The longship’s design was ideal for lightness and speed on the ocean. It was a significant part of the Viking culture as most of their expeditions required considerable seafaring navigation. The Viking longships also became one of their most innovative constructions, used to navigate the seas and take them to distant lands. They were also farmers and traders with skills in blacksmithing, weaving, carpentry, music, crafts, and more. The Viking culture, or Norse culture, was diverse and not solely designated to pillaging and raiding. Their expansion also reached into Russia and North American countries like Greenland and the northern part of Newfoundland in Canada.
Their settlements were placed widely throughout the British Isles in places like Scotland and Ireland, they also founded, traded, and settled in cities like Dublin. The Vikings reached far and wide across Europe and were involved in many wars and trades in different countries.
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Philibert on the tidal island, Noirmoutier, in France – this was recorded as the first continental attack. It was in 799 CE when they invaded the monastery of St. They pillaged and killed the people from the island and desecrated what was considered holy without any reverence to the Christian religion practiced throughout England.Īlthough the Vikings raided many coastal areas, they also invaded inland. This was the onset of the Viking invasions and the severity of what these “Northmen” were capable of. The Viking Age started around 793 to 1066 CE with the notable 793 CE invasion of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland, North East England. Norsemen Landing in Iceland (1909), a black-and-white reproduction of a painting showing Norsemen in a ship Oscar Wergeland, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons The word vikingr is also derived from the word vík meaning “inlet” or “bay” and the suffix – ingr connotes someone who “belongs to” – the meaning can loosely be given that it is someone of the bay, which is where the Vikings were perceived to come from when they crossed the seas to invade new lands. It is particularly defined as “pirate” and derives from the Old Norse word vikingr. “Viking” has been used as a noun and verb in certain contexts. The term “Viking” has been given multiple meanings over the ages and a general understanding of its origins will provide better context.
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It is important to understand that the Vikings were only a part of the whole of this Norse culture and there was more to them than the modern-day understanding of them as violent, barbaric “pirates”. The Vikings were Norsemen and a group of seafaring “warriors” who invaded Europe and prominent areas like the British Isles – they also went as far as Russia and Canada in their conquests. The term “Northmen” was used to designate the Norsemen, otherwise, the Norse people, who inhabited medieval Scandinavia, a collective of the Northern European countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. 5.3 What Are the Characteristics of Viking Art?īefore we discuss Viking Art, it is useful to understand who these “Northmen” were.5.2 What Were the Styles of Viking Art?.4 The Viking Age Declines and the Romanesque Age Begins.