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WHO ARE THE VIKINGS
The Vikings were a feared people who came from Northern Europe. Their ability to craft
large, reliable seafaring longships and their advanced naval skills, allowed them to
travel long distances and expand their empire.
Known as longships, longboats and sometimes dragonboats these light, versatile ships
carried troops and cargo over long ocean voyages.
For three centuries, the Vikings dominated the seas of Northern Europe.
WHERE DID THE VIKINGS COME FROM?
The Vikings came from three countries of Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
The name 'Viking' comes from a language called 'Old Norse' and means 'a pirate raid'.
People who went off raiding in ships were said to be 'going Viking'.
The Viking age in European history was about AD 700 to 1100. During this period many
Vikings left Scandinavia and travelled to other countries, such as Britain and Ireland.
Some went to fight and steal treasure. Others settled in new lands as farmers, craftsmen
ortraders.
HOW DID THEY LIVE
Viking farms
Most people lived on farms. Farmers used iron tools, such as sickles and hoes. They
grew oats, barley and wheat, and ground the grain to make flour, porridge and ale.
Vikings grew vegetables such as onions, beans and cabbages. Their farm animals
included pigs, sheep, goats, cattle, geese and chickens. They used manure from the
animals to keep the soil fertile. In autumn, farmers killed some animals because there
was not enough food to feed them all through winter.
Viking houses
Viking houses were built of wood, stone or blocks of turf - depending on local materials.
The houses were long box-shapes with sloping thatched or turf roofs. The walls were
made of wattle (woven sticks, covered with mud to keep out the wind and rain). The
floor of a Viking house was often dug below ground-level; perhaps this helped keep out
draughts.
Most houses had just one room for a family to share. Rich people's farmhouses might
have a small entrance hall, a large main room, a kitchen, a bedroom and a store room. In
a Viking town, houses were crowded close together along narrow streets.
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WHAT DID THE VIKINGS WEAR?
Vikings wore clothes similar to those of people in England, Scotland and Wales at this
time. Men wore tunics and trousers. Women wore long dresses, with a kind of long
apron. Clothes were made from wool, linen and animal skins. Mostly people dressed to
keep warm!
FOOD AND DRINK
From bones, seeds and other food remains at Viking sites, we know they ate meat from
farm animals, and from wild animals that they hunted, and collected foods such as
berries and nuts. They cooked meat in a big stew-pot over the fire, or roasted it on an
iron spit. Fish and meat were smoked or dried to preserve it. Viking bread was made
from rye or barley flour. They used milk mostly to make cheese and butter, then drank
the buttermilkleft over.
At a feast, guests drank ale and mead (a strong drink made from honey). People drank
out of wooden cups or drinking horns (made from cow-horns). Feasts were held to
mark funerals and seasonal festivals, such as midwinter. Some feasts lasted over a
week!
DAILY LIFE
Jobs such as collecting wood for the fire, weaving cloth and baking bread took up a lot of
time. Vikings did not have much furniture - perhaps a wooden table and benches for
sitting on and sleeping on.
There were no bathrooms in Viking homes. Most people probably washed in a wooden
bucket, or at the nearest stream. Instead of toilets, people used cess-pits - holes outside
dug for toilet waste. The pit was usually screened by a fence. Slimy muddy cess-pits
have been found by archaeologistsstudying the remains of the Viking town of Jorvik
(modern York).
WHERE DID VIKINGS SETTLE?
Some Viking ships brought families to Britain looking for land to farm. Good farmland
was scarce in the Vikings' own countries. The parts of Britain where most Vikings
settled were northern Scotland and eastern England. For 500 years, from about AD 900,
Vikings ruled the north of Scotland, the Orkney and Shetland isles and the Hebrides
islands off the west coast. In Ireland, Vikings founded the city of Dublin.
Viking areas in east and northern England became known as theDanelaw.
Viking settlements brought new words into the English language, and new ideas about
government too. For a short time England had Danish kings (King Cnut and his sons,
from 1016 to 1042).
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VIKINGS VOYAGE
Viking ships were called Dragon ships. There were several different kinds of ship:- cargo
ships were low and heavy, having wide deep hulls to enable them to carry heavy loads.
Ferry and river boats were small and sturdy and had lots of room for passengers and
crew. The most impressive ships were the "drakkar" or dragon ships, these were
designed for war. They had long slender hulls which made them fast. The Vikings put
beautiful carvings on the stern and prow, their shallow keels enabled them to sail
quickly onto the beaches in order to make raids.
The Vikings who lived on the coast of Norway (1) went westward to Bretland (England),
Ireland, the Faroe Islands (3), Shetland (2), Orkney and the Hebrides.
From Norway it is about 350 kilometers to Shetland and from there you can see the next
island, Orkney, and so on. But some of the Vikings went much further. They moved on to
Iceland (4), Greenland (5) and even America (6)
GODS AND GODDESS OF VIKINGS
Then the North and South joined together and made a Frost-Giant and called it Ymir.
Ymir created many more giants who ruled over all the world.
Then a cow was created to feed these giants and the giants were happy. Ice covered the
whole world.
After a long, long time Bur was born out of the ice. He had three sons who fought and
killed Ymir. The blood of the Giant Ymir made the sea, and his body became the land .
From his skull they made the entrance to the heavens.
Odin, who was one of the sons, created the dwarf race from the maggots within Ymir’s
body. Odin and his brothers became ruled over everything and soon created the first
human beings.
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Odin, the most powerful of the gods.
Freya, the goddess of love and war.
Thor, the god of thunder.
LEIF ERIKSSON (975-1020)
Leif Eriksson is the first in our list of Explorers of the Millennium. In fact, he was born in
Iceland around 975, 25 years before the beginning of the millennium. He was a leader of
Viking expeditions and may have been the first European to reach North America.
He was the son of Eric the Red, who started the first European settlement of Greenland
in 985. Leif went with his father to Greenland and lived there until 1000.
In the year 1000, Leif sailed to Norway, which is where his family had originally come
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from. One story says that while he was in Norway, he may have become a Christian. King
Olaf I of Norway wanted Leif to go back to Greenland and teach the Vikings there about
Christianity. As Leif was sailing back to Greenland, he was blown off course and he
ended up in North America instead of Greenland.
VIKING CHILDREN
As soon as they were old enough Viking parents passed on their skills and knowledge to
their children. Many children would have died before reaching adulthood because their
life was so hard, but those who did survive would have been very strong and
independent. Girls were taught how to spin and weave by their mothers, and boys went
out in fishing boats with their fathers. Everybody in the family worked the farm.
Children were also taught the runes. Although they had to work hard, children did have
time to play, in winter they skated on icy ponds wearing shoes with bones attached.
They had balls made of wood and fabric toys. Both parents and children enjoyed board
games which they played during long winter evenings, pieces were made of bone or
glass.
VIKING JEWELLERY
Wearing beautiful jewellery was a sign of wealth and status and Vikings were no
different from other people when it came to displaying their wealth in the form of cloak
brooches, necklaces and earrings.
SAGAS AND RUNES
In Viking times the spoken word was more important than writing. Their laws, religion,
customs and history was passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth.
Writing was limited to the use of runes carved on bone, wood, stone or metal.
The runic alphabet had 16 characters and was used before the introduction of the
Roman alphabet we use today. It was called the futhark after its first letters in the same
way that we call our alphabet the ABC. Runes were quite confusing because several of
them had more than one meaning. Runes were easy to write down and therefore runes
have been found on many objects including combs and buckets.
Many stories were written down at the end of the Viking age around 1200. These are
known as the sagas.
VIKING TRADERS, EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS
They travelled through Russia to Istanbul, and to Jerusalem. Their journeys took several
years and in Russia they carried their ships over ground between rivers. They even had
to ride camels through the desert near Jerusalem.
Viking merchants brought goods and well as selling them. From Britain they bought
wheat and woollen cloth and France wine and pottery. In Germany they bought glass
and jewellery from Russia. Exotic spices came from the Middle East
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