The Vikings

Who?• Scandinavian

raiders & farmers• Raided but also

planted settlements and eventually blended in with the populations

When and why?• Circa 800 CE – 1100

CE• Push factors:

overpopulation at home, booty to be won abroad, warming global temperatures made northern sea travel easier.

• 'Lo, it is nearly 350 years that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land,

and never before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan

race, nor was it thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made. Behold the church

of St Cuthbert spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments; a place more venerable than all in Britain is given

as a prey to pagan peoples...'.

- Letter from Alcuin to Ethelred, king of Northumbria

Where?•Mainly coastal areas

–Britain–France (Normandy)–North Africa–Russia and Byzantium–North America, Greenland, Iceland

Results?•Caused chaos and fear short-

term •Slowly converted to

Christianity•Settled down and integrated

Kievan Rus

Political Structure

• Ruled by a series of princes – the city of Kiev’s prince was the leader and strongest

• Rural with many peasants

Economic Structure

• Kiev and other cities made money off of trade

• Amber and furs were traded down the main rivers toward the Black and Caspian seas

Cultural Attributes

• Converted to Orthodox Christianity in the 900s

• Hierarchal church structure with leadership from the much admired Byzantine Empire and Patriarch in Constantinople