THE VIKINGS OCTOBER 15 2019 EARL MELBY COURSE

THE VIKINGS OCTOBER 15, 2019 EARL MELBY

COURSE OUTLINE THE VIKINGS • OCTOBER 15 – NOVA (THE VIKINGS) • OCTOBER 22 – NOVA (THE VIKINGS) • OCTOBER 29 – NO CLASS • NOVEMBER 5 – A&E (VIKINGS IN NORTH AMERICA) • NOVEMBER 12 – IMAX (VIKINGS, JOURNEY TO NEW WORLDS)

WHO WERE THE VIKINGS ? • VIKINGS CAME FROM NORWAY, SWEDEN AND DENMARK. THE VIKING AGE COVERED THE YEARS FROM 790 – 1100 • THE WORD VIKING COMES FROM THE NORSE WORD VIK MEANING A SMALL COVE OR FJORD WHERE PIRATES COULD LURK AND PREY ON MERCHANT SHIPS. • THE IMAGE OF RUTHLESS PIRATES RAVAGING THE COAST OF EUROPE OR PAGAN WARRIERS DEDICATED TO THE NORSE GOD, ODIN ARE ONLY PART OF THE STORY. • WE WILL ALSO SEE THAT THEY WERE EXCELLENT CRAFTSMEN, ARTISANS, SHIP BUILDERS, TRADERS AND EXPLORERS.

REASONS FOR THE START OF THE VIKING AGE • OVERPOPULATION IN NORWAY AND DENMARK IN THE 7 TH – 8 TH CENTURIES. • WANDERLUST OF YOUNG VIKINGS SEEKING EXCITEMENT AND ADVENTURE. • FIRM GOVERNMENTS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE WITH AN INCREASE IN MERCANTILE TRADE GAVE AN OPPORTUNITIES FOR PIRACY. • MONASTERIES WERE NOT DEFENDED AND THEY CONTAINED ITEMS MADE OF SILVER AND GOLD. • THE FIRST RAID WAS ON THE ISLAND MONASTERY AT LINDISFARNE

IMPACT OF VIKING RAIDS • DANES CONQUERED AND SETTLED EASTERN AND NORTHERN ENGLAND. THIS REGION WAS CALLED THE DANELAW. THEY COMPELLED KING ALFRED OF WESSEX AND HIS SUCCESSORS TO ESTABLISH AN EFFECTIVE MONARCHY. • IN FRANCE, VIKINGS EMBRACED CHRISTIANITY AND ESTABLISHED THE FIEF OF NORMANDY. • NORWEGIAN VIKINGS SETTLED IN THE MAIN TOWNS OF IRELAND AS WELL AS THE FAEROES, ICELAND, GREENLAND NEWFOUNDLAND. • SWEDES TRAVELED TO THE EAST FROM THE BALTIC TO THE CASPIAN SEA AND BYZANTIUM. THEY WERE CALLED THE RUS AND THIS LED TO THE NAME RUSSIA.

THE ICELANDIC SAGAS • THESE ARE ICELANDIC MANUSCRIPTS WRITTEN IN THE 13 TH – 15 TH CENTURIES. • THESE WERE FAMILY SAGAS OR TALES PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION. THE STORYTELLING WAS PUT INTO WRITING. • ICELANDIC LITERATURE IS REGARDED AS ONE OF THE MIRACLES OF THE MIDDLE AGES. • TRAVELS TO GREENLAND NORTH AMERICA BY ERIC THE RED AND LIEF ERICKSON ARE DESCRIBED IN THESE SAGAS.

VIKING SOCIETY • MOST VIKINGS WERE FARMERS, FISHERMEN, CARPENTERS, SHIP BUILDERS, BLACKSMITHS, AND MERCHANTS. • THEY COULD LIVE A LIFE OF PLUNDERING AS WELL AS FARMING. • ACCORDING TO THE SAGAS, A 12 TH CENTURY CHIEFTAIN WOULD PLANT HIS CROPS IN THE SPRING. WHEN THE JOB WAS DONE, HE WOULD GO TO PLUNDER IN THE HEBRIDES AND IN IRELAND (HIS SPRING TRIP). IN MIDSUMMER, HE WOULD HARVEST HIS CROPS. WHEN THE CROPS WERE SAFELY IN, HE WOULD GO OFF PLUNDERING AGAIN UNTIL THE FIRST MONTH OF WINTER (HIS AUTUMN TRIP).

VIKING SOCIETY • THE KING: ALLEGIANCE TO A MONARCH WAS NOT AUTOMATICALLY CONFERRED BY SUCCESSION. THE KING NEEDED TO GAIN AND KEEP THE RESPECT AND LOYALTY OF HIS SUBJECTS. • THE JARL: A SMALL BUT POWERFUL RULING ARISTOCRACY. THE JARLS OWNED LARGE TRACTS OF LAND. • THE BONDI: LAND OWNING FREEMEN WHO HAD THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS. THEY WERE ALLOWED TO ATTEND THE THING (NATIONAL ASSEMBLY). THE ALTHING IN ICELAND IS THE OLDEST NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IN THE WORLD. • THE THRALL: THRALLS WERE AT THE BOTTOM OF SOCIETY. THEY WERE BASICALLY SLAVES AND WERE ASSIGNED THE HEAVIEST OF TASKS.

VIKING WOMEN • WHEN A VIKING LEFT HIS HOUSE TO GO ON A RAID, HE GAVE THE KEYS OF THE HOUSE AND CHESTS TO HIS WIFE. • IN VIKING SOCIETY, WOMEN HELD EQUAL STATUS TO MEN. EVEN WHEN THE MAN WAS HOME, THE WIFE HAD COMPLETE AUTHORITY OVER ALL HOUSEHOLD MATTERS AND SUPERVISED THE THRALLS AND FREE SERVANTS. • VIKING WOMEN WERE ENTITLED TO OWN PROPERTY AND INHERIT WEALTH IN THEIR OWN RIGHT. IF NECESSARY, A WOMAN COULD SUE FOR DIVORCE AND WHEN SHE LEFT, SHE COULD CLAIM BACK HER DOWRY AND A SHARE OF THE HOUSEHOLD GOODS.

THE VIKING LONGHOUSE • WHERE THERE WAS ABUNDANT SUPPLIES OF TIMBER, THESE HOUSES WERE CONSTRUCTED OF WOOD. IN THE FAR NORTH OF NORWAY AND IN THE ATLANTIC COLONIES, THESE WERE MADE OF STONE AND TURF. • A LONGHOUSE COULD BE ANYWHERE FROM 40 TO 165 FEET LONG. LIVING SPACE MAY HAVE BEEN DIVIDED INTO 3 0 R 4 ROOMS SEPERATED BY A CURTAIN. • THE FLOORS WERE MADE OF FLATTENED EARTH. IN THE CENTER OF THE LIVING AREA WAS A STONE-LINED HEARTH. THIS WARMED THE BUILDING AND PROVIDED LIGHT. SMOKE AND SMELLS ESCAPED THROUGH THE DOOR AND OPENINGS IN THE ROOF.

VIKING LONGSHIPS • MAJOR ADVANCES IN SHIP BUILDING IN SCANDINAVIA LED TO THE VIKING LONGSHIP. THESE SHIPS COULD TRAVEL LONG DISTANCES AND WERE DRIVEN BY SAILS OR BY ROWING. • A WARSHIP COULD BE 90 FEET LONG AND 15 FEET WIDE AND COULD CARRY A CREW UP TO 100 OR 200 WARRIERS. AN OCEAN-GOING CARGO SHIP WAS CALLED A KNARRS WERE USED TO SETTLE ICELAND. A KNARR COULD CARRY 30 – 40 TONS OF CARGO. BY 790 AD, THE SCANDINAVIANS HAD WAR AND CARGO VESSELS THAT NO OTHER CIVILIZATIONS POSSESSED. • THESE SHIPS RODE SO LOW IN THE WATER, THEY COULD BE BEACHED ANYWHERE AND TRAVEL UP SMALL RIVERS AND STREAMS. • IT MIGHT TAKE 3 WEEKS TO GO FROM SCANDINAVIA TO THE MOUTH OF THE SEINE AND THEN ABOUT ONE WEEK TO PARIS.

VIKING LONGSHIPS • SOME EXAMPLES CAN BE SEEN BY VISITING THE VIKING SHIP MUSEUM IN OSLO. • THE OSEBERG SHIP (834 AD) WAS FOUND IN VESTFOLD, NORWAY. IT IS THE EQUIVALENT OF A ROYAL YACHT. • THE GOKSTAD SHIP (900 – 905 AD) IS A VIKING WARSHIP. • THESE SHIPS WERE USED AS BURIAL SHIPS. THEY WERE WELL PRESERVED SINCE THEY WERE COVERED IN CLAY. • OTHER SHIPS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THE ROSKILDE FJORD (DENMARK) THEY WERE SUNK TO BLOCK THE BAY

THE LEWIS CHESSMEN • THESE CHESSMEN WERE DISCOVERED IN 1831 ON LEWIS IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES OF SCOTLAND. • THEY ARE A GROUP OF DISTINCTIVE 12 TH CENTURY CHESS PIECES. • MOST WERE CARVED OF WALRUS IVORY WITH SOME MADE FROM WHALE TEETH. IT IS THOUGHT THAT THE WALRUS IVORY ORIGINATED IN GREENLAND WHERE THERE WERE NORSE SETTLEMENTS. • IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE CHESSMEN WERE CARVED IN TRONDHEIM NORWAY. DURING THAT PERIOD, THE OUTER HEBRIDES AS WELL AS OTHER SCOTTISH ISLANDS WERE RULED BY NORWAY.

THE LEWIS CHESSMEN • THE REASONS TO BELIEVE THEY CAME FROM TRONDHEIM ARE: A BROKEN QUEEN PIECE WAS FOUND THERE IN AN EXCAVATION, WEALTHY PEOPLE LIVING IN TRONDHEIM WERE ABLE TO PAY CRAFTSMEN FOR HIGH QUALITY CHESS PIECES. SIMILAR CARVINGS CAN BE SEEN IN NIDAROS CATHEDRAL IN TRONDHEIM. • THESE CHESSMEN CONSTITUTE ONE OF THE FEW COMPLETE SURVIVING MEDIEVAL CHESS SETS. • TODAY, 82 PIECES ARE OWNED AND EXHIBITED BY THE BRITISH MUSEUM IN LONDON AND 11 PIECES ARE IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND IN EDINBURGH.

VIKING RELIGION • ODIN : THE HIGHEST AND OLDEST OF ALL THE GODS. THE ALL-FATHER. • THOR: HE IS ODIN’S SON AND IS THE THUNDERER. THE STRONGEST OF THE GODS. • LOKI: ODIN’S BLOOD BROTHER. HE CAN TRANSFORM HIS SHAPE TO LOOK LIKE OTHER PEOPLE OR ANIMALS. • FREY: GOD OF FERTILITY. • LATER ON, VIKINGS BEGAN TO BE CONVERTED TO CHRISTAINITY