Viking Age 750 to 1400 CE

The Viking Age was a time of transition and upheaval in

Scandinavia.

Raids were conducted as a matter of survival, not out of a love of violence.

The Vikings were fierce warriors.(But they never wore horned helmets!)

The Vikings’ most notorious attack: Lindisfarne Monastery,

England, 793

Church centers and monasteries = major sources of wealth at this time

Frightened monks likely exaggerated

and dramatized events

The Vikings were not just warriors. They were also master craftsmen,

shrewd businessmen, and fearless explorers.

Viking raiders returned home with foreign slaves, new materials, and

revolutionary ideas.

The Vikings’ activities stimulated political change in Europe and

Russia.

The Vikings explored North America 500 years before Columbus.

Viking settlement in North America:L’Anse aux Meadows

Newfoundland, Canada

Sagas =innovative literature that blended Viking oral poetry and storytelling

with Christian and Irish written traditions

Erik the Red - Greenland

Leif Eriksson - Vinland

End of the Viking Era

It’s a bit of a mystery, but the end probably came as a result of tired

Vikings who had become citizens of many places in Europe.

Vikings’ greatest impacts:

connecting peoples in distant places, finding new horizons, using new technology,

and encouraging cultural diffusion