• 7.5.1 The military assets Vikings
• 7.5.2 The ineffectiveness of the Carolingians to the invader

• 9.3.1 The Viking Ship
• 9.3.2 A good knowledge of the sea
• 9.3.3 Knowledge of the Earth
• 9.3.4 The discoverers of America?

• 12.1.1 The commercial space
• 12.1.2 Commercial products

"We called Viking (VikingR, Old Norse), a merchant of long standing, remarkably equipped for this activity, the situation led him to become a robber or a warrior, where possible, where practical, but someone will always be applied to afla sr fjr (acquiring wealth). "

- Rgis Boyer , The Vikings .

"The Viking is not a common man, he does not leave the little people" . In a broad sense, the term "Viking" means sometimes all Scandinavians of the period characterized by the Viking phenomenon. People in contact with the Vikings gave them different names: Norman for Francs , Danish for English , Rus for the Slavs , the Arabs and Byzantines. They were sometimes called "pagans" or "foreigners" . Varangian is the name given to the Vikings on the road performing in the East (in Russian).

They raided and eventually settled on lands far from their countries (see chapter hypothetical causes of the phenomenon below). Their bold expeditions, the strandhogg by land or sea, have had an impact on the history of Europe and the nearby Asia. Taking advantage of their inactivity due to long Scandinavian winters and the low coastal defense system, they established many "outlets" appointed "burg" by the Latin peoples, especially on the coasts of the Channel and North Sea or in Russia , the ^eighth to the ^eleventh century. Although they have also installed both in Ireland , where they founded most cities (except Dublin ), in Britain (see Viking Kingdom of York ), is in Normandy and Russia that their company was most successful, since they are the source of powerful states. Browsers outstanding, the Vikings were the first traders in the long term.

With their low draft (sometimes augmented by a ballast of stones) and its raised prow, sailing their boats both sail at the oar. The term is used in French longship , drekar derived from the word meaning "dragon," which originally refers to the figureheads, dating from 1839 and created by Auguste Jal (1795-1873), while French officer attached to the Department of the Navy under the July Monarchy. It is a barbarism without doubt be remembered. Embarked on board, the Vikings were conducting raids extremely effective until the inland rivers or in the back by stealing horses.

Etymology of the word "Viking"

Viking village in Norway.

The word "Viking" means the warrior, explorer (literally "plunderer" in Norse) origin Scandinavian. The term is used fairly recent ( ^eighteenth century and ^nineteenth century ) from the Scandinavian world. Its etymology is much disputed. It is probably either:

• vik terms, the "bay", the "loop" (found in Reykjavk ), and Eng "from"
• the term vicus / wik which designated, during the Middle Ages , market agglomerations,
• the way people lived from Viken, Bay of Oslo ,
• Scandinavian meaning of the noun vig "war".

The earliest known uses of texts from Anglo-Saxons of ^the seventh century , with reference to various terms (uuicingsceadan, uuicingsceadae, saewicingas, floteman ) that are all related to marine activities, including the piracy.

The texts contemporary Scandinavian Viking period are, in turn, the distinction between a feminine term, viking, which designates the activity (fara vkingu, "those who go on an expedition") and a masculine term, or VikingR Vikingar, referring to the Vikings as individuals.

Outside the Scandinavian world, chronicles Frankish or Anglo-Saxon use more frequently the term "Normans", "Danish" or "heathen" to refer to the Vikings, while the Irish speak simply of "foreigners" (gall). The toponym Donegal would refer to the Danish Vikings, that is to say, "foreign blacks" and those of Fingal the Norwegian Vikings, that is to say the "white foreigners". But this distinction between black and Viking Vikings white borrowed from Lucien Musset would be the result of a mistranslation, especially since this distinction has no raison d'etre, the proportion of type-haired being roughly similar Denmark and Norway. Donegal has probably not this meaning, but that of "strong foreigners' gall of one year, 'black' is called dub. Similarly, not from Finegal finn gall or gall Fionn "foreigners (with hair) blond" but rather thin gall, a tribe of aliens. In the East, they are called "Rus" or "Rus". Among Arabs Madjus, bab el Madju designating "the door of the Gentiles" ( Strait of Gibraltar ) .

According to Pierre Bauduin (2004), the connotation of the term is rather positive and negative runic inscriptions in the poems skaldic.

Causes of hypothetical phenomenon

The forced baptism of the Saxons by Charlemagne.

The writings Norse of that time merely a few epitaphs rune , the analysis of historians is based primarily on the testimony of victims , often considerable time after the events, influenced and distorted. The Archaeology provides clarification however decisive.

Reaction to the Frankish conquest of Saxony

"The fall of the sacred tree: The Irminsul is shaped like a tree and symbolizes the cosmic column that holds up the sky. During the year 772 , Charlemagne does solemnly down to "chase the devil "of Saxony. " Bruno Dumezil ^, .

"The destruction of the famous sanctuary of pagan Irminsul that had the effect of encouraging them to take revenge by burning the religious buildings in Hesse " .

Charlemagne , deeply religious, believing that God had entrusted to the people honest and to the sovereign's task to spread and defend the Christian faith, spent his life fighting all the pagans of Europe. By iron and blood, he managed to establish an empire Christian over most of Western Europe. Particularly, the people who occupied the north of Germany on the border of Denmark , was the victim of terrible massacres. ( Alain Decaux , Andre Castelot ) The Frankish king to use force and terror "Baptism and the conversion or death." The crime most significant for the whole pagan world was probably the massacre of Verden in 782 , the Franks 4500 people beheaded, deported 12 000 women and children because they refused baptism ^, . In 785 probably Charlemagne established in Saxony the chapter De partibus Saxoniae.

The leader of the Saxons Widukind long resisted and fled repeatedly in neighboring Nordic countries ( Denmark ) and placed himself under the protection of Sigfred "King of the Danes" ^, , and then enjoyed the protection of the King Viking Godfred , his parent's successor Sigfred. The legend of Siegfried is probably derived from this event between Vikings and Saxons .

Among the reasons that caused the Viking phenomenon, the trauma of massacres of Charlemagne who wanted to impose their faith by extreme violence, deeply marked the Gentiles and especially the Scandinavians who wanted revenge. Professor Rudolf Simek confirms the relevance of this religious argument: "One of the reasons for the emergence of the Viking Age may have been the rise of Christianity." "It is no coincidence that the beginning of the Viking activity occurred during the reign of Charlemagne. Frankish military threat, submission of the Frisians and Saxons, on the border of Denmark, have "caused a sudden change in the attitude of Scandinavians

In the year 882 the Vikings were not content to plunder the tomb of Charlemagne at Aachen , they desecrated the grave and the remains of the great Emperor of Christendom. The testimonies of Christian clerics specified that the Vikings not content to steal the property of the Church , and were bent on trampling the sacred relics, cursed and insulted, driven by a deep hatred against the Christian religion. Historians ^, see these sacrilegious reprisals forced Christianization and threats against paganism and Norse "After the violence in Saxony against the paganism , Charlemagne threatened the Denmark of Christianity by the sword and fire " ^{, ,} . They point out that the conquest of Saxony by Charlemagne coincides with the first Viking raids. "The Frankish sources mention the Danish border hostilities between the Carolingian Empire and Danish Historian Pierre Bauduin explains that "the fear inspired by the conquest of . Assumption already made by Lucien Musset .

Resistance to forced Christianization was not trivial and partly explains the phenomenon Viking, many of them rebelled against the powerful church which wanted to impose his religion. All first Viking raids targeted the Christian buildings, not only for their riches, all do not hold. The Franks were seeking to convert by force all the nations, including the Scandinavians. The historian Franois-Xavier Dillmann quotes Montesquieu in The Spirit of Laws , "They .

The Danish Vikings attacked the Abodrites a people allied to Charlemagne. They reinforced the Danevirke to protect the Christian empire that threatened their borders, then to 810 , 200 Viking ships darted Friesland .

The most characteristic of the reign of Charlemagne is to keep the Church in its service involving the bishops and abbots in the administration of the Christian empire. Charlemagne - very pious founded numerous monasteries he richly endowed - to impose its faith conquered peoples and ensure the education of clerics. "It creates a genuine religious power controlling the government and military service of the Christian Faith .

Causes promoting the Viking expansion

Counter trade, good intelligence networks

^The seventh century, Arabs disrupt trade in the Mediterranean. In Europe, this leads to the development of new trade routes to the north. Western merchants there are furs, wood, amber and ivory and interact with Scandinavian wine, money and weapons. Counters Birka in Sweden, Hedeby and Ribe on the coast of Jutland develop. Scandinavians who accept the "prima signatio (Small Christian baptism) are allowed to trade as before. The Scandinavians were trading at least since Roman times, they used to live in the summer in Vicus , they knew all the rest of Europe since ancient times. Their trading posts were used to "make information" for future raids. According to historian Stephen Lebecq , "trade paved the way for the Viking raids" .

Decline of the Carolingian Empire

Charlemagne tried repeatedly offensive against Denmark but without results. It provoked a reaction and it was under his reign there took place the first Viking raids. The Frankish empire was very powerful and was able to resist the Viking attacks. The Carolingian Empire began a long decline after the death of Charlemagne. The Vikings take advantage of the weaknesses of this vast empire began to fragment, it is poorly defended and often plagued by internal wars. Traders, some Scandinavians occasionally become looters . For the linguist Rgis Boyer , this phenomenon is reinforced by the mercenary: the Carolingian kings or lords, the Vikings used as mercenaries in their internal wars.

The wars in Scandinavia

Viking raids began in ^the eighth century , at that time, Scandinavia consists of a multitude of small kingdoms. The desire to build large centralized kingdoms in Scandinavia appears only with Christianity. Princes by converting to Christianity have alliances Christian to gain power.

In ^the ninth century , Denmark and to a lesser extent Norway face a host of internal conflicts linked to the opposition between jarls and crises of succession. The king of Denmark to win just to different clans and even his family. The raids in Europe would fund the wars between aristocrats and increase the prestige of the candidates in power .

The land hunger

Interior of a Viking house

A hypothetical global warming around the ^tenth century have amplified the Viking raids. This would have resulted in the growth of agricultural production, and sudden increases in population. The Viking raids were a means of response to land hunger. Historians believe that this argument relates more to the west of Norway . In contrast to the historian Francois Neveux "We can confirm that the argument of overpopulation is now widely discredited by archaeological discoveries" . Archaeology rural Scandinavian revealed that the cultivated land was less extensive in the Viking era in the early AD . This suggests that overcrowding does not seem to have affected Scandinavia ⁱⁿ the eighth or IX ^century , but it would be a quick conclusion: to reduce population pressure, the Norse might have preferred to win the best land in the south rather than clearing land thankless, jellies six months a year. . But lack of land is now ruled by archeology .

The Vikings and Christianization

"The mission for cultural exchanges and by word, then by the sword" .

"Forward, forward, men of Christ, men of the Cross King's men! . (Fram, fram, Kristsmenn, krossmen, konungsmenn!)

Such was the battle cry converters "Christ, Cross and King," said Olaf Tryggvason. This determination announced future crusades "We will mark our logo on our helmets and shields. White paint to draw the Holy Cross " .

The conversion to Christianity, the Vikings took place, so peaceful but also violently, over four centuries. It is not a religious war, because the Vikings were open to other gods and beliefs and there were sometimes political and commercial interest.

The Nordiques used to trade for a very long time in Europe in pagan times, came into contact with the Christian religion after the first missions of evangelization in the first half of the ^eighth century , that is to say, before the expansion Viking. "While the Christian faith does not threaten the old ways, pagans saw Christ with leniency" . Scandinavians have not hesitated to incorporate Jesus into their pantheon alongside their traditional deities like Odin or Thor.

In 678 St. Willibrord and Wilfrid of York are to evangelize Heligoland and Denmark. In 716 Boniface of Mainz. Willibrord Bishop of Utrecht , relapse to 725 but failed to convert the Danes. Rudolf Simek states that the spread of Christianity is not due solely to missionaries. The results were disappointing, the Church resorted to force .

In 737 , King of Denmark Scandinavian erected the first wall of Danevirke against incursions by Charles Martel ^,

The courage of the missionaries to spread their faith in Scandinavia, will sometimes go to destroy pagan steles at the cost of their lives. Unable to its purpose or by words or by acts of vandalism, the church had recourse violence: "To spread his faith by the sword and blood" .

The Vikings want to make an impression in turn by attacking Lindisfarne, June 8 793. This prestigious sanctuary was the symbol of success of Christianity in England. The Vikings toppled the stone cross, trampled the holy relics, insulted, outraged and killed the monks, molt a genuine hatred of the Christian religion ^, . The turmoil and trauma of massacres of Charlemagne were felt throughout Scandinavia. It was one of the reasons that caused the Viking raiders who wanted to avenge the forced Christianization. ( Alain Decaux , Castelot Andre , Francois Neveux Rudolf Simek ...) ^, .

Columnists have depicted as the darkest, these bands of Vikings who put bags in the Christian buildings, lending them there, religious intentions. What motives could have prevented these marauding gangs attacking northern Christian shrines, so that Christian missionaries were destroying pagan temples and they would do for a long time .

Around 822 - 825 Scandinavia was declared a mission land. The first baptisms were provided from 823 by Ebbo , Archbishop of Rheims sent by Louis the Pious. Then in 826 by Ansgar , a monk of Corbie Around 832 - 851 Abbe Wala continued the Christianization Around 876 the monk Ansgar and Harald Blue Tooth , evangelized their subjects but without great success " .

The Church imposes the "prima signatio (Simplified baptism) to the Vikings if they continue to trade in the Christian world. People of all shopkeepers before, Vikings accept all they see no objection to count among their gods, one more. During the ceremony, they also receive a "dawn" white. Some are baptized several times to get several outfits that transformed their wives.

The decisive change came when great chefs were converted. Princes understood the whole point of embracing a religion that consolidated their power. In France, the Earl Rollo agreed to be baptized in exchange for receiving a territory that would become the Duchy of Normandy. It was an excellent condition for integration in the Frankish world. In Scandinavia, the Kings made use of the religion of Christ to "go beyond the specific cultural and especially political strife between clans" . The ultimate goal is to unify their kingdom.

Christianization begat resistance followed by bans and brutality, because this new faith was coercive, imposing a single god. The Vikings were forced to abandon their old beliefs. "The Church does not allow other gods, which it regards as demons and evil forces. Freyja, the Great Goddess of the Vikings, a symbol of fertility, the Church was an object of ridicule and contempt " .

Growth of Christianity

Around 974, Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor invades Denmark. King Harald Blue Tooth and his Norwegian ally, Hkon Sigurdsson, lost a battle near the Danevirke and were forced to have peace, to accept baptism and Christianize their people but when he returns to Norway Hakon got rid of the priests around him and resumed his former beliefs . In 985 , Harald Blue Tooth , unifies and Christianize the kingdom in its grip.

The Prince of Norway Haakon the Good was baptized in England, and returned to Norway, undertook a Christianization of the country. He met strong opposition to the spread of his faith. "In 933, the subjects of Hakon .

Masters of Trndelag , the Jarl of Lade , Hkon Grjotgardsson his son Sigurd Hkonsson then his little son Hkon Sigurdsson , resisted Christianization of Norway, restored the worship of ancient deities and despite the efforts of kings, especially Harald the gray coat .

"The opposition to the Christian faith was broken about twenty years later with a little Christian violence, first by King Olaf Tryggvason , baptized in 995. "He showed a formidable grasp evangelizing during the five years his reign probably driven by religious fanaticism out of the ordinary. His work was completed by Olaf Haraldsson " (1016-1028). "Olaf Haraldsson threw the Christianity by the sword rather than the verb. The resistance was tenacious pagan especially in the Trondelag so that in 1030 King Olaf met his death at the Battle of Stiklestad . "

Olafr Tryggvason showed a formidable grasp of evangelization (...) driven by a desire for power and religious fanaticism out of the ordinary. His work was completed by Olafr Haraldsson (St Olafr). Tryggvasson imposed Christianity to the Faroes, with the help of the young chief Sigmundr Brestisson Faroese (Faereyinga saga) and Iceland, sending missionaries as Thangbrandr whose effectiveness was matched only by the violence (Kristni saga) .

Historian Olaf Olsen: "It is also under pressure from Olaf Tryggvason who then led a bitter struggle against paganism Norway, that Iceland accepted Christianity" .

During a meeting of the Althing in the summer solstice of the year 999 , Icelanders decided, under duress, to formally adopt Christianity. "The threats of the king Olafr Tryggvason , who decides to keep all the son of Icelandic chefs stay in Norway, certainly weigh a great weight on the famous Althing 999 " .

Rgis Boyer surprised that this point is often neglected by commentators. He recalls: 'Iceland is divided into two camps, the pagan and Christian, who avoid violent confrontation little, just before the opening of the Althing of 999. Thorgeirr Ljosvetningagodi, a recognized leader of both parties, is responsible for deciding: he decided after a lengthy solitary reflection that all Icelanders are Christians . This decision is motivated also by fear of religious division, and therefore political, the country between pagans and Christians, they are already numerous on the island. This risk score was even bigger than Iceland does not know nor any king or prince at its head .

In Sweden, despite the zeal of missionaries like Bishop Bruno of Querfurt , paganism was still the ^eleventh century. The missionaries saw that they could not destroy the old beliefs, christianisrent gradually recovering ancient pagan deities .

The Rus were forced to accept Christianity, together with the Slavs , in 989 , during the baptism General ordered by King Vladimir I. "The powerful Christian king Olof Sktkonung tried to impose Christianity, the resistance was so strong that Christian missionaries were attacked and killed. " Some were crucified .

Written around 1230 by an aristocrat Icelandic Snorri Sturluson , the History of the Kings of Norway tells the difficulty, fragility and violence of the establishment of Christianity in Norway.

The text of Snorri Sturluson himself boasted Christian atrocities. "Those who did not give up paganism were expelled, to others it .

"Olaf, King of Norway in 1016, seen as a hero, was a bloodthirsty conqueror, canonised after his death, and unifying Christianization of Norway, he was the champion, like Charlemagne a strong central government and Christian" .

Beliefs Vikings

"We have no other friends other belief in ourselves and in our strength and ability to win, and that is enough ample. "

- Formulation of Gauk-Thorir Chapter ICC Olafs saga hin Helga

This formulation is found in other texts, where they say: do not believe that their own power and ability to succeed "eiginn Mattra Megin ok." They say they believe that their own strength and ability to win "afl okkat" .

Medieval texts mention the word Forn Sidr to designate the Scandinavian paganism. Their beliefs have no creed, no prayers , no priests or religious, or temples , without faith , without dogma .

The Vikings are not in any case undergoing a fatalistic destiny. These are primarily fighters and free men who decide their fate at the risk of displeasing the gods. They also believe in magic and divination to uncover the plans of their enemies, gods and tutelary forces to change the course of events, anticipating the fate , so to change it, because nothing is finally written. These facts are very distant and incompatible with the vision of Destiny implacable Christian authors who wrote or edited nearly all of our material. So there is no fate that can change their will .

Inheritance

Like the other Germanic peoples, the Vikings beliefs before Christianity , are poorly known. Viking mythology has been reinvented from scratch by the Christians, during the Norman period . Similarly, in the ^thirteenth century , authors such as Icelandic Snorri and Saxo Grammaticus tried to reconstitute a pantheon organized around several major gods , but two centuries of conversion to Christianity and eradicate the old religion have left many mistakes in their reviews .

Archaeology under scrutiny earlier testimony to the Christian domination, which seem to be more objective, will have a clearer idea of what might have been the " Beliefs Vikings.

The ancestors of the Vikings had the worship of a Mother Goddess and great natural forces that they represented later by the creation of a pantheon that has particularly Odin , Thor , Jord , Frigg , Freyja , Freyr ... and the great tree Yggdrasil. There is evidence from Roman times describing the so-called "fathers of the Vikings" in these terms:

"They (North Germanic) have neither Druids who preside over the worship of gods, or no taste for sacrifice, they rank among the gods as they see and they obviously feel the benefits, the Sun, fire, the Moon. They have not even heard of the other "

- Julius Caesar , Commentary on the Gallic War VI, 21

.

"They were reluctant to submit their gods in human forms, they appear unsuitable for the size of those in heaven, they spend their woods, groves and give the names of gods (and Landvaettir) to this mysterious reality that their only piety makes them see "None of these people can not be distinguished from others by nothing remarkable, except that they have a common worship for Nerthus that is to say, Mother Earth, believe that it intervenes in the affairs of men and circulates among the people ""

- Tacitus , Germania IX, 3

.

Origins and geographical expansion areas

Viking expansion of the eighth to eleventh century

The geographical origin of the Vikings would have determined, they say, the direction of expansion. The Varangian (Swedish) would have headed east, around the Baltic and Russia. The "Norwegians" have concentrated their raids on the British Isles while the Danes would spread around the North Sea , the Channel and the Atlantic coasts of Gaul . However, all too rigorous sectorization would still be prohibited. The bands sometimes mix Viking Danes and Norwegians and some regions such as Ireland or England are played between the two peoples .

To the east, conventionally, the Varangians

The Vikings from the current Sweden , soon named " Rus ", extending their domination in the east of the Baltic Sea. Lifetime of the trade , piracy and plunder, and offering themselves as mercenaries , they skim the lake and river system of the future Ukraine and Russia (with their "Drakkar" low draft), their ultimate goal of reach Constantinople. Certain Varangian succeed, down the Dnieper and across the Black Sea. In 838, they come to the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Later, the emperor recruited to compose his bodyguard. Other Varangians borrow a longer route: they follow the Volga River , sail on the Caspian Sea , passing through Baghdad to get to Constantinople . In the year 1040 , an expedition led by Varangian Ingvar reached even the Afghanistan.

The "Swede" arrive in the future Russia at the invitation of tribes Slavic and Finnish , incapable of governing themselves. They set several counters and a state based around Novgorod and then a second round of Kiev. The union of these two parts form the embryo of Russia, the land of Rus. Rus is the name that the Slavs, Greeks and Arabs of the time give the Vikings .

To the west, conventionally, the Danes and Norwegians

Danes organize massive shipments, often under the command of kings or chiefs influential . They direct their conquests and pillaging along the coast of the North Sea , the Channel and the Atlantic Ocean. Their raids began at the end of the ^eighth century but intensified after the death of Charlemagne (814) and the decay of his empire. Clearly, the Scandinavians are benefiting from this political weakness. They are also extensive looting by their internal wars and the Danes go on strike likely to finance wars in Denmark and s'auroler the prestige of the conqueror.

Fragmented into multiple kingdoms, England is particularly affected. The Humber and the Thames were the preferred pathways for the Viking ships. Between 875 and 879, the Danes defeated the local rulers in the north-east England and founded a sort of kingdom around York. This area is growing at the expense of Anglo-Saxon kings until it covers the provinces of Northumberland, East Anglia, the Five Burroughs ( Stamford , Leicester , Derby , Nottingham and Lincoln ) and the Midlands , South East. Alfred the Great , King of Wessex, this expansion stopped and saw the Viking kingdom in 886, which gradually took the name of Danelaw , "the country under Danish law." As an independent state, the Danelaw survived until 954, long enough for this part of England enjoyed a soak in the Scandinavian language. The density of place names in-by,-beck,-fell,-Thwaites, and-soon-thorp attests. Some English words today as egg or law from the Old Norse .

Gaul also had a very open coastline, the Vikings regularly borrowed the Seine , the Loire , the Garonne and the small coastal rivers. The chronicles of monasteries we learn that Sharia Seine fleets Scandinavian 841, in 845, in 851, in 852 and 856 . Then the invaders chose to winter on a river island.

The Vikings invaded Gaul were called " Normans "before settling permanently in the region that now bears the name of Normandy. In Britain neighboring invaders are fertile ground for expansion. Initially because the Breton king Erispoe not despise the covenant of the Vikings in his fight against the Franks. In a second step, because the wars of succession to the head of Britain promotes the use of mercenaries as Scandinavians and their installation. From 919, the Vikings become the masters of Britain, specifically the area around Nantes. These Normans were driven out of the Loire by Alain Barbetorte , grand-son of the last king of the Britons, between 936 and 939. Brittany has almost become a second Normandy .

Less well organized than their Danish neighbors, the Vikings from the west coast of Scandinavia (now Norway ) formed groups of isolated individuals who attacked the West for the purpose of looting but also of colonization. They sought to effect land agro-pastoral. Their expansion area covers the Scotland , the Irish , north-east England and the small islands further north as the Faroe Islands , the Orkneys , the Western Isles or Shetland. Ireland was a prey of choice for the invaders: a wealth of prestigious monasteries, the island was divided into seven "kingdoms" who were constantly making war. Around 840, the Norwegian Turgeis broke new ground for conquest. Conquest made difficult by the intervention of the Danelaw Danes. Reports conflicting evidence that might exist between the Vikings. The Scandinavian contribution in Ireland in any case is undeniable as they are at the origin of the towns of Wexford , Waterford , Cork and Limerick.

British Isles, the Norwegians attacked the enemy of the western coast of Gaul and the Iberian Peninsula. Others won the Iceland. On this island near the Arctic Circle, the goal was not to raid but to colonize. Arrived in 870, the first settlers, Norwegians but also Irish and other Celts , build farms. They cultivate the land, raising sheep, cattle or horses or hunt marine mammals. Rgis Boyer, the historian believes that it is on this remote island that spoke the 'Viking Engineering " . The settlers formed an original society dominated not by a king or an earl but by an assembly, the Althing. From Iceland, comes a valuable part of the Scandinavian literature, primarily the sagas and Eddas (poems).

The extreme expansion areas: Mediterranean, Greenland and America

Outstanding Mariners, Vikings ventured far from their homeland by making leaps. In England or France, some attacked the Iberian Peninsula. In 844, Seville and Cadiz then in the hands of the Moors were ravaged by a fleet up the Guadalquivir. The Vikings entered the Mediterranean through the Gibraltar Strait. In 859-860 they reached the port of Luni near Pisa.

According to the Book of Icelanders, the Vikings led by Erik the Red in 982 or 983 left Iceland and sailed westward. After a few days of sailing, they encountered the immense mass of Greenland. The island was so appealing (the climate at the time was probably higher) Erik came back two years later to colonize the area. Archaeology has found a farm which certifies that the Viking occupation in these high latitudes from the late ^tenth century .

The Vikings have also set foot in America well before Columbus. Indeed, several sagas, especially the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red , tell the exploration of a region called Vinland groups by Viking in 1000. Gold from the ^nineteenth century , scholars mirent the idea that Vinland was in North America. In 1960, the Norwegian archaeologists Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad discovered north of Newfoundland, the remains of a campsite which turned the original Viking. According to the analysis of carbon 14 , the site of L'Anse aux Meadows dating between 980 and 1020 . It would demonstrate that the first Europeans to land in America were the Vikings. However, this archaeological discovery is not yet consensus among scientists. It is in the assumption, especially that calling 'Vinland' (Wine Country) a place where a vine has never pushed (because of cold and humid climate) is puzzling .

The phases of expansion

Historiography traditionally placed in 793, the year the sacking of the monastery of Lindisfarne , the beginning of the Viking invasions. In fact, the Norwegians had already raged a few years earlier in 789 on the south coast of England. But the tragic episode of Lindisfarne was so struck contemporaries as historians continue to present it as the first event of the Viking age.

The historian Lucien Musset identify two major phases of invasions: the first between 790 and 930 and the second between 980 and 1030. Between the two periods, Europe experienced a few decades of lull . Musset further divided into three phase but that partition is only relevant to the Danish invasion of France:

• between 800 and 850 , the Vikings are content to plunder the monasteries;
• between 850 and 900 , the Vikings discovered the weakness of the Frankish defenses and organize real military operations since the islands on the French rivers, they perform more and more intimidation. People get rid of them temporarily by paying tribute (the Danegeld)
• from 900 to 950 , the time of colonization: the Franks unable to stop the invasion force by allowing the Vikings to settle on their land.

And Pierre Bauduin explain: "If this scheme provides a framework for reading the movement Viking, it does not match a predetermined plan and steps have been taken on different dates depending on the region" .

Rgis Boyer proposes an alternative periodization which incorporates part of the Musset. He distinguishes three "waves" of invasions :

• between 800 and 850, the Vikings trial and error and test their opponents.
• between 850 and 900, sure of their strength, they exploit the invaded territories, and even conquer
• between 980 and 1050, after a period of lull that has seen the installation of the Vikings in different regions (England, Normandy, Norse Greenland ...), leave the seas, the last gasp of invasions. They are mostly Danes attack Britain, and to a lesser extent, Swedes who set off for Asia Muslim.

This periodization made by the Danish historian Johannes Steenstrup (1844-1935) was taken by Lucien Musset, who has adapted to Neustria. The following de Musset took up this periodization and extended it to the rest of France without further ado. However, the conquest of Gascony from 840-largely ignored by most researchers focused on the Normandy-attack proves that Vikings were not "progressive" over and above that from the beginning of the invasions, the Vikings, far from behaving like robbers, showed political ambitions.

Reasons for success Vikings: The French case

The Frankish kingdom led by Charlemagne suffers a raid from 799: the starting point of a long series of Viking attacks, the most famous is probably the siege of Paris in November 885. If defensive measures are taken soon after the event 799, the fact remains that the Viking raids are an extremely effective throughout the ^ninth century. This success is explained primarily by the speed of execution of the military machine Viking, efficient and innovative. Moreover, the political decline of the Frankish Empire after 830 certainly makes it easier for attackers.

The military assets Vikings

Viking spears

Viking Battle Axe

The first Viking raids were mainly directed to targets located near the shore and consist mainly to loot villages and monasteries with few resources, so you can return to sea with rapidly gained wealth. But from 830, a larger fleet attacking targets (especially churches and monasteries) inside the country. Scouts or spies will recognize the disposition of their targets and sometimes linger in Frankish territory. Noirmoutier , located at the mouth of the Loire , is among the first places to have served as a fixed base to the Vikings. From the 860s, the Vikings set out to conquer and colonize the territories. This change of goal requires an army larger and better organized. Danes in particular know several bands together for a purpose. In 885-886, an army carried by 700 ships appeared before Paris . In fact, contrary to what the reading of monastic chronicles attempts to portray the attackers are not a human tide flowing over France. Indeed, Scandinavia, then as now, too sparsely populated can be overwhelmed by the number of the West.

Their warships, called langskip or snekkja (not longship ) are the tool of successful invaders. Long usually about twenty feet, and propelled by oars and sail, the hull of their flexibility makes them suitable for travel on the high seas while their light weight, shallow draft allows them to easily back Rivers . The Vikings can also bring their fleet to a safe distance during the siege of Paris, they would have even dragged out of the Seine for the return to the water two thousand feet farther upstream of the Seine. Emphasizing walking, Vikings make little use of horses is difficult to obtain.

These Northmen were not strictly speaking pirates, not fighting at sea, their fleet is only used for transportation.

Scandinavian weapons are in no way superior to the Franks. Warriors are typically armed with axes, great swords, heavy lances, spears and shields. Much to the Scandinavian ax (held in both hands), meets the quality of swords and broignes Frankish. They also use swords of Anglo-Saxon. That is the tactics of the Vikings and not the weapons that guarantee their effectiveness in combat. They especially use the element of surprise. But this advantage disappears when engaging in the recovery of rivers and in the hinterland because the news of their presence is rapidly transmitted from village to village. Sources reveal that the Frankish invaders know to retreat into the fortifications they raise themselves.

During a raid, the Vikings or emmnent kill captives. The news of the violence causing fear among the natives who are quick to flee or to pay tribute. This intimidation is a formidable deterrent whose effects on the opponent, although not quantifiable, certainly play an important role in the success of Viking raids in western France.

Finally, in general, the Vikings only attack targets much smaller than themselves, avoiding the armies and battles, retreating quickly when they encounter resistance.

The inefficiency of the Carolingians to the invader

The raid precursor of 799 Charlemagne forced to take defensive measures. The king began construction of a fleet of war and placed sentinels and guard posts along the coast (especially in ports and river mouths) . This device seemed to work since 820 per instance, a Viking fleet had to turn back to the estuary of the Seine. However, after 830, the successful raids were multiplied. (The energetic Charlemagne died in 814).

Primary reason for their failure, the Franks suffered from internal divisions flaient empire. The power of Louis the Pious was challenged by his son and once his father died in 840, they fought over territorial inheritance. The Treaty of Verdun in 843 sanctioned the division of the empire into three kingdoms: Charles the Bald was given particular western France, France's draft. This agreement does not mean that stopped the war, King faced with the division of Aquitaine , the thrust of Brittany with the rise of the aristocracy, not to mention the ambitions of his brother Louis_le_Germanique "title =" Louis the German "class =" mw-redirect "> Louis the German. In 858, Charles had to cancel his campaign for example against the Vikings because the aristocrats rebelled and his brother had invaded the kingdom. The Scandinavian advantage of this instability to ignite and blood of cities, monasteries and take a considerable booty.

However, from the years 860, invasions declined to proceed instead on Great Britain. The defensive provisions established by Charles the Bald seemed to bear fruit. In areas flooded regularly, castles (Castella) had been established, sometimes in spite of the agreement Royal. Fortified bridges, such as that of Pont-de-l'Arche on the Seine river blocked the road. The Carolingian king gave large military commands to key leaders of the aristocracy. Robert Fort became such Marquis of Neustria and defeated the Normans at Brissarthe in 866. "Victory" in relative since this fight Robert the Strong and Rannoux of Poitiers died. As Hastein , the "fugitive", despite this "defeat" which had the merit to behead the Frankish army, he remained the undisputed master of Loire Valley. In reality, the Franks have never understood who were their opponents, nor the objectives they were intended, nor their way of fighting. ^Chronology

Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde exposed

• 753 : Foundation of the first colony Swedish in Russia , near the new St. Petersburg : "Aldeigjuborg (today Staraya Ladoga).
• 789 : First known raid. It takes place on the Isle of Portland in southern England .
• 802 : The Vikings seized the Orkneys , Shetlands and Hebrides.
• 808 : Foundation of Hedeby at the base of the peninsula of Jutland.
• 810 : Louis the Pious , still king of Aquitaine , is to fortify the mouth of the Charente.
• 813 : The Island Bouin was looted and burned by the Vikings.
• 816 : The Scandinavians are fighting alongside the king of Pamplona against the Saracens.
• 820 : Attack of the Vikings victorious in Norway against the Irish , they settled there and to the Isle of Man. Abortive landing in Flanders and in Seine Bay.
• 833 : Lothair I , who comes to overthrow his father, Louis the Pious , uses Danish mercenaries.
• 834 : First attack in the Carolingian Empire cons Dorestad. Beginning of the first wave of invasions.
• 835 : The Vikings take Dorestad on the Rhine , Antwerp on the Scheldt and WITL on the Meuse , the main commercial centers Frankish. They take up positions at the mouth of the Thames. Pepin I of Aquitaine , unable to counter the Scandinavians, ordered the evacuation of the islands of Aquitaine ( Noirmoutier , R , Olron ).
• 839 : The Varangian reached Constantinople through Russia's rivers and lakes.
• 841 : First ascent of the Seine. Looting of Rouen ; destruction of abbeys Jumiges and St. Wandrille , the Vikings are on the Danish island of Walcheren at the mouth of the Scheldt and also in Lindsey , the East Anglia and Kent in England.
• 842 : Plunder Quentovic , the main commercial port of France to Great Britain.
• 843 : The Vikings are disarmed and Nantes , the main port on the Loire, then settled in Noirmoutier.
• 844 : For the first time, a Viking fleet was the Garonne. Agen , Gascony fortress is taken. They reach Toulouse. ^1, a Viking raid on La Coruna and then Seville in Spain is repelled by Ramiro ^I and 'Abd al-Rahman II.
• 845 : First raid against Paris by Ragnar Lodbrok ; first tribute paid by Charles the Bald , Saintes in the Charente falls into the hands of the Vikings.
• 848 : Bordeaux , capital of Aquitaine, fell into the hands of the Vikings.
• 849 : The Vikings take Prigueux.
• 850 : Auch , Gascony last stronghold, fell to the Vikings. Gascony is under the complete control of the Scandinavians. First fort on a river frank Oissel , near Rouen.
• 851 : The Vikings to create fortified camps Jeufosse on the Seine, Biec and Saint-Florent-le-Vieil on the Loire.
• 855 : The Vikings are launching a general offensive against the Western Francia. They resume Bordeaux.
• 856 : Paris falls for the second time. His winner is Bjorn, son of Ragnar. The Vikings, parties Saintonge horse, reach and take Clermont in the heart of the Massif Central.
• 858 : After rolling western France, Bjrn went to Verberie and is "submission". Silence on the consideration of history as it gets. The Danes, parties of Biscay, capture the king of Pamplona and hold a prisoner for one year}}.
• 859 - 860 : Two Vikings fleets bypass the Iberian Peninsula. They attack: La Coruna , Oporto , Lisbon (13 days of looting), Seville , Cordoba , Cadiz (858) and the Vikings pass the Strait of Gibraltar and enter the Mediterranean. Looting of Algeciras , Malaga , Almeria , Aguilas , of Nahor in Africa and the Balearic Islands (859) . Wintering in Camargue. Ascent up the Rhone Valencia then the Isere to Novels (860). The invaders were arrested by the Earl Girard.
• 860 : First Viking attack against Constantinople
• 861 : The Danish Vikings seized temporarily Winchester , the capital of the king of Wessex Aetelbert ; third strike from Paris that occupies Sygtrygg Oissel since 855.
• 862 : The Swedish Vikings under Rurik (Rrek) seized Novgorod , founded the first Russian state by the Rus. The Vikings finally leave the Seine. Charles the Bald could finally build a bridge Ptres.
• 864 : Pepin II of Aquitaine, rebel and ally of the Danes, is captured by the Franks on the Loire.
• 866 : Hastein kill Robert the Strong and Rannoux Poitiers to Brissarthe. End of the first wave of invasion in western France. Hastein remains on the Loire.
• 867 : The Vikings troops away from France and landed in Britain.
• 868 : Charles the Bald takes possession of Aquitaine: it strengthens Saintes, Angoulme, Prigueux and Agen on the right bank.
• 870 : Inglfr Arnarson is the first settler "Norwegian" of Iceland. Three years later about it binds to the site of Reykjavik.
• 876 : Foundation of the Viking kingdom of York in the north-east England.
• 877 : Death of Charles the Bald. Beginning of the second wave of invasions in France.
• 878 : Battle of Edington . The King of Wessex Alfred the Great succeeded in containing the outbreak in Denmark.
• 879 : The Grand Army from England landed near Boulogne and begins to ravage Northern Neustria.
• 881 : Victory of Louis III against the Vikings Saucourt en Vimeu. Raids on the Meuse. The cities of Liege and Aix-la-Chapelle are looted and burned.
• 885 : Resumption of London by Alfred the Great.
• 885 - 887 : After having ascended the Seine, the Vikings undertook the fifth seat of Paris. Count Eudes , ancestor of the Capetian , resists them for 90 days. The Emperor Charles the Fat gets rid of by paying a tribute of 700 pounds.
• 886 - 889 : raids of the Scandinavians to the borders of Burgundy before being defeated by Richard the Avenger.
• 892 : After thirteen years of devastation, the "Grande Armee" withdrew.
• 900 or 901 : Gunnbjorn saw the harp.
• 911 : Charles the Simple sign the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte which grants territories around the Lower Seine Hrolf ( Rollo ). It was the birth of Normandy.

The Vikings in this region are therefore named Norman by historians.

Viking third attack against Constantinople.

The militia Gurande face the Normans in 919 - in "Life of St. Aubin," ^the eleventh century manuscript from the abbey of Angers, BNF

• 913 : The plundering of the abbey of Landvennec marks the beginning of the invasion of Britain by the Danes.
• 919 : Taking Nantes by Rgnvaldr ( Ragenold ) The Vikings settled permanently around the estuary of the Loire from 919 to 937: on the island Botha, Nantes and La Roche-Bernard , but will kept in check Gurande .
• 937 , After defeating the Danes, Scots and Welsh to Brunanbuhr, the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstan proclaimed himself "king of all Britain."
• 939 : Expulsion of Vikings of Britain.
• 971 : The Vikings were beaten by the fleet of the Caliph of Crdoba al-Hakam II at the mouth of the Guadalquivir.
• 980 : The Emperor Byzantine Basil II founded the Varangian guard (his private army of Vikings) .
• 982 or 983 : The Danes of Biscay vanquished Taller are repelled or submit. End of Danish rule. "The longest occupation (or domination) of French territory by the Danes" by Renee Mussot-Goulard. Erik the Red approaches the harp , he settled some years later.
• 985 : Harald Blue Tooth unified Denmark.
• 986 : Bjarni Herjlfsson would have seen the coast of the Americas by the sagas.
• 1000 : Leif Erikson would have discovered Newfoundland. It would be the first European to set foot in America.
• 1002 : November 13, " Massacre of Saint-Brice "by the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred II. Resumption of Viking raids on England.
• 1013 : The Danish Vikings under King ^Sweyn completing the conquest of England; Raid in the Loire estuary by Olaf Haraldsson (later Saint Olaf ).
• 1014 : Battle of Clontarf in Ireland. Victory of Brian Boru. End of the Viking invasions of Ireland. Reconciliation between native and Vikings; expedition of King Olaf cons Galicia and capture of the bishop of Tuy.
• 1015 : Olaf Haraldsson unifies Norway
• 1017 : Last Viking raids on the Frankish kingdom. The Vikings landed on the coast of Poitou to Saint-Michel-en-l'Herm .
• 1035 : The Empire of Cnut the Great who united Norway, Denmark and England fall apart.
• 1066 : Harald III of Norway at the head of 300 ships and 9,000 men attempted to invade England but is defeated in the Battle of Stamford Bridge. William the Conqueror , Duke of Normandy , invaded the island and turn defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. He became king of England.

Facts and myths about the Vikings

Representation of the Vikings in the nineteenth ^century.

The West owes a cultural legacy and legend that has inspired literature and the European imagination. The Nordic countries avail themselves of this attraction for tourism promotion. Always subjective and the image of the Scandinavians of today is still tinged with wonder and we lend them the qualities of their ancestors, namely bravery, boldness, curiosity, ingenuity ... The myth has also instructed misconceptions. The Vikings were neither large nor bearded unlike the image one has of them. The image of the Vikings is often limited to that of bloodthirsty warriors. Several historians ( Peter Bauduin , Rgis Boyer ) trying to rehabilitate the Northmen by revealing their different facets.

bloodthirsty warriors?

It's the clich of Viking, a man who fights, killing, plundering and destroying. This vision is largely the stories of contemporary church. Greatly affected by the raids, these authors portray men as barbarians of the North to reinforce their image as pagan and thus demonize. The Runic Stones and the Norse sagas are not left since they tend to glorify violence and bravery of their warlike character .

Despite the exaggeration, these stories contain some truth. The Vikings knew be cruel and violent. History to maintain terror among Western populations and get them to more easily Danegeld (tribute). Violence therefore fell to less than a strategy of intimidation.

To better judge the war mentality of the Vikings, a comparison with contemporary peoples is illuminating. Scandinavian warrior values - bravery, generosity of the leader who redistributes wealth among his captured companions - are found among the Merovingians, the Carolingians and later among the knights. It should be remembered that this high Middle Ages, the Scandinavians had no monopoly on cruelty. At the end of the ^eighth century , the conquest of Saxony by the Franks of Charlemagne was accompanied by massacres, destruction and forced conversion. Finally, the historian Peter Sawyer emphasizes that these Vikings whose sagas or chronicles tell of the devastation and the killings are only a minority of Scandinavians. This is actually the aristocratic elite .

More specific points in the representation of the Vikings also need to be challenged. They have never drunk for example in the skull of their enemies, fantasy due to unfortunate translation of "the branch curve of the skull." This expression means in reality a horn. Horn that the Norse of the Viking era used it to drink during feasts and ceremonies.

Metal helmet with nasal

Further questioning, the Vikings did not wear horned helmets, with the exception of proposals of marriage to show their wealth, and at major ceremonies . This myth has been created in Sweden in the late ^nineteenth century and popularized by comics like Asterix or Hgar Dunor and many other fictions. However their helmets could have "glasses" or a nasal (iron rod in front of the nose, as evidenced by the Bayeux Tapestry ), which gives it an air of Greek helmet. Moreover, these metal helmets was the attribute of warriors rich. The other wore the leather helmet.

The evolution of the representation of the Vikings

If the Vikings in the Middle Ages in the West are seen as the agents of the devil, rehabilitation takes place from the ^seventeenth and ^eighteenth centuries. According to Rgis Boyer, this shift is probably the development of the "myth of the North" that excites the imagination of writers .

During the Enlightenment, the Vikings are considered the cradle of chivalry. From a pure north, they would have regenerated the aristocracy and the Church punished for his errors. The Romantics seized later by the Nordiques. They see them as free men and admire their taste for maritime adventure. Their bravery and courage are rented. That vision continues in the twentieth ^century and provides a breeding ground for nationalist and racist theories. The Vikings become in some extremist rhetoric a superior race. Several nations or groups claim to be their descendants. In France itself, those interested in Vikings are immediately suspected of being motivated by ideas of this type. So much so, that no French historian has studied the issue for Ferdinand Lot. Those who write today are linguists (Boyer, Ridel), sociologist (Renaud) and archaeologists (Anne Nissen Jaubert-). As for historians (Peter Bauduin), they do not study the Vikings, but the Normans.

Rgis Boyer debunks these claims. It emphasizes the demographic weakness of the Vikings (stating that Scandinavia is now less than 20 million inhabitants). For this reason, they could not fundamentally alter the population of certain regions. This argument used by Rgis Boyer, who does not prove any demographic weakness at the time, is very questionable. Most archaeologists and historians believe, however, that the Scandinavian company knew a surplus population that justified the invasion .

Historians and archaeologists are finding that a few generations, they melted into the population. Nothing distinguished them from the natives. This was the case in Normandy, in Russia or Southern Ireland. Rgis Boyer fun as the legendary bravery of the Vikings. Their tactical consequence of their small number, came down to surprise attacks of sites in general poorly or not protected. Exceptions to the principle laid down by Rgis Boyer, however, are numerous: Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Narbonne, Dax, Hamburg, Lisbon, and some other European cities can be regarded as places poorly defended. Lucid and not rashly, they prefer to withdraw when the enemy is above or resist them vigorously. In 885, they abandoned the siege of Paris defended by Gozlin and Count Eudes. But, far from withdrawing, they continued their ascent of the river and ravage Burgundy. In England, after many battles, Alfred the Great , returns to the north of the Thames, but the Vikings remain in control of East Anglia, part of Mercia and Northumbria, where they founded the Danelaw. Rgis Boyer also argues that the Vikings avoid the battles as they have always fought the army if forced to fight. This principle once admitted, however, many exceptions. Just read the Royal Frankish Annals, the Annals of Xanten and the Annals of Metz to find traces of many battles won by the Scandinavians on the Franks.

Today, comics is developing another representation of the Northmen. They become truculent and comic characters.

Excellent browsers

The Vikings have climbed all the European seas and even beyond. They ascended the rivers and streams in Western Europe and Russia. This expansion would not have been possible without the quality of vessels they built.

The Viking Ship

"Anyone who saw the Oseberg ship will never see the Normans the ^ninth century as vile barbaric and senseless " wrote one historian after visiting the museum ships in Oslo. Although still imperfect, knowledge of the Scandinavian boats grew from archaeological findings boats. The Oseberg ship excavated in 1904 is one of the best preserved specimens which can compare him to the Gokstad and those of Skuldelev . The iconography, the first of the Bayeux Tapestry , provide additional information.

There is not a Scandinavian-style boat. Architecture varied according to destination (coasting trade, long-term, war or ceremonial) and evolved over time. However, some commonalities emerge. The bow and stern are raised and their hull is built winks. Since the ^eighth century , they are propelled by the wind through a rectangular sail wool. This ship goes very well in the wind . This does not prevent vessels from being as equipped with oars. Warships, like Gokstad are called langskip, snekka or longship. But this last term is a barbaric mistake created in the nineteenth ^century, inspired by the modern Swedish word "drake" (dragon) - and not "DREKI" in Norse - in which a double "k" was added to accentuate the exotic appearance. The Vikings did not identify as their boat.

Archaeologists recognize the outstanding architecture of Scandinavian boats. They are astonished including the flexibility of the hull. The ribs are attached to the shell - and not to the keel - by ties of wicker, leather laces, or for late models, by the ankles . Consequently, the vessel can face the open sea, wringing the waves. Besides flexibility, the Viking ships are known for their lightness. Hull made a few centimeters thick. Suddenly, the draft is weak, giving the impression that the boat glides over the waves. The rate could exceed 10 knots.

A good knowledge of the sea

The Vikings were not using navigational instruments, compass or compass. They had no maps. At night they could help from Polaris to maintain a heading and date, based on the height of the sun to estimate their latitude. Especially the observation of the sea, landmarks and marine animals that allowed them to find their way at sea The largest number of puffins announced the close of the Faroe Islands. The sudden change in water temperature, a consequence of entry into a polar current, the change of ocean color from blue to green, the proliferation of icebergs showed that Greenland was near . Viking navigators also knew the currents were taking the boat easily from one sector to another or the migratory route of whales. The Hausbk, an Icelandic manuscript that tells of Norway such as navigation in Greenland, provides many details of this kind .

This knowledge of the sea and navigation more generally has allowed the Vikings to explore distant regions. To the west, they were the first Europeans to land in Greenland. From there, they may have discovered America. To the east, the Swedes have taken the network of lakes and rivers to reach the Russian and Central Asian caravan routes from the Far East. The image explorer has as much relevance as the stereotype of bloodthirsty warrior who sticks to the Vikings.

Knowledge of the Earth

The Vikings knew the shape of our earth before the church does its vision biblical land of flat like a disc: orbis terrarum in Latin or Heimskringla in Old Norse. It remains a document dating from the ^twelfth century , which attests that the Elucidarium . This knowledge allowed them to venture too far out to sea without fear of "falling into the abyss" supposed to surround our world as thought the Religions of the Book. We know that one of the greatest scientific explorers browser native Massalia (ancient Marseilles ) named Pytheas made to 340 - 325 BC a journey into the seas of northern Europe and very well described and studied Scandinavia including the island of Thule is located on the Arctic Circle could be the Iceland or Norway. Pytheas as all scholars Greeks at that time knew the shape of our globe , its trade with Scandinavians may be the source of their knowledge on this issue, unless they have it discovered by themselves.

The discoverers of America?

Two Icelandic sagas, that of the Greenlanders and Erik the Red, tell the discovery by the Vikings land beyond Greenland. Around 986, a browser Greenland Bjarni Herjolfsson , diverted by a storm, see land and forests unknown. Twenty years later, Leif , son of Erik the Red undertook an expedition to check the story of Bjarni. After several days of sailing, he discovered new territories: a country of mountains and glaciers he calls Helluland ("land of flat stones") and a coastline dominated by a forest interior, which he called Markland ( "land of trees"), then a pleasant land where the explorers are fishing for salmon and gathered bunches of grapes, Vinland ("land of the vine") . From the ^nineteenth century , scholars argue formally the hypothesis that these browsers have in fact followed the shores of America. The Vikings have therefore set foot on New World five hundred years before Christopher Columbus.

The sagas are generally considered unreliable sources literary (the many contradictions between the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red proving it), researchers are trying to find physical evidence to verify this hypothesis. In 1898, a rune stone is discovered in Kensington , United States, but so far, its authenticity is not yet assured. In 1930, a device typical of a Viking warrior was found at Beardmore, Ontario, but the discovery turns hoax. The hypothesis of the Vikings as the first discoverers of America takes the value in the 1960s when a couple of Norwegian archaeologists Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad, reveal the remains of Viking houses on the island of Newfoundland. The site L'Anse aux Meadows consists of eight buildings distributed in three complexes. Emerged include a joinery workshop, a forge, an oven and a stove. The dating of artifacts collected glue with the date of shipment of Leif. L'Anse aux Meadows is famous worldwide and establishing itself as the scientific evidence was lacking to . The houses are really Vikings? The objects could not they come from Inuit who have traded with the Vikings? The new dating carbon 14 does she not too large an amplitude time? Above all, how is it that the sagas speak of vines while Newfoundland, its northern position, can not produce grapes?

Other aspects of Viking: the merchant and the administrator

Rgis Boyer also insists on the error to confine the Vikings to a role of fighters and violent looters. For this professor of literature and civilization Scandinavia, the Northmen as feared by Westerners, were primarily traders. For proof, Viking nominate the man who goes vicus (city counter market) in vicus. As for Varangian (Vringr), its meaning would be the man who deals in goods (var). We know however that these etymological interpretations are discussed. Rgis Boyer said that the Vikings practiced at least since the trade ^the sixth century. It is only thanks to a weakening of the Carolingian Empire that these traders were converted into warriors predators between roughly 800 and 1050 . The dual-shop robber did not cease with the Viking raids. The booty brought back from the West was partly sold on the shopping plazas in Scandinavia. In the second half of the ^ninth century , King of Wessex Alfred the Great understanding with a "Norwegian" Ottar appointed to procure ivory and skins even though he fought since the beginning of his reign established the Norse England .

Difficult to consider even the Vikings as barbarians when we look at the development of the territories they have been assigned or have colonized. They have proved to be talented directors. Quality that the Slavs had apparently noticed it since, according to the Chronicle of Nestor , they would have asked Varangians to govern. That would explain their installation in Eastern Europe. And we know that the Vikings founded two states with the union around the year 900 form the Russian. The sense of organization and discipline also benefited Scandinavian Danelaw and especially in Normandy. In the latter territory, the Vikings are the source of a model state. Administration model, model of economic strength and force short since the Normans will engage in ^the eleventh century to the conquest of England and southern Italy. We should not forget the successes among Scandinavian countries alone, the Iceland. The Vikings have invented an original system of government, not a republic, as often said, but rather an "oligarchy" . Meetings bringing together landowners determined policy and management of the island.

Privacy

The Viking woman

Viking society is "manly" and patriarchal, but as the Vikings went several months, the farm was under the responsibility of women, hsfreyja, which ensured the smooth running of everything. It was sovereign Innan hbli Stokke ("sacred precincts of the home") and the man utan Stokke ("outside"). The Viking woman contrary to his "cousins" Europe, enjoyed a prestige obvious. She assured the continuity of customs, institutions, and education of children. She was the guardian of family traditions, and ended up being the incarnation and the honor of his clan. She was more often than men, witch or sorceress. It sometimes happened that the woman participates in Viking expeditions, with or without her children.

The concubines

The men were polygamous. The wife is recognized as the keys to the chests which she wore at her belt, she had her hair up in a bun to show his dignity, she was the only one to navigate among the concubines. To assert rights to one of the concubines, it was essential that their "friend" the officially recognized, it was very rarely to avoid unbalancing the clan and all conflicts of inheritance.

The Viking Child (Barn)

He becomes an adult (Madras) 12 years later 14. It is called skilgetinn when he is the legitimate child of the wife as the child oskilgetinn and concubines.

Marriage

The year knew only two seasons (Misseri) summer and winter. The marriage took place most often in late October during the three days of vetrnoetr which symbolized the coming of winter. This is the best time for the wedding (brlaup), crops are harvested, the hay is ready, the cattle are installed, dried fish, beer brewed, the Viking raids stopped ... there is a time of respite.

About a year before the marriage took place the engagement (festarml) where we drank beer Engagement (festarl) and mead. In these latitudes there was no social cleavages, but in conscious family tradition, the bride and groom should preferably have a social status and be close to equal wealth (jafnroedi). The bride brought a dowry (heimanfylgja). The husband was the tilgjf, which he added a dower (Mundra). The bride could ask for a divorce or separation and remained owner of her dowry and dower. Before the ceremony there was the bath of the bride (with the bridesmaids). She pulled her hair and tied with a ribbon or a jewel. She attached to his belt the house keys and trunk to become the Hsfreyja (housewife). An offering was made to Frigg (the Mother Goddess ) to call on the husband's well-being, fertility, fertility and peace, and Freyr god of happiness and enjoyment of property. The union was dedicated "til Ars fridar ok" for a year and for fruitful peace. The vikings beliefs were not priests, was the chieftain who presided over the event with the hammer of Thor (hammarsng). We also hid a hammer of Thor in the bed of the bride. The Banquet (brveizla) occurred in the common room (Skala). We swore not to heed the words to be exchanged once it be drunken. Toasts were brought to the gods and ancestors great, drekka minni (drink to the memory of). The next morning the husband gave a present to his wife (morgingjf) .

Medicine, magic, witchcraft.

Odin and Freya were the masters of seidr. Man or woman could be a doctor "loeknir. Magic and witchcraft were strictly carried out by women. The sorcerers were regarded as male homosexuals (liabilities) which had a very negative connotation of dishonor, cowardice and failure to manhood in Viking society. The Vikings could intervene on their fate was not inevitable as it became in the Christian era. The recourse to magicians and witches was a way of questioning minds and use it to execute the orders of the sorcerer. Also for healing, bring good luck, control the weather, raise the game and fish, virility, looking for things hidden in the fields of mind or equipment. But there was also a destructive magic. There were other practices such as Galdr, Gandra, Utiseta, magic .

Rape, homosexuality ...

The Vikings were discreet and modest. Rape, sexual perversion, homosexuality was radically ... proscribed by legislation. There is no worse insult than to treat a man of argr or resurfacing (homosexual). Anyone who was caught for rape or ergi (homosexuality) was outlawed. He had dehumanized, it could kill with impunity, since it does not reflect the opinion one had of human nature . A false accusation of homosexuality was a crime equivalent to murder .

vaml and faux fur

Homespun fabric produced by the fleece of sheep. Dressing the entire population, used for bedding, upholstery, luggage, gifts for kings, currency exchange and especially for the veils of Viking ships. "Without exaggeration, the Viking voyages were possible only thanks to the webs woven by women." Women also invented a new form of fabric (faux fur) taken directly from the fleece untreated and regularly placed in the fabric during weaving, giving the appearance of the coat. This addresses a taste of luxury when men liked to wear fur but the difficulty of Iceland was that it was devoid of wildlife .

Social structure

The organization of society is clan based, everything revolves around the family, (or aett kyn), which is sacred. It is a society very little hierarchy, egalitarian and self-sufficient enough. The Vikings were moderately libertarian individualists, very supportive and not subservient. They formed a company pragmatic and realistic, they were men of action-loving values of action ^, .

The Boendr

(Sing.Bondi) free men constitute the vast majority of society. They have the right to vote Thing and Althing. They are owners, farmers, fishermen, warriors, merchants, craftsmen (smidr) in charge of administration and government. We can distinguish Storboendr (large Boendr) and Smaboendr (Boendr ordinary) conditions more modest, they nonetheless the same occupations and privileges that large Boendr.

The Konungar, Jarlar

(Sing. konungr, a word derived from kyn: family) kings or princes, chieftains, kings, they were elected or inherited function with the consent of the Board of Boendr. They are subject to the law. They must be above all of the major warlords. The konungr and Earl, are often saekonungr (king of the seas) and (HOVDING) Viking expedition leaders. They have far fewer powers than their European counterparts given the libertarian individualist Vikings. The Jarlar dukes or earls, are at the head of filk (an administrative division) with at least four hersar. Their duties were to maintain and enhance the honor, safety and welfare of their people. They communicated information and the large orders with "the message by the arrow." An arrow in the colors of a konungr circulated among the clans who were required to propagate information .

The Thraell

(Plur.Thraellar) were "catch of war" during strandhogg (raids) they sold or brought back into their clans. These are not really slaves treated as chattel and thank you as our societies representing them. We could not mistreat them, kill or maim with impunity. They enjoyed the respect of their human dignity. They were not really free, and had no legal standing but had a very easy to emancipate themselves, regain their freedom by buying it, by marrying a (e) Scandinavian, or having rendered a great service to their master. They became leysingi or frjalsgjafi (to whom we gave freedom) .

Umaga

He who can not meet his needs. These destitute enough of (old, infirm, sick, homeless ...) and poor (fatoekr: one who takes / receives little) live through hreppr (solidarity of clans).

The Godi

Men and women rarely, could access the Godi (plu. Godar ). Rather wealthy and influential politically, they are heads of clans. This function can be bought or inherited. They sit on boards of Things, and Hreppar (sing. Hrepr : sort of comprehensive insurance, solidarity between clans). They are administrators, men of law, responsible practices, customs, at the major dates of the year (equinoxes, solstices, Jol ...) and during major events (birth, weddings, funerals, Memory of Ancestors ... ). They are neither priests nor the Druids, they have no religion, no dogma or temples, religious or caste ... They became priests when Christianity ^, .

Thing Althing, Leid.

Meetings seasonal all free men in all districts where decisions are made in the public interest, trials, projects ... A sanctity attached to this institution, chaired by the Lgsguma (the man who says the law) elected for three years. The god of the Thing was probably Tyr (god). In the spring stood the "Varthing" (where we prepare the topics to come). At summer solstice the "Althing" where votes were held, decisions, projects, exchange of travel information, stories poems sagas, sales of inheritance, property sales, commercial transactions, marriages for two weeks .... In the fall took place on "Leid" which endorsed the decisions taken in June. To take part in these meetings had to pay the Thingfarakaup (accession, tax, earmarked for the organization of the Thing). The Thing took place in natural areas, representing a broad and acoustical advantage as a natural wall of basalt (site Lgberg or Mount of the Law) ... During the trial, the verdict was the maximum financial compensation (bot), exile in the woods (the skoggandr), banning (fjorbaugsgardr) limited time, usually three years, but no death penalty except in very specific areas such as to invalidate the human quality of the culprit (homosexuality, rape, theft) they obotamal were then classified as (a case which did not call off) .

Hreppr

Social duty of solidarity towards the poor and clans fataekr or flitill (which has few assets), the elderly, sick ... prior to Christianity. When the family was missing, the district (fjordungar), the province or the land could do it, or hreppr. It was the equivalent of our social security, health insurance, insurance against all risks ... (Poverty, loss of livestock, fires ...). The hreppr consisted of twenty Boendr and more, paying Thingfararkaup, the taxing of which a quarter came back to the poor who also enjoyed food donations (matgjafir) .

Economy

Trade

This is because of the poverty of their land and the harsh climate that, according to Rgis Boyer, Scandinavians would naturally turned to the business .

Commercial Space

During the Middle Ages, Scandinavia is gradually integrated into a commercial area centered on the North Sea and English Channel . Merchants curls play an important role in this expansion. A trade route is set up in the Atlantic Ocean to the Baltic Sea instead of the Mediterranean axis controlled by the Arabs since the ^eighth century.

Vikings turn to enlarge this space by exploring new avenues and installing counters to the ends of Europe. Byzantium in 839 is reached by the Dnieper. Boats leave for Iceland and Greenland recently colonized by the Vikings to bring the walrus ivory and furs. The geographical diversity of objects found in Scandinavia certifies that the Northmen established business contacts beyond the EU framework. At York , the counter of northern England, shells typical of the Red Sea are found. A grave Swedish ^sixth century conceals a Buddha. During the excavation counters Scandinavian archaeologists discovered pieces Arab.

Trade is practiced in counters. It is in these places that pass raw materials and finished products. They are also centers of production where they worked in wood, iron, bone or leather. Birka and Hebeby counters are the most famous of the Scandinavian world. In 808, King Godfred founded the first to the eastern base of the peninsula of Jutland . In ^the tenth century , the city would host by archaeologists about 1500 inhabitants. The second, Birka, also disappeared, occupies a unique position among the Swedish land on the shores of Lake Mlaren. Other Scandinavian counters are important places: Ribe , on the west coast of Jutland, Helgo in Sweden, some being seasonal as Kaupangr Norway. The Viking expansion is met by the installation of outlets beyond Scandinavia. One of the oldest is Staraya Ladoga , gateway to the future of Russia, founded around 753. The Varangians push farther into the interior of the Slavic countries and founded Novgorod and Kiev. To the west, the Vikings also multiplying stages, the main Irish cities today are former counters. These counters do not always correspond to creation ex nihilo. Some, like York and Rouen take place inside the ancient cities that revitalizes Viking installation.

Commercial products

The Vikings specialize in a triad of luxury goods: the amber , the furs and ivory from walrus. The low capacity of Viking ships would have said, limited the trade in heavy and less lucrative . This vision of luxury retailers is born with the discoveries of ships Gokstad and Oseberg in the 19th century. These vessels, very similar, embarking from many crew members. Moreover, being bridged, they have no hold to store goods in quantity. With vessels also poorly designed, traders embark only slightly bulky goods, so luxury items: a priori, undermined by the excavation of Skudelev in the Gulf of Roskilde in 1962. Danish archaeologists will discover many types of vessels: warships and merchant vessels decked with open hold. So the Vikings possess transport boats shipping tons of goods. Ships found in burial mounds in Norway, are obviously no ordinary cargo vessels, but prestigious warships of the family langskip. For French writers in particular, should stop spreading the idea that the Vikings are "merchants of luxury."

Harvested in the southern Baltic and East Jutland, amber (fossilized resin of pine forests) is trading in the surrounding counters. Amber is used to make jewelry (charms, pendants or necklaces).

The Vikings also market the fruits of their own fur or hunting purchased Lapps. In the northernmost areas (Greenland, northern Scandinavia, Finland, Russia), live in effect wolves , bears , beavers , squirrels , stoats , foxes and martens. The nobility, high clergy and the wealthy merchants of Europe proud to wear these furs. The reindeer , including high Lapps, but also provides its wood skins are also popular for making combs and frames decorated sword . Birka is the hub of such commerce. Apart from these mammals, hunters enjoy the eider , a large duck which the male has a black and white plumage, which covers her eggs with his fluffy feathers .

Walruses, many in Greenland and around the White Sea , are sought for their long tusks, ivory which is used for various luxury items such as combs, crucifixes or parts of chess .

Viking counters are also supplied slaves : men and women, mostly captured during the raids in the West or in the Slavic countries. However, the Vikings threw one of their servitude. Olaf Tryggvason , king of Norway, spent his youth as a slave before being bought by his uncle in Estonia . According to Rgis Boyer, slaves captured in France, First repatriated to Denmark, crossed the Baltic, Russia and the Black Sea, and are sold in Constantinople. The Byzantines sell these slaves in the Caliphate of Baghdad and the Sultanate of Cordoba. Go through Hedeby, Novgorod and Constantinople to go to Nantes Cordoba, is not very rational. There is every reason to believe that slaves made on the Loire and the Seine, far from being repatriated to Scandinavia, by contrast, were sent to Spain where was the largest purchaser of slaves in the West, and most importantly, goods from the Orient as coveted as the Scandinavians.

The Vikings importing wheels and Rhine wine, brocades from the Byzantine Empire , silks from China, money ... They are also probably more common perishable materials such as honey, fabrics and grains, which it remains almost no trace.

Agriculture

Types of crops

As in much of medieval Europe, the vast majority of people in medieval Scandinavia were farmers. Surfaces ideal for agricultural and pastoral activities however, are not legions in these countries, many farmers had to rely on fishing and hunting for survival. Shows a rough schematic of fishermen mainly Norwegians and Swedes and Danes primarily farmers and ranchers. This reality is however to be qualified according to the different regions of each country. In all cases, the "bond", that is to say independent farmers form the majority of the Scandinavian population at the time, were real and multi-skilled workers were obliged to engage in fishing as well that the breeding and culture.

Livestock (including cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry) was extremely important and it was practiced even beyond the Arctic Circle. It is also probable that this is the search for new pasture that has pushed many Scandinavians to settle in Iceland , the Faroe Islands or Greenland. Cultivated plants consisted, them, mainly rye , barley , oats and cabbage. The cultivation of rye, and particularly that of winter rye, experienced a boom during the Viking age.

Among the food specialties include the orrablt , preserved in a very watered down by the Normans in the guts la mode de Caen , the sausages , raw milk cheese and many culinary specialties with a strong taste. The famous "smalahove" Voss, head of specialty lamb accompanied by smoke and ash swedes could also go back to the Viking age. As for drinks, Scandinavians were the largest consumers of beer malt barley that is not hoppy, and drink like mead.

Rural Housing

South of Scandinavia is experiencing a relatively early cohousing. In Vstergtland and Uppland , this habitat type is being set up at the end of the Viking period. However, in the rest of Scandinavia (other parts of Sweden, Norway, Iceland after colonization) was instead a thinly populated.

Archaeology has helped to uncover the remains of rural settlements of this period. The best known example is that of Vorbasse in Jutland.

Tools

The use of the plow seems to have been dominant throughout Scandinavia Viking, but the plow was also known. The watermill is an exception, but it is still attested from ^the ninth century.

Craft

In addition to being places of transit and trade in commodities, counters were places Viking crafts. So we find blacksmiths, jewelers, craftsmen working bone, antler, leather, wood and amber . According to archaeological excavations, York specialized in woodworking; Dublin produced pins. Ribe , Ahus (southern Sweden) and Paviken (on the island of Gotland ) were centers of glassware while that we worked the soapstone to Kaupang.

Writing

The Vikings had a write, the Runes.

The writing system "ancestor" of the runes, the writing itself to Hallristinger , was discovered in the northern part of northwest Europe, it dates from the end of prehistory.

The runic alphabet is a mixture of alphabets italics Nordic / Alpine with a Latin influence. .

According to Tacitus , the fathers of Viking runes carved already on all materials such as wood, bone, ivory, stone, bark, leaves of fruit trees ... .

The Vikings, traders par excellence, in contact with all civilizations and all goods, not ignorant paper, papyrus, parchment, vellum ... ideal support for recording transactions and stocks to trade. However few of these materials were found. The humid climate probably, but most of all, the palimpsest and the many Catholic burnings (Heresy, Inquisition, witchcraft ...) then the great burning of the Protestant Reformation had time to destroy the rest for a millennium. The only documents remaining runic are those written by monks, as the Codex Runicus other writings are suspected of harboring and evil spells.

Some famous Vikings

Viking site of L'Anse aux Meadows in
Newfoundland , in North America

• Rollo was the first Earl (prince) of Normandy , granted to the Vikings, following the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 911. It is the source of the Duchy of Normandy. The granting of this land to the invaders has led them to Christianity gradually.

• Erik the Red Viking is the first person to come to Greenland in 982.

• Leif Erikson sailed up Helluland , the land of the flat stone ( Baffin Island , Newfoundland or Labrador ), the Markland ( Labrador , Nova Scotia ,?) and Vinland ( Newfoundland , Nova Scotia and perhaps even the Maine ). He founded a village at L'Anse aux Meadows , formerly known as L'Anse aux Meadows , in what the saga of Leif Erikson called Vinland , which made him the discoverer for Europeans of America , to the year 1000. Assume that the stormy relationship with the indigenous and the few women (the saga mentions 15 women for 135 men) are not foreign to the evacuation of the village, a few years later.

• St. Olaf is the patron saint of Norway , but before Christianize his country, it prevailed as a pirate king and / or mercenaries in many regions of about 1007 to 1016.

End of the phenomenon

We date the end of the Viking phenomenon in the ^mid-eleventh century. Among the hypotheses, we retain the conversion to Christianity, which led to the end of trade (and kidnapping during raids) slaves and established a Church hostile to the raids, the commercial competition of the Frisians, the unification of peoples in the Scandinavian direction of kings whose interest was more organized plundering expeditions abroad, better organization of defense for the victims, with strong states and sometimes even appeared organized in response to the Vikings (that the case of France, Great Britain, Russia and Ireland).

It is also the fact that the King of France, weary of incessant looting of the Vikings, they were granted the right to settle in Normandy (the land of 'Normans' or Norsemen), provided live peacefully and to stop looting.

If the Vikings have disappeared as a phenomenon, civilization and Scandinavian peoples from which they sprang have survived until today.

The Viking heritage

If Christianity was the end of the movement and the beginning of the assimilation of the Scandinavian people, however, found their mark today in a number of languages and customs and practices to identify more complex.

The linguistic legacy

The Vikings spoke Old Norse , a Germanic language. It is no longer spoken today, but the Icelandic and Faroese are still remained closer than the other major Scandinavian languages.

Furthermore, elements from the Norse language are evident in the names Norman , British and Irish. There are also many family names derived from Norman anthroponyms ( Toutain , Anquetil , Estur, Doude, Turgis, Therould, etc..).

The language itself has remained essentially lexical items, but also of grammatical elements: the English primarily (booth, mug, take, sister, their, etc..), the Manx , the Gaelic , the Norman

The Russia owes its unification identity, his patronymic system and part of its linguistic structure.

Fictional characters borrowed from Norse myth

• Hgar Dunor
• Hultrasson
• Prince Valiant
• / Thorgal "alt =" Thorgal "> Thorgal
• Vic le Viking
• Vinland Saga
• Eric Northman
• Ingmar

Bibliography

Runestone in stergtland , Sweden.

Medieval Sources

Contemporary written sources come mainly from foreign observers (Arab, Byzantine, Western). In the West, it is, most of the time, the testimony of victims of Viking raids, including clerics. Their writings are very biased.

With the exception of runic inscriptions , medieval Scandinavian written sources are generally not older than the ^twelfth century and therefore post-Viking period. These texts, including the sagas that combine historical facts and invented facts, are treated with great caution by historians. The legal codes which are also clearly aware that the most recent period.

The archeology is the main source of information on this period. If she brings great results in Scandinavia and the British Isles, the results are disappointing in France. The excavations were first concerned the city's most monumental, mostly large cities and tombs of great men. Since the 1970s, the attention of archaeologists is on rural housing and places of power ^{Contemporary Texts}

• Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Pres , History of the Siege of Paris by the Normans.
• Alfred the Great , Orosius.
• Annals of St. Bertin , IX ^century.
• Chronicle of Nestor, early twelfth ^century.
• Dudo of Saint-Quentin , De moribus and actis primorum Normanniae ducum.
• Ibn Fadlan , Voyage to the Bulgarians of the Volga.

Modern literature

• Dragons and Viking ships: the myth of Viking Scandinavia to Normandy, ^XVIII - XX ^century, Caen, Normandy Museum, 1996
• Vikings: the Scandinavians and Europe 800-1200, Paris, AFAA, 1992
• Sagas of the peoples of the North: Vikings, Amsterdam, Time-Life Books, 1997

Representation skald Viking Egill Skallagrmsson in the saga of Egill.

• Pierre Bauduin, Vikings, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 2004
• Rgis Boyer , Heroes and Gods of the North: iconographic guide, Paris, Flammarion, 1997
• Rgis Boyer, Jean Robert, On behalf of Viking, Paris, Belles Lettres, 2002
• Rgis Boyer, Viking Art, Tournai, Renaissance Book, 2001
• Rgis Boyer, Viking Myth in French literature in Paris Sword Publishing, 1986
• Rgis Boyer, The Vikings (800-1050), Paris, Hachette, 2003 ( ISBN 2012356907 )
• Rgis Boyer, The Vikings: History and Civilization, Paris, Perrin, 2002 ( ISBN 2262019541 )
• Rgis Boyer, The Vikings, Paris, Blue Rider, 2002
• Rgis Boyer, The Vikings first Europeans: ^Eighth century: new archaeological discoveries, Paris, Autrement, 2005 ( ISBN 9782746707368 )
• Rgis Boyer, The Vikings, History, Myths, dictionary, Paris, Robert Laffont, 2008 ( ISBN 9782221106310 )
• Anne Civardi, James Graham-Campbell, Stephen Cartwright, The Vikings, Paris, Bordas, 1978
• Yves Cohat, Vikings, kings of the seas, Paris, Gallimard, 1994 ( ISBN 2-07-053027-2 )
• Sigurd Curman, Objets d'art of Swedish origin of the X first centuries of our era, Stockholm, Nordisk rotogravyr, 1933
• Frederic Durand , Vikings and the Sea, Paris, Wandering, 1996
• Pierre Efrat, Hrolfs the Vagabond, Paths Publishing, 2005
• Oddveig Foldy, Inga Lundstrm, The Viking in the Norwegian identity, Stavanger Archaeological Museum of Stavanger, 1995
• James Graham-Campbell, Colleen Batey, Atlas of the Viking world, Paris, Headlights, 1994
• Rene Guichard, Vikings, creators of States: Iceland and Norway; discoverers of new worlds: Erik the Red in Greenland in the year 982, Leif the Lucky at Vinland in 1000, Paris, A. and J. Picard, 1972

• Charles Guyot, E. Wegener, The Book of the Vikings from the ancient sagas, Paris, Piazza, 1924
• Anders Hagen, The Viking Ship, Oslo, Universitetet OLDSAKSAMLING, 1961
• Roar Hauglid Art Norwegian Viking thousand years of tradition, Paris, Les Presses Art, March-May 1954
• John Haywood, Atlas of the Vikings, Paris, Autrement, 1995 ( ISBN 2-86260-569-7 )
• Angus Konstam, Historical Atlas of the Viking world, References