Vikings Moors and Magyars Invasions Vikings To go

Vikings, Moors and Magyars

Invasions!

Vikings • To go “a Viking” was to raid in the summer • Not clear why the Vikings (Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Finns and Saami) started raiding outside of homelands • Earliest recorded foreign raid was Lindisfarne in 793 AD

Viking Ships • Vikings invented the keel in the 7 th c. allowing ocean going vessels • Planks overlapped in clinker fashion for sea-worthiness

Viking Women • Could inherit property • Chose where and how to live if unmarried • Represented themselves in legal cases • owned their own businesses (such as breweries, taverns, shops, and farms)

Vikings Farming? Trading? • Vast majority farmers—settled new lands • Traders as evidenced by numerous blacksmiths, brewers, weavers, luthiers, jewelers, craftsmen

Magyars • Magyars came from area around Ural Mountains in 9 th c. to Carpathian Basin (Hungarian Plain) • Debate of origin but believed related to Finno-Turkic peoples • Excellent horsemen and bowmen

Great Magyar Migration • Over 200, 000 men, women and children came with their herds of horses, cows, camels, sheep and goats • Also traders with blacksmiths, tanners, jewelers, potters, bowyers, beekeepers • Allied with both Byzantine and Holy Roman Empire

Berbers or Moors or Saracens • North African Berbers and Arabs crossed Straits of Gibraltar in 711 AD conquering most of the Iberian Peninsula • Called Moors initially because known as Mauri to the Romans (from Mauretania in NW Africa) • Arab Muslims were known my Middle Age writers as Saracens, sometimes a term used to refer to all

Tariq and The Hammer • In 732 AD, Charles “The Hammer” Martel stops Tariq ibn Ziyad at Tours • A primarily Berber caliphate called Al-Andalus, rules most of Iberia until 1492 • Western Europe never really threatened again by Muslim armies

Islamic World in 1000 AD • Islam not a unified empire fighting Christendom • Constant raiding and invasions, lays groundwork for Crusades

Feudalism • As defined by Merriam Webster: the system of political organization prevailing in Europe from the 9 th to 15 th c. having as its basis the relation of lord to vassal with all land held in homage, for the service of tenants under arms

Feudalism • Socio-political system where land was bartered for service • Service of nobles was to provide soldiers (knights) • Service of peasants was to work land in exchange for protection

Feudalism • In reality a feudal life varied greatly by region – power could shift between King-Nobles-Knights • Key aspects: • land as wealth given for loyalty (to nobles/knights) • nobility expected to provide security for land/peasants

Feudalism Ends • Works as a system, especially in the turbulent Middle Ages – why does it eventually fail in 15 th Century? • Crusades draining the wealth and knights of Europe • Urbanization • Large scale population decrease • Peasants (and nobility) revolt against church and state • Ideas exchanged in Crusades and after, take root