Viking History: Who Are The Various Types Of Vikings?
The term Vikings is typically used as a generic term to describe a large and different group of individuals, and it is not constantly clear who precisely those individuals are. We are very guilty of doing this!
Today, let’s take a more detailed look at who precisely we are referring to when we utilize the term Vikings and the different groups that exist below that umbrella term. What do the different groups have in common, and what separates them?
Who Are The Vikings? We utilize the term Vikings to describe individuals descended from Germanic people, encountered by the Romans in Germany as early as the 1 st century advertisement, who by the 7 th century had established themselves in parts of Scandinavia, specifically Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. While the Vikings were not a single uniform group, they had lots of things in typical
. Specifically, they spoke variations of Old Norse and composed using runes based upon earlier Proto-Germanic language. They likewise followed a comparable religion, today known as the Norse religious beliefs, which fixates the gods Odin, Thor, and Freyja.
They are also consistently seafaring people. Notably, the Finns aren’t considered Vikings, although they would have communicated with their Viking next-door neighbors and there was no doubt substantial intermarrying and cultural exchange between the Finns and the Vikings. This is since the Finns migrated into the area from the east, rather than Germany, they do not speak a version of Old Norse, and they have different spiritual traditions. Different Types of
Vikings While it is always very tough to draw tidy lines in between surrounding peoples, the Vikings can normally be divided into three groups: the Danes, the Norwegians, and the Swedes. Even these 3 groups aren’t consistent.
They were smaller sized clan-based societies, however clearly, clans had a lot in common with their neighbors, and they would fight, form alliances, wed, and so forth. The concepts of the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish
nations just emerged in around the 10 th century when powerful kings such as Harald Bluetooth managed to bring other leaders under their
control. Likewise, Viking leaders did not limit themselves by arbitrary borders. The famous Ragnar Lothbrok was obviously king of both Denmark and Sweden. The empire of the Danish king Cnut the Great covered Denmark, Sweden, and England. Nonetheless, it is still beneficial to discussthe Vikings in regards to these three groups. Danish Vikings The Danes are the most well-known Vikings due to the fact that they occur to be the ones that we know the most about. Because they were the most politically organized and present in European politics, this is most likely. And considering that the Vikings have actually not left any of their own contemporary histories, we have to rely on references to them in the records of others. The Danes robbed to the west, specifically France and England, and set up settlements in those locations. They settled northern France and practically took control of Normandy. This is why the Norman Willian the Conqueror is often called a Viking
. They also established themselves throughout England, however particularly around York and Northumbria. Their existence was so strong there that big swathes of the nation were governed not by English law, however by Danelaw. Their close relations with European Christians is most likely why the Danish Vikings were the first to convert to Christianity. The most famous Danish Vikings are the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok and his children consisting of Bjorn Ironside and Ivar the Boneless. While they were also kings in Sweden, they are of Danish origin. Other popular Danes consist of King Gorm, thought about to have actually unified Denmark as a single nation in the 10th century, his boy Harald Bluetooth who led the conversion to Christianity, Sweyn Forkbeard, who was king of England for a short duration, and his kid Cnut the Great, who ruled over an empire that included Denmark, Sweden, and England. You can read our full post on the Danish Vikings here. Norwegian Vikings One of the qualities of Norwegian Vikings is that they are the ones who commonly carried axes into battle, while other Vikings were most likely to eliminate with swords or spears. They are likewise the explorers of the Viking world. While they definitely pillaged and dominated, and had a strong presence in Ireland and Brittany, they are best known for discovering and settling virgin area. Iceland was settled by the Norwegians in the 2nd half of the 9 th century, and the Icelandic Vikings are most carefully associated to the Norwegian Vikings. They also moved out to Greenland in the 10 th century. They likewise developed themselves on various Nordic islands including the Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe Islands. It was also the Norwegian-Icelandic Vikings that cruised to the New
World at the start of the 11 th century, landing in Newfoundland in Canada and briefly settling and trading there. The most well-known Norwegian Vikings include Erik the Red, who settled Greenland, his son
Leif Erikson, who is generally credited with being the first Viking in the New World, and Harald Finehair, a militaristic king of Norway who likewise attacked England in 1066, playing an important role in the success of William the Conqueror. Swedish Vikings While Swedish Vikings were likewise remarkable warriors, they were more thinking about trade and alliances than raiding. They also focussed their attention east towards the Slavic area and Russia. The Swedes are frequently known as the Rus and they developed theViking settlement around Kiev
that would happen referred to as the Kievan Rus neighborhood and began to work for the Byzantine empire as elite warriors which became called the Varangian Guard
. Varangian was another typical name of the Swedish Vikings. They traded and pillaged down the Volga and Dnieper Rivers and developed trade routes to the Middle East and the Black Sea. They are understood to have intermarried and culturally intermixed with the Slavic people, especially those of Poland. It is worth keeping in mind that a few of the most uncommon stories that we hear about the Vikings relate particularly to the Swedish Vikings. They are the group described as consisting of human sacrifices in their funerary rights and being covered in blue tattoos. The most famous Swedish Vikings include Oleg of Novgorod, who established Kiev as the capital of the Kievan
Rus in the
9 th century, Erik the Victorious, the very first historically proven Swedish King from the 10 th century, and Ingvar Vittfarne, who led explorations to the Caspian Sea in the 11 th century. Numerous runestones in Sweden commemorate his journeys. The Verdict While we acknowledge that this is
a very simplified and brief summary, it offers an excellent framework for understanding who the Vikings were. But what do you think? Do these departments align with your vision of the Vikings, and how important do you believe that these departments were at the time?
