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Viking expansion was the historical movement which led Norse explorers, traders and warriors, the latter known in modern scholarship as Vikings, to sail most of the North Atlantic, reaching south as far as North Africa and east as far as Russia, and through the Mediterranean as far as Constantinople and the Middle East, acting as looters ...
It reads ' Halvdan carved these runes'. Where did the Vikings travel to? Through raids and trading, the Vikings travelled to a lot of countries and covered huge distances. As well as settling in...
People who went off raiding in ships were said to be 'going Viking'. But not all the Vikings were bloodthirsty warriors. Some came to fight, but others came peacefully, to settle. They were...
Key learning points. York, a major settlement in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, was captured by the Vikings in 866 CE. It was an important strategic location between the Ouse and Foss rivers, making it easy to defend and good for trade.
- A Viking History Lesson
- Who Were The Viking people?
- Viking Settlements in Norway and Scandinavia
- The Beginnings of The Viking Age
- The Lindisfarne Raid
- Other Early Raids
- An Expansion Into Britain
- The Establishment of ‘Danelaw'
- Expansion Into Europe and Beyond
- Danish Dominance as Christianity Spreads
One of the most popular parts on Life in Norway in our Viking blog. Each time we publish a new article, emails with questions come flooding in. Many of these are from students doing assignments on the era. Last year we published a timelineto help piece together the story of what happened and when. But now we're taking things a step further and divi...
The Vikings came from what is now known as Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. However, they were not one “race” as such, rather small groups from all over the region. Also, Vikings weren't just limited to Scandinavia. Historical records indicate Finnish, Estonian and Saami Vikings as well. Aside from occasional trade they had very little to d...
Throughout Scandinavia, settlements were typically small farming communities home to just one or a handful of families. Power was far from centralised, relying instead on a local chieftain and the alliances he would make along the coastline. Lofor Viking museumon Norway's Lofoten Islands has a lot of great information about the role of a chieftain....
One of the most common questions I receive is why did the Viking Age begin? No-one is entirely sure, but it was clearly a transition. In the 7th and 8th centuries, Europe was growing wealthier. Scandinavian furs were prized items and it's believed this early trade taught the pre-Viking people about sailing technology and the politics (and weak poin...
For any student of history, the name Lindisfarne conjures up images of the Viking raid in 793. While it seems unlikely to be the the very first, it was documented in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, personal letters and the famous Doomsday Stone. As they're the first written sources referencing a raid, it's typically taken to be the beginning of the era....
Buoyed by this early success at Lindisfarne, Viking raids became more numerous. Just two years later, they struck undefended island monasteries in the Hebrides and northern Ireland. Four more years on, and continental Europe was hit. The island monastery of St Philibert’s on Noirmoutier, near the estuary of the Loire River, was targeted in 799. Des...
After a period of prosperity for the Vikings in West Francia, King Charles the Bald began increasing his defences. As towns, abbeys and rivers were fortified from around 862, the Vikings—principally from Denmark—turned their attention back to the British Isles. Three Icelandic sagas tell of an army that invaded England in 866, led by the sons of Ra...
The attacks on England were so numerous that only kingdom was able to resist. Aside from Wessex, much of England fell. In 871, King Alfred the Great of Wessex became the only king to record a decisive victory against a Danish Viking army in England. After this, the Danes settled north of Wessex in an area that became known as Danelaw. This period s...
While Danes were in power and then driven out of the British Isles, other Vikings remained active in Europe. Many towns suffered including Nantes on the French coast and towns further inland. Vikings stormed the Arab-controlled Seville and Italy's Pisa as they spread ever further. In 911, the king in West Francia granted the Viking chief Rollo a su...
Christianity's introduction to Scandinavia was slow and steady rather than an overnight occurrence. One of the key figures behind this change was the Danish King Harald Bluetooth, who reigned (we believe) from 958-986. The exact circumstances surrounding his own conversion are unclear, but what is clear is his substantial public works within Denmar...
Jan 13, 2011 · To the west of Britain, the Isle of Man became a Viking kingdom. The island still has its Tynwald, or ting-vollr (assembly field), a reminder of Viking rule. In Ireland, the Vikings raided around the coasts and up the rivers. They founded the cities of Dublin, Cork and Limerick as Viking strongholds.
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Nov 4, 2009 · When King Charles the Bald began defending West Frankia more energetically in 862, fortifying towns, abbeys, rivers and coastal areas, Viking forces began to concentrate more on England than ...
