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Who were the Vikings?

The Vikings were clever at making things .They made many things to trade.

The Vikings Lived about a thousand years ago. They came from the area that is now Norway, Denmark and Sweden. People called them Northmen or Norsemen, then Vikings. Why did the name change?

The lands they lived in hard very little good farming land, and the number of people living there was growing .They needed to find new land to farm. At first they raided place, but letter they came back to settle there.

The Vikings were great traders. They wanted to find new lands to trade with.

The ideas of adventuring and raiding were built into their way of life. They expected it to do it.

Book - The Vikings by Margaret Hudson

Houses and Home Life

Starting in York, once the Viking city of Jorvik, archaeologist Neil Oliver sets out to discover more about Viking home life as he challenges the myth that they were simply marauding, violent warriors in horned helmets. At Jarlshof in Shetland he finds evidence of an ancient Viking settlement including the remains of a farm and he’s shown some of the extraordinary artefacts found at the site. These reveal another side to Viking life – as peaceful farmers and highly skilled craftsmen. In Denmark he spends the night in a reconstructed longhouse to experience how the Vikings and their families survived the cold winter months.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zhbcd2p

Viking Ships

The Vikings built fast ships for raiding and war. These ships were 'dragon-ships ' or 'longships'.They would be about 30 metres long and could carry 60 men. The men slept and ate on deck. When rowing, sailors sat on chests with their belongings in. The Vikings were highly skilled shipbuilders and produced some of the finest ships of their time. They gave their ships names such as Long Seprant, Sea Bird , Wave Walker and Raven Of The Wind.

A Viking ship was built beside a river or an inlet of the sea. A tall oak tree was cut to make the keel. The builders cut long planks of wood for the sides, and shorter pieces for supporting ribs and cross-beams. They used wooden pegs and iron rivets to fasten the wooden pieces together. Overlapping the side planks, known as 'clinker-building',made the ship very strong. People stuffed animal wool and sticky tar from pine trees into every join and crack, to keep out the water.

They were all made from planks of timber, usually oak, overlapped and nailed together. The ships were made watertight by filling the spaces between the planks with wool, moss or animal hair, mixed with tar or tallow. The ships were all the same long narrow shape, with shallow draughts.

The average speed of Viking ships varied from ship to ship, but lay in the range of 5–10 knots (9.3–18.5 km/h) and the maximum speed of a longship under favourable conditions was around 15 knots (28 km/h).

https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/vikings

Coins

Photo of silver penny of Athelstan/Guthrum Reverse of silver penny  © Most of the early Viking coin types were imitations of more established coinage. This is fairly typical of societies that adopt the idea of coinage from their neighbours. One of the main models for the coinage of the Danelaw was naturally the coinage of Alfred the Great of Wessex, the most powerful ruler in the British Isles. Many coins from the southern Danelaw carried Alfred's name, rather than the name of the rulers who issued them. In East Anglia, the Viking Guthrum, Alfred's godson, issued coins copying the designs of Alfred's coins, but with his own new baptismal name of Athelstan. Other early designs were copied from Byzantine and Frankish coins, reminding us of the wide range of the Vikings' contacts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/money_01.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/money_01.shtml

Language

Viking children did not go to school. Instead lessons came in the form of long stories or sagas. These described the adventures of the gods or of great viking warriors. The stories were important ways of teaching history geography and navigation. The Viking’s decorated some buildings with pictures from famous sagas.

Runes and Sagas - The Vicious Vikings. The Viking alphabet was called the Futhark. The letters or runes were carved into wood or stone. The runes were made of straight lines so it was easier to carve them.

http://www.therunesite.com/section/myth-sagas/

Food

Imagine a scene in North Yorkshire a thousand years ago. The autumn sun crawls lazily across the horizon, flooding a small coastal valley with the early morning light. Svensholm is a small Viking homestead, comprising a large hall and a few outbuildings. The longhouse has thick walls which keep it cool in summer and stop it freezing in winter. The family sleep in the main hall around the fire pit along with some of the farm stock. On the top of an outbuilding a cockerel crows rousing the farm to life. With little thought to the daily chores ahead the immediate care is to breakfast! No breakfast cereals, bagescrambled eggs for these farmers though.

www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/food_01.shtm

Transport

The Vikings built fast ships for raiding and war. These ships were ' dragon-ships ' or 'longships '. The Vikings also had slower passenger and cargo ships called knorrs. They built small boats for fishing or short trips.

Viking longships could sail in shallow water. So they could travel up rivers as well as across the sea. In a raid, a ship could be hauled up on a beach. The Vikings could jump out and start fighting, and then make a quick getaway if they were chased.

A Viking ship was built beside a river or an inlet of the sea. A tall oak tree was cut to make the keel. The builders cut long planks of wood for the sides, and shorter pieces for supporting ribs and cross-beams. They used wooden pegs and iron rivets to fasten the wooden pieces together. Overlapping the side planks, known as 'clinker-building',made the ship very strong. People stuffed animal wool and sticky tar from pine trees into every join and crack, to keep out the water.

To launch the ship, the Vikings pushed it into the water. They slid  over log rollers to make the pushing easier.

Viking ships could sail about 18km/h [10 mph]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/vikings/vikings_at_sea/

Weapons

Laws of the late Viking period show that all free men were expected to own weapons, and magnates were expected to provide them for their men. The main offensive weapons were the spear, sword and battle-axe, although bows and arrows and other missiles were also used. Weapons were carried not just for battle, but also as symbols of their owners’ status and wealth. They were therefore often finely decorated with inlays, twisted wire and silver, copper and bronze.

Some Viking warriors went into battle wearing wolf or bear skins. These warriors were called ‘berserkers’ because they went ‘berserk’ (out of control) and charged fearlessly into battle. Berserkers believed that Odin, the god of war, gave them superhuman powers and that they didn't need to wear battle armour for protection.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/weapons_01.shtml

Clothing

Viking clothes were made from wool, linen and animal skins.

The Vikings were skilful weavers and made their own clothes. Women, with the help of children, made the wool into yarn and used natural dyes from plants to give it colour.

Men wore tunics and trousers and women wore a long dress with a pinafore over it. Their clothes were fastened with belts and brooches.

Women wear head scarfs on their head Also they carry a knife, comb and a necklace made out of beads.

http://primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/viking/clothes.html

Religion

The three most important Viking Gods are,

Thor (Thor in Scandinavian languages) was the god of thunder.

Thor had iron gloves, a magic belt and a hammer. He was also god of protection. He provided protection from cold hunger, giants and dangers

Odin - the leader of the gods - god of magic, poetry and war. His wife was Frigg

Freyja (or Freyja in Swedish) - god of agriculture and fertility. As worshipped on a regular basis all through-out the year for future prosperity. He was the twin of Freyja (goddess of love and fertility). Freyj wept golden tears when she was unhappy.

(Fact)This tapestry from a church in Sweden shows the three gods: (from left to right) the one- eyed Odin; Thor with his hammer; and Freyja, god of fertility, holding an ear of corn. Human sacrifices were offered to these three gods at a Viking temple in old Uppsala in Sweden

Book - LOOK INTO THE PAST - THE VIKINGS