1. Possible reasons for Viking raids (víking)
and expansion:
Overpopulation, limited resources
Reputation
Avoiding enemies and feuds
Objection to rule of kings

2. King
Jarls (chieftains) with warrior bands
Karls (free men), usually farmers or crafters
Thralls (slaves)
Women as powers behind husbands, poetesses,
prophetesses. Rights in divorce, marriage,
inheritance, succession

3. Odin
All-father, king of the gods
God of poets (skalds) and wisdom
Hung on tree to gain runes (Futhark)

4. Thor
God of strength, thunder and lightning
Mjollnir

5. Frey: God of fertility
Freyja: Goddess of love, beauty and
fertility
Hel/Hela: Queen of Hel (the underworld)
The Valkyries: choosers of the slain
(Valhalla)

6. c. 960 Harald Bluetooth of Denmark
(r. c ) becomes Christian
c Olaf I Tryggvason (r ) and
Olaf II Haraldsson (r ) of
Norway convert population to Christianity
c Iceland adopts Christianity
11th c. Conversion of Sweden begins
12th c. Last records of pagan practices

7. 814 Vikings burn monastery on Noirmoutier, off mouth of R. Loire
841 Vikings plunder Rouen
Map Link: Viking Raids:
<
2013/02/map1-240x300.jpg>

8. 843 Vikings winter on Noirmoutier
844 Vikings ravage Garonne valley, attack
Spain
857 Vikings have repeatedly sacked various
French cities incl. Paris
859 Vikings raid Morocco, Balearics, winter
at Rhone delta, raid southern France

9. 885 Vikings besiege Paris
887 Charles the Fat (r ) relieves siege
of Paris
911 Charles the Simple (r ) grants
Viking leader Rollo area around mouth
of Seine, which forms seed of Normandy.
Viking raids on mainland Europe end a
couple of decades later

10. 9th c. Vikings invade Ireland, occupy Orkney,
Shetland, Hebrides and Isle of Man
874 Viking settle in Iceland, and later in
Greenland, east coast of N. America
13th c. End of Viking rule in Scotland and
Isle of Man

11. 830 Start of Viking Rus raiding and trading
in eastern Europe, Byzantine Empire and
Middle East. Settlements follow along
Volga river and (in 10th c.) in Slavic
lands including city of Kiev. They expand
territory further in 10th c.
c. 988 Vladimir of Kiev (r ) converts
to Greek Orthodox Christianity

12. Map Link: Journeys of the Vikings:
<

13. c. 980 Eirik the Red leaves Scandinavia for
Iceland, but is banished from Iceland and
heads west, where he discovers Greenland
985 Eirik leads a party to colonise Greenland.
Bjarni Herjolfsson, following, accidentally
sights N. America but does not land.
c Leif (“the Lucky”) Eiriksson lands on
Baffin Island, Labrador and “Vinland”
(Newfoundland)
Thorwald Scraelings

14. Ahmad ibn Fadlan
Very little known about him. Sent by caliph,
in 921, as ambassador to king of Bulgars
of Middle Volga, to present gifts and
supervise Muslim teachers
Met some of the Swedish Rus after arrived in
922. Impressions recorded in risala
(“message”)