ABSTRACT

In this study we try to explore the concept of “Vikings” in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on “Vikings” and its relation with “western civilization”. The research also analyzes many aspects of “Vikings” and tries to gauge its effect on “western civilization”. Finally the research describes various factors which are responsible for “Vikings” and tries to describe the overall effect of “Vikings” on “western civilization”.

Table of Contents

Vikings1

Vikings in the Western Civilization2

The Cultural Impact3

Western Resistance Viking raids4

The Abiding Influence5

The Impact of the Vikings on Western Civilization

Vikings

The Vikings were Scandinavian raiders, traders and settlers active between the end of the 8th and the 11th centuries. There is no clear reason why the Vikings began their raiding activities. Various possibilities have been suggested, including population pressures, technological advances in boat building and the desire for gold and other plunder. Whatever the reason, boats were central to Viking activities.

A number of innovations in sailing and boat building have been attributed to the Vikings (Sawyer, 1971). The remains of Viking boats from Gokstad and Oseberg, Norway, and Roskilde, Denmark, show that oceangoing boats were about 25-30 m long. Coastal boats could have been even larger (Brondsted, Pp.96).

Vikings travelled across the North Sea from Norway and Denmark to northern France, Britain and Ireland and across the Atlantic Ocean to Iceland, Greenland and Canada. Swedish Vikings made use of rivers to travel east and south through Russia, as far as the Black Sea. However, the means by which the Vikings navigated is unknown. Saga narratives indicate the use of landmarks and bird sightings, as well as a 'sunstone', possibly the mineral feldspar. The discovery of a fragment of a small wooden disc in Greenland has led some scholars to suggest that Vikings used a 'sun compasses. Experiments have shown modern replicas to be relatively accurate.

Vikings in the Western Civilization

The Viking Age in the British Isles began in the late 8th century with a series of raids by Scandinavian pirates on coastal monasteries such as Lindisfarne (sacked 793) and Iona (sacked 795). These hit-and-run raids were virtually impossible to prevent: by the time an army had gathered to counterattack, the Vikings had taken their plunder and set sail for home.

In the 840s Viking activity intensified. The Vikings came in larger numbers and founded permanent bases, such as Dublin in 841, from which they could campaign all year round. They were now interested as much in settlement as in plunder. The first areas to be settled were Scotland's northern and western isles, but the largest settlements took place in eastern and northern England after the Danes overran the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, and Mercia in 865-74. The Vikings were greatly aided in this period by the disunity of the native kingdoms in Britain and Ireland, which failed absolutely to bury their differences and unite against the common enemy (Fitzhugh, Pp.69-75).

As the 9th century drew to a close, Viking activity declined. This was partly because many Vikings had now settled down as farmers and ...