Originating from the Scandinavian peninsula, Viking warriors from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway have invaded and brutally plundered many lands in Europe.

Vikings are people living in the Nordic region, in present-day Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. When it comes to Vikings, we often think of warriors or violent pirates.

If the Mongolian horse’s hooves once made the grasslands in the East unable to grow, about 300 years ago, the Vikings also caused the western seas to “wake up”.

Originating from the Scandinavian peninsula, Viking warriors from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway invaded and plundered many lands in Europe, stretching from north to south, from west to east, in the period from 793 to 1066 (historically known as the Viking Age).

As early as the 870s, Vikings from Norway and Denmark settled in Iceland, making it a Viking land. To this day, the people of Iceland are still very proud of their Viking roots.

Not only Iceland, many people in other lands that the Vikings once invaded are also proud of their Viking origins. Every year, they often organize festivals to commemorate their ancestors, for example: Up Helly Aa festival in Shetland (Scotland), Viking festival in Wolin (Poland)…

Vikings are known for their brutality, which is clearly shown in movies and novels. However, where did that personality come from? How did the Scandinavian farmers become the nightmare of the entire European continent?

The following article by Heather Pringle, National Geographic reporter, will tell us the answer:

World of Vikings

A cold drizzle made us shiver, but still filled with a sense of excitement as we waited for the Vikings to appear. It was a January night in the town of Shetland, Lerwick (Scotland).

Beside me, a man and two small children were grinning as they saw a plume of red smoke behind the town hall. “Looks like they burned down the whole building,” he shouted in excitement.

After all, fire is why we’re here. This is Up Helly Aa, the Viking memorial festival in Shetland. Like everyone else, I came here to admire the sight of a burned Viking warship.

About 1,200 years ago, the first Vikings descended to the north of mainland Scotland, crushing local resistance to plunder the land. Norwegian lords ruled Shetland for nearly seven centuries before mortgaging the islands to the king of Scotland.

Today, the Norn dialect of the Norwegians has been forgotten in Shetland, but the islanders are still proud of their Viking roots. Each year, they eagerly prepare a replica of a Viking boat for the Up Helly Aa festival.

The ruins of a Viking longhouse found on the Shetland Islands (Scotland), recall a proud past of the islanders. After defeating the local inhabitants, the Vikings ruled Shetland for almost 7 centuries.

Now, as the crowd sings the traditional songs of sea kings and dragon boats, torchbearers have pulled the boat into a field. When the Viking leader signaled, a rain of torches set the boat on fire.

The fire spread up to the mast, embers flew into the night sky. On the sidewalk, children stomped their feet, dancing in excitement.

Although centuries have passed, the image of Viking warriors and their ship is still alive in the fantasy world of filmmakers, novelists and comic book writers.

Today, we can easily find Viking stories in this fantasy world – how they fought and celebrated, where they lived and how they died. But what do we really know about the Vikings? Who are they, how do they see the world, and what are their lives really like?

Now, with advanced technology – from satellite imaging to DNA research and isotope analysis – archaeologists and scientists have found surprising new answers.

In Estonia, scientists have unearthed two buried boats filled with slain Viking warriors, thereby uncovering answers about the violent origins of the Vikings.

In Sweden, researchers are analyzing the skeleton of a female Viking general, to shed light on the role of women in warfare. And in Russia, archaeologists and historians are tracing the routes that Viking traders took to trade the slaves, and highlighting the importance of slavery to the Viking economy.

For archaeologists, the door is beginning to open a new Viking world – far more complex and fascinating than imagined. “This is a pivotal time for Viking study,” said Jimmy Moncrieff, a historian at the Shetland Amenity Trust in Lerwick.

Taken together, the new studies present a new picture of the ambition and cultural influence of these enterprising seafarers.

The nightmare of the whole of Europe

From the shores of their homeland of Scandinavia, between the Baltic and North Seas, the Vikings sailed far and wide in the 8th century, exploring much of Europe for the next 300 years, and traveling far beyond what was once seen. previously reported by researchers.

With well-designed boats and seafaring experience, the Vikings traveled to at least 37 countries around the world, from Afghanistan to Canada, according to archaeologist Neil Price of Uppsala University (Sweden).

Along the way, they have exchanged and traded luxury goods with more than 50 different cultures. They wore Eurasian belts, Chinese silk robes, and filled their pockets with Muslim silver coins.

They built flourishing cities in York and Kiev, extensive British, Icelandic, and French colonies, and established outposts in Greenland and North America. No other European seafarer has ventured and traveled as far from home as they did. “Only people from Scandinavia do this,” says Price. “Only Vikings”.

However, exploration and trade were not the only routes to riches for the Vikings. Viking pirates attacked the coasts of England and Europe with surprise and renown for their ferocity. In the north of France, they went up and down the Seine and many other rivers, attacking and loading boats with their loot.

They extorted nearly 14% of the entire economy of the Carolingian Empire in Western Europe in exchange for promises of peace. Across the English canals, sporadic raids expanded into total war, as Viking armies invaded and conquered 3 Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, leaving rotting corpses in the fields. .

“The Viking Age wasn’t about quirks,” Price said. But why did all this violence begin? How and why did the medieval peasants of Scandinavia become the terror of the entire European continent?

The Origin of “Violence”

For nearly three centuries before attacks on foreign shores began around A.D. 750, Scandinavia was in crisis, Price said. More than three dozen small kingdoms emerged during this time, vying for power and territory.

In the midst of these difficult times, another disaster struck. A large dust cloud spreading in the atmosphere – due to the impact of comets or meteorites into the Earth combined with the eruption of at least one large volcano – blocked sunlight in 536. SCN.

It caused summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere to plummet over the next 14 years. Prolonged cold and darkness brought death and destruction to Scandinavia, which lay at the backbone of medieval agriculture. In the Uppland region of Sweden, almost 75% of villages are abandoned, due to the inhabitants succumbing to famine and conflict.

A restored Viking house at the Viking Ribe Center in Denmark. Vikings cook over an open fire like this one. A typical menu usually includes: salted herring, barley porridge and boiled lamb’s head.

This disaster seems to have given birth to one of the world’s darkest myths – the Norse mythological battle of Ragnarök, the final battle where everything ends – all the gods, men and All other living things perish.

The Battle of Ragnarök is believed to have begun in Fimbulwinter, a time when the sun turned black and the weather turned inclement — astonishing events paralleling the dust curtain that began in 536, says Price.

As summer finally returned to the north and the population gradually recovered, Scandinavian society shifted to a new form – more brutal. Viking leaders built up armed forces and began to occupy abandoned territories.

In this real-life War of Thrones, a military society is formed, where men and women both celebrate the virtues of war such as: courage, aggression, cunning, strength.

On the Swedish island of Gotland, where archaeologists have found many intact tombs from this period, “most men were buried with weapons,” according to a note by John Ljungkvist, a Archaeologist at Uppsala University.

As this armed society was slowly taking shape, a new technology began to revolutionize seafaring in Scandinavia in the 7th century – the sail. Skilled carpenters began building sleek boats, capable of harnessing the power of the wind, to carry warriors farther and faster than ever before.

 

Sleek wooden boats like the Gokstad were key to the success of Viking merchants and pirates. Unearthed in 1880 from a burial ground, the 9th-century boat is equipped with sails and 32 rowers.

In these ships, northern lords and their armies could move relentlessly across the Baltic and North Seas, discovering new lands, pillaging towns and villages, colonizing territories. earth. And men who are less likely to get married in their homeland can marry a female prisoner by persuasion or by force.

All of this – centuries of imperial ambition, unknown young warriors, and a new kind of boat – created the perfect storm. A stage was set for the Vikings to pour out of the north, leaving much of Europe ablaze in the atrocity that had become their trademark.

*To be continued…

Source: National Geographic; Author: Heather Pringle; Photo: Robert Clark and David Guttenfelder

Translation and editing : Viking Sons Of Odin