The second half of the first millennium in Europe, was notable for Viking trading, invasions and colonization.
The earliest recorded raids by Vikings, or Norsemen, from Denmark, Norway and Sweden were in 793 CE as they explored European seas and rivers for trade, slaves and colonization. They founded settlements in Iceland and the Shetland, Orkney and Faroe islands. They settled Iceland 874, Greenland about 980, Newfoundland about 1000 CE and had colonies in the Netherlands, Germany, Normandy, Italy, Estonia, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and many parts of Britain, Ireland and the Mediterranean.
Swedish emissaries visited Byzantium in 839 and the Viking Rurik dynasty occupied Kiev in 882 as the capital of the Kievan Rus'. They initially travelled as traders along the Volga river trade route, selling furs, honey and slaves, as well as luxury goods such as amber, Frankish swords, and walrus ivory. While the Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard.
The initial impetus for the raiding and pillaging may have been the need to capture women. Powerful Viking men tended to have many wives and concubines creating a shortage of eligible women so Viking men would often buy or capture women and make them into their wives or concubines. According to the Annals of Ulster, Vikings plundered an Irish village in 821 and, "carried off a great number of women into captivity" .
The most common Vikings long ship was the Snekkja, a boat that could reach up to 14 knots (16 mph) under sail and more than knots 7 under oars.
It is possible that the design was influenced by the similar Roman Liburna, a light warship with one mast, one sail based on an earlier Greek pirate design. It was 33 m (109 feet) long, 5 m (16 ft) wide with a 1 m (3 ft 3 in) draft. Rowers pulled 18 oars per side.
The Viking snekkja (or snekke) was typically the smallest long-ship used in warfare. It had at least 20 rowing benches, a length of 17 m (56 feet), a width of 2.5 m (8.2 feet), and a draught of only 0.5 m (19 inch). It would carry a crew of around 41 men (40 oarsmen and one helmsman).The Norwegian snekkjas, designed for deep fjords and Atlantic weather, typically had more draught than the Danish ships designed for low coasts and beaches. Snekkjas were so light that they had no need of ports; they could simply be beached, and even carried across a portage.
Alfred the Great (849 - 899) was King of Wessex from 871 to 899 and the first British monarch to use the title 'King of the Anglo-Saxons.' By the time he became king, the Christian church was well established and there were dozens of monasteries in England, all in regular contact with the bishop at Canterbury. Alfred was a Christian and used the monks, many of whom spoke Danish and English and were literate in Latin, as advisors, diplomats and spies.
The Angles and Saxons in England were not organized and had no naval force capable of deterring Viking raiding and settlements in eastern England until Alfred successfully persuaded the various Saxon tribes to co-operate in building defensive fortifications and a fleet of warships.
Alfred fought Viking invaders for several years until a decisive victory in the Battle of Edington in 878 when he made an agreement with the Vikings, creating an area in the North of England under the control of Danish leaders (the Danelaw) while persuading the Viking leader, Guthrum, to convert to Christianity.
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Middle Era
Non-FictionJesus and Muhammad adopted the Hebrew's belief in one God and Christianity and Islam spread throughout the world. The Chinese were using gunpowder in the 9th century and, by the 13th , cannon dominated the battlefields. Paper money appeared in China...
