ===Iceland=== The Norwegians travelled to the north-west and west, to the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, Iceland, Ireland and the northern parts of England. Apart from Britain and Ireland, Norwegians mostly found largely uninhabited land and established settlements. ===Greenland=== The Viking Age settlements in Greenland were established in the sheltered fjords of the southern and western coast. They settled in three separate areas along approximately 650 kilometers of the western coast. *The Eastern Settlement (61°N 45°W). The remains of ca. 450 farms have been found here. Eric the Red settled at Brattahlid on Ericsfjord. *The Middle Settlement (62°N 48°W) near modern Ivigtut, consisting of ca. 20 farms. *The Western Settlement, at modern Godthabsfjord (64°N 51°W), established before the 12th century. It has been extensively excavated by archaeologists. ===Eastern Europe=== The Swedes sailed to east into Russia, where Rurik founded the first Russian state, and on the rivers south to the Black Sea, Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. ===America=== In about the year 986 A.D, North America was discovered by Bjarni Herjólfsson. Leifur Eiríksson (Leif Ericsson) and Thorfinn Karlsefni from Greenland attempted to settle the land which they dubbed Vinland about the year 1000 A.D. A small settlement was placed on the northern peninsula of Newfoundland, near L'Anse aux Meadows, but previous inhabitants and a cold climate brought it to an end within a few years (see Freydís Eiríksdóttir). The archaeological remains are now a UN ''World Heritage Site''. It has now been scientifically established that at the height of the scandinavian expansion, the northern hemisphere entered into a period of unusual and long-lasting cold which continued for several hundred years. This miniature ice age decimated the Greenland colonies, hampered the Scandinavian homelands and stopped further westward expansion. == Technology == The Vikings were equipped with the then technologically superior longships; for purposes of conducting trade, however, another type of ship, the knarr, wider and deeper in draught were customarily used. They were competent sailors, adept in land warfare as well as at sea, and they often struck at accessible and poorly defended targets, usually with impunity. It is the effectiveness of these tactics that earned them their formidable reputation as raiders and pirates, and the chroniclers paid little attention to other aspects of medieval Scandinavian culture. This is further accentuated by the absence of contemporary primary source documentation from within the Viking Age communities themselves, and little documentary evidence is available until later, when Christian sources begin to contribute. It is only over time, as historians and archaeologists have begun to challenge the one-sided descriptions of the chroniclers, that a more balanced picture of the Norsemen has begun to become apparent. Besides allowing the Vikings to travel far distances, their longships gave them tactical advantages in battles. They could perform very efficient hit-and-run attacks, in which they attacked quickly and unexpectedly and left before a counter-offensive could be launched. Longships because of their negligible draught could sail in shallow waters, allowing the Vikings to travel far inland along the rivers. Their speed was prodigious for the time, achieving speeds estimated to be up to 14 or 15 knots. The use of the longships ended when technology changed and ships began to be constructed using saws instead of axes. This led to a lesser quality of ships and together with an increasing centralisation of government in the Scandinavian countries, the old system of Leidang---a fleet mobilization system, where every Skipen (ship community) had to deliver one ship and crew---was discontinued. Shipbuilding in the rest of Europe also led to the demise of the longship for military purposes. By the 11th and 12th centuries fighting ships began to be built with raised platforms fore and aft, from which archers could shoot down into the relatively low longships. There is an archeological find in Sweden of a bone fraction that has been fixated with in-operated material, and it is dated to some date unknown (so far) to Wikipedians. These bones might possible be the remains of a trader from the Middle East. The nautical achievements of the Vikings were quite exceptional. For instance they made distance tables for sea voyages that were so exact that they only differ 2-4% from modern satellite measurements, even on long distances such as across the Atlantic Ocean. There is a finding at the island Gotlandia in Sweden that might possible components from a telescope, although the "telescope" was invented in the 1600. See Visby lens. == Trading Cities == Important trading ports during the period include both existing and ancient cities such as Birca (Sweden), Hedeby (Denmark), Kaupang (Norway), Staraja Ladoga (Russia) and Jorvik (England). == See also == *Leidang *Runic alphabet, Rune stone *Viking ring castles Viking Age Viking AgeIt is written: ''During this period, Scandinavian warriors and traders, called Vikings''. Before removing viking, I ask for 1 single written source indicating that a scandinavian tradesman was called vikings. (History records dating from the actual time, not 1900 misinterpretions) User:Dan Koehl 14:59, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC) The article states "The Viking longships were uniquely suited to both deep and shallow waters," which is not true. The boats vikings used is extremely less known, but it can on good grounds be belived that they used the normal longship developed by scandinavian boatbuilders, and primarily used in the scandinavian defence navy, the leiding. The map below states viking territories, which wasnt viking territories. The country of Sweden as an example, was never, ever viking territory. User:Dan Koehl 10:44, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC) :partly agree. That's why I added the cleanup notice. However, if we include extortion of taxes (Danegeld) in Viking activities, Sweden was very much "Viking territory" under Olof of Sweden, dubbed "the Tax-king", who took huge amounts of silver from England to Sweden. You may say, it's piracy on a small scale, but it's imperialism on a large scale, though :o) User:Dbachmann 10:51, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC) Sweden, as a country, was not viking territory, (Source???????????????????????????????????????????????????) Olof as king was even expelled from the throne by democratic election of the thing, and he had to go to Västergötland and stay the rest of his days. The swedes elected a new king. If, Olof was so rich, and so powerful, and a "viking", or "wiking-king" in possesion of this "wiing-territory", he would surely have remanined in power, which he didnt, because there was no viking terroritory there at all, it was run as everywehere else in sweden. I am very glad, you are starting to joke, a little bit though, and that you prably see how I am trying to get both angles of the comlicated topic viking "a chance to speak", but foremost, that a visitor to the Wikipedia can get a balanced, modern view of this topic, fed with neutral information, so they can establish their own opinion based upon facts. The map is still completely wrong, may I remove it? User:Dan Koehl 11:54, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC) In what sense the territory of modern Sweden ever was "Viking territory" entirely depends on the definition of \"Viking\", which is given in the intro and "Etymology" section of Viking. Olof "inherited the throne of Sweden and became its sole ruler". Just because he had to abdicate, you conclude he was never in power? what gives?? "Sweden, as a country" ''did not yet exist''. History of Sweden: "During the 12th century, Sweden gradually became a unified Christian kingdom". During the Viking Age, there was no "Sweden", only Swedes. User:Dbachmann 12:20, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC) :It gives, Dab, that sweden was ''swedish territory''. Nothing else. Kings came and went, but he territory of sweden, was ''swedish''. Not viking territory. The only exception when sweden was not swedish territory, is during the union with denmark. And 1520 it became swedish again. Of course it was not called sweden, why on earth should we use an english name for our country? The name was Svitjod. The text on the article Stitjod states: ''Svitjod or SvíÞjóð, is an ancient name for Sweden. It appears in Beowulf as Sweoðeod, and in Jordanes as Suetidi.'' :Another written source is tacitus. :As I already told you, and which can be validated by sources, is that we effectively defended our country against vikings, and therefore it was never a "viking-territory". :Do you argue this? Do you argue our history? Why? User:Dan Koehl 12:37, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC) ---- "Sweden": "Svitjod" = "tribe of the Suiones". Early Swedish Kingdoms: "In those days the kings were warlords rather than kings as we understand that title today, and what was to become Sweden, Norway and Denmark in a modern sense, were a number of petty kingdoms whose borders changed constantly as the kings killed each other. " tired of cranksitting: User:Dbachmann 08:28, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC) :Cranksitting? Sorry I dont know the definition of this word. If its an insult, it passed by me... :Dab, you are refering to the viking age. (beginning at between 793 and 800?) During this time the german emperor recieves an offical visit from 2 diplomats from the King of sweden, requesting a bishop for (the already existing) christian society in the town Birka. The town Birka was under protection of the king. This is recorded in documents. The bishop Ansgar arrived in 829, and a chirch was erected, although it was probably one existing before. You may call this king petty, or bananas or whatecer you may choose, but his castle and the envoronment for his central administration is exccavatad, therefore fully proofed of its existence, as well as one of the selected World Heritage Sites. Nowhere, is there stated that this was viking territory. In year 800 this territory was defended against attacking vikings, with and without success. :I see now that you try to proof that sweden was a viking territory during the viking Age, by means of stating that our kingdom was petty etc. Well this might be true, but a destiny we share with many other countries during this time. That our kingdom in year 800 was not the same type of kingdom as today, is no proof that your map stating sweden as viking territory is correct, that pseudoscientific. :You have not named a written source for the statement in the map that the kingdom of sweden was viking territory. :Would you find it correct if I put a map on the page of vikings with some green paint on the areas of the present switzerland and claim that as viking territory (and when you change that start an edit war?) :Cite from Wikipedia:WikiProject History: Verifiability is an important tool to achieve accuracy, so it is strongly encourage to check facts. :You seem to be interested (although confused about) scandinavian history. Would it be possible to make a step towards a direction of cooperation rather than a silly war, with insultments and theaths of making revertings of what I write? User:Dan Koehl 09:11, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC) ::Started Wikipedia:WikiProject Scandinavia, Wikipedia:WikiProject Sweden, Wikipedia:WikiProject Vikings in order to get structure. My suggestion is to aviod humiliations, edit wars and threats, and try to focus how to bring the articles to a better quality in connection to those projects. User:Dan Koehl 11:39, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC) KEEP, this article gives a good overview of some aspects of the Viking age. "Swedish" viking era history is not very well recorded. I belive the map in question is an excellent illustration. HAa Viking AgeHistorical eras Norwegian history Swedish history History of Denmark Viking age#redirect Viking Age See other meanings of words starting from letter: VWords begining with Viking_Age: Viking_Age Viking_Age Viking_Age Viking_age Viking_Age.png Viking_Age.png Viking_Age_arms_and_armour |
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