WARRIORS

Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about 

Those famous Danish Vikings

The world has long been fascinated by what seems like a pantheon of famous Danish Vikings and the near-mythic lore that infuses their history.

Interpreted by popular historical fiction and gritty on-screen narratives, we envision tall muscular blondes, a bit dirty and scuffed up, but not enough to ruin their natural Nordic beauty. These rugged warriors wield really cool weapons and pithy words with which to vanquish the enemy.

These romanticized versions are fun, and they illustrate our collective infatuation with the Vikings and the time they inhabited.

But as much as we may think we know about the famous Danish Vikings, there is much that eludes our understanding. Vikings relied primarily on oral history, so written accounts came from outsiders who met them under unfavorable conditions.

Still, their legacy and how they transformed their world is evident even today.

What is a Viking?

The Viking era ran from 793 AD — 1066 AD. Etymology of the word Viking is not agreed upon.

One theory suggests that ‘Viking’ derives from the word vik which means ‘small creek’ or ‘body of water’ in Old Norse. This may be plausible if the Vikings were using this word to describe themselves, but those we consider Vikings were generally known as Norse or Norsemen during the era in which they lived.

It isn’t until late in the Viking era, that references to ‘the Viking’ are used to describe individual people.

Another origin theory has been attributed to the Anglo-Saxon word wicing, a term for pirate or raider. This seems plausible to have been initiated by the people under siege. The first accounts of Viking raids were written by Christian monks who had personally endured the pillaging and violence.

Germans referred to these Danish warriors as “ashman” either due to the darkened wood of their boats or as a derogatory term. The Irish called them “dark and fair foreigners” or pagans. They were simply “Danes” or heathens to the Anglo-Saxons.

Viking was not a race nor ethnicity, but more of a shared cultural and geographical inclusivity. Viking culture was not homogeneous. Denmark, Sweden, and Norway had regional variations.

The Norwegian Vikings are considered to have been amazing boat builders and seafaring people, so it is no surprise that early explorers to Greenland and North America came from that region of Scandinavia.

Swedish Vikings may have been primarily interested in establishing successful trade routes to the Middle Eastern regions.

Danish Vikings: the ‘original’

Historians generally agree that famous Danish Vikings were central to the Viking era, and the most of what is associated with Vikings comes from the Danish version of Viking culture.

Danes were the most politically organized and also the most consistently active in leading and carrying procurement raids and the later conquest of new lands.

As they became successfully established in their hit and run raiding conquests, the Danish military power continued to grow. Expansionist exploits continued, and their military strength remained largely undefeated.

England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Greenland were under the reign of famous Danish Viking kings at one point or another.

The Viking era begins

The start of the Viking era is marked by the successful Norsemen raid on the Lindisfarne monastery off the coast of Northumberland in northeastern England in 793AD. The attacking forces were led by the Danish with full intention to relieve the Christian monks of all earthly treasures.

Unlike other attackers who typically left Church premises unharmed, the Vikings held no regard for Christian religious institutions, as was noted in written accounts of the attacks. The treasures found within monasteries and churches were generally unprotected and easily taken.

Two years after the first successful raid at Lindisfarne, two monasteries were plundered in the Hebrides, and one off the coast of Ireland. As the coastal raids continued to be a success, the Danish Vikings became more adventurous. In 799 they began attacks on inland monasteries.

The Danish Viking conquest

There are few places throughout Europe and the western world that remained untouched by Viking exploits, each of the three Scandinavian regions went in slightly different directions in their exploration and conquests.

The mid-9th century saw the Danish Vikings successfully taking lands in England, Ireland, and Scotland. By 840 these Vikings were overwintering in Ireland, building settlements with Viking-style long houses near the coast. They built the first trading port towns in Ireland.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking