The Vikings By Eloise What did the Vikings

The Vikings By Eloise

What did the Vikings eat? • Vikings drank ale, mead or buttermilk daily. Feasts would include the same foods such as meat, fish, fowl, vegetables, wild greens, bread and fruit, but in a greater amount than the usual meal. Vikings enjoyed drinking ale and mead at feasts. Mead is a strong, fermented drink made from honey.

What are they known for? • The Vikings were famous for sailing huge distances from their home in Scandinavia between AD 800 and 1066 to steal and sell, but they also traded with people from other countries. The name 'Viking' means 'a pirate raid' in the Old Norse language

Why did they come to Britain? • The Vikings were invaders and settlers who came from Scandinavia and travelled by boat as far as North America in the west and Central Asia in the east from about 700 AD to 1100. • They came to Britain to raid the monasteries such as Lindisfarne. • They also preferred the weather as it was warmer than their homeland.

Where did they come from? • Vikings travelled from Scandinavia to Britain. They mostly settled in the Danelaw, to the north and east of England. Some Norwegian Vikings or 'Norse' sailed to Scotland. They made settlements in the North of England in the city of York, and on the Shetland Orkney Islands.

What did they wear? • Viking clothes were made from wool, linen and animal skins. Women, with the help of children, made the wool into yarn and used natural dyes from plants to give it colour. Men wore tunics and trousers and women wore a long dress with a pinafore over it. Their clothes were fastened with belts and brooches.

What weapons did they use? • In the Viking Age a number of different types of weapons were used: swords, axes, bows and arrows, lances and spears. Their preferred weapon was an axe. • The Vikings also used various aids to protect themselves in combat: shields, helmets and chain mail.

Who were their leaders? • Rollo: First ruler of Normandy. • Erik the Red: Founded Greenland's First Norse Settlement. • Olaf Tryggvason: Brought Christianity to Norway. • Leif Eriksson: Beat Columbus to the New World by 500 years. • Cnut the Great: England's Viking King. • Harald Hardrada: The Last Great Viking Leader.