THE VIKINGS AND
THEIR UK INVASION
History and culture of UK
University of Santiago de Compostela
Historia e cultura das Illas Británicas
Filoloxía Inglesa 4º
2012
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,THE VIKINGS
1. The Vikings, general introduction
The name Viking
The origin of the term Viking term is confuse, it can come from different roots like
“Vikja”, which means, “to move fast”, or from the term “Vik-“which means Bahia, or
from, “viken”, which is a region of Norway in the Oslo Fjord. Probably the first Vikings
come from there. However they were known all around the world with different names
like North men, the men of the north. Also they were called with the term “Dani”, from
Danes. The Germans called them Ascomaner, the Irish called then Gaill, which
means foreigner, “Lochlannaight”, men from the country of the lakes, and
“Dubhlohconnaigh”, black men from the country of the lakes, probably the black
color of their weapons and shields.
For the Anglo Saxons they were called Danes, the finish called them Routsi, and
from that term it comes Rus, from which served to give name to Rusia.
The Greeks called then Varegos, that could be a Scandinavian tribe, and the Muslims
called them Al Magnus-.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Viking Empire took place and it lasted around
five centuries. The chronicles of the time tell us that the end of the Roman Empire did
not mean the end for the European culture, at the contrary, it was a very livable
continent inhabited by different cultures, which tried to survive against the violence of
that time.
The Scandinavians or the so called “Men of the North” are a clear example of this
culture. They used their ships to spread their culture, their element was the sea. They
had great qualities to sail, and they could navigate and to know maritime routes
without having a compass.
It is also true that the Vikings were known for their violence, they were very strong
and when they arrived to a new country, they usually settled there, mixing with
another people. They are described as violent and fiery men, but also as enterprising
and courageous.
They were able to arrive to America some centuries before the official date of the
discovery of America, in 1492 by Cristobel Colón. They are also known for being
brave warriors, for that is that they were feared in much parts of the world. They were
good fishers, good in agriculture and the creators of new trade routes, and great
traders as well.
The Vikings were the heirs of a great tradition. Scandinavia has never been colonized
by the Romans. The hard weather that they had to resist all the year there made
them to be more resistant that the people living in the South. One hundred of years
before Jesus Christ was born, an army of Norse men threatened the Roman Empire.
They were the cimbri and they came from the Danish lands. Their allies were the
Teutons, from north Germany. The Roman Empire had a hard time, and they could
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,only defeat them some years later after their first battle.
2. Origin of the Vikings
The north of Europe was covered with Ice around 20.000 years ago. That period of
time is known as the Ice Age. During the Ice Age there were ice sheets around parts
of Europe and Asia. That was a time in which Scandinavia was covered all with
glaciers. When the ice started to disappear from the north Europe and to melt, the
Scandinavian lands started to being inhabited by nomad people who lived on hunting
and on fishing in order to survive. It has been recent archeological studies which
suggest that the first inhabitants after the Weichsel glaciation were the Neanderthal
man.
That image show us the covered of ice in Scandinavia in the last ice age.
By 8,000 BC, there were extensive settlements in the region, but the drop of the
temperatures made that the inhabitants moved southward to the coasts. .Little by
little they would start to adopt new costumes and to develop agriculture. With the
beginning of the agriculture they started to settle in some areas, instead of being
nomads. Sailing will be one of the most useful resources that they will use, especially
in a cost full of fiords. They got adapted to live in an extreme cold climate and in a
very inaccessible land. Most part of the year that land was full of snow. Sailing will
allow them to move around easily and to create contact with other groups of
population. Consequently it will appear the trade. With the time, the Scandinavians
will perfection his sailing techniques and they will become expert sailors, they also
dare to arrive to unknown territories and to explore America.
Most of the Scandinavians in that time, specially the young without lands, wanted to
go away and to find new places to live, it is in that time when they started to have
relationships with another cultures and another countries.
Those territories are formed by the ones that we know nowadays as Norway,
Denmark, and Sweden.
The Vikings were firstly a term which made reference to a group of vandals that will
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, create fear in most parts of the world. They can also be called the pirates of the sea.
They started to do expeditions and maritime routes around with their ships. One day
those maritime expeditions became a trip to find gold and new good things, and not
to trade in new lands. They were called the Vikings. When they arrived to a new
land, the y took everything that they found, especially in monasteries, killing their
inhabitants, and robbing some personal things, probably they only did that because
they wanted some material possessions.
Viking it was the name for tat pirates who did that, and the term for the person who
did that was called “Vkingr”. So the term Viking was not referred to all the
Scandinavians in that time, not all the Scandinavians were Vikings, only the ones
who participated in pirate expeditions. Actually that was a little percentage of the
Scandinavian population. However that term will survive in the time and it will spread.
The term Viking spread their meaning with the time and that was the name to name
used to denominate the Norse People.
3. The Viking era
The retirement of the Romans from the British Islands in took place in the V th
century, and later with the fall of the roman empire, most of territories were not
protected against the attack of new invaders. So that, at the end of the VIII century,
the Vikings arrived to the British coast. This kind of invasions was more or less
normal in that time, however the arriving of the Vikings marked a difference, they
were cruel and violent, and they attacked places that it have been respected before,
like monasteries, churches, and places where powerful persons lived. The Anglo-
Saxon Chronicles tells us that the Vikings arrived to Northumbria, they were a group
of warriors, and they attacked the monastery of Lindisfane, killing a great number of
people and taking a lot of precious things.
Monastery of Lindisfane, Holy Island Berwick Upon Twid, Northumbria
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