Pre-modern European Migrations: Viking and Muslim MigrationsMap from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

• Scandinavia settled c. 9000 BC• Agriculture arrived c. 4000 • Arrival of Corded Ware and Battle Axe

cultures, 2900-2200• Bronze Age in southern/central

Europe, 3000-500 • Bronze Age in Scandinavia, 1800-500

• Danish amber traded for southern tin, copper, and gold

• High point for weapon and jewelry production

• Tumulus graves and grave goods• Suggests development of social

stratification

Map of Corded Ware/Battle Axe cultures; image of Corded Ware vessels. Map and images from Barry Cunliffe, Europe Between the Oceans, 9000 BC-AD 1000.

Pre-modern European Migrations: Viking and Muslim MigrationsThe Gundestrup Cauldron, 2nd-1st century BC, National Museum of Denmark.

• Iron Age, 500 BC-500 AD• Social and cultural decline due to Celtic

expansion in central Europe• Climate became colder and wetter• Ship burials• Voyage of Pythias, c. 330-300 BC• Contact with Rome, 100 BC onward• Tribes known to the Romans

• Cimbri, Teutones, Goths, Lombards, Saxons, Angles, and Jutes

• Trade in furs, skins, amber, and slaves for Roman gold and silver

A nobleman’s outfit and jewelry worn by men: left-reconstruction of an outfit found in the Mammen grave, Jutland, Denmark; right-ring brooches. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Weapons used by Viking Age warriors: left—a striking sword (2 ft long) and a “weapon knife” (1 ft long); right top-axe head from Mammen grave. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Evidence of women’s role in society. Left—keys carried by the wife of a householder; center—an amulet whose hairstyle indicates a high status woman; right—a reconstruction of a Finnish noblewoman’s dress. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Jewelry worn by women: left-oval brooches; center-beaded necklace of glass, crystal, and carnelian; right-box brooch from Gotland. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Pre-modern European Migrations: Viking and Muslim MigrationsMap from Henry Loyn, The Vikings in Britain.

• Denmark, Norway, and Sweden• Vík—Old Norse (ON) for bay• Viken, located in Oslofjord• Wic—Anglo-Saxon for trading

settlement• Víkja— “to travel from place to

place”• Fara í viking— “to go on a Viking

expedition”

Pre-modern European Migrations: Viking and Muslim Migrations

• Common theories regarding the beginning of the Viking Age• Population growth and tensions over land and resources• The appearance of centralizing political forces in Denmark• Contact with external states through trade• The Byzantine Empire, the Abbasid Empire, and the Frankish world

• Pressures from Christian Europe• The empire of Charlemagne, r. 768-814 AD• Charlemagne’s struggle to conquer Saxony, 772-804

• By mid-9th century, raiders became settlers in Britain, Ireland, France, Russia, and Iceland• Only areas with strong, centralized government were able to repel Viking attacks: Muslim Spain

Map of Viking attacks in Europe. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

The Oseberg Ship, c. 820The Viking Ship Museum, Oslo, Norway

• 72 ft long• 16 ½ ft broad• Crew of 30 men

Viking ships: left—a close up of the Oseberg ship prow, with oar hole; right—a modern replica ship, Saga Siglar.

The Gokstad ship, c. 850-870The Viking Ship Museum, Oslo, Norway

• 76 ½ ft long• 17 ft broad• Crew of 32-35 men

Trading/raiding between Scandinavia and Western Europe: left—Ranvaig’s casket; center—an Irish penannular brooch from a Viking cemetery in Kilmainham, Ireland; right—the Helgö Crosier. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Trade between Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East: left—8th century bronze Buddha statue found in Helgö; top right—late 8th century quartz beads from the Caucasus found in Birka; bottom right—an Abbasid dirham of 786 found in Staraja Ladoga. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Pre-modern European Migrations: Viking and Muslim Migrations

• Britain• Attacks begin in 789 and turn into settlement by 850• By 866, Danish Vikings had settled in East Anglia, Northumbria, and York

• Ireland• Attacks begin in 795 and turn into settlement by 841• Dublin founded as a Norse Viking settlement in 853 and held until 1052

• France• First attack in 799, but attacks not renewed until after death of Charlemagne (814)• Establishment of naval camps on French river systems by 830s• First attack on Paris in 845• Settlement (at behest of the West Frankish king) in Normandy in 911

• Brittany• First attack in 843• Nantes seized and held from 886-907 and 919-939

Maps of Viking activity in the British Isles and France. Maps from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

The Lindisfarne Stone, 9th century: left—this side believed to depict those killed in the Viking raid of 793; right—this side represents the Day of Judgment. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Images from Viking York: left—an overhead view of archaeological dig in York, 1972; right—remains of a silk cap found in York. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Vikings and Franks: left—an image of a Viking ship from the Life of Saint Aubin, 9th century; right—crucifix discovered in a 9th century grave from Birka, Sweden. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Evidence of Vikings in France: left—Frankish sword mounts; center—ax and spearhead of Viking warrriors; right—the Hon Hoard. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Pre-modern European Migrations: Viking and Muslim Migrations

• Spain• First attacks in 844• Renewed attacks in 859, 966-972, 1008-1038

• Russia• Evidence of trade with Bulgars in the Baltic Sea from early 8th century• Settlement of Staraja Ladoga by mid-8th century• Novgorod (Hólmgarðr) established by 850s• Kiev (Kœnugarðr) established by 860s and established as the capital of the Riurikid

dynasty in 882• First direct trading contact with the Byzantine Empire (Mikligarðr) in the 830s• First attack on Byzantine territory in the 860s• First attack on Abbasid outposts on the Caspian Sea in 910• The term Rus possibly derived from Finnish ruotsi, “men who row”

Map of Vikings attacks in Spain and Russia. Left map from Robert Ferguson, The Vikings: a History; right map from Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings.

Evidence of Viking contact with Islamic culture: left—Arabic coins recovered in Scandinavia; right—Arabic coins, weights, strike-light, and dress pin found in a Viking grave. Images from Vikings: the North American Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.

Pre-modern European Migrations: Viking and Muslim Migrations• Viking settlement of Iceland, Greenland, and North America

• Early exploration of Iceland, 850-860; settlement begins, 870-930• Landnámabók (Book of the Settlements), early 12th century, lists 3000 names, 1400-

1500 settlements• Early exploration of Greenland, 910; settlement begins under the leadership of Erik the

Red in 985• The Eastern Settlement, c. 985; Erik’s farmstead called Brattahlid; 220 farmsteads• The Western Settlement, c. 996; 80 farmsteads• Northern hunting encampments established c. 1000• 450 settlers initially, 2000-4000 at most; abandoned by c. 1450 due to the Little Ice

Age• Early exploration of the coast of North America, c. 986

• Leif Eriksson’s voyage, c. 1000: Helluland (Baffin Island); Markland (Labrador coast); Vinland (near Nova Scotia)

• Second voyage, c. 1005: settlement at Straumfjord, identified in the 1960s as L’Anse aux Meadows; three longhouses; 70-90 residents

• One summer camp at Hóp, possibly located in New Brunswick• L’Anse aux Meadows abandoned by 1020

Maps of Viking settlements in Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. Maps from Vikings: the North Atlantic Saga, edited by William Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward.