History of the Vikings

Image: Historiapedia

Within European history, one of the most active peoples during the High Middle Ages and the beginning of the Full Middle Ages were the Vikings, a people that dedicated themselves to making a series of races throughout Europe in search of loot and on the other hand they were the first merchants on such a scale. Did you also know that Vikings never wore horns on their helmets?

If you want to learn more about this civilization, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we bring you a summary of the history of the vikingsIn this way we will gradually break down the social, economic and religious life of these Nordic peoples of which so much has been written over the centuries.

Index

1. The viking period
2. Viking society
3. The Viking economy during the Viking period
4. The technology
5. The religion of the Vikings

Within our summary of the history of the Vikings, a very important element that we must highlight, will be the historical period for which said town maintained its activity. We can say that between the years

The most important peoples within the group generally known as Vikings are the Danes, Swedes and NorwegiansThese would be the first to go out to sea in search of better living conditions for their people, arriving on the coasts of Iceland, Greenland and the rest of Europe.

Continuing with our summary of the history of the Vikings, we will stop to talk about the way of life of these peoples to try to understand the reason for their activities. The Northern European lands have always been inhospitable places in which the crops have not had much roots; In the same way, the orographic conditions of these regions made it impossible to communicate via land by what the peoples had to gain control of naval techniques from very early in order to be able to communicate.

From the V-VI century a series of Germanic peoples were creating in these regions a series of tribes, whose economic base was centered on the power of the land, in that way agriculture and livestock were their ways of life.

It appears to be, according to the writings, that a excessive birth rate made men should jump into the sea to seek better living conditions for their own, since the lands were scarce and they were distributed among the most powerful elites, in this way making annual rations, facilitated the possibility to live.

Likewise, the trade that these began to carry out, exchanging skins and manufactured products for various elements such as iron, was another of the most playful activities they carried out.

We can say that there was three types of classes within society:

• Aristocrats: they owned much of the control of the land and were the beneficiaries of the businesses established by their clan. They were the only ones who could own the boats and they were the ones who decided who went to the summer races.
• Free: they were below the aristocrats and worked as peasants or as craftsmen. All were instructed in the art of war and had the right to go to the races and to claim part of the captured booty.
• Slaves: many fell into slavery due to debt or committing some atrocity. At other times, especially after the beginning of the "Viking era" they will be brought from their countries of origin as war trophies.

Each clan owed submission to the king, who annually assembled free men into a council at the capital, being there where the great expeditions were decided (every free man had to go to the advice).

Image: Slideshare

As we have mentioned before, agriculture and livestock were the main economic routes within Viking society. Being the barter the fundamental element within these societies. Over time these peoples began to jump into the sea, making a series of commercial agreements with other clans or peoples of the North Sea, making the first commercial transactions.

In the same way, the races that gave large profit margins to the Viking peoples would begin, since they obtained great spoils of war from the assaults carried out on the monasteries as well as on the cities and towns that were meeting. In the same way on some occasions we will find the hostage taking of kings, as was the case with King of Pamplona, ​​García Íñiguez, who was released after the payment of a large ransom.

In the year 789 the first writings about the Vikings appear in England, in which, the Normans arrived in Portland, where they were received as merchants, there they murdered the royal envoys and later sacked a monastery near the coast, the Lindisfarne monastery, in which the vast majority of monks were murdered and the rest were taken away as slaves along with the loot collected within the walls.

From that moment on we will find a series of attacks across Europe, among which there will be an expedition through the Iberian Peninsula, in which the atrocities were seen of these barbarians through wide areas of the coast, reaching from the Costa da Morte to the Levant Spanish. In this other lesson we discover a summary of the Viking invasions in Spain.

Within our summary on the history of the Vikings, a turning point for the end of the warlike actions was the emergence of christianity In their lifes. For after the acceptance of this as an official religion, war against Christian peoples, that is, against any part of Europe, was punished under penalty of excommunication.

In this way they went on to become great merchants and explorers, leaving aside the races made previously. However, we will find that, from that moment, around the year 1100, many men sold themselves as mercenaries anywhere in Europe to make a profit, as their land was still too poor.

Image: Slideshare

We cannot help but ignore the creation of the longship, the Viking ship par excellence. This element was essential for their races, because they had managed to create a fairly light boat, with a very small draft, which allowed them to enter the great European rivers. By going back they made it possible to attack cities that were initially safe from these pirate attacks.

Closely related to boats will be the use of Solar compasses and Visby "telescope" lenses, objects through which navigation was improved, even making it possible to navigate through the day at sea, hence they could reach destinations so far from their lands in such a short time.

We enter the last point of our summary on the history of the Vikings talking about their religion. This was polytheistic, having gods for all natural phenomena. Their paradise was called Valhalla, in which the warriors enjoyed daily banquets with the gods; there were also great battles (the only worthy office in society) and great women.

Little is known about the ceremonies carried out by these, the little that is known is that they took hallucinogenic substances as was the case with mushrooms, through which they entered a kind of trance, therefore, they believed they were talking to gods.

Within this section we must mention their form of burial, since they were buried in big boats, dressed with their weapons, clothing, food, their treasure (the one collected by the spoils) and even by slaves (they used to be women) who had to serve them in the new life. This fell quickly with the arrival of Christianity by means of which they were replacing these ceremonies by burials, without the ostentation required previously.

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