VIKINGS Vikings were invaders pirate raiders you may call them everyone feared them even them selves. The word Vikings means a pirate raid that comes from a old language called old Norse. People who off went raiding in ships were said to be “going Viking”

WHERE THE VIKINGS SETTLED The parts of Britain where most Vikings settled were northern Scotland and eastern England. For 500 years, from about AD 900, Vikings ruled the north of Scotland, the Orkney and Shetland isles and the Hebrides islands off the west coast. In Ireland, Vikings founded the city of Dublin.

WHERE VIKINGS CAME FROM AND WHERE THEY INVADED FIRST The Vikings came from three countries of Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The Vikings first invaded Britain in AD 793 and last invaded in 1066 when William the Conqueror became King of England after the Battle of Hastings. The first place the Vikings raided in Britain was the monastery at Lindisfarne, a small holy island located off the northeast coast of England.

WHAT VIKINGS TRADED  It was likely the Vikings traded slaves they had captured in Russia. They also traded furs, skins and tusks from Greenland, in exchange for silk and spices from the Far East. Silver coins were another common method of payment during the Viking Age.

VIKING FUNERALS Norse funerals, or the burial customs of Viking Age North Germanic Norsemen (early medieval Scandinavians), are known both from archaeology and from historical accounts such as the Icelandic sagas, Old Norse poetry, and notably from the account of Ahmad ibn Fadlan.

VIKING FUN FACTS 1. Vikings were very clean people (at least by comparison to other people at the time!). 2. A Viking's most treasured weapon was his sword. They were handed down generations via inheritance, were often named and could be inscribed with runes by talented smiths to magically increase their power. 3. Viking longships could carry at least sixty men. 4. The nursery rhyme 'London Bridge is falling down' could be linked to a Viking named Olaf the Stout who fixed cables from longships to the bridge and pulled it into the Thames. 5. Viking pastimes included a Norse ball game called Knattleikr - which means... erm... ball game! 6. Onion soup was fed to the injured to identify injuries that were beyond treating! Stinky! 7. Vikings played Piggy in the Middle with rolled up bearskins. 8. Most Viking boots were made of goatskin. 9. Buttons hadn't been invented yet so toggles, clasps and brooches were used. 10. Some Vikings attached thrusting spikes to the centre of their shields to adapt them for offence as well as defence.

VIKING PICTURES