Norse Culture and Its
Influence on the World
Background for all squads
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• Our dates are roughly
790-1066.
• The earliest recorded
Viking raids begin in the
790s and the Normans
conquer England in 1066.
• 790-1066 basically
bookend the Viking Age.
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What areas are we talking about?
•
• The Vikings mostly lived in present day
Scandinavia. However, they were highly
mobile, so they sailed all over the place.
What’s going on in the rest of the
world between 790-1066?
• 9th Century
• The 9th Century is considered the Dark
Ages in Europe.
• Charlemagne is crowned Roman Emperor.
• China persecutes Buddhists.
10th Century
• Regarded as a low point in European
history.
• Byzantine Empire reaches its height.
• Rise of the Toltecs and collapse of the
Maya.
11th Century
• Great Schism takes place between
Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox.
• Normans invade Britain.
• Song Dynasty rules China.
790-1066 is
• 760 years after the death of Jesus Christ.
• 570 years after the fall of the Chinese Han Dynasty.
• 453 years after Constantinople is made the capital of the
Roman Empire.
• 339 years after Attila the Hun defeats the Romans.
• 220 years after the birth of Muhammad.
790-1066 is
•
96 years before the birth of Genghis Khan.
• 149 years before King John signs the Magna Carta.
• 259 years before Tenochtitlan is founded.
• 284 years before the beginning of the Italian
Renaissance.
• 432 years before Columbus “discovers” America.
• Vikings lived in and settled
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Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Danelaw,
Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia,
Shetland, Orkney, Faroe Island, Iceland
Greenland, Vinland
•
• The Vikings sailed most of the North
Atlantic.
• They made it all the way to Baghdad and
Constantinople.
• They made it all the way to Newfoundland,
Canada.
Viking Ships
• Science: How were Viking ships made to go fast? How
were they built to be light?
• Social Studies: How were they used in exploration,
raids, and warfare?
• English: What roles do Viking ships play within the
poetry and sagas? How did ships help spread Viking
literature?
• Fine Arts: How can we see the Viking ship as a piece of
art? How is it decorated? How was it used for funerary
purposes?
• Oseburg
Oseburg
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http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kKBYHrsydA
Gokstad
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knarr
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Faering
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvIDyvjMqtM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcuZ9hb1Odo&feature=related
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Viking Religion
• Pre-Christian and Christian
• Norse Mythology
Norse Mythology
•
• The Norse believed
in nine worlds.
• Humans lived in
Midgard.
• Asgard was heaven.
• Hel was hell.
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS1qiHQX1w0&feature=related
•
Christian Vikings
• The Christianization
of Scandinavia began
in the 8th century and
was basically
complete by the 12th
century.
• Often, Vikings agreed
to “be” Christian
because their king
said they should be.
•
Viking Expansion
• The Vikings sailed all over the place, but
they only settled certain areas.
• We are mostly interested in England,
Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland.
Expansion to England
• The Vikings sailed from Norway to Dorset,
England in 789.
• They attacked the monastery at Lindisfarne in
793. The Vikings repeatedly raided this
monastery until the monks fled in 875.
• England was backward at this time. When the
Vikings came to a farming village to settle, there
was little anyone could do about it.
• Some of the Vikings
who came to England
came as raiders.
Some came with their
families and livestock.
• After a while, the
cultures assimilated.
•
• In 1066, the Normans
invade England and
defeat the Vikings.
The Normans take
over England.
• But the Normans
were from France.
•
• The Vikings had been to France, and the
Normans had Viking blood.
• Your materials argue that 1066 was a case
of one Viking culture throwing another
Viking culture out of England.
Iceland
• Naddoddr was looking for
the Faroe Islands, but he
got lost and drifted to
Iceland.
• The first Scandinavian
who deliberately sailed to
Iceland was Floki
Vilgerdardson. He
named it Iceland.
•
• Norwegian Ingolfur
Arnarson maintained
the first permanent
settlement in 874.
• Iceland is the best
example of Viking
culture today because
nobody lived in
Iceland before the
Vikings.
•
Greenland
• The Vikings colonized Greenland beginning in
986.
• Inuits were already in Greenland, and they were
much better adapted to the environment.
• The Viking population reached a height of 5,000,
and they stayed for about 500 years.
•
• The Vikings arrived in
Greenland during a
global warming
phase.
• When the planet
began to cool, the
Vikings left.
Vinland (a.k.a. North America)
• Bjarni Herjolfsson came here in 985. He
was headed for Greenland, but got blown
off course.
• Vikings explored Newfoundland, Canada
for about one generation, but they never
permanently settled.
•
• Leif Eriksson was
responsible for at
least one trip to North
America.
• They left behind huts
and cooking utensils.
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Viking Jewelry
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Arm rings
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Viking hoards
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Viking Coins
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Stave Churches
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What did the Vikings sound like?
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http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/
Beowulf.Readings/Prologue.html
• This is Beowulf, which is Anglo-Saxon.
This language would be approximate to
the Vikings.
And if you’re wondering why we’re stuck
with this topic, here’s my theory.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pki6jbSbXIY