3. The Vikings
* The vikings came from Scandinavia.
* They robbed gold and things that had big value.
* They have often been drawn wearing helmets with
horns, but it’s a myth that this helmet was typical for
vikings.
* They sailed with big ships and they discovered new
places and islands.
* The Vikings are still regarded today as cruel brigands.
* The Vikings also came on peaceful errands, to trade and
to colonize.
* The Viking Age culminated in 1066, when Norwegian
King Harald Hardruler and his men were defeated at the
Battle of Stamford Bridge in England.
4. • The Vikings came from
three countries of
Scandinavia: Denmark,
Norway and Sweden. The
name 'Viking' comes from a
language called 'Old Norse'
and means 'a pirate raid'.
People who went off
raiding in ships were said
to be 'going Viking'.
• The Viking age in European
history was about AD 700
to 1100. During this period
many Vikings left
Scandinavia and travelled
to other countries, such as
Britain and Ireland. Some
went to fight and steal
treasure. Others settled in
new lands as farmers,
craftsmen or traders.
5. Viking expansion
The Vikings
explored the
northern islands
and coasts of the
North Atlantic,
ventured south
to North Africa
and east to
Russia,
Constantinople,
and the Middle
East.
6. * Many scholars regard the looting in 793 of the
monastery of Lindisfarne, off England's northeast
coast, as the beginning of the Viking Age.
* Norwegian Vikings settled in the Orkney Isles, the
Shetlands, the Hebrides, and on the Isle of Man.
* The mainland of northern Scotland and Ireland also
became their home, and Dublin, founded by the
Vikings in the 840s, was under Nordic rule up to
1171.
Vikings in Britain
and Ireland
7. Vikings in Iceland, Greenland
and America
On Iceland and Greenland the Norwegian Vikings found
uninhabited land. There they settled and built communities.
Present-day Iceland descends directly from the Viking colonization.
On Greenland the Norse communities died out a few centuries
later.
The Sagas relate that it was Leif Eriksson who discovered
"Wineland the Good" in the year 1001, but present-day scholars
claim that other Vikings had reached America before him.
8.
9. VIKINGS in Poland
Archeologists found the presence of Vikings on Polish land from VIII
to IX century in places like: Janów Pomorski, Wolin, Kałdus,
Dziekanowice, Ostrów Legnicki.
First contacts with
Vikings were
connected with
trade, the proof of it
was founded, in VIII
century, first harbour
– Trusco, the biggest
Baltic port (today
Janów Pomorski).
10. In X and XI century Vikings served in Polish army.
They lived in important both political and strategic
towns, they shared their military experience, married
with Slavic women.
11. Also, there were contacts on the summit of power –
Polish and Scandinavian marriages: princess
Świętosława married first Eric the Victorious - king of
Sweeden and then Sweyn Forkbeard - king of Denmark.
Sweyn Farkbeard
12. Some of scientists believe that Polish Wolin was the
legendary Jómsborg – military camp, where the Vikings
lived 1000 years ago.
16. FAMILY LIFE
Men and women
Women baked bread.
They did spinning and
weaving to turn sheep
wool into cloth.
They looked after the
children, made the
family's clothes and
cooked the two meals
a day most families ate.
On the farm, women
milked the cows and
made cheese.
17. Most Viking men were all-
round handymen, but
some had special skills.
There were boat-builders,
for example and potters,
leather-workers and
smiths. Most Viking men
knew how to handle
a boat. And most could
fight if they had to, to
protect the family or to
support their chieftain.
18. Children
Babies were given little Thor's-hammer charms,
to protect them from evil spirits and sickness. A
boy usually took his father's name too - so Eric,
son of Karl, became Eric Karlsson. Girls often took
the same name as their mother or grandmother.
Viking children did not go to school. They helped
their parents at work, and learned Viking history,
religion and law from spoken stories and songs,
not from books. By 15 or 16 they were adult. It
was common for a girl's father to choose her
husband.
19. Roving and trading
A young Viking man might go
off on a trading voyage, or
become a raider. He hoped to
come home rich so he could
buy a farm. Vikings met at
markets, like the markets at
Hedeby in Denmark and Jorvik
in England. They traded by
exchanging goods (a wolf skin
for a pair of shoes, perhaps)
but also used gold and silver
coins. Traders valued coins by
weight, and carried small
folding scales to weigh
a customer's coins.