Did many Vikings become Vikings?

The Vikings lived in Northern Europe more than 1,000 years ago, today's Norway, Denmark and Sweden. At that time, Europeans referred to them as Northman, which means visitors from the north. Vikings are what they call themselves. In the Nordic languages, this word contains two meanings: first, travel, and then plunder. Their voyages spanned the entire Europe, reaching the Red Sea in the south, North America in the west, and Baghdad in the east. But the first time they appeared in front of the local people was to rob and plunder as pirates.

Leaving aside the achievements of archeology, we can learn about fragments of the Vikings’ lives from the stories they told themselves. The earliest stories, histories, and poems were not written down, but were passed down from generation to generation through oral singing. Until around 1100 AD, the Vikings living in Iceland had their own unique writing, which was recorded on animal skins, or on wood blocks, animal bones and stones. This writing consisted of a few simple curves called Rune. , there were 26 letters at first, and later gradually evolved into 16. We can also find bits and pieces of the Vikings from the records of our contemporaries. But some victims, such as the monks in the monastery, were less objective in their accounts.

Politics

The social system of the Vikings included three classes:

Jarl: princes, mostly big lords, hereditary nobles;

Karl: a free man, the main force of the army, the warrior class;

Thralls: the lowest slave.

But this division is not absolute. A free person can become a slave if he loses all his land; a slave can also become a free person and serve his master loyally and will be redeemed. Chance.

Nobles and freemen met regularly to decide major events and resolve disputes. They called this meeting Thing.

In the earliest times, the king was the largest noble, and he made almost all major decisions, so that the tribal council was only responsible for some local affairs. But in Iceland, since there has never been a king, everything is decided by a tribal assembly, attended by all the nobles and freemen of the island, and held regularly somewhere for two weeks every year.

I read a book a long time ago, The Earth\'s Children, written by Jean Aule. At that time, I was amazed at how this aunt could write such a detailed prehistoric style (so good) Great book! Highly recommended!). The tribes in the book will gather in one place every two years for a conference to complete a series of ceremonies, trade, negotiations, and competitions. It seems that they are based on the Nordic tradition.

The Vikings received unconditionally all the decrees of the king and the council, and these decrees were known to everyone. Those who violate the rules will be expelled from the tribe and are called Outlawed, which does not mean a hero in the forest. This time the exiles cannot cultivate any land or accept help from anyone. They can only live in caves and live a life of hiding and stealing.

Life

The Vikings lived a family life, with parents, children, grandparents and aunts living under one roof. They are loyal to each other. When one member of the family is bullied, the whole family goes to tribal council to demand justice. If a man is killed, his family will likely demand compensation in money or land. If the tribal council believes that they do have the right to make such a request, and the murderer's family readily pays the compensation, then everything will be business as usual; but if the deceased's family feels that the verdict is unfair, they will privately kill one of the other party's members. members, so they retaliate against each other, and endless feuds may become an additional tradition of ancient family families.

It is up to the whole family to decide whether a woman will marry, but she has the right to choose one from the list. After marriage, she retained her previous property and was responsible for taking care of the family land while her husband was away from home. Divorce is simple. The couple makes a statement explaining the reasons for their divorce in front of a notary. Some of the reasons may seem ridiculous, such as a husband complaining that his wife always wears pants instead of skirts.

Children live with their elders until they reach adulthood and join another family. Before then, boys learned farming, fighting skills and navigation, as well as tool and weapon making; women learned to spin and weave cloth, and make butter and cheese.

Most Vikings were professional farmers and lived in the countryside. There is no concept of large towns in the wild land. There are only a few important ports such as York and Boca. More Vikings live with their families on small farms. According to records or excavated ruins, we can reconstruct the houses of the past and find that all farms are almost the same. The main building is a rectangular house. If it is more elegant, some additional independent cabins will be added to serve as livestock stalls and handicraft workshops. Farmers can make their own tools and weapons in the workshops.

In the early longhouses, there were only one or two rooms, and all family members worked and lived in one room. And mixed with livestock. Such a house is generally 20 meters long and 6 meters wide. The toilet is also a bathroom, and Nordic people like to take steam baths. Opposite the entrance is a fire pit, where the whole family can cook or keep warm. This room also doubles as a storage room. There are wooden benches fixed on each wall for sitting during the day and sleeping at night, with various sundries piled underneath.

Each household has one or two high-backed chairs, and only the head of the family is qualified to sit on them, or if there are any particularly distinguished guests. Except for the king who had seen the world, the Vikings had no concept of a bed.

The longhouse is dark and damp, with no floor and only mud. In the bitter cold land of the north, there are few trees and very few stones. The Vikings used straw bricks for building walls, which are a mixture of grass and soil that is slightly fired. They called it Turf. This kind of bricks are very popular in winter. Keep warm. Some people use wooden boards to make a sandwich wall on the inside of the brick wall. There should be a gap in the middle to prevent the wooden boards from getting wet and rotting. Longhouses usually have two doors and few windows. If they do have a window, it is just a simple hole. Windows that can be opened and closed freely are redundant decoration for them. All the lighting comes from the door and the small hole above the stove to discharge the smoke. Candles are used for lighting at night, but they are made of animal fat. If you light them in an airtight room, you can imagine the smell.

Women spin and weave in the house, and all the clothes are handmade at home, and the housewives with skillful hands will add more decorations. They spun wool or linen into thread and woven it into cloth. Use vegetable juice to dye different colors, including yellow, black, green, brown, blue, red and other bright colors. Vikings loved this eye-catching color. Finally the cloth is cut into garments. The whole process is complicated and long, so each person only has a few pieces of clothing, and what he wears lasts for several years. In fact, the daily clothes of the Vikings only need to be comfortable and not particular about style, regardless of fashion, so that for hundreds of years, their attire has not changed at all.

Most farms are small and rely on single family operations. Larger farms required more labor, and farmers could hire landless free men or purchase slaves. This ancient farming method remains unchanged: seeds are sown in spring and harvested in late autumn. Animals that cannot be kept through the winter are slaughtered in the autumn when they are at their fattest, and the meat is preserved by smoking, curing, and pickling. Another identity of the farmer is that of a pirate, who alternates between plundering and farming. The pirate goes out twice a year. After spring sowing or autumn harvest, his wife will take care of everything at home. The climate in winter is always harsh, and the Nordics hide in their houses to mend tools, sew clothes, tanned animal hides, and prepare ships to go to sea next year.

The ruins of the homes at that time and the Viking garbage dumps (still well preserved^^) reveal their dietary structure. The staple food of the Vikings was mainly meat and fish. They raised pigs, chickens, geese, ducks, cattle, and sheep to obtain meat, milk, and eggs. They also occasionally hunted and fished. They grew rye and barley for bread, cabbage and onions for condiments, as well as garlic and cress. They drink beer, milk and a homemade wine made from honey from wooden cups or hollow horns. Eat two meals a day as usual, breakfast around 8 a.m. and dinner around 8 p.m. The whole family gathers together and cooks in wooden pots and pans. The Vikings ate with knives and spoons, but no forks.

Culture

The Vikings believed in many gods, both male and female. Different gods looked after different aspects of daily life. They appear everywhere from time to time, making the right things happen at the right time and in the right place.

According to old legend, the gods live in a place called Asgard, which is equivalent to the location of heaven. There is naturally a hell in the underground world called Niflheim. The pirates firmly believe that if a man dies gloriously in battle, his soul can enter Valhalla, the palace of Asgard in heaven, where the warrior spirits feast, sing and tell legends. If you are born a warrior and die in bed, you are worthy of entering the underworld.

From this point of view, the Vikings believed that death was just a journey to another world, so they piled a lot of funerary objects in the tombs of the deceased to provide them with flowers on the way. There is food, clothing, all kinds of tools, and all kinds of weapons. What's more, if the person who died was a king or a great hero, they would bury the deceased's warship together with it, which is the famous "pirate's funeral".

The Vikings believed that divinity was also buried in animals. They divided animals into good and evil ones based on this. They believed in the existence of ghosts. Goblins and Trolls also came from Viking mythology. The Vikings believed that there were people who could predict the future. They called these prophets Soothsayers. These hermits lived in remote countryside and were supported by worshipers from all directions.

The Vikings liked to listen to stories and poems, and for a long time they used this method to record history. There are people in each tribe who record such stories and write new legends. It obviously took a long time to carve these long stories into the bones, and the Vikings spent the long winter hiding in their houses telling the stories handed down from their fathers.

Professional entertainers or minstrels travel around to collect folk music, attend festivals held three times a year, and also attend weddings and banquets. The occasion always involves singing and dancing, and the storyteller is given some form of gift, a ring or a necklace. Their stories may seem a bit exaggerated to today's ears: a man killed a wild boar as big as a house; a housewife milked a thousand cows in one day. The logic of the Vikings is this: the merits worth describing are not what has been done, but what can be done.

Listening to the singing of the Vikings requires great courage and perseverance. An Arab traveler who went to Denmark said: "I have never heard such a scary roar. The roar of a group of wild dogs is worse than the roar of the Vikings." Matching their voices, but not their debauchery."

The Nordics like to play with words, and their saga is full of metaphorical compound words used to refer to something without directly mentioning the name. . For example, swords are called battle spices. This metaphor has puzzled later archaeologists for a long time. They also like to guess charades, and exchanging various charades is an important part of cultural communication, just like the various jokes we see from BBS today.

Battle

Since childhood, the Vikings have loved various competitive games. They compete in equestrian, weightlifting, rowing, sailing and swimming. The annual tribal meeting is also Nordic Olympics. The most popular sport is wrestling. An open field is marked out, and a pointed boundary stone is placed in the center. The two sides of the competition push each other onto the stone with all their strength.

In addition, they also competed in archery, skiing, and skating. All these competitions are designed to make stronger warriors. This is true even for games played while hiding in the house in winter. The content of board games spread from Arabia always revolves around offensive and defensive skills.

The Vikings were powerful warriors. Their numbers were small, so they had to rely on careful planning and unexpected surprise attacks. In the battle, they showed unusual fanaticism and were not afraid of death, so people talked about pirates.

Their assault is often divided into two parts: first throwing spears and launching rockets at a long distance; and then using swords and battle axes to finish off at close range.

When they met at sea, the pirates followed the ancient tradition and tied the ships together without saying a word. Put up a springboard on the bow of the ship, and then go on stage one after another for a duel. Everyone who steps on the springboard faces this fate: either kill all the opponents, or die in battle themselves, and have their companions behind them avenge themselves. If you feel scared, you can turn around and jump into the sea. No one will hunt down deserters, but a person who gives up his qualifications to fight is no different from the dead. From now on, even his family will ignore his existence.

Therefore, the first to go into battle at the bow of the ship are usually the most elite warriors. They are shirtless during the battle, roaring wildly, and enjoying the battle without emotion. They know that the springboard under their feet is soaked in the blood of their ancestors, and their descendants will also settle in the same place. Anger makes Vikings appear powerful and terrifying, and such warriors are called Berserkers. No one knows why this primitive battle inspires such amazing human nature, and the stories of the berserkers are passed down from generation to generation.

The men who survived the battle shared the victory generously. The first king of the Vikings was named Harold, nicknamed Thin Hair. The area he ruled is today's Norway. One summer he set out to fight against the pirates who robbed his territory. The campaign lasted so long that he had to spend the winter in Orkneys (the northern Scottish islands), and by the way he occupied Scotland, Shetland and the Hebrides.

In the spring of the next year, when the large army was about to return to Norway, the king handed over the new territory to the rule of Earl Rogenvald, because the Earl lost his only son during the expedition. Rogenvald surrendered his territory to Count Siegeld because he saved his life in the battle. Today there is a harbor in Scotland named after Siegold.

Trade

Vikings’ farms produced almost all daily necessities, from tools to clothing, and they lived a self-sufficient life. Over time, people who were good at making certain utensils gradually became specialized craftsmen. They opened shops everywhere, but the blacksmith's shop was always on the edge of town because there was a risk of fire from the furnace.

Artisans produced more highly decorated utensils, and they made tools, weapons, and jewelry. Viking jewelry is well-known to this day and has a very complicated production process. Brooches are usually made of white wax, cast in silver or bronze, polished, and inlaid with colored stones or jewelry. Necklaces can be made from amber and dyed pebbles. Black jade and turquoise were made into dice and chips for playing chess. The salesmen come and go from prefectures to prefectures, um, from villages and counties, peddling these exquisitely crafted jewelry.

The Vikings maintained trade contacts with many regions, and archaeologists have also found many products and coins from other regions in tombs in Northern Europe. But they preferred silver, and merchants carried scales with them and used silver bars as weights. Stone carvings and legends record their travels:

In 860 AD, the Vikings who followed the Volga River came to Russia (it was not called this name at the time). They traded with the local Slavs, went south from Novgrod, along the river to Polga, and exchanged slaves for honey and furs; then followed the Volga River into the Caspian Sea, transferred to camels, and went all the way to Baghdad, where they traded Silk and spices.

Another trade route was along the Dnieper River to Kiev, into the Black Sea, to Istanbul, which was rich in wine, silk and fine jewelry. Travel The Vikings were very good sailors and shipwrights. In comparison, ships from other countries could not go to distant seas, and their designs were also very heavy. Viking ships were light, narrow and had a shallow draft, allowing them to sail on all European rivers.

The Vikings spent the winter building or repairing their ships, usually in the open air and occasionally building sheds. The hull and oars are made of oak, and the mast is made of pine, which can bend moderately in strong winds. The whole log is first processed into a keel to ensure strength. The curved head and tail are processed separately and then fixed to both ends of the keel with iron nails. Then the beams were set up on the keel to complete the outline of the entire ship. Lay out the panels on both sides of the boat, following the outline. This whole strip of wood is wedged layer by layer, with the upper layer just covering the edge of the lower layer. Several small holes were cut into the uppermost panel, and five-meter-long wooden paddles protruded from the holes. Finally, the floor was laid, the mast was erected, and a metal weather vane was installed on the top of the mast. The oar is installed on the right side of the rear hull. Nets made of hemp rope are hung on both sides of the sail to prevent the sail from being torn apart in strong winds. This kind of boat is the most common, with a total length of about 20 meters.

The sailors carry a small box with them, containing clothing and weapons. They sit on it when they paddle, but they rarely paddle, they are good sailors. There is a cabin at the bow and stern of each ship for storing food, including butter, cheese, beer, fresh water, meat, fruits and dried chestnuts. In addition, there are various cooking utensils, sailing gear and tents for landing.

They wore fur coats and slept fully clothed on the boat. There was also a fire for cooking on board, using a box filled with sand as a stove. On the sea, they used the sun, moon and stars as direction guides. When the weather is bad, you can also use a compass, a simple piece of magnetized iron.

During the long journey of the Vikings, the ship was their mobile home. The mast can be folded down and the sails can be covered to make a good tent. Pirates even carried the ship forward like the Argonauts from one river to another. Because water transportation is more labor-saving, it can carry more people and equipment.

When they couldn't take a boat, they rode horses and followed the ancient Roman post roads, or when they went out in winter, they could resort to skiing and skating. Ice skates were made from whale bones and tied to deerskin soles to become skates. Sleds could carry the sick and old, or large amounts of equipment. In any case, they hated walking because it was slow and carried heavy luggage.

There are many theories about why the Vikings have been traveling. Some people think that it is due to nature. The more generally accepted view is that they were looking for arable soil. There is an unwritten rule in Northern Europe. After the head of the family dies, the eldest son inherits the family business. The other sons must leave their elder brothers and start their own families when they reach adulthood. As the population grew, the scant arable land in Northern Europe became even more unavailable, so the Vikings traveled all over the world and looked for good places to open farms.

Pirate Footprints

Beginning in 780 AD, the Vikings went out more and more. They need more trade markets and more plundering grounds. They mainly stole livestock and grain, but also did not let go of any valuable treasure. They struck quickly and left just as quickly after succeeding. The nearby residents suffered greatly and regarded the Vikings as barbarians, cold-blooded warriors.

In 789 AD, a group of Viking pirates sacked Dorset County, and England has been constantly harassed since then. The locals fought bravely against the bandits, but more often than not, they paid a ransom, called Danegeld (today’s tax in Denmark is not called tax, but called Danegeld) to let the disaster star leave quickly. But money can't always solve the problem. There are several pirates. When this king leaves, another leader comes on stage. In weakly defended areas, Viking pirates thrived.

When the great Alfred (the king at that time was not an emperor and was not qualified to be called several generations, so he had to put "Great" after his name) was in power in Wessex, he and the main victors An agreement was reached with the King tribes, allowing them to settle in an area in southeastern England called Danelaw (today's Danish law is called Danelaw). Even so, the fragile peace was constantly broken as each side sought more land.

The large number of pirates means that plundering will never stop. Even after Garnet, the king of Norway and Denmark, conquered England, his territory was often harassed by Swedish pirates. The powerful monarch was forced to pay the ransom.

The only exception was in 1066, when William the Conqueror set foot on England with Norman soldiers. His violence even scared pirates, so the local people lived under the whips of foreigners. A relatively quiet year.

Scotland is closer to Northern Europe. In 795 AD, the Orkney Islands were occupied by the Vikings, and then the coastlines of Scotland and Ireland were controlled by pirates. They established a trade route with Norway here and used it as a foothold to develop farther west.

Scotland is owned by the Norwegians, and everything is peaceful. Ireland is much more complicated. The Norwegians, Danes and Irish pirates are not easy to deal with, so large-scale fights often break out. It was not until 902 AD that the Norwegians temporarily left Ireland. The reason why they temporarily left Ireland was because they came back in 917 AD and occupied Dublin as a trading port.

In 1100, Dublin was taken over by the Normans. But as we all know, the Normans are the descendants of Danish pirates in France.

Although the North Sea was devastated, the Vikings crossed Gibraltar and continued to wreak havoc along the Mediterranean coast. When doing business with a strong opponent, you become a thief when facing a weak one.

These lawless people even robbed monasteries, because there were always large amounts of food and treasure stored in the monasteries, and the monks did not resist. The Viking pirates advancing along the European coastline became a nightmare for the entire Europe. Only Spain and France survived.

In 844 AD, the Spanish Arab army organized a successful counter-landing in Condoba. From then on, the Iberian Peninsula was calm, with only friendly Viking merchants trading wine and slaves.

The "simple-minded" French King Charles first paid the ransom honestly, and later followed the British approach and made Rollo, the biggest pirate leader, the Grand Duke of Normandy. It should be noted that this man was the great-great-great-grandfather of William I the Conqueror, and his descendants finally became the kings of England in 1066.

The Norwegians left home and sailed westward, looking for a new home. When they arrived in Iceland in 860 AD, the monks who originally lived here fled in panic. In 920 AD, they came to Greenland and began to settle. However, the climate there became colder year by year and they could not grow crops. Finally, in 1500, all the Vikings left this frozen island.

Posterity has been looking for evidence that Nordic people visited the American continent. It is said that a Nordic stone carving unearthed in the United States in 1898 was later confirmed to be a fake in 1958. A Viking chart found in 1965, which detailed the outline of the American coast, was also later proven to be a forgery. It wasn't until 1969 that a stone arrowhead was finally found in a pirate tomb in Denmark. Later, tests confirmed that it was indeed a product of the Americas. The pirates had indeed been to North America.

With the promotion of Christianity on the European continent, the Vikings gradually changed their beliefs with money or swords. Religion finally made them give up the practice of making a living with their fists, and the wandering pirates settled down in various places. Where are their survivors today? In addition to the Nordic countries, let’s take a look at the records of Ibn Fadla, an Arab traveler:

“The Rus lived on the islands in the lake, and they robbed They plundered the nearby Slavic villages and sold the captives to the towns downstream of the Volga River."

The original inhabitants of the Volga River Basin were Slavs. After years of constant fighting between the tribes, some people went to Northern Europe to invite them. Powerful mercenary and leader. So the Varangians from Scandinavia ended the dispute, and the large influx of Viking immigrants was called Rus by the locals. It was not until 882 AD that Grand Duke Oleg established the Rus' country and called the country they lived in Rusland, which is today's Russia.