Description
Vikings were a medieval period Sea warriors who built up a reputation for themselves as fearsome and savage pirates throughout the end of the 8th century till 11th century AD. The origin of the word "Vikings" is uncertain but is usually used for pirates from northern Scandinavia in Europe. The established an empire for themselves all the while terrorizing the entire coastal population of Europe and modern day Russia.
The Viking age is generally referred to the period from 796 up till the norman conquest of England in 1066. The original homeland of the Vikings is the present day Denmark, Norway and Sweden. They were occupationally fishermen, agriculturalists and traders. Water being their primary source of living, became their god as well. Vikings were described as Pagans by the missionaries of that time. However with their eventual settlement into the mainland Europe, they adopted the Christian faith. At the heart of Viking culture lies the "Viking Ships". These ships were extraordinarily tough and required immense skills to be built. It was due to their ships that the Vikings were able to be successful in their raids and also for trading. These long ships were also adored for their crafts. Dragon heads were carved onto them coupled with large square, red strip sail. The sight of these long ships alone would terrorize the European people for 3 centuries straight.
The first raid by the Vikings came in the form of destruction of the monastery of Lindisfarne in northern England. The monastery was a well known abbey of learning which was famous throughout the continent. The Vikings raided the monastery, killed the monks and looted immense wealth and captured slaves. This single raid would would set the stage of how the Vikings were perceived in the next 3 centuries: savage warriors with no respect for religion or appreciation for learning. In the following years coastal villages, monasteries and even cities came to be besieged by them. They raided, enslaved, pillaged, acted as mercenaries and settled in colonies over a wide area. Early vikings would often come back to their native land but during later ages they would settled in the occupied area and would intermingle with the native population. Vikings were also the first ones to discover Americas long before Christopher Columbus set foot on it.
The downfall would be marked by spread of Christianity in the Scandinavia by the 10th century. Many Viking leaders left their pagan faiths and adopted Christianity and this would mark the end of raiding of Churches by them. BY the end of the Vikings Age most European Kingdoms had learnt to defend themselves from the Vikings and had strong armies. The year 1066 is usually marked as the end of Viking raids into European lands when a Norwegian king Haraldr would be defeated by Normans of Southern England and later on killed. The Vikings are widely remember today as strong tall fearsome yet crafty warriors from the land of North and would inspire popular History TV series "The Vikings".
