Vikings were Scandinavian sea warriors of the 8th to 11th centuries, sometimes called Norse, who raided Europe in their narrow, shallow draught, highly manoeuvrable longships, penetrating far inland along rivers. With a thirst for warfare, gold, and land, they were dreaded.
'Viking' means ‘a pirate raid' in the Old Norse language. The name probably came from the Norse word vik, meaning "bay" or "creek," or from the Vik area, the body of water now called Skagerrak, which sits between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Their name first referred only to the raiders and was later applied to Scandinavians from the late eighth century
Viking military tactics succeeded mainly because they disregarded the conventional battlefield tactics, methods, and customs of the time. They ignored unspoken rules, like not attacking holy sites. To the contrary Vikings intentionally targeted religious sites for their vulnerability and wealth.
The Vikings first developed the fast and narrow longships with which they raided across the North Sea in the mid seventh century.
On June 8 793 Scandinavian Vikings destroyed the abbey at Lindisfarne, Northumbria, England, to begin the Viking Age. The devastation of Northumbria's Holy Island shocked and alerted the royal courts of Europe to the Viking presence.
In England, where they were also known as Danes, the English kings paid them to leave the country These payments were called Danegeld. However, the Vikings settled and greatly influenced the development of the English language.
During the early 10th century, the incursions of Vikings evolved into more permanent encampments in north France. The Duchy of Normandy was established there in 911.
On September 25, 1066 during The Battle of Stamford Bridge, The English repelled Harald Hardrada's army. It was the last significant Scandinavian Viking invasion of Britain.
As Normans they achieved a second conquest of England just a few weeks later when William the Duke of Normandy triumphed at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066.
The Vikings had an organised system of government, and the Swedish Varangians were invited to settle differences among the Slav chieftains, establishing the first Russian state with its capital at Kiev.
The Varangians also reached Constantinople, where they formed the Imperial Guard. In the west the Vikings reached Iceland, Greenland and North America.
Erik the Red (Old Norse: Eiríkr Þorvaldsson; 950 – c. 1003), was a Viking who was exiled from Norway for murder so he moved to Iceland but again was exiled for murder. So he took 500 men and women, founded Greenland, and declared himself chieftain.
In Norse mythology Valhalla is a giant hall, where the souls of warriors slain in battle are taken by the Valkyries. A form of heaven where they are ruled over by the god Odin, the fallen combatants spend their days fighting safe in the knowledge of never being permanently harmed.
In the 8th century, Danish king Harald Wartooth, realizing he might die of old age and therefore not go to Valhalla, asked the Swedish king Sigurd for a battle. Wartooth was slain after amassing enough glory, and Sigurd was crowned king of Sweden and Denmark. 40,000 other warriors died.
The Vikings believed that a giant goat named Heiðrún, whose udders provided an endless supply of beer, awaited them in Valhalla upon their death.
The Vikings had a varied diet. The first meal of the day, called "dagveror", was a porridge consisting of a mixture of barley and rye cereals. With it the wealthy might have rye or wheat bread which was considered superior to barley as it rose better. However barley was cheaper and barley bread was still the chief bread of the poor.
The second meal, "nattveror", eaten at the end of the day, often was fish such as cod or herring, which was either eaten fresh or preserved by salting or drying in the wind.
Seaweed, vegetables and fruit accompanied the "nattveror". Most of the vegetables and fruit were home-grown and products such as cabbage, horse beans, onions, parsnips, peas and swedes and apples, berries, cherries and pears were found in their gardens.
The poor apart from occasionally in soups or stews rarely ate meat, though eggs, cheese and fat for everyday food preparation were obtained from the livestock. Sometimes puffins and gulls nests were raided for their eggs.
The rich would dine on beef, deer, duck, goose, ham and pigeon. Most families had a table of some sort, and wealthy families used a linen tablecloth.
Vikings were very fond of alcoholic drinks and most of their populace drunk beer made from barley and hops, or mead made from fermented honey.
Drinks were served in large horn-shaped cups made of glass or else in the hollowed-out horns of sheep and oxen.
Drinking was part of social life, and it also was part of some religious ceremonies.
At their banquets they often toasted each other from the skulls of their slain enemies. Drunkenness was common and it was a frequent occurrence for a Viking man to die from the effects of too much drink.
The nobles consumed wine, which was imported from France and Germany, as their Scandinavian climate was too cold for grapes to grow.
When not drinking alcoholic drinks several dairy products, such as "skyr", a sort of curdled milk, were part of their diet.
Viking mens' clothing might be tunics, braes and hose (instead of trousers) and some kind of hat.
Their tunic was usually sleeveless, perhaps to show off his muscles and gold arm rings.
Women typically wore a gathered and pleated underdress, a hangaroc (rather like a pinafore) and a headscarf.
Young women wore their hair long and caught around the forehead with a band, sometimes made of pure gold.
Both genders might wear cloaks and hoods in cold weather.
All wealthy Norsemen dressed lavishly for events like weddings and funerals and for things, as the assemblies were called. Skins and furs of tame and wild animals were used, but the most common material was a woven woolen cloth, called vadmal.
Silk and linen, which were imported and costly, were used mostly for underwear.
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| Vikings 841 at Dublin. |
ETYMOLOGY
'Viking' means ‘a pirate raid' in the Old Norse language. The name probably came from the Norse word vik, meaning "bay" or "creek," or from the Vik area, the body of water now called Skagerrak, which sits between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Their name first referred only to the raiders and was later applied to Scandinavians from the late eighth century
EXPANSION
Viking military tactics succeeded mainly because they disregarded the conventional battlefield tactics, methods, and customs of the time. They ignored unspoken rules, like not attacking holy sites. To the contrary Vikings intentionally targeted religious sites for their vulnerability and wealth.
The Vikings first developed the fast and narrow longships with which they raided across the North Sea in the mid seventh century.
 |
| Viking Longboat 'Hugin', Ramsgate |
On June 8 793 Scandinavian Vikings destroyed the abbey at Lindisfarne, Northumbria, England, to begin the Viking Age. The devastation of Northumbria's Holy Island shocked and alerted the royal courts of Europe to the Viking presence.
In England, where they were also known as Danes, the English kings paid them to leave the country These payments were called Danegeld. However, the Vikings settled and greatly influenced the development of the English language.
During the early 10th century, the incursions of Vikings evolved into more permanent encampments in north France. The Duchy of Normandy was established there in 911.
On September 25, 1066 during The Battle of Stamford Bridge, The English repelled Harald Hardrada's army. It was the last significant Scandinavian Viking invasion of Britain.
 |
| Battle of Stamford Bridge by Peter Nicolai Arbo. |
As Normans they achieved a second conquest of England just a few weeks later when William the Duke of Normandy triumphed at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066.
The Vikings had an organised system of government, and the Swedish Varangians were invited to settle differences among the Slav chieftains, establishing the first Russian state with its capital at Kiev.
The Varangians also reached Constantinople, where they formed the Imperial Guard. In the west the Vikings reached Iceland, Greenland and North America.
Erik the Red (Old Norse: Eiríkr Þorvaldsson; 950 – c. 1003), was a Viking who was exiled from Norway for murder so he moved to Iceland but again was exiled for murder. So he took 500 men and women, founded Greenland, and declared himself chieftain.
 |
| Summer in the Greenland coast circa the year 1000 by Carl Rasmussen |
BELIEFS
In Norse mythology Valhalla is a giant hall, where the souls of warriors slain in battle are taken by the Valkyries. A form of heaven where they are ruled over by the god Odin, the fallen combatants spend their days fighting safe in the knowledge of never being permanently harmed.
In the 8th century, Danish king Harald Wartooth, realizing he might die of old age and therefore not go to Valhalla, asked the Swedish king Sigurd for a battle. Wartooth was slain after amassing enough glory, and Sigurd was crowned king of Sweden and Denmark. 40,000 other warriors died.
The Vikings believed that a giant goat named Heiðrún, whose udders provided an endless supply of beer, awaited them in Valhalla upon their death.
FOOD AND DRINK
The Vikings had a varied diet. The first meal of the day, called "dagveror", was a porridge consisting of a mixture of barley and rye cereals. With it the wealthy might have rye or wheat bread which was considered superior to barley as it rose better. However barley was cheaper and barley bread was still the chief bread of the poor.
The second meal, "nattveror", eaten at the end of the day, often was fish such as cod or herring, which was either eaten fresh or preserved by salting or drying in the wind.
Seaweed, vegetables and fruit accompanied the "nattveror". Most of the vegetables and fruit were home-grown and products such as cabbage, horse beans, onions, parsnips, peas and swedes and apples, berries, cherries and pears were found in their gardens.
The poor apart from occasionally in soups or stews rarely ate meat, though eggs, cheese and fat for everyday food preparation were obtained from the livestock. Sometimes puffins and gulls nests were raided for their eggs.
The rich would dine on beef, deer, duck, goose, ham and pigeon. Most families had a table of some sort, and wealthy families used a linen tablecloth.
Vikings were very fond of alcoholic drinks and most of their populace drunk beer made from barley and hops, or mead made from fermented honey.
Drinks were served in large horn-shaped cups made of glass or else in the hollowed-out horns of sheep and oxen.
 |
| Viking drinking horn |
Drinking was part of social life, and it also was part of some religious ceremonies.
At their banquets they often toasted each other from the skulls of their slain enemies. Drunkenness was common and it was a frequent occurrence for a Viking man to die from the effects of too much drink.
The nobles consumed wine, which was imported from France and Germany, as their Scandinavian climate was too cold for grapes to grow.
When not drinking alcoholic drinks several dairy products, such as "skyr", a sort of curdled milk, were part of their diet.
CLOTHING
Their tunic was usually sleeveless, perhaps to show off his muscles and gold arm rings.
Women typically wore a gathered and pleated underdress, a hangaroc (rather like a pinafore) and a headscarf.
 |
| Viking, Norway, Medieval, Sewing |
Both genders might wear cloaks and hoods in cold weather.
All wealthy Norsemen dressed lavishly for events like weddings and funerals and for things, as the assemblies were called. Skins and furs of tame and wild animals were used, but the most common material was a woven woolen cloth, called vadmal.
Silk and linen, which were imported and costly, were used mostly for underwear.
HYGIENE AND APPEARANCE
The stereotype of the grimy, unkempt Viking is far from accurate. While their image in popular culture might paint them as rough and rugged raiders, historical evidence suggests they actually placed a surprising emphasis on personal hygiene and appearance.
Contrary to popular belief, Vikings weren't strangers to bathing. Archaeological excavations have unearthed tweezers, ear cleaners, and even soap residue, indicating regular grooming routines. Written accounts from outside Scandinavia also mention their frequent bathing habits, with some even describing them as "excessively clean" compared to other Europeans of the time.
Their hygiene practices weren't limited to just bathing. They used combs for their hair, likely applied natural dyes or bleaches, and even sported elaborate hairstyles. Archaeological finds also reveal the use of razors for facial hair, suggesting a focus on maintaining a well-groomed appearance.
FUN VIKING FACTS
Viking girls got married as young as 12 and had to mind the household while their husbands sailed off on adventures. However, they did have more freedom than other women of their era. The women could inherit property, request a divorce and reclaim their dowries if their marriages ended.Viking people held a yearly assembly, open to all citizens, where the people would discuss disputes and political decisions, preceded by a lawspeaker who memorised the entire law code and has the power to demote and elect kings.
Musical instruments such as drums, whistles and small harps have been found on Viking sites.
Viking blacksmiths would often add bones from ancestors or animals like bears to their iron ore to add carbon content, and to imbue the weapon with mystical properties.
Old Norse was the language of the Vikings and many words can be found in English including krill, sky, fjord, and ski. Another is "Thursday" literally “Thor's Day”, named after the Norse god of Thunder. This word dates back to the 12th century
We got the words 'anger', 'happy'', 'window', 'husband', 'ugly', 'steak', and many more from the Vikings.
The Vikings engaged in rap battles, trading poetic insults until a winner was chosen by the crowd.
Many Vikings had no special combat training—they were just farmers, fishermen, and peasants looking to make some extra money.
Some 9th century Scottish nuns literally cut off their noses and upper lips in order to make themselves too grotesque for invading Viking pirates to plunder them.
Sources Europress Encyclopaedia, Compton's Encyclopaedia, Christianity Today, Food For Thought by Ed Pearce
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