Viking | History, Exploration, Facts, & Maps

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What is the origin of the word Viking?

The etymology of the word Viking is uncertain. There are many theories about its origins. The Old Norse word víkingr usually meant “pirate” or “raider.” It was in use from the 12th to the 14th century, and it was likely derived from an earlier Old Scandinavian word contemporary to the Vikings themselves.

Who were the Vikings?

The Vikings were raiders, pirates, traders, explorers, and colonizers during the 9th to 11th century. They often traveled by sea from Scandinavia and took control of areas of Europe and beyond.

What was the Vikings’ religion?

The Vikings’ original religion was the pagan and polytheistic Old Norse religion, which can be traced back to about 500 BCE in what is now Denmark. As Christianity took hold in Scandinavia, beginning in the 8th century CE, its followers dwindled in numbers. However, this older tradition continued Viking culture.

Why did Viking raids stop?

The defeat of the king of Norway, Harald III Sigurdsson, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 is considered the end of the age of Viking raids. A number of broader factors contributed to the Vikings’ decline: more and more communities previously attacked by Vikings became better able to defend themselves, with armies and fortifications; Christianity’s spread in Europe; and less egalitarianism in Viking society.

Why do Viking helmets have horns?

The stereotype of Viking helmets having horns goes back to costuming in 19th-century opera. In reality, horned helmets would have been impractical during combat. They may have been worn only for ceremonial purposes in pre-Viking times. The main style of actual helmets was the spangenhelm, consisting of several pieces of iron riveted together.

How did Viking warriors dress?

Viking men would normally wear a woolen overtunic, linen undertunic, either tight or baggy trousers without pockets, woolen leg wrappings, and waterproof leather shoes. Vikings’ typical wartime apparel included the spangenhelm helmet and lamellar or leather armour or chain mail.

How was Viking society organized?

Viking society was organized into three classes: karls, who were freemen and landowners; jarls, who were wealthy nobles tasked with maintaining the well being of their subjects; and thralls, who were either slaves or bondsmen, the latter having to work for other men until they could pay their debts.

Did Viking women fight?

Viking women were able to own property and divorce their husbands, and they often ran their family’s finances and farms in their husbands’ absence. There are also a few records of women dressed like men learning to use swords and fighting—so-called “shieldmaidens,” the most famous of whom was Lagertha, the wife of Ragnar Lothbrok.

Where did the Vikings live?

The Vikings originated from the area that became modern-day Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. They settled in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Iceland, Greenland, North America, and parts of the European mainland, among other places.

How did Viking raids affect Europe?

The impact of Viking raids on Europe included a greater Scandinavian influence on language in conquered areas. For example, in English the weekdays Thursday and Friday are named after the Nordic deities Thor and Frigg, also called Freyja. The Viking raids also left a literary legacy of sagas as well as an imprint on the DNA of local populations. 

Viking, also called Norseman or Northman, member of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the 9th to the 11th century and whose disruptive influence profoundly affected European history. These pagan Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish warriors were probably prompted to undertake their raids by a combination of factors ranging from overpopulation at home to the relative helplessness of victims abroad.

The Vikings were made up of landowning chieftains and clan heads, their retainers, freemen, and any energetic young clan members who sought adventure and booty overseas. At home these Scandinavians were independent farmers, but at sea they were raiders and pillagers. During the Viking period the Scandinavian countries seem to have possessed a practically inexhaustible surplus of manpower, and leaders of ability, who could organize groups of warriors into conquering bands and armies, were seldom lacking. These bands would negotiate the seas in their longships and mount hit-and-run raids at cities and towns along the coasts of Europe. Their burning, plundering, and killing earned them the name víkingr, meaning “pirate” in the early Scandinavian languages.

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The exact ethnic composition of the Viking armies is unknown in particular cases, but the Vikings’ expansion in the Baltic lands and in Russia can reasonably be attributed to the Swedes. Elsewhere, the nonmilitary colonization of the Orkney Islands, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland was clearly accomplished by the Norwegians.

England

In England desultory raiding occurred in the late 8th century (notably the raid on the monastery of Lindisfarne [Holy Island] in 793) but began more earnestly in 865, when a force led by the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok—Halfdan, Inwaer (Ivar the Boneless), and perhaps Hubba (Ubbe)—conquered the ancient kingdoms of East Anglia and Northumbria and reduced Mercia to a fraction of its former size. Yet it was unable to subdue the Wessex of Alfred the Great, with whom in 878 a truce was made, which became the basis of a treaty in or soon after 886. This recognized that much of England was in Danish hands. Although hard pressed by fresh armies of Vikings from 892 to 899, Alfred was finally victorious over them, and the spirit of Wessex was so little broken that his son Edward the Elder was able to commence the reconquest of Danish England. Before his death in 924 the small Danish states on old Mercian and East Anglian territory had fallen before him. The more remote Northumbria resisted longer, largely under Viking leaders from Ireland, but the Scandinavian power there was finally liquidated by Eadred in 954. Viking raids on England began again in 980, and the country ultimately became part of the empire of Canute. Nevertheless, the native house was peacefully restored in 1042, and the Viking threat ended with the ineffective passes made by Canute II in the reign of William I. The Scandinavian conquests in England left deep marks on the areas affected—in social structure, dialect, place-names, and personal names (see Danelaw).

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