The Genius of the Vikings

The Genius of the Vikings — page 1 — the VIKINGS Who The people from the north came from the part of northern Europe we call Scandinavia which includes Denmark Norway and Sweden Known as Norse people norse being the Norwegian word for north they were farmers fishers and skilled sailors In the 700s they began sailing along the coast of Europe raiding and stealing from many settlements This behavior may have earned them the nickname vikingr which means pirate in the Old Norse language Today we refer to them as Vikings Viking helmets did not have horns although they are often shown with horns in modern pictures 4

The Genius of the Vikings — page 2 — king alfred's What happened The Vikings began raiding coastal villages in England in the late 700s At first they simply took what they wanted and sailed away But by around 850 Vikings were settling in England In 886 the English king Alfred reached an agreement with the Vikings They would be allowed to live in a certain part of the country This large area under Viking influence became known as the Danelaw Despite this early agreement over the next 200 years there were many shifts in power as the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings fought fiercely over control of England The Viking Age is considered to have ended in 1066 when the French duke William of Normandy invaded and conquered England During this time the Vikings were also raiding trading and settling in other parts of the world Their legacy can be seen far and wide This picture shows fighting the Vikings The two sides at sea ships reached eventually an agreement 5

The Genius of the Vikings — page 3 — genius the state-of-the-art ships VIKING sail figurehead hull LONGSHIP The Vikings are most famous for their lightweight wooden boats called longships These cleverly designed vessels allowed the Vikings to travel farther and faster than almost anyone else at the time How long were longships According to writings one of the longest and most powerful Viking longships was called The Long Serpent or Ormen Lange in Norwegian It was described as being more than 145 feet 44 m long with 34 pairs of oars That’s longer than four buses end to end A typical longship was about 65 to 75 feet 20 to 23 m in length The Vikings built their ships with shallow hulls which meant they could travel in shallow water such as rivers This allowed them to make surprise raids in places no one expected them to reach 6

The Genius of the Vikings — page 4 — brain wave oars wow A Viking crew Longships had a row of oars on each side usually powered by between 15 and 60 rowers There were no cabins for the crew to take shelter in so they ate and slept on deck Each crew member had a chest to keep his belongings in These may have doubled up as seats for the rowers The longships were very light so they could travel quickly and be moved easily by the rowers Most ships at the time were nailed together but Viking longships were clinker built This meant that instead of using nails the planks were overlapped and joined with iron rivets This made the ship much more flexible so it could bend with the pressure of the water The Vikings may ieved have bel that the dragon heads protected the ship and crew spirits from evil The Vikings carved fierce-looking figureheads at the front and back of their longships These were often in the shape of dragons which is why longships are also sometimes called dragon ships 7

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