There is More to Vikings than Violence Essay -- essays research papers

History typically describes the Vikings as the fiercest, most brutal of all the barbarian groups that invaded Europe. Historians agree that the Vikings were fierce, but was there more to them than that. The word 'Viking' has been used to identify people who lived in Sweden, Norway and Denmark in early medieval times. In the language Old Norse, 'Viking' means pirate. Sometimes they were known as 'Northmen' or Danes. The Vikings shared a similar heritage as the Saxons, a group of people who had previously invaded Britain. The Vikings sailed to other foreign countries because they weren't able to do many profitable things in their own homes. The soil was infertile, and the land was rocky and covered in ice and snow for most of the year. The Vikings also wanted to leave their homes because they marvelled at the prospect of adventure, trade and plunder. Many simply sailed to foreign lands for the summer, raiding villages and killing those within them and them returning home for the rest of the year. However, some chose to settle in the lands that they raided. The Vikings travelled extensively across the Baltic, Black and Mediterranean Seas. The Vikings of Denmark and Norway sailed England, Ireland, France, Greenland, Iceland and North America (Vinland) and some settled there. The Vikings of Sweden resettled in Russia. There was a lot more to the Vikings than their reputation would suggest. For example, Vikings had their own beliefs and religion. Before the Vikings resettled in other countries, they had their own religious beliefs and worshipped many different gods. The stories they told are known as ?Norse Myths?. The majority of them are about competitions between the gods and giants. The god of thunder, Thor, who was also ... .... There is clear evidence to suggest that Vikings were not purely bloodthirsty. The Vikings contained some passion and a feeling of ?servant-ness?, as they worshipped many gods. Thor was the most popular Viking god, but some Vikings converted to Christianity after resettling in Britain. The Vikings enjoyed being well dressed but images of bloodthirsty villains don?t often look elegant. Vikings hardly had enough food, so they had to be very frugal with it. If they were so bloodthirsty, they would probably just go and steal the food from their neighbours. This substantial amount of evidence obviously shows that Vikings were seen as bloodthirsty outside their homeland and acted viciously towards foreigners. However, at home, they led normal lives like people living in Britain and other countries in that era and loved and cared for each other as we still do today.