Viking History PDF

Here’s what you need to know today Maps Singularity Lindisfarne (earliest Viking raid?) Salme Ship burials (even earlier history on Baltic Sea) Maritoria: Viking raids part of a political economy Economic changes during Early Medieval period (AD 476 – 1000) Ladoga: Medie...

Here’s what you need to know today Maps Singularity Lindisfarne (earliest Viking raid?) Salme Ship burials (even earlier history on Baltic Sea) Maritoria: Viking raids part of a political economy Economic changes during Early Medieval period (AD 476 – 1000) Ladoga: Medieval trading town founded ca AD 750 in today’s Russia Sea Kings of Viking Age: beginnings of modern western world  Maps Viking mapping: oral knowledge, envt’l obs, rudimentary navigational tools (e.g., sunstones) Raiding & Trading – Early raids on England, monasteries, coastal W Europe British Isles – Settlement in England, Scotland, Ireland Danelaw in England – AD 878, Anglo-Saxon S./W., Viking N./E. European Mainland – Settlement in Normandy, Fr; became part of ruling class E. Europe – Traveled through Russian rivers to est. trade routes to Byzantine Empire/Slavic peoples N. Atlantic Settlements – Colonies in Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland N. America – L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, 1000 AD Singular ity Concept – captures sm, cumulative changes leading to systemic transformation Complex systems – societies change through accumulation, not individual events Minor shifts – trade routes, seafaring techniques, social norms Gradual evolution – Sm changes coalesce into lg-scale societal restructuring Viking Age emergence – result of interconnected minor adjustments  Maps and Singularity Scale of Viking travel / interaction When / why / how did the Viking age start? “Singularity” (systems theory): Small changes with lg-scale/long-term effects Intersecting streams of Scandinavian society 1) Political competition: 8th C. violence, sea-kings 2) Economic stimulus: Building on previous centuries of trade to acquire wealth 3) Social pressures: Polygamy (marriage of a man to several women) 4) Scandinavian worldview: Aggressive violence, patriarchal oppression, enslavement Lindisfarne (AD 793, NE England) Beginning of the Viking Age? Monastery in Northumbria (Anglo-Saxon kingdom in N England ) Monks killed or enslaved Viking raids increased in frequency on Britain, Ireland, France By AD 850 Scandinavian armies overwintering in England Viking ships arriving in By AD 870 Danish conquest of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms Lindisfarne depicted in an illuminated manuscript 'Domesday Stone' or 'Viking  Salme Ship burials (Estonia) ca. AD 750 Earlier example of a Viking raid to the east? 42 individuals buries in two Viking longships Shield mound burial Males killed in battle (trauma) DNA: family relations Ships embedded w/ arrowheads Stable isotopes, artifacts: from central Sweden 50 – 100 years earlier than the Lindisfarne raid Failed raiding party? Failed effort to forge alliance when unknown parties set upon them? Baltic Sea (not the Atlantic’s ‘North Sea’) as first phase of Viking history Documentary accounts of raids (late 700s) Vikings known to English Surprise is that they came to raid, not trade Religious dimension: Most of England Christian Vikings = “Seaborne pagans” Isolated, undefended, rich monasteries Coastal monasteries in Scotland, Ireland attacked Maritoria: Viking raids part of a political economy Political economy: Study of how econ systems (e.g., markets) and political systems (e.g., government) are linked Maritoria: New Form of power Combines aspirations of kings… with control of territory, and… new form of markets. Linked by relations with the sea Economic changes during Early Medieval period (AD 476 – 1000) Warlord elites at end of Roman Empire Initially, localized trade New market forces: Addition of long dist trade, est. of trading towns Gateways to interior trading networks  Ladoga Medieval trading town founded ca AD 750 in today’s Russia Ethnically mixed (Slavs, Scandinavians, Finns, Balts, Sami) Scandinavians dominate trade early Later ethnically blending, melting pot Frontier settlement Raiding / trading as two components of same phenomenon  Sea Kings of Viking Age Critical to beginnings of Viking Age Turn to east (i.e. Baltic Sea) first, west (North Sea) Viking as combination of violent raiding / trading across ethnic lines