Who
were the Vikings?
Vikings were warriors. More precisely, Vikings is the name by which the Scandinavian
sea-borne raiders of the early medieval period are now commonly known.
Vikings were not professional privateers or full-time soldiers - or at least not at first. Originally they were full-time fishermen and farmers who spent much of the year at home. Only in the summer would they have rallied to the call of a local leader and ventured across the sea to raid, trade or seek out new lands to settle.
Even before the earliest Viking raids on their monasteries, the Anglo-Saxons used an Old English word wicing. But this wasn't a word that they used often or exclusively for the Scandinavian raiders; instead, it was used for all-comers, and meant 'a pirate' or 'piracy'. It was only in the late tenth or early eleventh century, in Anglo-Saxon poems such as 'The Battle of Maldon', that wicing came to mean 'a Scandinavian sea-raider'.
The Old Norse language spoken in Scandinavia used the word vikingr in its vocabulary, but its origins are uncertain. The explanation currently favoured is that it originally meant 'a seaman who came from the Vik district of Oslo fjord', and then came to mean sea-borne warrior, firstly from that area and later from all over Scandinavia.
What did the Vikings look like?
Contemporary writings give us few clues about what the people of the Viking
world actually looked like. Recent progress in science has allowed us to find
out more about skeletons from this period, to discover the sex of individuals
and their age at death, and to identify any traces of disease, diet, wounds
and traumas. Science can now even tell us where they spent their childhood.
Famously in 'King Harold's Saga', King Harold of England offered the Viking King Harald Hardraada of Norway 'seven feet of English ground, or as much more as he is taller than other men'. As the Anglo Saxon King rode off, Hardraada commented 'what a little man he was; but he stood proudly in his stirrups!' The height and appearance of the two kings is not known, but the average height for males at this time was about 1.73m (5ft 8 inches), and for women about 1.57m (5ft 2 inches). These heights are not dramatically different from the average stature today.
In terms of life expectancy, the modern observer would see very few what we would consider elderly people in a Viking settlement. Life expectancy, even for warriors not cut down in their prime, was relatively short and unpredictable. Anglo-Saxon kings in the 10th century, for example, mostly died in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Infant mortality must have been high, and women faced death in childbirth. Acute illness had no surgical remedy and chronic conditions such as arthritis took their toll.
The most common image of a Viking is one in full battle dress with armour and weaponry. A Viking warrior was a well-armed and formidable opponent, but although there was a basic uniformity to their weaponry, Vikings did not wear any particular uniform. Protective gear might have included a leather body-protector, for those who could afford it, and additional protection from the knees to the neck was available in the form of a shirt of chain mail, sometimes called a byrnie.
It is possible that hard leather skull caps were worn by some Vikings, although such things don't survive archaeologically. Iron helmets, either hemispherical or conical in shape, and with some form of simple bar projecting down from the forehead to protect the nose, are very rarely found, and are more likely to have been worn by the rich and powerful or the hardened Viking than by an occasional fighter.
A large round shield, averaging about 1m (3ft 3 in) in diameter and made from parallel wooden boards, provided protection for most of the warrior's body. An iron grip was held fast in the left hand, protected by a hemispherical iron boss that protruded from the outer face. Because the boss is usually the only part to survive, we know little about how often the shields were strengthened by a leather cover, or about coloured decorative designs and devices, fragmentary traces of which adorn a few surviving examples.
The ordinary folk of the time wore clothes not dissimilar to the basic garments of the warrior. Men would wear a pair of trousers, most likely be made from wool. The tunic they wore would be long sleeved and quite long, perhaps down to the knees. This would be fastened at the neck by a brooch, and tied at the waist with a leather belt. In colder weather a woollen cloak might be added to this ensemble.
Ladies would wear an under-dress, made from linen, long in the sleeve and extending down to the floor. Over this would be a linen, or woollen over-dress. Again, in colder weather a cloak could be added. Brooches would be worn at the throat, and necklaces of glass beads were popular. Children would be dressed in a similar fashion to the adults.
Clothing was cared for and patched when necessary. The colours of the clothing ranged from muted beiges and browns for poorer folk, to the vibrant reds, yellows and blues of the wealthy. Shoes would be made from leather.
Reconstructing the Vikings of Jorvik
There have been no life-like portraits of the inhabitants of Jorvik - until
now. Today we can re-construct the likely appearance of any person whose skull
has survived. Just five intricate steps bring us face to face with one of Jorvik's
Vikings:
Step 1 - Complete a detailed study of the bones to reveal age, sex and cause
of death
Step 2 - Examine the structure of the skull by scanning it using a laser linked
to a powerful computer. Detailed knowledge of anatomy allows a structure to
be built over the bones.
Step 3 - Scan a modern "control face". Someone of a similar build
and age and the same sex as the Viking-Age person will be chosen
Step 4 - Superimpose the two scanned images using the computer to create the
most likely face for the skull.
Step 5 - A professional sculptor uses the computer-generated images and their
knowledge of anatomy to sculpt a three-dimensional face.
The period referred to as the Viking Age dates from AD 800 to 1050. The homelands of the Vikings were in Scandinavia, but the countries of Scandinavia as we know them today did not exist until the end of the Viking Age. Wherever they lived, the Viking-Age Scandinavians shared common features such as house forms, jewellery, tools and other everyday equipment. These objects and structures are sufficiently uniform to warrant labelling the period by a single name - the Age of the Vikings.
Geographical differences ensured that the basis of the subsistence economy would vary enormously across Scandinavia. Most obviously, contrasts in temperatures, climate, soils and seasonal variations meant that different ways of making a living were employed in northern Norway and southern Denmark.
Throughout Viking-Age Scandinavia the main pre-occupation was the production of food. Farming, fishing, trapping and collecting were the main activities in the annual cycle. Communities had to be largely self-sufficient, taking advantage of fertile soils, good pasture, well-stocked fishing grounds or whatever else nature had provided. They also had to be expert in fashioning a range of raw materials into the tools and equipment they needed; their self-sufficiency would be the envy of most modern western communities, and was the basis for their success.
We know, however, that the Vikings left their homelands and travelled into Europe, including Britain and Ireland, and settled there. Well-documented parts of the Viking world, such as England, Ireland and Carolingia, seemed to have endured many decades of sustained attack before there was any attempt by the Vikings to settle there permanently. In the Scottish Isles and around the Baltic Sea, however, there seems to have been some settlement relatively soon after the first contact was made. Land was either seized or taken by reaching agreement with the previous landowner.
The reasons why the Scandinavians left their homelands permanently to settle abroad are still the subject of debate. There is no evidence to suggest that they had to leave to find new land on which to settle their growing population, as studies have shown that there was sufficient land available in Scandinavia. It is more likely that local chieftains or aristocrats who felt themselves under threat by powerful neighbours, or by rulers who wanted to strengthen their grip by uniting their territory into one kingdom, opted to look for new lands across the sea.
If we cannot say for sure why the Vikings left their own homelands and settled abroad, what we can be clear about is why they decided to raid other lands. Coastal or riverine trading centres such as Portland (Dorset) or Hamwic (Anglo-Saxon Southampton), Dorestad (on the River Rhine) or Quentovic (on the River Canche in the Pas de Calais, France) were potentially lucrative targets for Viking raiders. These secular raiding sites were limited in Europe, but rich ecclesiastical sites were plentiful. Ecclesiastical sites were the focus for the exchange of imported goods, from wine to high-quality textiles. Agricultural produce and raw materials taken from the surrounding lands, and used by the religious community living there, provided attractive pickings for the raiding Vikings. On top of all of this, secular magnates also used churches to store their own portable wealth. Therefore, when a Viking sacked a monastery he literally hit the jackpot.
The Vikings soon realised that they could increase their profits from raiding churches by taking the lavishly decorated manuscripts and bibles from them, and then selling back these prized possessions to the monastic communities or their benefactors. Notes added to a page of the Codex Aureus, a magnificently decorated Gospel Book, record how the Anglo-Saxon aristocrat Ealdorman Aelfred and his wife paid pure gold to the Vikings to ensure the book's safe return to Christchurch, perhaps after the Viking attacks on Canterbury in 851.
How Did They Live?
The built evidence
Much of the detail in the picture of Jorvik comes from the excavation of four
Viking-Age house plots in the street of Coppergate. Up to the mid 10th century
the buildings in this area of Viking-Age York were single-storey structures,
typically at least 7m (23ft) long by about 4.5m (14ft 9in) wide. Their size
and construction is reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon buildings, and is not typically
Scandinavian. Upright posts set into the ground at fairly short intervals along
the wall lines supported a thatched roof. The walls themselves were made of
wattle withies woven horizontally in and out of stakes set between these posts.
Benches of earth contained within a revetment of wattlework sometimes ran along
the side walls. Each building had a very large central hearth, with edges defined
using re-used Roman tile, or building stones, or lengths of wood. The floors
were simply made of earth, onto which debris accumulated and into which objects
were trampled. Building C1 is a structure of this type.
In the 960s and 970s these post and wattle buildings fell out of favour and
were replaced by two-storey structures in which a semi-basement was used perhaps
for storage. This type of structure is well known from other 10th-and 11th-century
towns in England, and seems to have been the favoured urban building form. These
buildings used planks of oak and stood in two ranks along the street at Coppergate.
The use of a cellar increased the usable space in these buildings, and the fact
that the buildings were constructed in two ranks demonstrates that space was
at a premium in the boom town that was Jorvik at this time. Buildings A1, B1
and C2 are houses of this type of construction.
The craft evidence
All the industries for which we have evidence at Jorvik were carried out in
and around the houses-cum-workshops that stood at the street frontage of each
of the plots at Coppergate. Under the Vikings, Jorvik developed as an important
manufacturing centre, which supplied a wide hinterland with a range of everyday
items.
Raw materials flowed into Jorvik from estates in the surrounding countryside, and specialist craftsmen fabricated them into necessities for sale in their street front shops and market places. For example, the name Coppergate comes from Old Norse words signifying 'the street of the cup-makers', and the excavation duly exposed hundreds of wooden cores, the characteristic debris from turning wooden cups and bowls on a rotary pole-lathe. Such vessels were the normal table wares of the period, and it is clear that the cup-makers of Coppergate were mass-producing these items on a commercial scale. Evidence found around Buildings B1 and C2 point to these being workshops for wood workers. However, this was not the only trade being practised on the four plots in Coppergate in the 10th century.
Metal workers were producing iron objects such as knives, dress accessories,
tools and a host of other items, as well as working in gold and silver, and
making cheap jewellery in lead or copper alloy. The excavations produced evidence
of the entire process of metal working from ores, metal-separating trays, crucibles
and moulds, through to the finished articles. These items, in addition to the
waste products in the form of dribbles, off-cuts and failed castings, indicate
the presence of a blacksmith's workshop on the site, most probably at Building
C1, and a non-ferrous metal working workshop at Building D1. These workshops
brought together materials from far and wide: gold and silver from Europe or
Ireland, copper and lead from the Pennine range, and tin from Cornwall. Crucibles
were imported from Lincolnshire, and some of the ingot moulds are made from
stone from Shetland or Scandinavia.
Shoemakers and shoe repairers plied their trade at Coppergate, and there is
evidence that leather boots and shoes were made and repaired together with belts,
straps, pouches, thongs and elaborately decorated sheaths and scabbards. Piles
of leather off-cuts of cattle and occasionally sheep hides indicate where the
leather workers carried out their crafting activities. Tools found at Coppergate
include iron punches, awls and creasers, as well as a range of needles and balls
of beeswax, which was used to lubricate the needles as they passed through the
leather.
Specialist carvers of bone and antler made combs and other items such as pins
to fasten clothing, and strap-ends to attach to leather belts, as well as needles,
and spindle whorls used in textile making. Small pieces of bone and antler were
shaped into finger rings, gaming pieces or amulets, whilst larger pieces were
made into skates, handles for knives and other tools. One curious object found
at Coppergate is thought to be a bow from a small saw. Small bones with holes
drilled through them are simple noise-makers; when threaded onto a twisted cord
and pulled from both ends, they hum or buzz. Combs were among the most commonly
found objects at Coppergate. These were used for grooming and also to get rid
of troublesome head lice. All stages of comb production were found from sawn
off-cuts of antler to the finished product. Each comb is made up of a number
of plates which are riveted together and then the teeth are sawn. Many of the
combs were decorated. Building C2 in JORVIK reconstructs the premises of an
antler worker based on the accumulation of evidence found there.
The environmental evidence
Much of the evidence discovered at Coppergate was preserved thanks to the protective,
oxygen-free cocoon provided by the organic-rich soil. The organic component
was largely a mix of plant debris, including remains of twigs, plants, wood
chips and thatch used in building, and also straw and heather used for bedding.
The debris also contained material from some of the manufacturing activities
such as wood working, antler working and textile working that took place on
the site, plus all the human rubbish and organic waste generated in everyday
life. Thanks to this rich deposit of environmental evidence we have been able
to build up a much clearer picture of what life was like in Viking-Age York.
Evidence from the early period of Viking occupation at Coppergate, in and around the first post and wattle structures, included straw or threshing debris of cornfield weeds and cereal chaff, plus twigs, leaves (holly and oak), bud-scales (oak), catkin, wood sorrel seeds, and woodland moss. A snail from this same area indicates the importation of woodland litter used for floor covering, as the species is found most often in these habitats. Heather, cross leaved heath and bracken were also found, possibly used as bedding, plus a few peatland / heathland insects, some of which may have arrived in peat, although there are no remains of peat in these early occupation layers.
Traces of dye-plants were also present from the early occupation through to the later period, such as dyers greenweed and pod remains of woad, and there is also evidence for the disposal of dye-bath waste. Ash, which may have originated from the hearth in the buildings, may also have been used in dying as a source of alkali.
Evidence of beeswax exists, and in some cases honeybees, from both the early and later periods of occupation. Textile working, or at least wool cleaning, is suggested by the substantial number of sheep lice and keds in the early layers, and there is some evidence that flax was processed at this time.
Insect assemblages include human fleas and human lice, which were deposited on the floors of the buildings. Other floor deposits from the early period include quite large insect assemblages, which points to fairly foul living conditions, including large quantities of mouldering plant remains. Large numbers of puparia of house flies were also found, as were woodworm beetles. The floors of these buildings were probably by no means dry by modern standards, but they were generally not too unpleasant for sitting on. Whilst there were often large populations of insects in the floors, it was quite likely that most went about their lives unnoticed. In later periods, when the planked buildings were in use, the houses seem to have been cleaner and drier, with insects that would more usually have been living inside houses, although 'outdoor' insects were also present in similar quantities in house floors and external deposits, which may suggest that these houses were rather open.
Pits from the earlier period showed evidence of human faeces containing large
amounts of parasitic worm eggs. This evidence also showed a wide range of food-plants,
wheat and barley. Possible evidence for materials used for sanitary purposes
included fragments of wooden yarn and also large branching mosses. One pit also
yielded some charred bread, dog coprolite (faeces), feathers, daub, a fragment
of bracket fungus, the vertebrae of an eel and herring, plus approximately 200
sloe fruit stones. These pits obviously contained a wide range of domestic and
other waste, and based on the small amount of insect evidence in the pits, this
waste probably accumulated very quickly.
Evidence pointing to food plants includes rowan, bilberry, rose and various
species of rubus, plus cultivated plants such as walnut and field bean, which
included a bean weevil. One spot find included approximately 100 cherry stones,
and flavourings such as dill, celery seed and summer savory were all recorded.
Two sources of edible oil were found - hemp and linseed.
What Happened to Them?
The Viking Age
People from Scandinavia began to attack England from the end of the 8th century
onwards. In 793 the Vikings sacked the monastery on Lindisfarne, off the coast
of Northumbria. This has traditionally been regarded as the start of the Viking
Age in Britain.
Where did the Vikings settle in Britain and Ireland?
Ireland
Irish annals first record a Viking raid in 795, on Rathlin Island off Ireland's
north-east coast. In 798 there is a reference to the breaking of a shrine or
reliquary, and also the seizing of cattle. Until the 820s, raids in Ireland
were only occasional; in the years 813-21 there is no mention of Viking raids
at all.
The main evidence for Viking occupation of Ireland comes from Dublin. Some aspects of Viking-Age Dublin are known through the study of old maps and drawings, place names and documentary records. The name Oxmantown, situated across the River Liffy from Dublin, indicates an area where the 'ostmen', the Hiberno-Norse Dubliners, lived after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans. Most evidence of the Viking City of Dublin has come from large-scale archaeological excavations.
Shetland and Orkney
The Northern Isles are only 320km (200 miles) or two days sailing time from
the western coast of Norway, and were obvious stepping-stones for the Vikings
on their way to Britain. The islands offered the natural resources of the sea,
the shore and the cliffs, which provided the mainstays of life, and there was
plenty of pasture for sheep and other beasts.
Orkney offered good arable land where corn could be grown; its greater economic potential made it the seat of Viking power in the islands. Modern historians believe that the leading family in the Møre district of Norway, south of Trondheim, established the earldom of Orkney. It was Rognvald of Møre who established his brother Sigurd the Mighty as first earl at some time in the later 9th century.
The most famous Viking settlement site in the Northern Isles - Jarlshof - is on the southern tip of mainland Shetland. Excavations there have revealed a succession of buildings spanning 600 years of occupation.
Hebrides
Place names in the Western Isles suggest the settlement of speakers of Old Norse,
whilst discoveries of silver hoards and burials suggest that the Vikings inhabited
these islands in the 10th century, an unexplained contrast with the Northern
Isles where most hoards were hidden in the 11th century.
The hoards and burials were found throughout the islands, from Lewis in the north to Islay in the south. An excavation on St Kilda, 65km (40 miles) out in the Atlantic to the west of the Hebrides revealed a Viking warrior who had been laid to rest beneath a cairn.
Written evidence also mentions Viking settlement on these islands:
"Having landed in the west, Ketil fought a number of battles and won
them all. He conquered and took charge of the Hebrides, making peace and alliances
with all the leading men there in the west" (Eyrbrygga Saga, Chapter
1).
Scotland
In 794 Vikings first attacked sites in northern Britain. At this time there
was no unified kingdom making up Scotland, just a series of independent territories
occupied by several distinct peoples, including the Picts and the Scots. Evidence
suggests that the Vikings invaded certain areas of Scotland, including the Outer
Hebrides, Shetland, and some of Caithness and Sutherland, and settled there.
The stretch of water between the Northern Isles (Shetland and Orkney) and the adjacent mainland (Caithness and Sutherland) was known by the Vikings as Pettlandsfjordur - 'the firth of the Picts'. When the Vikings arrived the Picts controlled these areas as well as eastern and central Scotland.
Vikings reached the north-west tip of Britain, which they called hvarf - 'the turning point', known today as Cape Wrath. After they turned south they came upon what they called the Suthreys - 'the southern islands', known today as the western Isles or the Hebrides.
Some of the Hebrides, including Iona, the adjacent mainland promontory of Kintyre and its surroundings in Argyll, formed the kingdom of Dalriada; these lands were controlled by the Scots, who originally came from north-east Ireland.
In the Firth of Clyde, Vikings encountered the seat of the British kingdom of Strathclyde. The Strathclyde Britons shared a border to the east and south with an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria that extended across the Lothians as far north as the Clyde-Forth line.
The Isle of Man
The Isle of Man was inhabited by British and Irish Christians at the start of
the Viking Age. However, runic inscriptions suggest that both Norwegians and
Danes settled on the island and place names there suggest that some Viking settlers
had spent time in Ireland, Scotland or England.
The island still has its own parliament which meets at a stepped earthen mound called 'Tynwald'; this is an Old Norse name thingvöllr, meaning 'assembly fields', and reflects a system of government that goes back to the Viking Age.
The Isle of Man was probably an important settlement for the Vikings going about their business in Ireland, the Western Isles, mainland Scotland, Wales, and north-west England.
Wales
Vikings from Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Hebrides raided Wales, particularly
coastal monasteries, from the 950s. There is no evidence for any Viking immigration
and land-taking in Wales, as there was in England, nor for any long-lasting
independent Viking power base such as Dublin. Wales was, however, part of the
important Viking trading network around Britain and Ireland. Anglesey seems
to have been a favoured port of call, and the natural haven of Red Wharf Bay
in particular attracted traders. Archaeological evidence from Anglesey that
demonstrates contact with Viking-Age Ireland includes a hoard of five Hiberno-Viking
arm rings
Archaeological excavation has not uncovered any richly accompanied Viking graves like those found in other parts of Britain and Ireland. A simple burial on the coast at Talacre, Flintshire, in north Wales, in a stone cist, included a spearhead and knife.
The Danelaw
The boundary separating Anglo-Saxon England from Viking England was defined
in a treaty between King Alfred and King Guthrum in AD 880. This was written
as follows: Up the Thames, and then up the Lea, and along the Lea to its source,
then in a straight line to Bedford, then up the Ouse to the Watling Street.
Although this political boundary had completely disappeared by 954, there were still social differences between areas of 'English' England and what had become Anglo-Scandinavian England. This is seen within the various Codes of Law that successive English kings issued which recognised that the laws of Anglo-Scandinavian areas might differ subtly from those in use elsewhere.
In the early 11th century Archbishop Wulfstan of York referred to the 'Danelaw'. Unfortunately he didn't define the geographical location of this area, which was probably the east and north of England. It is in these regions, however where archaeological evidence demonstrates the greatest impact of Viking settlers on the landscape.
North-West England
Viking settlement in the north-west of England was unrecorded in any surviving
Anglo-Saxon annals, but evidence suggests that they did settle here. An Irish
source records how a Viking leader, Ingimund, in the early 10th century, was
expelled from Dublin and eventually settled near Chester. Other evidence suggests
substantial Viking settlement along the coast from the River Dee to the Solway
Firth.
Archaeological evidence from this area includes burials with Scandinavian affinities, including one at Beacon Hill in Cumbria; some individual objects; a series of silver hoards; and some stone carvings.
Timeline:
793 Vikings sack the monastery at Lindisfarne in Northumbria
794 Vikings attack sites in northern Britain, in what we now call Scotland
795 Irish annals record a Viking raid on Rathlin Island, off Ireland's north-east
coast.
866 York is captured by a Viking army
870 Iceland is colonised by Vikings
871 King Ethelred, the West Saxon king, and his brother Alfred, defeat the Viking
army at the Battle of Ashdown (in Berkshire).
876 Vikings from Denmark, Norway and Sweden settle permanently in England
886 King Alfred, formally aggress a boundary between his kingdom and land ruled
by the Viking King Guthrum (later called "the Danelaw")
950 Vikings from Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Hebrides raid Wales, particularly
the coastal monasteries
954 Eric Bloodaxe, the last Viking King of Jorvik, is thrown out of York
c980 Vikings settle in Greenland
994 Olaf of Norway and Sven 'Forkbeard', son of the Danish king, lead an invading
Danish army in an unsuccessful siege of London, and subsequently ravage the
south-east
c1000 The Vikings reach Newfoundland, but they did not go beyond the coastal
area and their settlement was short-lived.
1013 King Sven of Denmark (with his son Cnut) sail up the rivers Humber and
Trent to be accepted as king in the Danelaw. The Saxon king Ethelred the Unready
flees abroad.
1014 Cnut becomes the leader of the Danes on his father's death and king of
England after the death of Ethelred and his son Edmund Ironside
1042 Ethelred's other son, Edward the Confessor, is invited to return from Normandy
as king
1066 Harold Godwinson becomes the last Anglo-Saxon king after the death of King
Edward. King Harald of Norway invades England and captures York, but is then
defeated and killed in the battle of Stamford Bridge.
King Harold is defeated by Duke William at the battle of Hastings.
Where did they go?
The Vikings created a trade network that spanned the globe as far east as the
River Volga and Byzantium (Istanbul), west to Dublin and Newfoundland, and north
to Greenland and the North Cape. There is also evidence that they had contacts
with the Middle and Far East.
Evidence from Jorvik demonstrates links with many parts of the world; objects
found at Coppergate came from Norway, the Rhineland, the Baltic, Uzbekistan,
and the Red Sea.
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