Week 8: Tuesday
THE NEW INVASIONS: VIKINGS, MUSLIMS, AND MAGYARS
Video on Viking ships (5:24 minutes long; can start at 2:32):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZLIt-oyQ7k&feature=related
| 793 | Vikings attack England |
| 9th-10th C. | Carolingian empire divided, and besieged by Vikings from N., Magyars (Hungarians) from E., and Muslims (or “Saracens”) from S. |
| 814-840 | Louis the Pious |
| 842 | Oaths of Strasbourg sworn by Louis the German and Charles the Bald against Lothar |
| 843 | Treaty of Verdun divides empire among Charlemagne’s 3 grandsons:
|
| 911 | Viking leader Rolf (Rollo) is given Normandy in return for peace and conversion to Christianity |
| 955 | Battle of Lechfeld: Hungarian (Magyar) army annihilated by Otto I (“the Great”) of Germany |
THE VIKINGS:
Tripartite society:
- jarls (earls; = nobles)
- karls (churls; = free farmers)
- thralls (= slaves)
Swedish vikings: go east to Baltics, S. Russia, Ukraine, and Byzantine Empire
Danish vikings: go south and west to Francia, S. Europe, and British Isles
Norse vikings: go west to British Isles, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland
Intact Viking boat-burial found October 2011 at Ardnamurchan (western Scotland)
Videos:
Excavation and analysis of about 50 decapitated Viking skeletons from Weymouth, Dorset, 2009:
(2:20 min.): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iBGV3IJbLk
(4:40 min.): http://videosift.com/video/Weymouth-ridgeway-skeletons-Scandinavian-Vikings
Excavation of Viking boat-burial at Ardnamurchan (western Scotland):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WxjKV42HS8 (1:59 min.)
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bWDHLHpBCk (1:20 min., then repeats)
Additional primary sources on the Vikings include:
- Saga of Grettir the Strong (or Grettir’s Saga, written in Iceland in the early 1300s, concerning events in the 900s)
- Ibn Fadlan, Risala: Description of the Rus (921)
Additional terms include:
- Berserk (or berserker)
- Thing; All-Thing
- Wer(e)gild
Click on the following Viking artifacts:
Picture stone from Tängelgårda, Gotland 8th cent., showing Viking scenes (identified in caption as from Lårbro)
Viking sword (10th or 11th cent.)
Ranvaig’s casket Looted by the Vikings from a Scottish church and acquired by a woman from Norway who carved on the bottom in runes “Ranvaig owns this.”
Grave of Viking woman from Cnip, on the isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides: skeleton, and reconstruction of her clothing, ornaments, and tools
Gospel-book redeemed from Vikings in England in the mid 9th cent. by Ealdorman Aelfred and his wife Werburg, who gave it to Canterbury Cathedral priory. [“Canterbury Codex Aureus,” now Stockholm, Kungliga Biblioteket, MS A. 135]
Mass grave of about 50 decapitated Viking skeletons from Weymouth, Dorsetshire (all male, almost all were in late teens to early 20s; C14 date: 970 x 1025 CE; identifiable as Scandinavians from the high-protein diet revealed by the isotopes in their tooth enamel) Another account of the same excavation, and another, and additional photos and a video