Viking English Viking means "people from fjords". Vikings generally refer to all Scandinavians who lived between AD 800 and 1066. They engaged in extensive overseas trade and colonial expansion. In the early days of the pirate era, the vikings launched fierce attacks on the vulnerable places such as monasteries and churches on the British coast and the European continent, so they were portrayed as predators who killed people without blinking an eye.
history
The aborigines living in ancient Scandinavia were called "Norman" (meaning: northerners). Due to the cold climate and barren land in northern Europe, which is not conducive to agricultural development, Norman people mainly make a living by fishing. They are experienced in sailing, tenacious and adventurous. Since the eighth century, Norman soldiers have been attacking and plundering at sea. They set out from Denmark and Sweden, went south along the coast, plundered England, Ireland, France and Spain, and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea to compete with the Arabs. Follow the river eastward into the interior of Russia and Europe. Their piracy frightened people, and wherever they went, they were forced to give money and food in exchange for peace. Later, because the Normans didn't want to return to the cold north, they settled down in the occupied areas, and successively established the "Danish area" in Britain, "Normandy" in France and "Sicily" in Italy. It was only after the twelfth century that the Norman invasion subsided. Later, Nordic aborigines established Nordic countries one after another.
The Middle Ages is a wild era, which not only refers to the decline of humanities, but also the emerging countries, each relying on force to compete for the territory of the former Roman Empire. Celts, Franks, Vandals and Saxons all established their own countries. Let's take a look at the vikings living in the ice and snow.
Vikings lived in northern Europe more than 0/000 years ago, and now they live in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. At that time, Europeans mostly called it Northman, that is, tourists from the north. Viking is their self-naming. In the Nordic language, the word has two meanings: first, travel, and then plunder. Their voyage covers the whole of Europe, with the Red Sea in the south, North America in the west and Baghdad in the east. But the first time they appeared in front of the local people, they robbed and plundered as pirates.
Aside from archaeological achievements, we can learn about the fragments of Viking life from their own stories. The earliest stories, history and poems were not written in words, but passed down from generation to generation through oral singing. It was not until about A.D. 1 100 that the vikings living in Iceland had their own unique characters, which were recorded on the skin of animals, or on wooden blocks, bones and stones of animals. This kind of writing is composed of several simple curves, called runes. At first, it has 26 letters, and then it gradually evolved into 16 letters. We can also find vikings from contemporary records. But some victims, such as monks in monasteries, are not objective in their descriptions.
Since 780 AD, Vikings have been going out more and more. They need more trade markets and plunder points. They mainly steal livestock and grain and never let go of any valuable treasure. They attacked quickly, succeeded and left quickly. Residents in the vicinity suffered greatly, and they regarded Viking as barbarians and cold-blooded fighters.
In 789 AD, a group of Vikings looted Dorset, and England has been harassed ever since. The local people bravely fought against the robbers, but more often, they paid a ransom and called Danegeld (today's tax in Denmark is not called tax, it is called Danegeld) to let the disaster leave quickly. But money doesn't always solve the problem. There are several pirates. One king left and another leader came to power. Viking pirates are rampant in areas with weak defense.
When the great Alfred was in power in Wessex (the king was not an emperor at that time, so a great name should be added after his name), he reached an agreement with the main Viking tribes to allow them to settle in the southeast of England, called Danelaw (today's Danish law calls it Danelaw). Even so, the fragile peace is broken from time to time because both sides want more land.
A large number of pirates means that robbery will never stop. Even after the King of Norway and King Ghani of Denmark took over England, his territory was often harassed by Swedish pirates. The powerful monarch also had to pay the ransom. The only exception was 1066, when William Ⅰ the Conqueror set foot in Britain with Normandy soldiers, and his violence even made pirates afraid, so the locals spent a relatively quiet year under the lash of foreigners.
Scotland is closer to northern Europe. The Orkney Islands were occupied by vikings in 795 AD, and then the coastlines of Scotland and Ireland were controlled by pirates. They established a trade route with Norway here, and based on this, they further developed westward. Scotland is a Norwegian world, living in peace. Ireland is much more complicated. Norwegians, Danes and Irish pirates are not friendly characters, so large-scale battles often break out. It was not until 902 AD that Norway temporarily left Ireland. The reason for this is that they made a comeback in 9 17 and occupied Dublin as a trading port.
It was not until 1 100 that Dublin was taken over by the Normans. But as we all know, Normans are descendants of Danish pirates in France. Although the North Sea was devastated, the Vikings crossed Gibraltar and continued to ravage the Mediterranean coast. Doing business with a powerful opponent makes you a thief in the face of the weak. These lawless people even robbed monasteries, because monasteries always store a lot of food and treasures, and monks don't fight back. The vikings on the European coastline became a nightmare for the whole of Europe, and only Spain and France were spared.
In 844 AD, the Spanish Arab army organized a successful anti-landing in Có rdoba. Since then, the Iberian peninsula has been calm, and only friendly Viking businessmen have traded wine and slaves. Charles, the "simple-minded" French king, first paid the ransom honestly, and later learned from the British practice to make Rollo, the biggest pirate leader, the Grand Duke of Normandy. It should be noted that this man was William Ⅰ the Conqueror's great-great-grandfather, and his descendants finally became the king of England in 1066.
The Norwegians left their hometown and sailed west in search of a new home. They came to Iceland in 860 AD, and the monks who once lived here fled in panic. In 920, they came to settle in Greenland, but the climate there was getting colder every year, so they couldn't grow crops. Finally, all the vikings left the frozen island at 1500.
Later generations have been looking for evidence that the Nordic people have been to America. It is said that 1898 unearthed a Nordic stone carving in the United States, which was later proved to be a fake of 1958. 1965 found the Viking nautical chart with a detailed outline of the American coast, which was later proved to be forged. Until 1969, a stone arrow was finally found in a maritime robbery in Denmark, and it was confirmed by inspection that it was indeed an American product. These pirates have indeed been to North America. With the spread of Christianity in continental Europe, Vikings gradually changed their beliefs with money or swords. Religion finally made them give up the practice of making a living with their fists, and wandering pirates settled in various places.
Where are their survivors today? Besides the Nordic countries, let's look at Ibn. ; Fedra, an Arab traveler, recorded: "Russians live on an island in the lake. They plundered nearby Slavic villages and sold prisoners to towns in the lower reaches of the Volga River. " The indigenous people in the Volga River basin are Slavs. After years of continuous fighting between tribes, some people went to Northern Europe to invite powerful mercenaries and leaders. So the Varanji people from Scandinavia ended the dispute, and a large number of Viking immigrants poured in, which were called Russians and Russians by the locals. It was not until 882 AD that Archduke Oleg established the State of rossland, and called the country where they lived Russia, which is today's Russia.