Environmental History
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TheVikings-raidandtrade.pptxThe Norsemen: Raid & Trade
Less good than they say for the sons of men is the drinking oft of ale: for the more they drink, the less they can think and keep a watch over their wits.
Esa svá gott, sem gott kveþa, öl alda sunum, þvít fæ'ra veit, es fleira drekkr, síns til geþs gumi.
- The Havamal
The Northmen, Norsemen, Seafarers, sailed from Scandinavia in long, open, wooden ships
Norsemen began attacking England in the 790s – Lindisfarne was sacked in 793
monasteries proved an especially desirable target …
Alcuin’s York was raided and the cathedral library burned in 866
the Norse had a rich tradition of poetry, they excelled at crafts and injected new life into European trade
the Norsemen
Odin’s horse Sleipnir (“gliding one”)
runes
runes
Latin transliteration:
A : suin : auk : þurgutr : kiaurþu : kubl : þisi : eftiR : mana : auk * suina B kuþ : hialbi : siaul : þeRa : uel : ian : þeR : likia : i : luntunum
Old Norse transcription:
A Swen ok Þorgotr/Þorgundr gærþu kumbl þæssi æftiR Manna ok Swena. B Guþ hialpi siol þeRa wæl, æn þeR liggia i Lundunum.
English translation:
A "Sveinn and Þorgautr/Þorgunn made this monument in memory of Manni and Sveini." B "May God well help their souls. And they lie in London."
A
B
The Norsemen were farmers, herders, fishermen and traders
Thrall: slave
The independent farmer was at the center of Norse society
Jarl: nobleman
Farming was difficult in Scandinavia; fishing was common
Difficult to grow the crops necessary for alcoholic beverages
Types of alcohol: mjǫðr, blaand; wine was expensive & difficult to obtain
The difficult climate in Scandinavia led to the Norsemen raiding and eventually overwintering in other lands
Ninth-century Scandinavia and Iceland had relatively poor farmland: could generally support 1-2 people per square kilometer
Old Norse (ON) “vik” means creek or inlet; also associated with “places for trading” (Old English (OE) “wic”)
The term described an activity, as opposed to a people: “Norsemen” or “Northmen” are the more accurate terms
A Frankish chronicler described the invaders at Nantes in 843 as vikverjar
Examples of places for trading include the English towns of Hamwic, Lundenwic, Eoforwic and Quentovic in northern France
Women ran the farm & the homestead while the men were away
women were known as “tradition-bearers”
Women were the keepers of medical knowledge of herbs and therapies
Norse houses were single, large rooms
These houses offered little privacy
Viking house
Viking house interior
technology: iron & ships
smelted ore from peat bogs to create iron
Norse shipbuilders designed & built long ships … these could carry cargo, horses and around 100 men
These ships were very sophisticated
with flat bottoms, these ships could handle shallow rivers
Northmen developed navigational skills using nature & observation
internal strife and a desire for trade led the Northmen to travel across the seas
Oseberg ship
illumination of a Viking dragon ship from an Anglo-Saxon Chronicle MS dating to ca. 900, from Northumbria
Lindisfarne sacked in 793
Raiding stopped but resumed again in around 835
Why were monasteries attractive to the Norsemen?
The raiding was seasonal until the 850s: wintering over
In the 860s, the Norsemen mounted a full-scale invasion in Britain
Within 10 years nearly all the English kingdoms fell to the Norsemen: Northumbria (867), East Anglia (869) and nearly all of Mercia (874-7)
Only Wessex was able to survive
Lindisfarne (“Holy Isle”)
Ann. dccxciii. Her wæron reðe forebecna cumene ofer Norðhymbra land, 7 þæt folc earmlic bregdon, þæt wæron ormete þodenas 7 ligrescas, 7 fyrenne dracan wæron gesewene on þam lifte fleogende. Þam tacnum sona fyligde mycel hunger, 7 litel æfter þam, þæs ilcan geares on .vi. Idus Ianuarii, earmlice hæþenra manna hergunc adilegode Godes cyrican in Lindisfarnaee þurh hreaflac 7 mansliht. 7 Sicga forðferde on .viii. Kalendas Martius.
Year 793. Here were dreadful forewarnings come over the land of Northumbria, and woefully terrified the people: these were amazing sheets of lightning and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. A great famine soon followed these signs, and shortly after in the same year, on the sixth day before the ides of January, the woeful inroads of heathen men destroyed god’s church in Lindisfarne island by fierce robbery and slaughter. And Sicga died on the eighth day before the calends of March.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Manuscript D, MS Cotton Tiberius B. iv
King Alfred and the Norsemen
Alfred managed to prevent the Norse forces from destroying his kingdom of Wessex
Alfred signed a peace treaty with the Norsemen, which included their leader’s (Guthrum) conversion to Christianity
establishment of the Danelaw – a region in the north of England (Northumbria) settled & controlled by the Norse
Alfred then began transforming Wessex into a society prepared for war at any time: built a navy, reorganized the army & set up a system of fortified towns called burhs
first raid on the Irish coast in 795
the Norsemen founded Dublin as a fort on the River Liffey ca 831
the Norsemen sailed up the Loire in summer 842; they continued these raids each summer …
a Norseman named Rollo besieged Chartres in 911; ultimately Charles the Simple (r. 898 – 922) signed a treaty with him … Rollo agreed to become Christian and nominally acknowledge Charles as his liege lord Charles recognized Rollo as duke of what became Normandy
the Norse adopted Norman or Old French as their language & Christianity as their religion
they sought plunder, land and in some cases, tribute (wergeld)
the Norse sailed up the Loire in summer 842
they continued these raids each summer … King Charles the Bald (r. 840 – 877) tried to protect Frankish lands, especially Paris
the Franks’ army was ambushed in March 845; Charles ended up paying Danegeld in order to end the raids
a Norseman named Rollo besieged Chartres in 911; ultimately Charles the Simple (r. 898 – 922) signed a treaty with him … Rollo agreed to become Christian and nominally acknowledge Charles as his liege lord Charles recognized Rollo as duke of what became Normandy
the Norse adopted French (Norman or Old French) as their language & Christianity as their religion
Frankish lands
Russia, eastern Europe & Byzantium
traditional belief that the Norsemen from Sweden imposed law & order on the region of modern Russia & gave it a name: the land of the Rus, or Russia
initially the Northmen in Sweden went east as merchants & traders
the trade route down the Volga to the Caspian Sea linked Scandinavia with the Silk Route to China & the Arabian caliphates
Kiev & Constantinople
according to Norse tradition, Kiev was founded by Norsemen, but archaeological evidence places its foundation in the 6th or 7th c.
Norsemen who settled in the area were known as the Rus
the Rus saw Constantinople as a great prize; the city was very well protected
despite numerous efforts, the Rus were unable to take the city (though they did engage in about 30 years of peaceful trading)
Vladimir of Kiev (965 – 1015) expanded the Northmen’s power by defeating various Slavic & Bulgarian tribes as well as Poles; in 988 he & his people converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity
