Viking Essay
In the Medieval era, Vikings were different from the standards we have today, from what the media has shaped into crazy men with horns on their helmets using crossbows, but that couldn’t be more wrong because the idea of using horns came from the opera wanting to romanticize them even further and for crossbows they didn’t have them let alone use them because of their beliefs and wanting to fight man to man in the field. At the time, the term Viking was a verb not a noun as we use it today. What it meant to be a Viking, the impact they had at the time, how different they were compared to everyone else around them, and what their strengths/weaknesses were, all helped shape into what is known as the Viking Age.
First, let’s discuss …show more content…
It all started in 793 AD, when the first raiders went to Lindisfarne to kill and pillage where they had burned down the monastery bringing the suggestion addressed by the scholar Alcuin, that the Vikings were sent by God because he was mad at the Christians for their sins. Although the main reasons for the invasion was to expand by obtaining riches, doing trade, and colonizing due to overpopulation. Through trade the Vikings connected with the Byzantines in Constantinople as one of their trade ports in which different resources and items that neither one had before could now be obtained. Then as the Vikings kept raiding and trading they started to stay for longer periods of time before going back to their tribes. One day in 876 AD, Vikings began to just take over land and settle. Next, in 878 AD, a battle that was led by the Viking leader Guthrum against King Alfred the Great surrendered, agreed to convert to Christianity and formed a treaty/established Danelaw by dividing land so there would no longer be any more attacks from them. Then in 1013, Svein Forkbeard and Knut the Great conquered England, making the Anglo-Saxon Ethered the Unready to be exiled. After some time, Knut the Great converts to Christianity and reigns as the Christian King until his demise in 1035 where Edward from the House of Wessex took over until he died in January of 1066, leaving a perfect opening for England to be taken over. As a …show more content…
One strength is way they built their ships, they did this by layering planks instead of crossing them, using this technique allowed the boats to sail with little to no leaks at all. This allowed the Vikings the expand and create trade connections that allowed resources and materials to be available when they weren’t before. Although they also plundered and expanded which allowed fear to be spread about Vikings, making them a force to be reckoned with and presence to be known by all in the area, but that also became a weakness through painting a target on their back from the empires. Over time from plundering the societies that were victim to this started to unite and fight together against the Vikings. One of the main weaknesses was that over time the empires started to hire Viking mercenaries and have them fight their wars for them, an example being the rulers of Brittany in the late 9th century used the Vikings for this such instance. Meaning that one ruler would hire one tribe and the other ruler another and have the Vikings fight for them, even though most tribes wouldn’t be allies it was making the Viking society smaller and more extinct. Then over time the Vikings assimilated and/or killed each other to the point that the age of Vikings ended
In the Medieval era, Vikings were different from the standards we have today, from what the media has shaped into crazy men with horns on their helmets using crossbows, but that couldn’t be more wrong because the idea of using horns came from the opera wanting to romanticize them even further and for crossbows they didn’t have them let alone use them because of their beliefs and wanting to fight man to man in the field. At the time, the term Viking was a verb not a noun as we use it today. What it meant to be a Viking, the impact they had at the time, how different they were compared to everyone else around them, and what their strengths/weaknesses were, all helped shape into what is known as the Viking Age.
First, let’s discuss …show more content…
It all started in 793 AD, when the first raiders went to Lindisfarne to kill and pillage where they had burned down the monastery bringing the suggestion addressed by the scholar Alcuin, that the Vikings were sent by God because he was mad at the Christians for their sins. Although the main reasons for the invasion was to expand by obtaining riches, doing trade, and colonizing due to overpopulation. Through trade the Vikings connected with the Byzantines in Constantinople as one of their trade ports in which different resources and items that neither one had before could now be obtained. Then as the Vikings kept raiding and trading they started to stay for longer periods of time before going back to their tribes. One day in 876 AD, Vikings began to just take over land and settle. Next, in 878 AD, a battle that was led by the Viking leader Guthrum against King Alfred the Great surrendered, agreed to convert to Christianity and formed a treaty/established Danelaw by dividing land so there would no longer be any more attacks from them. Then in 1013, Svein Forkbeard and Knut the Great conquered England, making the Anglo-Saxon Ethered the Unready to be exiled. After some time, Knut the Great converts to Christianity and reigns as the Christian King until his demise in 1035 where Edward from the House of Wessex took over until he died in January of 1066, leaving a perfect opening for England to be taken over. As a …show more content…
One strength is way they built their ships, they did this by layering planks instead of crossing them, using this technique allowed the boats to sail with little to no leaks at all. This allowed the Vikings the expand and create trade connections that allowed resources and materials to be available when they weren’t before. Although they also plundered and expanded which allowed fear to be spread about Vikings, making them a force to be reckoned with and presence to be known by all in the area, but that also became a weakness through painting a target on their back from the empires. Over time from plundering the societies that were victim to this started to unite and fight together against the Vikings. One of the main weaknesses was that over time the empires started to hire Viking mercenaries and have them fight their wars for them, an example being the rulers of Brittany in the late 9th century used the Vikings for this such instance. Meaning that one ruler would hire one tribe and the other ruler another and have the Vikings fight for them, even though most tribes wouldn’t be allies it was making the Viking society smaller and more extinct. Then over time the Vikings assimilated and/or killed each other to the point that the age of Vikings ended