Instead of the terms BC (before Christ)
and AD (Anno Domini – in the Year of
Our Lord) this time line will use BCE
(Before the Common Era) and CE
(Common Era). These abbreviations are
becoming the standard in scholarly work.
An ahistorical depiction of a Viking
Who Were the Vikings?
•
The Vikings, or Norse, were a phenomenal race of Scandinavian
warriors who raided Northern Europe, Eastern Asia, and Eastern North
America. The exploits of the Norwegian vikings lead them west to settle
into Iceland in 860 and later to colonize Greenland about a hundred
years later. The Swedish Vikings set out across the Baltic Sea into
Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia. By the end of the first millennium
the Vikings reached North America five hundred years before
Columbus.
•
Vikings were not just pirates and warriors but also traders and colonists.
•
The word Viking means one who lurks in a “Vik” or bay, in effect, a
pirate.
•
The word “Viking” also describes a whole new age in Europe between
about the mid 700 to 1150 AD. This was a period of raiding as well as
creating far trade networks of settlements by Scandinavians.
•
Vikings were comprised of Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish decent.
How do we know about the Vikings?
Sources and Contemporary Accounts
•Vikings left many traces of their settlements that
are still visible today. Archaeology provides
physical evidence of their conquests, settlements,
and daily life.
•Not a lot of evidence survives, and much of what
we have is either uninformative or unreliable.
Many popular ideas of Vikings are 19th century
inventions, such as horns on helmets. Few
historical records and contemporary written
sources exist anymore.
•Surviving accounts of Viking activity was almost
exclusively written by churchmen. These included
monastic chronicles such as the Anglo Saxon
chronicle, Frankish, and Irish Annals. The
chronicles reflect the fact that Vikings attacked
these monasteries for their wealth and the
accounts had a hostile tone to give a popular
image of Viking atrocities. The Vikings were
considered heathens for their invasions in
monasteries and as a result were portrayed in the
worst possible way.
One of the earliest Icelandic Manuscripts in
Old Norse, the Viking language.
“Saga” is a Norse word meaning tales. These
The
writings provide almost all
of theSagas
knowledge we
have of the Vikings.
There are about forty sagas that include
descriptions of historical events in Iceland and
voyages across the North Atlantic from Norway,
Greenland and Vinland (Newfoundland). The
sagas also have records of family history such as
Erik the Red who founded Greenland, and his son
Leif Erickson who discovered North America.
The Sagas were compiled in the 13th and 14th
century, and later based on stories that originated
as early as 400 and 500 years before that.
Archaeology is providing that a lot of these stories
have a good basis of fact; in fact the Icelandic
sagas were used to help find what might be the
site of Vinland.
The Saga
The Eddas
•There are also Norse oral
religious traditions written as
poems that are collectively
named as Eddas.
•They are folktales.
•Eddas and Sagas weren’t
written on paper. Instead on
vellum-sheepskin or calf skin.
Vellum is more resistant to rot
and preserves much better
than paper does. Thank god
they used vellum!!
What were their goals?
• Raids and loot were not the whole story of the
Vikings. Land to farm was also a commodity. There
were limited sources of food.
• They received influences from Europe that they
saw as technologically and politically superior to
their culture. Unlike many other invaders in history,
the vikings weren’t trying to spread their religion
that was paganism, rather gain new resources and
new connections. They wanted political and
economical advantage.
• They had to find food, live off the land, and set up
shop. They drove people out and took their money
and other valuables they had. Vikings targeted the
church and monasteries, which were the major
sources of wealth at the time.
An accurate depiction of
what a Viking looked like.
Ships and Navigation
• We know what their ships looked like because many
vikings were buried with their goods that sometimes
included their boats.
• They had swift wooden long ships, equipped with
sails and oars.
• Shallow drought of these ships meant they were able
to reach far inland by river or stream to strike and
move before local forces could assemble.
• Ships had overlapping planks, and measured between
17.5m and 36m in length. They were steered by a
single oar mounted on the starboard side.
• Reached an average speed of 10 to 11 knots
•Crews of 25 to 60 men would be common, but larger
ships could carry over a hundred people.
• Sea battles were rare. They fought close to shore.
Ships were roped together in lines to face an enemy
fleet.
Figureheads would be
raised at stem and stern
as a sign of war.
Battles and Tactics
•Vikings had no professional standing army and tactics
and discipline seemed at little development. They didn’t
fight in regular formations
•Weapons training began at youth in hunting, sports,
and raiding.
•Aspiring warriors wanted armed service so they
clanged to famous fighters in order to be rewarded with
weapons and fame of their own. A leader needed to
wage war frequently in order to keep his followers and
maintain power against rivals.
• In preparation for battle younger warriors would draw
up a line with their shields to create a shield wall for
better protection.
•Chiefs were well protected by a body guard.
• They would either capture and kill their enemies
Many capturers would become slaves.
•The famous Berserker warriors fought in groups, and
believed that Odin, their god of war, gave them both
protection and superhuman powers so they had no need
for armor. Berserker battles were intense and it’s said
they bit on their shields and could ignore the pain of
wounds.
Many experienced vikings formed a wedge
of 20 to 30 men and would then charge at the
enemy. They fought mainly on foot. The
largest armies may have been 4,000 to 7,000
men. After war Vikings would return to lives
as farmers, merchants, craftsmen, or join
other war-bands.
Offensive Weapons
• The main offensive weapons were
the spear, sword, and battle-axe.
• They carried weapons not just for
battle but also as a symbol of their
owners’ class and wealth. Weapons
were decorated with inlays, twisted
wire and other accessories in silver,
copper, and bronze.
• The spear was the common weapon
with an iron blade 2m to 3m in
length.
•Swords were a sign of high status
because they were costly to make.
The blades were usually double
edged and up to 90cm. Many swords
were given names.
Defensive Weapons
• There were circular shields up to one meter
across that were carried. The shield may
have been leather covered. Around 1000, the
kite shaped shield was introduced to the
Vikings to provide more protection for the
legs.
• It was essential to wear thick padding
underneath to absorb the force of blows or
arrow strikes. Reindeer hide was used as
armor.
•They used long tunics of mail armor
reaching below the waist. They were not
very protective. It took many hours to
produce a shirt, making it very expensive.
It’s likely they were worn more by leaders.
•Helmets were probably worn by leaders as
well. Horned helmets also took great skill to
produce.
An accurate viking helmet left. The mail armor shown right.
A modern myth!!!
Conquests
•The first Viking raids were hit- and -run
affairs. There was no coordination and long
term plan behind them. The Vikings would
later have more powerful forays and would
have base camps where they would spend the
winter.
• Vikings raided the British Isles and the
Western portions of the Carolingian Empire in
France. They conquered much of Northern
England in the 9th century, and they
established a kingdom in Ireland.
•In return for cash Vikings negotiated peaceful
coexistence and conversion to whomever they
attacked. Some leaders paid ransom to Viking
armies.
•In 911 AD Charles III of France gave
Normandy (“French for territory of
Norsemen”) to the Viking leader Rollos who
became a Christian. Vikings helped adopt the
French language and organized a strong state in
Normandy.
•During the same century a Norman adventurer
Robert Guiscard created the Norman kingdom
of Sicily. (continued)
Maximum extent of the islamic conquests, 7th 11th centuries (Green). Areas ruled by the
Vikings or Normans, 9th - 12th centuries
(Brown). Carolingian Empire at the death of
Charlemagne in 814 (Grey)
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Vikings reached Iceland and it
had become a settlement for
Norwegians and Danes.
982 Erik the Red founded
Greenland.
Leif Erikson later landed on North
America.
The Vikings who went to the British
Isles and continental Europe, were
mostly from Denmark and Norway.
The Swedes went beyond the Baltic
away from Christian europe into
Russia, Constantinople, an
Baghdad.The Swedish Vikings
influenced the growth of the early
Russian state around Kiev. The
Slavic people called them “Rus”.
They were ruled by Vikings for a
long time that the land was named
Russia.
In Constantinople they helped form
and were recruited as Varangian
guards of the Byzantine emperors.
Swedes were similar to all the other
Vikings as they were soldiers,
settlers, traders, and voyagers.
Other Acquired Territory
What happened to the Vikings?
•
•
•
•
•
Vikings became citizens of many
places in Europe.
Many had become Christians back
in their homelands. This lead to
the downfall of the Norse religion
and culture.
Kings instituted taxes and the
economy changed so that you
could get along better off as a
trader than a raider.
The Viking invasions caused
European kingdoms to be more
centralized and focused.
European kingdoms learned how
to protect themselves and gain by
trading and negotiating with the
Vikings instead of battling them.
The Viking
end
The Viking’s Impact
•
•
•
•
Many styles of the Viking ships
were adopted by other European
powers.
The jury of English common law
was a an outgrowth of Viking
ideas about community obligations
and sworn investigations.
Signs of Viking influence are
found in languages, vocabulary,
and place-names of the areas
they settled.
They had an impact on medieval
technology and trade, and was an
important part of Europe’s
development.
Timeline~ Do Not Write this down~ Read Aloud
789 -Vikings begin their attacks on England.800
800 -The Oseberg Viking longship is buried about this time
840 -Viking settlers found the city of Dublin in Ireland.
844 -A Viking raid on Seville is repulsed.
860 -Rus Vikings attack Constantinople (Istanbul).
862 -Novgorod in Russia is founded by the Rus Viking, Ulrich.
866 -Danish Vikings establish a kingdom in York, England.
871 -Alfred the Great becomes king of Wessex; the Danish advance is halted in England.
872 -Harald I gains control of Norway.
879 -Rurik establishes Kiev as the center of the Kievan Rus' domains.
886 -Alfred divides England with the Danes under the Danelaw pact.
900 -The Vikings raid along the Mediterranean coast.
911 -The Viking chief Rollo is granted land by the Franks and founds Normandy in France.
941 -Rus Vikings attack Constantinople (Istanbul).
981 -Viking leader Erik the Red discovers Greenland.
986 -Viking ships sail in Newfoundland waters.
991 -Æthelred II pays the first Danegeld ransom to stop Danish attacks on England.
995 -Olav I conquers Norway and proclaims it a Christian kingdom.
1000 -Christianity reaches Greenland and Iceland.
1000 -Leif Eriksson, son of Erik the Red, explores the coast of North America.
1000 -Olav I dies; Norway is ruled by the Danes
1002 -Brian Boru defeats the Norse and becomes the king of Ireland.
1010 -Viking explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni attempts to found a settlement in North America.
1013 -The Danes conquer England; Æthelred flees to Normandy.
1015 -Vikings abandon the Vinland settlement on the coast of North America.
1016 -Olav II regains Norway from the Danes.
1016 -The Danes under Knut (Canute) rule England.
1028 -Knut (Canute), king of England and Denmark, conquers Norway.
1042- Edward the Confessor rules England with the support of the Danes.
1050 -The city of Oslo is founded in Norway.
1066 -Harold Godwinson king of England defeats Harald Hardrada king of Norway at the Battle of Stamford Bridge
1066 -William duke of Normandy defeats the Saxon king Harold at the Battle of Hastings.
400BC-300BC
Ancient Greece - because of their physical geography individual
communities developed. The city-state of ___Athens__introduced _democracy___
which laid the foundation for Europe’s government and culture
Earliest Greek Civilizations
• The origins of Greek civilization are somewhat
obscure. Neither historians, archaeologists, nor linguists
can confidently establish when Greek-speaking peoples
made the Balkan peninsula of Greece their home
• Minoans
– The first civilization to arise in the area of Greece came on the
island of Crete.
– Archaeologists have given it the name of Minoan, after the
mythical Cretan king Minos
– By sometime around 1650 BC, the island of Crete was home to
the Minoan culture that flourished (although people had
inhabited the island since the Neolithic period)
– Almost all we know about Minoan culture comes from
archaeology, since we cannot decipher their written language
– The symbol of Minoan culture was the palace
• Around 1650 BC, Crete was dotted with a number of palaces, with
the most important one being at Cnossus
• The palace was the political and economic center of Minoan society,
containing storage areas and trading centers for the local region
Mycenaean
We know little about when the Mycenaean's came to Greece (or where they
came from), except that they spoke a language of the Indo-Aryan family.
By 1650 BC, they were firmly established on the Peloponnesus peninsula in the
city of Mycenae, a major city and trading center.
Mycenae was the capital for the legendary king Agamemnon (the Trojan War).
As in Crete, the political unit was a kingdom ruled by the king and his warrior
nobles. The kings ruled from their palaces (unlike those of the Minoans, those of
Mycenae were walled). These palaces also served as the commercial centers of
a tightly controlled economy. The Mycenaean economy was marked by
extensive division of labor, tightly controlled from above. People were divided
into artisans, farmers, laborers, and slaves (most of whom toiled for kings or
aristocrats). All worked according to orders from the king and his nobles the
Mycenaean's conducted regular trade with the Minoans--for at least 200 years,
relations between the two peoples were peaceful. Sometime around 1450 BC,
Mycenaean's attacked Crete, destroying many of the Minoan palaces and
capturing the one at Cnossos for the next 50 years, the Mycenaean's ruled
Crete until a further wave of violence destroyed Cnossos and left much of the
island in ashes (unanswered question is who, not what destroyed civilization on
Crete--natural disaster ruled out). Mycenaean's took advantage of the absence
of the Minoans to expand their trade to encompass the eastern Mediterranean
and the Aegean. Their culture flourished like it had never done before as they
became quite prosperous from their commercial activities.
The “Dark Age” of Greece
The period following the fall of the Mycenaean's ushered in such poverty, disruption,
and backwardness that historians usually call it the “Dark Age” of Greece.
For the next 300 years (until 800 BC), Greece remained a land of chaos- Literacy,
which had never been widespread under the Minoans nor Mycenaean's, basically
disappeared completely.
Still, the period was important to the development of later Greek civilization. The
warfare and chaos of the era caused many Greek-speaking peoples to flee--some to
Crete, others across the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor. In effect these migrants turned
the Aegean into a Greek lake.
The collapse of Mycenaean civilization also opened the door for new developments
in the social and political areas of the Greeks.
The loss of imports in copper and tin meant they could not use bronze any
more, so they turned to working in iron to supply their needs for metal.
The loss of literacy fostered the highly developed oral tradition which gave rise
to the Homeric epics.
The lack of writing also made possible the later adoption of the alphabet system
from the Phoenicians (which they would later modify into the Greek alphabet).
Finally, the collapse of the centralized palace system left survivors adrift
in small groups under local leaders who could most efficiently lead continuing
survival efforts (or lead migrations).
These small groups provide the nucleus out of which developed the
autonomous city-state, or polis --the basic unit of later Greek civilization.
Homeric Age
The major cultural development of the Dark Age was the oral tradition of epic
poetry.
The most important (as well as the most famous of these) were the Iliad and
the Odyssey, attributed to Homer.
The Rise of the Polis
During the Dark Age of Greek history, the polis came to be the dominant
political unit.
With the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, the Greek peoples needed a
government that was flexible in the face of rapidly changing conditions and
responsive to local needs.
To solve this problem, they developed the polis as their main form of
government.
What is the polis?
The polis is not really a city-state--in many cases will not even center
around a city (many of the polis were centered by towns, Sparta was
actually a group of small towns and villages rather than one urban center).
The polis also differed from modern cities in that it was autonomous, that
is not controlled by a larger regional or national government.
The polis included the city or town and the surrounding countryside.
Governing the Polis
There were several ways that the poleis were
governed.
The form of ruler ship depended on how those
who held the power locally wanted to be
governed.
1) Monarchy
2) Aristocracy
3) Oligarchy (rule of the few) -- usually a small
group of wealthy citizens, not necessarily the
aristocracy.
4) Democracy -- all citizens, without respect to
birth or wealth participated in the
administration of the polis.
5) Tyranny -- someone who seizes power
unlawfully--generally by using his wealth to
gain a political following that could topple the
existing government.
Each polis contained a point, usually elevated above the rest of
the city, called the acropolis, and a public square or marketplace
called the agora.
The acropolis served double duty in most polis areas, being a
place of refuge in times of trouble and a place of worship-containing temples, altars, public monuments, and various
dedications to the gods of the polis.
Ex.--Acropolis in Athens was originally used as the city's last
place of refuge when the city came under attack (they even
constructed a shaft 120 feet deep down to a spring; with five
flights of stone and wooden steps constructed to make it easy
and safe to get water during a siege).
Each city had an agora, which was originally where the
warrior assembly met. But over time, the agora became the
political center of the polis--a place for public meetings.
The agora also came to house a number of shops, public
buildings, and courts.
Adjacent to the agora was an area set aside for dancing and
celebration, which often later served as the location of the
polis's theatre.
Growth of Sparta
During the Lyric Age, Spartans expanded the boundaries of their polis and
made it the leading power in Greece.
Like other Greeks, the Spartans faced the serious problem of
overpopulation and the need for more land--Unlike the others, the
Spartans solved this problem through conquest rather than colonization.
In 735 B.C., the Spartans first set out to conquer the Messinia, a rich
fertile region in the southwestern Peloponnesus--the war lasted for 20
years and ended in Spartan triumph.
The Spartans then appropriated the Messenian land and turned the
native inhabitants into helots (or serfs of the state).
About 650 B.C., the helots rebelled against the Spartans, leading to a
bloody 30 year war that ended in Spartan victory, but one that left
them with little stomach for more fighting.
Following the war, the commoners of Sparta (who had done much of the
fighting) demanded equality with the nobility.
The commoners agitated and disrupted Spartan society so much that
the nobility agreed to remodel the government.
The reforms, called the Lycurgan regimen, created a new political,
social, and economic system.
Political distinctions among Spartans were eliminated and all citizens
became legally equal--in effect, eliminating the aristocracy and
creating an oligarchy.
The government was formally led by 2 kings (war leaders) aided by a
council of 28 elders who controlled military and foreign policy.Domestic
affairs were handled by five ephors (overseers) elected from and by all the
people.
Economically, the Spartans divided the land of Messenia among all
citizens--helots worked the land, providing food for the Spartans (Spartans
kept them in line through force).
Under the Lycurgan system, every citizen owed primary allegiance to
Sparta.
The Evolution of Athens
Athens located on the Attican plateau.
Although Athens faced the same social and economic upheavals as Sparta during
the Lyric Age, Athenian society evolved very different from that of Sparta.
Instead of creating an oligarchy, over time the Athenians extended the right
and duty of governing the polis to all citizens.
However, it took some time for Athens to develop its system of democracy.
• The Classical Age of Greece -- Culture and
Society in Athens.
• For all the horrors and loss of life and property
during the Peloponnesian wars, some positive
developments did occur in Athens.
• Athenian arts in the Age of Pericles
– Architecture
• During his 20 or so years as the leader of Athens, Pericles
turned the city into the showplace of Greece.
• He appropriated money from Delian League funds to pay for
a huge building program, planning temples and other
buildings to honor Athena, the patron goddess of the city, and
to display to all Greeks the glory and superiority of the
Athenian polis.
Architecture
Model of Parthenon
Architecture
Ionic
Architecture
Erechtheum on Acropolis in Athens c. 421 BC
Architecture
Doric
Architecture
Doric: Temple of Athena
Architecture
Corinthian
Architecture
The temple of Zeus at Athens Detail
Architecture
Epidarus
• Athenian theatre
– Athenian drama, both comedies and tragedies, formed an important part
of Greek life (not only in terms of the art form, but also as a way of
understanding the people).
– Drama probably originated as an opposition between a chorus and a
single actor--choral performances had been around from earliest times
as a part of honoring the gods or celebrating military and athletic
victories.
• Philosophy (mainly centered around Athens)
– Ancient Greek philosophy focused on finding rational, even skeptical,
ways of explaining the natural world and relationships among
people. Although some of these philosophers worshipped the Greek
gods, as a group, they sought explanations that did not evolve around
these deities--a human-centered way of approaching the questions of
life, the universe, and everything.
– Hippocrates (around 400 B.C.)--attempted to make medical diagnoses
and find cures based on rational observation rather than explaining
illnesses as having supernatural causes.
– This lack of emphasis on the divine or supernatural was also reflected in
the way the Greeks shaped their political and legal systems, something
they spent much time and effort in developing.
During this Classical Age, three philosophers stood
out in theorizing about relationships between humans
and their world
• Socrates
– First among these was Socrates (469-399 BC).
– Unlike his Sophist contemporaries, Socrates did not take pay
for teaching and claimed he was only wise enough to know the
extent of his own ignorance.
– He taught using the dialectic method (often called Socratic
method today) of a series of probing unending questions.
– Socrates was a devout believer that human reason could lead
him to the truth.
– He used his questioning to challenge basic beliefs of those
around him, trying to get them to use reason instead of blindly
following tradition or the masses.
– Socrates despised democracy, believing that government
should be in the hands of strong, intelligent, and informed
people.
– His questioning attacks about government led to his trial and
execution in 399.
• Plato (student of Socrates) (429-347)
– Approached the gaining of wisdom as a science--argued
that knowledge and virtue came through constant study
and questioning.
– This science, according to Plato, could only be truly
understood by those with sufficient training and
intelligence (Plato has little faith in masses).
– Like Socrates, Plato despised democracy, arguing that it
was the worst system of government for the people.
– He called for an enlightened despot (benevolent dictator)
to rule a society where strife would be eliminated by
erasing its causes--mainly private property and the
family.
– Argued that women should have role in society, even
though they were less capable than men.
• Aristotle (384-322) -- student of Plato
– In political theory, Aristotle was most interested in the
best state practically possible--he had not interest in the
perfect (or utopian) state.
– Argued the best would be one that allowed those of
middle talent and wealth to rule (keeps the natural
tyranny of the wealthy and the jealousy of the poor at
bay).
– Aristotle argued that humans were social animals--that
their natural milieu was in society. Thus the polis (or citystate) was the natural setting for humans.