...Over the years, there have been so many societies that have collapsed. Jared Diamond, a scientist who studies societies and their declines, believes that a collapse results from environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, or a societies response to the their problems (11). Diamond wrote about many societies in his engrossing book Collapse, but out of them all, the Greenland Norse seems to be the one that supports his ideas and opinions the most. The Greenland Norse was a landscape where Vikings settled, but unfortunately their civilization came to an end after being severely damaged. As Jared Diamond would say "collapse isn't inevitable but depends on a society's choices" (21). This shows that the actions of the colonist that settled in Greenland were the main prospect of its end. Overall the collapse of Greenland Norse is instructive because it declined from deforestation and soil erosion, colder climates, military issues with their neighbors, cut-off trade with Europe, and their inability to adopt useful methods from their surrounding societies; these problems fall into all of Jared Diamonds factors in his five point framework impeccably proving his theory. Firstly, the Norse caused ecological downfall by all the reckless logging and farming they did, which resulted in soil erosion and deforestation. Due to this, the settlers lost lumber, firewood, and iron (Diamond 250). Lumber and firewood were scarce because there was no trees left...
Words: 992 - Pages: 4
...In the middle of the ninth century, Northern Europe was invaded by Viking warriors from Scandinavia known as the Normans or “Northmen”. The Normans attack was devastating, as they stole and robbed across the northern European seas, targeting isolated but wealthy monasteries. Their invasions affected greatly the former empire, causing nobility, commoners, and peasants to attach themselves to anyone who might provide military protection. By the tenth century, they had invaded, explored, and settled territories from North America. In France, they surrounded Paris in 845 and gained control of the lower Seine Valley. In 915, the Frankish King Charles III was forced to grant the Norse leader Rolf, or Rollo, permanent control of the region becoming the first Duke of Normandy. In 1066, the Normans invaded England, causing Northern France and England to become one country ruled by one King, William I. This invasion is narrated in the Bayeux Tapestry where it shows the struggle for the throne of England between William, the Duke...
Words: 480 - Pages: 2
...The Vinland Sagas are two of the class Icelandic Sagas, yet even among these extraordinary works of literature, they have a special place. They both recount the story of the Norse investigation and attempted colonization of North America, more than five centuries preceding Columbus. The two adventures recount the amazing story of Erik the Red (Erik, for the Anglicized), who was prohibited from Iceland in the tenth century, established a province of Icelanders in Greenland, and even propose that he named Greenland to attract more settlers there. The Icelandic sagas depict an interesting display of independent-minded females. Numerous have interpreted this to demonstrate that Viking ladies were fiercely independent, completely equivalent...
Words: 818 - Pages: 4
...sources for the history, ethnogenesis and polity formation of a number of tribes and peoples who populated Inner Asia. Of especial significance is his description of a people whom he calls the Rūsiyyah. Attempts to identify this people have been the stuff of controversy for almost two centuries and have largely focused on how this description can be made to contribute to the Normanist Controversy (the principal, but by no means the only, controversy concerns the extent of Viking involvement in the creation of Russia). This article provides a fresh, annotated translation of Ibn Faḍlān's passage and considers a multiplicity of identities for the Rūsiyyah. Ibn Faḍlān’s account of his participation in the deputation sent by the Caliph al-Muqtadir in the year 921 A.D. to the King of the Bulghārs of the Volga, in response to his request for help, has proved to be an invaluable source of information for modern scholars interested in, among other subjects, the birth and formation of the Russian state, in the Viking involvement in northern and eastern Europe, in the Slavs and the Khazars. It has been analyzed and commented upon frequently and forms the substance of many observations on the study of the ethnography and sociology of the peoples concerned. Yet it is no exaggeration to say that, with a few very conspicuous exceptions, the majority of the scholars who refer to it, who base their observations upon it and who argue from it, are at best improperly familiar with classical Arabic...
Words: 12445 - Pages: 50
...ambiguous character who was at one point in time a great and wonderful composer of poetry but who was also endowed with staggering brutality. The sags shows the progression of Egil who moves from a naïve savagery youth to a pronounced mature man who bears with him a serious content of wisdom. His wisdom and maturity comes at a time when he struggles to defend his honor in a consecutively solving dispute with the Norwegian King, Erik Blood-axe, and fight for the English King, Athelstan, in his battles against Scotland. Despite every other thing that happens, he is depicted as one character who is fascinating and complete with human character. Egil Saga has been considered by many to be one of the deepest arts of insight into ethos of the Viking Age of many works of fiction. For those who always tend to think that an anti-hero is a current idea will be disillusioned of that concept by this account, which is pinpointed on an obnoxious and violent man who strangely wins our sympathy but continuously loses it through his murderous reactions. The story offers a very good insight as to the development of Norway and Iceland. The story is premised on the conventions of the genre, it commences with ancestors. Further, you come to realize in the book that the title character is only procreated when it comes to the pages in the fifties. Like any other saga, it is important to note that the plot in Egil saga is episodic and in most cases can be said to be straying to the secondary characters...
Words: 1365 - Pages: 6
...Running Head: VIKING SAGA The study of Vikings would limit one to the pursuit of knowledge about the group of Norse explorers and pirates. The study of the Viking Age would include the period of Norse history from the 790s to 1066. This is the period during which the Viking raiders expanded as far as North America. During this period of piracy and expansion many settlements were established. It is the farmers of these settlements that we will examine. Vikings settled in Britain, Ireland, France, Iceland, and Greenland. In Iceland farms were isolated from one another and the farmer needed have the respect and support of his family and hired men in order to prosper. The farmer usually had not only his family but extended family, hired men, and slaves as well. All of these individuals lived in the longhouse. Originally the livestock lived in the longhouse also, but later outbuilding housed the more valuable animals. Framers in Iceland needed to grow and harvest a large amount of hay in order to feed the livestock throughout the winter. Farmers usually had two areas to grow hay. Most hay was grown on uncultivated land, but some was grown near the longhouse. The field by the longhouse was heavily fertilized with manure as they did not practice crop rotation. Rocks and sod made a fence around this field to keep out animals and humans. Hay was harvested with a scythe. Before winter the amount of hay harvested was compared to the amount of livestock. If the amount of hay was not...
Words: 814 - Pages: 4
...Wikipedia’s growing popularity leaves society to question its reliability in many aspects including accuracy of information, susceptibility to exclude false or biased information, and quality of writing. The best way to analyze is to look at a specific Wikipedia page and diagnose it. For historic purposes, the Wikipedia page “Viking expansion” provides information on the Norse, mainly known as Vikings. Rather than evaluating this page on the Norse expansion and settlement throughout the world, looking at the specific Norse activity in the British Isles will be more effective. This page describes the invasions that the Norse people from Scandinavia done throughout the years in the British Isles, including the reasons and rulers. It also provides background of the British Isles including which languages and religions were used or practiced in a certain area. From there, like the background information, the events of expansion are listed on the page in chorological order starting in 793CE; each listing how the invasion happened, who was ruling at a particular time, and battles. The end of the page gives a brief acknowledgement of written records and archaeological evidence. At first glance this specific Wikipedia page looks excellent, but looking deeper into the pages strengths and weaknesses made its reliability fragile. Wikipedia has policies that state articles are to contain no original research, a neutral point of view, and that all of their information must be verifiable...
Words: 2582 - Pages: 11
...Barbarians are often thought of as men who are like savages and only desire war and empowerment. After some research, however, one can see that, that is not the case. Most people were thought to be barbarian if they were a different group of people from a different place. In fact, the word barbarian is a Greek word that means “anyone who didn’t speak Greek” (Fascinate). This essay will examine how barbarians were interpreted in European art and how it influenced European Christian art. As the Roman Empire spread all through Europe and Northern Africa, they experienced different clans and groups of people. Some battled against the Roman armed forces, and kept striking after Roman triumph of their countries. The Romans, with their efficient...
Words: 561 - Pages: 3
...789 A.D. - The Vikings raided England to steal their Valuables and while stealing the loot they killed the monks. 800 A.D. - the Osber’s Vikings was unburied and was discovered in 1880. In the boat there were two skeletons of two girls. One was in her 80’s Before she died and the other woman was in her 50’s. 840 A.D. – when the Vikings discovered Dublin, Ireland they started to take Advantage of the wood, the fishing and the good land there 844 A.D. - The Vikings attacked Seville, Spain so that they can attack the Muslims 860 A.D. - the people of Constantinople, Turkey thought that their Vikings friends And traders were coming so they were unarmed. The Vikings took advantage of this chance and attacked Constantinople and stool their loot....
Words: 403 - Pages: 2
...think that one of the main reasons for warfare during the Viking age was the economic wealth that came with war. “Hoards are a gathering of silver and gold that where collected by tradesmen” (Stacker 1997, p. 90). The hoards give a closer view of the economic system during the time. There have been many different discussion regarding the hoards questioning if they where gathered through warfare and raiding or through times of peace through trading and gift-giving which was a way of ensuring social contact. According to Staecker (1997) the jewelry and hack-silver found in the hoards from the Viking age makes it possible to detect regional differences in different tribes based upon the findings. In the west it was most common to...
Words: 1653 - Pages: 7
...There are some people who believe that the vikings that originated out of Scandinavia were just about violence and pillaging, but that is simply not true. It is true that the vikings did pillage and raid other countries, such as Ireland, England, and France, but they were a society like any other. They had culture, customs, language, and rituals that were their unique and important to them. One aspect of their lives that was important to them was their family and loved ones. The document Saga of Gisli the Outlaw tells several stories about the family and descendants of Thorkel Goldhelm. The first chapter tells of the marriage of his eldest son, Ari, to a beautiful woman who was the daughter of a ruler. Another man, Bjorn, challenges Ari to a battle over the wife. Ari ends up dying and to defend his brother’s honour and reclaim his land, goods, house, and...
Words: 848 - Pages: 4
...Viking raids on the northern british isles Vikings, or Norsemen, who consisted mainly of Danes, Swedes and Norwegians lived along the coasts of Scandinavia. They were farmers and fishers and led a relatively simple life. There are no records of why they suddenly started to leave their coasts and fjords to raid and murder, but historians conclude from the artifacts left behind that the primary motive behind the raids was the loot. From the beginningn of the sixth, to the end of the eight cenutry europes mainland was, apart from a few incidents, free of external invasion. In the early ninth century, however, this peace came to a sudden end. The victims of the Vikings would see Dragon headed ships coming to shore, blood red sails and snarling, grinding warriors who were nearly twice the size of the average british man wielding heavy battle axes. This all added up to make it easy t osee why the Norsemen had a fearsome reputation within Europe. The ferocity with which they fought was unknown to the people of England. The Viking fighting style was based on rapid attacks- they had the element of suprise, got the goods they were looking for and got out before any sort of backup could arrive. They had to use this kind of fighting- otherwise they would have been inferior to the defendants. Both their armor and weapons were home- made, crafted out of leather and a few pieces of metal. The often seen Viking horns are more fiction than fact, and would have been highly...
Words: 360 - Pages: 2
...Straight after the conquest of England in 1066 William of Normandy was keen to consolidate his power over his new kingdom and display his authority to his English subjects. Norman oppression can be judged by castles, law/taxes and the means by which William dealt with the English rebellions which arose. However, were the years 11066 -1075 a period of growing oppression for the English or was William merely taking action appropriate to the situations he found himself in? Oppression is keeping people of a kingdom suppressed and powerless against their rulers. When the Normans arrived in 1066, they decided to take a geopolitical approach to their new kingdom. Before The Battle of Hastings began, the Normans had already built two castles and after William became King he started having these castles built across England, especially the White Tower. Even after the rebellions during the years of 1067 to 1071, castles became a common sight through England. This proves that the geopolitical form of oppression did indeed grow over time. Castles were built in precaution to make the rebellious kingdom more stable, to intimidate the locals and to protect the Norman soldiers. These castles were also placed for strategy purposes and they were used to protect borders, trade and communication. The Normans used these castles to display their authority to the English people as they destroyed hundreds of homes in order to make way for construction, the Normans even got the local people to build...
Words: 813 - Pages: 4
...Karlee Benton 6th Period Vikings Essay Typically, the image of a Viking is a barbaric, bearded man plundering and destroying a neighboring village. This is actually the stereotypical viewpoint. In actuality, Vikings, have a very different image. For example, Vikings did not wear furry boots or furry armor, they did not have horned helmets, they invaded Britain, and they also were the first to discover America! They were also experts in nautical technology, crafts, trading, warfare and many other skills (Jonsson 1). With all of these traits, the Vikings seem like an unstoppable force in the European continent. But, who were the Vikings? The Vikings were actually venturesome seafarers. This means that they were travelers who were constantly exploring and looking for new areas of land. There roots can be traced all the way back to 6000 B.C. were nomadic men traveled in primitive crafts up the Denmark coast. Fast forward two millennia and these nomadic people have established permanent homes, but still using the boat for food and travel. As stated before, they were not just raiders, although they did do this frequently, but they were actually expert traders, trading all around the world. It wasn't until around 793 A.D. that a Viking explosion took place in northern Europe (Jonsson 2). Raids began to take place on neighboring villages and their places of worship. To some this is the only type of knowledge they have about Vikings. However, their culture was something to...
Words: 666 - Pages: 3
...Pre-conquest England was a relatively well-governed and somewhat prosperous kingdom; the country was cleverly run. The division of land and the hierarchy as well as the coinage, trade, towns and frequent invasions all suggest that pre-conquest England was prosperous and well-governed. However, the possible threats from the Earls to the King, the Danegeld and the King not having an heir suggest, England was less prosperous and more unstable. In the eleventh century England had developed into a sophisticated and highly organised state. The kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex and East Anglia had become earldoms. Earldoms were territorial units that covered large areas each of which was controlled by an Earl. Each earldom was further divided into shires. The shire was the administrative state and the unit of local government of England, the means of which the kings enforced taxation and law. Each shire was divided into hundreds, an area covering a dozen or so villages. The smallest unit of land was a hide and this was the measurement of productive agricultural land that was taxable. Each level of this hierarchy had its own mini leader. For example, each shire was managed by a sheriff and each sheriff was controlled by an earl. All parts of the Earldoms were controlled by the monarch. This organised system demonstrates that there was a very clear hierarchy in pre-conquest England. This would have made the country easy to run, especially for the kings of different countries...
Words: 1722 - Pages: 7
