World History
Mrs. Ball
Name _____________________________________
The Vikings
“From the fury of the Norsemen, Deliver us, O Lord”
I.
Who were the Vikings?
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
II.
Barbarians: The Vikings video guide
1. From where did the Vikings originate?
2. What drove the Vikings to plunder?
3. What is the significance of the Viking longship?
4. How were the Vikings equipped? How did they conduct their raids?
5. How were the Vikings able to attack major inland cities?
6. What is an althing?
7. What did Leif Eriksson accomplish?
8. Why did the Vikings turn to Christianity?
6. Describe Viking trade connections.
7. How did Viking lords keep their warriors loyal?
8. What did the Vikings trade in Oslo markets?
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
III. Excerpts from a Muslim Account of the Northmen along the Volga
River, 922 CE
“Never did I see people so gigantic; they are tall as palm trees, and florid and ruddy of complexion
. . . Every one carries an axe, a dagger, a sword, and without these weapons they are never seen . .
. From the tip of the fingernails to the neck, each man of them is tattooed with pictures of trees,
living beings and other things . . . They are the filthiest race that God ever created. They do not
wipe themselves after going to stool, any more than if they were wild donkeys . . . If they catch a
thief or a robber, they lead him to a thick and lofty tree, fasten a strong rope round him, string him
up, and let him hang until he drops to pieces by the action of the wind and rain . . . To the use of
wine they abandon themselves in mad fashion, drinking it day and night; and not seldom does one
die with the cup in his hand.
“When one of their chiefs dies, his family asks his girls and pages: “Which of you will die with
him?” For the most part, however, it is the girls that offer themselves. They laid the chief in his
ship, then laid the girl down by her master’s side and strangled her with the rope till she died . . .
Then the others came up with staves and firewood . . . The pile was soon aflame.
“At my side stood one of the Northmen. ‘You Arabs,’ he said, ‘must be a stupid set! You take
him who is to you the most revered and beloved of men, and cast him into the ground, to be
devoured by creeping things and worms. We, on the other hand, burn him in a twinkling, so that
he instantly, without a moment’s delay, enters into Paradise.’ And, in very truth, before an hour
had passed, ship, wood and girl had, with the man, turned to ashes.”
What are some characteristics of the Vikings, according to this account?
Vikings Notes
I.
Introduction

“From the fury of the Norsemen, deliver us, O Lord”



II.
Vikings were raiders from Scandinavia who came by sea or up rivers in fast and
beautiful longships to attack and seize treasures from monasteries, towns and churches
(monasteries and churches were plum targets – they had fine treasures stored there and
were not well-defended)
Geography



III.
Prayer heard often from about 800 – 1050 CE
First Viking raid – Lindisfarne Monastery in 793 in northeastern England
From Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark, Sweden)
Only 3% of Scandinavia is good farming/grazing land – little farmland and lots of
people led to raiding others
Cold and dark, long winters
People






Basically farmers who raised livestock and fishermen
Only called Vikings when they went on raids: went “a-viking” (pronounced “uhveeking”) in the summer
Also known as Norse or Norsemen
Also traders, skilled craftspeople, poets, singers and storytellers and fearless
explorers
Wrote epic Sagas (“saga” is an old norse word) that rival Homer/Virgil – splendid
stories based on oral history, most have magical elements (similar to Beowulf, an
Anglo-Saxon story that takes place in Scandinavia)
Names:
o Last name was for father’s first name (Erik the Red’s children were Leif
Eriksson and Freydis Eriksdottir)
o Often had nicknames based on characteristics
 Erik the Red
 Erik Bloodaxe
 Leif the Lucky
 Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue
 Thorstein Shiver
 Ref the Sly
 Halli the Sarcastic
 Thorstein Staff-Struck
 Swein Forkbeard
 Olaf the Quiet
 Gorm the Old
 Harold Bluetooth (and yes, Bluetooth technology was named after
this king)

Gudrid, the Widely Traveled
IV.
Influence
 Evidence of Viking/Norse traders has been found from Russia and Turkey to Canada
 First European settlement in the New World – Newfoundland (Leif Eriksson sailed to
Canada 500 years before Columbus)
 Buddhist artifacts have been founding an ancient Swedish grave site, showing how
widely they traded
V.
Religion
 Polytheistic
 Some of gods in their pantheon:
o Tiw (or Tyr): god of single combat and victory
o Odin (or Woden): ruler of the gods and men, god of war
o Thor: Thunder god
o Frieya: goddess of love
**These gods can be found today in the days of our week (Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday)







According to Norse mythology, there are 9 worlds, and humans live on Midgard, the
Earth
The gods lived in Asgard, where each god had his own hall
The most beautiful palace was Valhalla, where Woden gave banquets to dead heroes
The gods are not immortal – they must renew their youth by eating apples of the
goddess of youth Idun, but are doomed to eventual extinction (the doom of the gods is
called Ragnarok: a series of future events in which there will be a great battle and
natural disasters and the death of the gods)
The gods are opposed by frost-giants (the jotun [yaw-toon]) who represent the
destructive and irrational forces of the universe
Loki is the trickster and shapeshifter god. He is a jotun who had been made a blood
brother of Odin, and so bridged the two worlds of jotuns and gods; he was malicious
and cruel and played vicious tricks, but he also was clever and made the gods laugh,
and because Odin’s blood flowed in his veins, the other gods did not dare to harm him
By the end of the 10th century, Vikings were Christianized
**Have students read a norse myth “The Death of Balder” (the God of Light)
**Play Barbarians: The Vikings from the beginning to 35:40 (after the Oslo market)
**Have students read the primary source account from a Muslim observer of the Vikings (Ibn
Fadlan), and jot down a few characteristics from it
**Show the scene from The 13th Warrior which dramatizes the Muslim’s account: