The Vikings

The Story of a People

Njord Kane

• Publisher: Spangenhelm Publishing
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781943066025
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

The story of the Norse is a Viking adventure in history.

The Norse saga began with the first ancient tribes of Norsemen during the Early Nordic Stone Age. The beginning of the Nordic Ax Culture when primitive Norsemen created their first battle axes from stone. The evolution of an innovative and progressive culture that groomed legendary warriors whose voices still roar out today.

Take a journey into the Age of Viking Expansion where Ragnar Lothbrok, Rollo, Erik the Red, and many other famous Vikings take you on a ride into the very Halls of Valhalla.

Very interesting and worth the read to anyone interested in the Vikings or Norse history.

Explore knowledge and technology specific to a culture that was shaped by a people able to reach great distances beyond their homelands and seas. A battle ferocious people with shields, armor, and weaponry that was unmatched by their opponents.

A whole new world of understanding about the ancient vikings has been opened up by new archaeological discoveries and studies. New findings that lead to new questions.

Could some of the mythological tales about giants in the Norse Sagas have had some truth behind them? Researchers have found proof of giants and humans interacting together in our own DNA!

There are also many shared technologies between the Ancient Norse, Asians, the Inuit and other North American aborigines. Viking explorers have long interacted and traded with many people and cultures afar. Were ancient Norse already in contact with early Native Americans? Were these the people they referred to as "Skraelings?" Were they Proto-Inuits known by the ancients as Thule People?

See for yourself with new information about the Norse that was once lost in time.

Chapter 1 - Who were the Vikings?

The "Vikings" were an ancient people that inhabited Northern Europe and Scandinavia known as the Norse (also known as Northmen or Norsemen). The Norse people were spread across Northern Europe, particularly in the regions known today as: Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, and Finland), Germany, Denmark, Poland, Netherlands, the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Ireland, and the surrounding islands), Iceland, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

These northern people as a whole spoke as their native language, one the various dialects of Norse. The Norse language was a Northern Germanic / Scandinavian language that was in wide use before the Christianization of Northern Europe, Russia, and Scandinavia.

The Norse are today most commonly known to people as the "Vikings." However, the term “viking” was not actually what the Norse people called themselves. It was something that they did. The word "viking" comes from the Old Norse word “víkingr,” a term which meant to go raiding for loot and it was something that wasn't always done by boat. A Viking was a Norse Raider.

The word viking was only later misused when referring to the Norse people as a whole, instead of just those specific Norsemen whom conducted the Viking raids. Simply put, a "Viking" is a raider, or more correctly; a Norseman whom went raiding. In more precise terms, a Viking is a Norse Raider.

With this in mind, we know that calling the Norse people “Vikings” as a whole is incorrect. However it is of such common use today that when someone calls them Vikings, everyone knows that they are talking about the Norse. Although, in most cases, they are referring to Norse Raiders, in which case, "Vikings" would be correct. But to reiterate, viking was something they did (raid) and the people were actually called the Norse.

A statement of fact is: all Vikings were Norse, but not all Norse were Vikings.

In fact, most Norse were farmers and tradesman – just like everyone else on the planet. I had said all of this in the preface of this book, but found it necessary to repeat myself because I simply can't stress this fact enough.

There are also many other misunderstandings and stereotypes that are commonly associated with the term “Viking.” One of the most common false stereotypes about the Norse and especially of viking raiders is that of the horned or winged helmet for example.

The Norse never wore winged or horned helmets - that is fiction. The types of helmets the Norse wore is discussed further ahead in this book's chapter about Norse Arms and Armor.

The winged and horned helmet were mistakenly used to depict Vikings in an opera. The opera singer's costumes of winged and horned helmets stuck as a common belief as to what the Norse used to look like and what they wore.

Statue of a Viking in Gimli, Manitoba (Canada).42

As glorious as many of these false depictions may be; such as horned helmets being a sort of universal icon as to identify Vikings.

We'll clear up these misconceptions as we go further along in the book and look closely at what the Norse really did and what they were really like. We'll look at the facts of what was real about the Norse people and their culture. We'll also look specifically at the Norse that infamously raided during the Viking Era, giving them the label as Vikings.

The history of the Norse people goes all the way back to the Stone Age, but they are best known for a period of time when they raided several parts of Europe known as the Viking Age.

The Viking Age is typically recorded in history as occurring approximately around 793 AD to 1066 AD. This period of time is not the time span of the Norse people themselves, nor was it the peak of their civilization. This is merely the height of the time when the Norse people were mostly written about. The time when they reached out and went out on viking adventures. A time when the World noticed them and were fearful.

The Viking Age began somewhere just before the date of 800 AD. The actual beginning of the Viking Age is a bit foggy and different locations argue different time periods of when viking raids actually began to occur.

To abolish this argument, it is generally accepted in the academic community that the official beginning of the Viking Age is to have begun on the 8th of June 793 AD. This date is when there is a formal recording made of when Norse Raiders (Vikings) made an attack on the monastery at Lindisfarne, an island off the northeast coast of England.

The attack came unexpected, as it was an unguarded religious community of Christian monks. An easy target for Vikings sailing around the coast in search of a place they can easily raid and loot.

The Viking raiders were seeking an easy target that was close to the water, so they didn't have to go far from their boats. The Norse preferred to raid near their boats to allow them a hasty escape before reinforcements could come.

Allowing the Vikings to surprise attack, loot, and vacate before anyone really knew what happened.

Lindisfarne Priory Viking stone, a 9th Century grave marker. 41

Lindisfarne was a defenseless place known as the “Holy Island.” The viking raid on it caused much consternation throughout the Christian World and is most often marked as being the "official" beginning of the Viking Age.

This map shows the location of the Holy Island, Lindisfarne on the northeastern coast of Northumbria of the modern day UK Island. The raiding Norse had probably landed near the location from the sea and sailed up or down the coast until they spotted a location to attack.

Holy Island of Lindisfarne shown within Northumberland, UK.43

The Viking Age is the period of time when the Norse are most often talked about. The Age when the Norse invaded much of Europe during a time when they became known as the Vikings.

The Viking Age is not the beginning of the Norse people or the start of their culture. The roots of the Norse go back even further. All the way back to the Megalithic and Neolithic Eras of the Stone Age.

The Stone age for the Norse was very different than what we were taught about the Stone Age in regards to other cultures. Other cultures such as the Mediterranean Cultures are where we gathered most of our information about the stone ages, the bronze age, and the iron ages of humankind in general. But the Norse people experienced the change of the Ages much differently than other cultures.

The Stone Ages, the Bronze (Copper) Age, and the Iron ages for the Norse progressed very different that that of the rest of the World. So different were the early stages of Nordic cultural evolution that they have their own separate categories and classifications for their cultural evolutionary eras. The culturally specific Norse classifications are labeled as: The Nordic Stone Age, The Nordic Bronze Age, and the Nordic Iron Age. The Nordic Iron Age is broken down into its own separate stages as well.

The Norse made the best of what they had available to them and with their unique regional situation, adapted with an uncanny sense of ...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Chapter 1 - Who were the Vikings
• Chapter 2 – The Nordic Stone Age
• Chapter 3 – The Metallic Ages
• Chapter 4 – The Viking Age
• Chapter 5 – Norse Religion
• The Norse Creation Story
• Ragnarok : The Twilight of the Gods
• Chapter 6 – Christianization of the Norse
• Chapter 7 – Norse Language
• Chapter 8 – Norse Life
• Chapter 9 – Norse Trade
• Chapter 10 – Norse Law and Government
• Norse Law
• Disputes settled by Holmgang
• Chapter 11 – Norse Warfare
• Norse Battle Tactics
• Chapter 12 – Norse Armor and Weaponry
• The Shield
• The Ax
• The Bow
• The Spear
• The Atgeir
• The Sword
• Viking Armor
• Viking Helms
• Chapter 13 – Norse Longships
• Chapter 14 - The Skræling
• Chapter 15 - The Jötnar (Giants)
• References