to see my other blog about the Mongols then click on this link below.
http://maxmoroneymongols.blogspot.com.au/

Video about the vikings

 

This blog will tell you all you need to know about the Vikings and their history. It includes 4 topics about the Vikings; their weapons and way of fighting, their lifestyle, their religion and the mystery about their decline.  

 

 

This is a trailer for a TV series about the Vikings which will be released this year on TV. Based on the trailer this show would be about the lifestyle of Vikings when raiding other countries.   

Who Are The Vikings?

The Vikings lived in north-eastern Europe which is Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The area which they lived is cold and harsh which drove them to doing what they are known for, attacking towns and villages in other parts of the world for food, gold and supplies.

Archaeological evidence shows that they were great at making iron and steel tools which gave them an advantage when fighting soliders from a different land who only had bronze or copper tools and weapons. They were very good at making and using boats which they used to sail to other countries and the Vikings were treated as pirates.

Their has been evidence that in places like England the Vikings had built permanent settlements and started to conquer other lands instead of raid. Their has also being evidence of Vikings living in Iceland which was discovered by Eric the Red. The Vikings had lots of weapons such as; swords, axes, tomahawks[ small throwing axes], spears, shields, bows, pole-arms[spears but with different variety of blades],battle axes[ axe with two axe heads], large hammers, maces and many more. The Vikings had no professional standing army, and tactics and discipline seem to have been fairly rudimentary. They did not fight in regular formations, although the bonds of loyalty between men and their lords would have given their armies some discipline. Weapons training began in youth in hunting, sports and raiding. Viking warriors are really farmers called to leave their farms and go over seas to steal what they can get before going home.

In conclusion, the Vikings are great warriors and are master craftsmen. But are misjudged by most people today as fearless barbarians whose only intensions is to pillage and destroy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/weapons_01.shtml
http://www.vikings-history.com/viking-weapons.html

What do we know about the Vikings religon?

Their has been evidence of Vikings believing in the Norse gods who date back before the Egyptian Gods. Their religion involved giants, mythical beasts and Gods which represent the elements. Their main god is Odin, the god of wisdom. he was the father of most powerful gods and the grandfather of the lesser gods. He traded his left eye with a great eagle for unlimited wisdom. Another god which is featured in movies like the avengers is thor, the god of thunder and strength.

besides fighting, the Vikings love to hear stories about fighting. The have world famous poems and songs about brave warriors fighting dragons and mythical beasts such as Beowulf. In the poem, a brave warrior travels to the king of the Danes Hroogar whose castle has been haunted by a monster called a Grendel. After Beowulf slays him Grendel's mother attacks the castle and she is also killed. Then Beowulf returns to his homeland  the Geatlands in Sweden where he becomes king but a dragon then attacks his land and both the dragon and Beowulf are killed in the fighting and his corpse was buried in tumulus, a Viking burial ground in Sweden.

This is one of the many stories the Vikings created. Evidence suggested that the reason for these stories are that the Vikings want to be just like one of their legend heroes because they believed that when you die you go to a place called Valhalla and the only way to get into Valhalla is to die in battle or do heroic thinks in your life such as slay dragons. These poems were like helpful advice to them for achieving the reward of a lifetime, go to a place when you die full of the greatest things imaginable, which is Valhalla. Where they can fight, drink, and sing songs all day long and not get tired, sick, drunk or injured.


In conclusion, from what we know about Viking stories and legends is that they were a very superstitious race of people who believed in Gods and dragons and that the meaning of life is about fighting. which is why they were so good at it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valhalla
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/vikings/beliefs_and_stories/

Why did the Viking age come to a end?

On 1066, On the same year and week, the last Viking invasion army came into England and the first Norman invasion army came into England. The Saxon king Harold went with his army up to the border of Scotland where he fought in the battle Stanford bridge where the Norwegian Viking king Harald Hardrada was killed. This is when most historians mark the end of the Viking age but the decline of the Vikings started decades ago.

for 300 years the Vikings dominated western Europe until they started losing men in open warfare. The Viking way of fighting was to swam over towns taking and burning anything that got in their way. So when the kings of western Europe started to created armies to fight the Vikings, the Vikings had a disadvantage. At around 900AD, many lords had adopted the feudal system where men would fight for the king in return of land and peasants. This is what started Knighthood, knights are lords who recruit armies and fight for the kings in return for honour. Also this meant that now men where trained to fight unlike the Vikings who used their instincts to fight others.

Another reason for their downfall was Christianity. When the Vikings were around, most of Europe except for the Vikings were Christians. The Vikings who were from Sweden, Denmark and Sweden all believed in Norse gods. As they raided Christian settlements they were exposed to Christianity. Slowly over time the Vikings began to convert to Christianity. When the Kings became Christians then that meant even the strongest believers of their pagans gods were forced into Christianity. The reason why this stop them fighting was because the old gods and religion was based on war because if you were to die in battle you would go to heaven but when Christianity came they stoped fight because they new they would get into heaven if they pray, not fight.

In conclusion, the Viking age came to a stop because of too many nations became too strong to fight and they adopted Christianity which frowned on them fighting others.     

http://www.skwirk.com.au/p-c_s-14_u-175_t-474_c-1727/the
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/lia/

How did the Vikings live?

Scandinavia is a icy land to the north of Germany, it consist of Norway, Finland and Sweden. It is where the Vikings originated. because most of Scandinavia is rock, ice and snow, living conditions were hard and most of them lived along the coast with fish being their main food source. Their descendants were nomadic tribes from north Germany who preached the religious of Norse which made them know as Norsemen. They lived in long huts which are built to fit entire families in from grandma to your fifth cousin. The land they lived in was filled with iron which made them excellent metal smiths and one of the most advanced cultures for their time. from 800-1050AD was the age of the Vikings which was when they were at their prime, they started exploring into new territories for land and power and came across places like France, Briton, Russia, Spain and many more places across Europe. Soon they started to raid the people who lived there for food, money and woman. During this time they were the most feared people in all of Europe.


The Vikings inhabited many places. They settled in Iceland, Greenland and some say that they were the first people to cross the Atlantic ocean into America. The Vikings most preferred place to live was the British islands because the soil and agriculture in Scotland and England was must more suited for farming than Scandinavia. Most Vikings settled and ruled in the north of Scotland and in the eastern parts of England. The Vikings also established the city of Dublin in Ireland, ruled the Shetland and Orkney Isles, The Isle of Man, Wales, and the Hebrides Islands. In France the Vikings made a settlement which was called Normandy which stands for "Land of the Northman". When the Vikings were around, love and emotions did not have any particular role within the Viking culture. Instead, marriage was nothing but a commercial contract between two people with a similar social status. The arrangement of the marriage had two steps: the betrothal and the wedding. The arrangement was initiated by either a man or his father. On the other hand, women's fathers could not initiate the arrangement, but had to wait for a suitor to appear instead.

In conclusion the Vikings lived in harsh climate with the woman living in harsher life's. but this came to their advantage because the soon became the most feared culture in all of Europe throughout the early middle age.   

http://www.topicpod.com/vikings/where_vikings_from_menu.html
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/history-homework-help/87529-where-did-the-vikings-come-from/
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/history-homework-help/93123-how-vikings-lived/?cid=parsely_rec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia

TImeline of the Vikings

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/the-vikings--17

This is a timeline about the Vikings and their most major events.