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The story of the Vikings

(about 700 AD to about 1,200 AD)

The Vikings are generally thought to come from Scandinavia. People think of Norway, Denmark and Sweden. That is all true. However, there were more from certain regions, than there were from other regions. Highly populated regions produced more Viking warriors than regions that were either remote or relatively more insignificant in population. Denmark was, by far, the most densely populated region. As a consequence, most warriors were from there.

The word ‘Viking’ is derived from Vig Konge which is Danish. Vig means cove or bay and konge means king. Viking means Bay King. It comes from the fact that the Danish Vikings were sea fares and they came from numerous bays, coves, rivers, inlets and other coastal settlements. The name was a term of ridicule among local community leaders.

Illustration by courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Denmark has been settled since the end of the last Ice Age (about 10,000 years), but there is no written account, from that area, going back any further than about 1,000 years. They had a written language, going back many centuries, but all their materials were perishable and, as a result, no documented accounts survive. There are only third hand accounts, from other countries and archeological artifacts. The first stone inscriptions date back to about 600 AD but actual recorded history does not begin until well into the Viking Era.

When Egypt and Mesopotamia was establishing great civilisations, the whole of Scandinavia was still under 1 Km of ice. This glacial ice sheet retracted towards the North over some thousands of years. While the Mediterranean Sea was the host of several great civilisations, Scandinavia was a wilderness which was still in the stone age. During the era of the Roman Empire (about 1,000 years), which was an iron age culture, Denmark progressed through their bronze age.

Originally, going back to the first century and beyond, the whole region was just forest, with mostly Beech, including some Oak, Birch, Pine and Spruce. Important wild animals were mostly Deer, Boar and Wolves. Denmark was a backward region, well away from the centers of civilization, such as the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Even when France (Gaul) and later Germany (the Holy Roman Empire) became centers of civilizations, Denmark remained centuries behind the times.

During the Roman Era (which was an Iron Age Culture), Denmark was a Bronze Age Culture. At that time, due to the effects of the Medieval Warming, there was a great migration period (400-700 AD), where whole tribes migrated across Europe. The Danish tribes became culturally aroused by the cross fertilization of technology and ideas from the South and they finally advanced from their Bronze Age to their Iron Age. During the Viking Era, Denmark caught up with the rest of Europe and by the end of the Viking Era, was as advanced as any other country on the European continent.

The field of the Danes

The Vikings did not originate out of nothing. It is generally said that the era was between 700 AD and 1,100 AD, but that is just an arbitrary figure. The kingdom of Denmark did not begin on a certain date either. It evolved. The kingdom evolved, the Viking era evolved and the royal status of King evolved during the Viking Era.

Denmark (Danmark, the field of the Danes) had existed for thousands of years. It consisted of the Jutland peninsula, Skåne (the Southern tip of Sweden) and all the islands in between. It was flat, low altitude, fertile land, had a, comparatively, mild climate and it was full of game for hunting and fishing. It was an area populated by tribes, living with the normal internal relations between each other, of friendliness or disputes (as the case may be), usually in an area near a river, an inlet or a bay. They would fish, hunt, fell trees, farm and make things such as boats, tools, houses and weapons.

Denmark was just like any other part of the world, at that time. Any village could be raided at any time by anyone. For that reason, all villages had a plan for dealing with such events. Often there would be a place of retreat, such as a strong building, that was defendable. The larger villages were usually best organized and had the most advanced defense plans. That included a strong building, which could be defended, together with a defendable perimeter, of earth or of timber which was built around the village and, usually, it also included some food growing areas. Today, we would call such an arrangement a ‘fort’. The Danish fort, during the Viking era, changed from being a wooden structure to being a stone structure. Later, when Denmark was converted to Christianity, around 1,200 AD, these stone structures were converted into what then became the district church.

There are no written accounts because writing was done on perishable materials. The history of Denmark, well into the Viking age, is mostly archeological. The population of Denmark, for thousands of years, was about ½ million people. Around the fall of the Roman era, the climate began to warm. That allowed the food to increase (crops, game and gathered produce), which, in turn, allowed the population to increase. During, what became known as the Medieval Warming, the population of Denmark doubled and after the Medieval Warming, the population again fell back to about ½ million people. Not until around 1,600 AD did the population again begin to increase. Today, the area of Denmark is much smaller than that of the Viking era, because Skåne is now part of Sweden. Denmark is now, basically, only the peninsula of Jutland and the islands, but the population there is now 10 times larger than it was then.

Whenever there is an increase in population, social friction between tribes and even individuals, become evident. Disruptions occur, disputes increase and competition for limited resources begin. The resource that is always finite is land. Denmark, being a land of plenty, had everything except land. Land was owned by the tribe and those most prominent, such as leaders, had first right to what was there. With an increase in population there were more who missed out.

The beginning

There was direct and indirect contact with the civilized world in the Mediterranean. Occasionally, a boat would venture out from somewhere in Denmark to explore foreign lands. Most went along the West European coast or to the British Islands but some went East and others would venture as far as the Mediterranean Sea. They would return with traded wares, such as jewelry, glassware and slaves, from the Roman Empire, which is now known as Italy, North Africa and The Middle East. Over Centuries, those sailors saw the decline of the Roman Empire, the establishment of Christian outposts and, eventually, the conquests by the Arabs.

The first Scandinavians, though they could easily pillage and plunder, were more traders than raiders. After what they saw being done by the Arabs, they decided that they could do the same. After about 700 AD, they began to establish expeditions designed to raid and plunder in foreign lands. At home, before then and due to the problem of reprisals, the Scandinavian adventurers had been forced to go further and further away from their home base, eventually going beyond the North Sea, to England, France and Spain.

After the decline of the Roman Empire, the whole of Europe was open for conquest and the Scandinavians (the Danes) were the first to have a go. Norway and the Northern part of Sweden was all mountains and consequently was sparsely settled. There was, basically, Denmark and then the mountainous wilderness. There was no single Kingdom. The whole area was settled by tribes.

By 500 AD, when the Western Roman Empire had shrunk into decline, and as the Danish annual summer expeditionaries returned to Denmark with treasures and stories about how easy it was to get rich, the young men, frustrated with the lack of opportunity at home, began to see the summer expedition as a road to a solution to their grief and even to prosperity. The annual excursion grew from an occasional boat in about 500 AD to flotillas of boats in about 700 AD.

Illustration by courtesy of Wikipedia.com

This is a typical longhouse. Everyone would sleep in this one house. It was solidly built of oak timber, with 4 door ways and no windows. There were openings in the roof, for smoke exit. This house could easily hold 100 people. This was the fortress, in case of attack. It was perfectly safe from wild animals and marauding bandits.

Around the time of the decline of the Roman Empire the population of the Northern European countries began to increase. Denmark, which, for centuries had a stable population of around ½ million people, increased to about one million at the height of the Viking era. The reason seem to come from the climatic change known as the Medieval Warming, which started at about that time (500 AD). The land (very flat and only slightly above sea level) would have, due to the warming climate, been more productive, producing more food and allowing the population to increase.

Before 500 AD, the whole region (known then as Dane Mark – the field of the Danes) was populated with tribes, living in settlements. Basically, small villages, with surrounding cultivated farmland, a few domesticated animals and a few small boats for fishing. The villages were predominantly on the edge of a body of water (either ocean, river or lake). Each village was separated by forest (mostly beech with some spruce, pine, oak and birch). The forests had wild deer, boars, wolves and smaller animals as well as birds. Technology came from the south. Iron had replaced bronze and the Danes were cleverly learning to work this versatile material.

After the population began to increase, population pressure became evident. There was plenty for all, except space. Space remained the same and a new class of people evolved. It was the landless people. They were still members of the tribe but they had no right to work on farms or to farm themselves and there was only room for so many craftsmen, such as black smiths, carpenters or potters. The only thing left was to hunt and to fish. So, restless young men, without a future, became fishermen.

The population continued to grow and eventually, the surplus population became a social problem. Restless young men would form gangs and roam. When they had caught more fish than they could trade, they would raid neighboring settlements. This caused reprisals. The gangs were penalized by the village leaders and so those gangs went further a field. They had their fishing boats, so distance was no object. The problem was, that the villages they raided, also had boats and they also had social problems. Eventually, the restless fishermen were forced to stop what they were doing. However, they were continually becoming more numerous, restless and difficult to control. They spawned leaders, who became known as (spitefully) Vig Konger (gang leaders) or Vikings. They literally began as youth gangs and they were thought of a rebels without a couse.

By now, the Vig Konger had become a serious force. The local village leaders had to deal with them and that caused the Vig Konger to band together, build fortresses and form armies. At the same time, the boatbuilders were improving fishing boats, so that the raiders could travel further and raid communities that were too far away to retaliate. At this time (about 700 AD), Christian missionaries came to Dane Mark. The Vig Konger saw that Christian settlements would be an easy conquest. It became a new goal for the Pagan Vikings to travel out of Danish waters and to raid coastal settlements, far away, especially Christian monasteries.

Illustration by courtesy of Wikipedia.com

This is Europe in the early stages of the Viking Era, at the height of Charles the Great of France and before the Holy Roman Empire. Christianity is being spread by missionary monks with limited success.

It became an annual event to gather in a central location, from where they would travel together as a flotilla of warriors. The island of Samsø became that central location. Now, the Vig Konger became so numerous that there would be collectives of Vig Konger. They, in turn, would spawn leaders. These leaders became residents on or around the island of Samsø and they built castles of stone, a skill they had learned from the places they had raided on their expeditions into distant lands. A leader of a collective of Vig Konger came to be regarded as a nobleman. This is when Dane Mark began to evolve into the kingdom of Denmark. The center of the kingdom was Samsø (sams = collective and ø = island). Samsø is the island where they meet and collect into a large flotilla force. The whole country (which consisted of all the fertile land in Scandinavia, Jylland, all the islands and Skaane – the southern tip of Sweden), was eventually controlled from Samsø. The surrounding settlements (coves) all contributed to the flotilla. Some, provided just one ship but others would provide 2 or 3. The ships were not actually provided by the villagers, but by the warriors themselves. They were landless fishermen, out to better themselves. They were also any young man who thought that adventure was preferable to monotonous farmwork. When they returned in the autumn, they were the envy of many of the villagers who had stayed behind. As a result, the villagers often would join the warriors the following spring.

The warriors remained landless fishermen and they were the scorn of every village leader, who referred to them as gangsters. The village leaders lost no opportunity to lay scorn on those young men, who eventually gained status from wealth obtained in foreign lands. The villagers called the gang leaders Vig Konger (king of the cove). Typically, a gang leader would be in charge of a boat but sometimes two gangs would join forces to buy a boat. Other times a gang would be so large that they could occupy more than one boat. Boat building became a major industry and there was rivalry among boat builders to build better boats. Warriors, returning from a successful expedition, typically, spent much wealth on a new and better boat. Ordering a boat to be built, was a two season project, because boats could only be built in the warm half of the year. A warrior would go with others, while his own boat was being built. Once he had a boat, it was easy to find a crew full of warriors.

There are no written accounts of Denmark before the era of the Vikings. They had writing (Runes) but nothing survives except a few stones, into which the inscriptions were chipped. There are a few references to Denmark in accounts written by people in other, more civilized countries. Academics, such a scribes and Christian monks in other countries, did, on a few occasions, refer to events and places, which would have been Denmark. However, most knowledge about the period is archeological in origin. Christianity was knocking on the door but the Danes were reluctant to discard their old beliefs. They had no need of a higher master (the Pope in Rome). It took till 1200 AD before the country became Christian, when, at that time, the Danish king was given an ultimatum from the Holy Roman Empire. He was asked to accept Christianity or be invaded by a Christian army. Denmark was not invaded by that army but all then had to pay tribute to the Roman Catholic Church.

I have left out the exploits of the Vikings, as they are well documented. My main purpose here has been to document the rise of the Vikings and the reason for it. As there are no documented accounts from that period, we rely of word of mouth, foreign references and archeology. There is plenty of evidence pointing to what occurred. We have the graph of the Medieval Warming, beginning around 400 - 500 AD. There are the archeological sites on Samsø, which point to castles being erected and a canal being dug, to facilitate the control of all shipping from the south. This is when Denmark first became a large naval power, which lasted for more than 1,000 years. The rise in population numbers, which is archeological. They were ½ million before the Medieval Warming and it peaked at one million at the height of the Viking era. After that time, due to a cooling climate and some severe epidemic diseases (bubonic plaque, cholera, influenza) the population again fell to ½ million, where it remained for the next 400 years.

Due to a shortage of warriors and the tight control of the Catholic Church, the Viking era came to an end. However, it was due to the Vikings the kingdom of Denmark was created. The center of the Viking Era was, for several centuries, the island of Samsø. The kingdom of Denmark was born on Samsø and from there it drifted to other areas, such as the towns of Ribe and Roskilde, which were more centers of religious power than that of any king. As the control of power drifted between the Catholic Bishops and the Danish Royal House, so other places became influential, such as Helsingør and Copenhagen (København). It is notable that, during the Viking era, Aarhus was the major mainland settlement (just 25 Km from Samsø) and it has been an important city since then, making it the oldest city in Denmark. During that time (more than 1,200 years), it has been the second most important place in Denmark and it remains so to this day.

During the Viking era, warriors came from all over Denmark and assembled on Samsø. The most active places for recruitment of warriors, were near Samsø. The further away from Samsø, the less the number of recruits. Norway was a long way away and the typical number of recruits from there, were in the order of less than 10% of the flotilla. Admittedly, some went direct, of their own accord, from Norway, to places such as Scotland, but they were few. The action was on Samsø and the Viking flotillas began there. The Viking era began there and the kingdom of Denmark began there. Some flotillas of up to 1,000 ships left Samsø for foreign lands. What a spectacle it must have been to see them all sail away. It would have been to the relief of most of the villagers, to be rid of those energetic young men, who, after all, were regarded as lower class trouble makers. They would be away for many months and some never came back. Finding a better place to live, they would simply stay there.

Illustration by courtesy of Wikipedia.com

The first Vikings

The name ‘Viking’ was given to the gang leaders of the summer expedition by the Danish village leaders who saw the Vikings as trouble. The village leaders were glad to see the end of the Vikings each May, when they congregated on the island of Samsø and sailed from there to their foreign destinations.

The name Viking has evolved from Vig Konge (Bay King) and was used as a term of ridicule by the village leaders. They saw the Vikings as troublesome young men, full of energy and rebelling against having been excluded from any land inheritances. This name, ‘Viking’, was intended as an insult. Being landless and striving towards achieving something, the Vikings fought to maintain their dignity. Success was theirs each autumn, when they returned with wealth, adventurous accounts, slaves and wives.

The Vikings were mostly young men, disillusioned with their home life. With a lack of opportunity, a shortage of land, a monotonous existence and, with a drive to succeed, they gathered on the island of Samsø in gangs and performed wild sporting games and daredevil exploits to vent their surplus energy.

From Samsø, they set off in their boats, with crews as they had agreed among themselves. A ship may have been owned by a single man or by a group of men. The leader may not always have been the owner of a particular boat. At the height of the gathering, there were literally hundreds of boats and thousands of men on Samsø. The locals were totally swamped by them. The Viking leaders competed among each other and sometimes there would be coalitions formed between some of the gangs. This would see several boats set off together. This is where a trading expedition could end up as a raiding expedition. It was as much an activity of bravado as it was a venture of conquest. This was the transition between opportunistic traders and the early Vikings.

Eventually, after about a century of this, in about 600 AD, the Viking expedition became more and more popular. The Viking leaders took over the island of Samsø and established themselves there. They built permanent fortresses there and began to exert their influence on the surrounding area. They began to tax boats sailing past Samsø from ports all through the Baltic Sea. By about 700 AD they had built a canal through the whole island, so that their boats could easily head off any ships, which tried to escape by going around the other side of the island.

This was the beginning of the kingdom of Denmark. There were also larger areas of influence throughout Denmark, but Samsø was the largest and it influenced a large part of central Denmark. The area of influence was, possibly, in the order of about 50 Km radius around Samsø and as time progressed, the area under Viking influence became larger and the Samsø Vikings became established as a resident Nobility. As the Vikings became more influential, adjacent areas on the mainland of Jylland (Jutland) also became Viking dominated districts and the Viking leaders took noble titles such as Count, Baron or Prince. Eventually, the nobles combined to form a kingdom.

The first kings of Denmark

It is thought that the first kingdoms in Denmark were comparatively small in area. Possibly, 100 Km from one side to the opposite side. At the time, the whole country of Denmark may have had 3 or 4 Kingdoms.

The speculation is that there were kings of Denmark, going right back to about 500 AD, but, due to perishables being used in written materials, there is no documentation surviving. There are references to the Danish Kings by scribes in other countries but there are no documented references to any of them in Denmark. Few would have been literate and those who did write used the alphabet of the Nordic Runes, but all of it has perished. The cold, clammy and damp climate does not help in the preservation of perishable materials such as paper, parchment or other organic materials used to write on.

The first documented king of Denmark was not until about 900 AD but it was not a single king of the whole area. There were rulers of different regions of Denmark. Also, there were the more volatile Viking leaders. By about 900 AD, a single king was in charge of the whole country and he ruled from Samsø. The Danish kingdom grew from the Viking beginnings on Samsø.

In Denmark, there were disputes and struggles among the various spheres of influence. Samsø, was the most dominant. Eventually, the Viking raids were organized and led by the King and finally, they developed into full invasion armies, with several hundred boats and thousands of men.

Illustration by courtesy of Wikipedia.com

A reconstructed viking longboat. This is a typical size and shape.

A ship could hold from 20 to 30 people and they sometimes brought their wives and their farm animals. After spending several days at sea, they would find a place to land and spend a few days, so as to recover, while they may have slaughtered an animal and cooked it. As they consumed their own food, they would then hunt or commandeer food or animals to replace it. Once they left home, they were subject to the hospitality of others, either voluntarily or involuntarily. It was tough being a Viking. They were constantly under pressure, both at home or on expeditions. They were constantly at risk of either being killed or of starving. While at sea, a storm could overwhelm them. At home, remembering that the Viking warriors were the disadvantaged class of society and during the winter, there was the cold. They had to fish or hunt for food during snowstorms and other bad weather. They were sometimes lost at sea, while fishing. They were the last to be given rations. A Viking was mostly driven to become a Viking. Only wealth could relieve that unpleasant force.

Illustration by courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Plundering in foreign lands was more of a need

than a lust for adventure.

The Pagan Nordic Gods were a wish rather than a belief. Just like every other religion, they imagined that, everything they found to be scarce here on Earth, was plentiful in the next world. In Valhalla (Heaven), life was eternal with plenty of food and drink. On Earth, their lives were difficult, dangerous and short. They were driven to what they did. In 1,200 AD, they were also driven to become Catholics. About 300 – 400 years later, when the Lutheran revolution swept over the major portion of Northern Europe, the Danes converted straight away. They lost no time in shaking off the heavy burden of the Catholic Church. With a little wink at Odin (the chief pagan god), Denmark became 99% Lutheran. Just as with the Catholic Church, there remained a struggle between the Church and the Royal House, so it continued with the Lutheran Church. However, in 1864, a Democratic government took control of the country and (unlike many other countries, such as France and the United States of America) they enshrined the union of church and state in their constitution. To this day, the government pays the Church. The existence of the Church is guaranteed by the constitution. In spite of that, there are today, nearly as many who believe in the Pagan Gods as there are people who believe in Christianity. However, in 2013, most in Denmark are Agnostics.

Today, Vikings are glorified and veiled in myths, just like Santa Claus or Cowboys and Indians. It is a little sad that reality is unable to exist as fact. It has to be modified and to be made commercially palatable, which distorts the truth. To place them in historical context, the Vikings existed at the time of the Islamic expansion and they declined after the Middle Eastern Crusades. They began to evolve as a force at the time of the decline of the Roman Empire. The Vikings formed the first kingdom of Denmark by banding together a vast army of dispossessed young men. They compelled the small villagers to form larger coalitions which eventually became the nobility from which rose a king of Denmark.

Denmark is now the wealthiest (per head of population) country in the world. It has the highest standard of living. People there are the happiest. It is, technically, very advanced and it is, commercially, very successful. People are well educated with a high percentage of compliancy. It is a welfare state, where health and education is provided to all. Denmark is one of the most egalitarian places on Earth.

The country has no natural resources other than the people. They are planning to provide for themselves, 100% energy from the environment. They do not see insolvable problems but unsolved solutions. They are optimists, realists and bound for new and higher achievements. This is not due to anything the Vikings did. The Vikings are history and existed so long ago that their effect is no longer felt. The Danes have evolved through history and difficulties. They are where they are, in spite of difficulties. They will achieve more, in spite of more difficulties. It is the Danish psyche that has allowed a successful social evolution. They just can not be held back.

Give them nothing and promise them nothing and they could rule the world. However, the Danes do not have the temperament to domineer others, they are more inclined co-operate with others. Therein lies their success. It is quite simple. Co-operation will achieve more than competition.

Coming back to Samsø, where the Vikings first began to assemble about 1,400 years ago, we have a community of 4,000 rural people, who (since 2008) are 100% self sufficient with energy. They have (by themselves) installed windmill generators, which provide them with an excess of electricity. They farm the land and have a good income. Heat is provided by neighborhood facilities and farm vehicle diesel fuel is grown on their farms. They have no need to import any fuel at all. As a result, their wealth is now growing and soon, they will be able, if they wish, to retire early. They were the center of Viking culture and 1,400 years later they were the first community to become self sufficient with renewable energy.

It is with pride that I proclaim myself to be a descendant of the Vikings and that I was born within visual sight of the island of Samsø.

Karl Rasmussen

June, 2014

Illustration by courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Denmark in the year 1219. Danish territory is shown in brown and pale green is recently conquered territory. Pink (Estonia), Lilac (Sweden) and Dark Green (Noeway) were territories of interest to the Danish King. The white Northerly territory was of no interest to anyone and the left Southerly country was the Holy Roman Empire, while the country to the right of that was the Polish Empire.

Along with the evolution of the kingdom, their religion also evolved. During the era of the Medieval Warming, the rise of the Vikings and the emergence of a single king of Denmark, the Nordic Pagan religion developed and became a universal belief. It glorified war and promised a life after death, where there would be eternal fighting during the day and eternal indulgence during the evenings.

Just like any other religion, Valhalla (Heaven) was expected to provide that which was scarce in real life. The real reason for living, was to get to Valhalla. The warriors could then go to war and die without any fear. The Nordic Pagan religion became entrenched in Denmark and offered a profound resistance to Christianity to the point that it took 500 years for Denmark to become a fully Christian land and then, only after an ultimatum from the Holy Roman Empire to the King of Denmark, in about 1,200 AD.

Christianity in Denmark

Christianity arrived late in Denmark. After Christianity worked it’s way through the Mediterranean, first the Roman Empire, then the Holy Roman Empire, it had taken about a thousand years to get to Denmark. Actually, that is not entirely true.

There were Christian missionaries in Denmark as early as 700 AD but they had limited success. The Danes were content with their Nordic Pagan religion, which had become entrenched during the Viking era.

It was not until about 1,200 AD that Christianity became a universal religion throughout the country, which, by then, had become a kingdom. Under pressure from the Pope in the Vatican, the Holy Roman Empire gave the King of Denmark an ultimatum : convert voluntarily or by force. The king made the least horrible choice and converted the whole country to Catholicism. The country remained subservient to Rome for the next 3 centuries, after which, the Lutheran reformation drove the Catholics out.

Today, Denmark is, officially, Lutheran and unofficially, Secular. It is among those countries which have not separated Church and State. In Denmark, Lutheranism is now a state religion. It is funded by the state. Everyone contributes to the state church through their taxation. That being so, people there, generally speaking, still do not go to church. In 2013, 2.4% of the population attended church regularly.

In Denmark, nearly all churches were built in the middle ages, when the population of Denmark was ½ million inhabitants. Today, those churches are still there, but there are barely any newer churches. The churches now have no larger congregation than they did 800 years earlier. In fact, during the Catholic era, it was compulsory to go to church. For that reason, most of the ½ million inhabitants would have attended church each Sunday. Today, with 10 times the population, there are less attending church than there were then.

Today, there are probably as many people practicing Paganism (not the Nordic type but the Druid type) as there are people practicing Christianity. The Danish spirit is still there. Though they no longer go on pillaging and plundering expeditions each spring, the Danes still have the energy for conquest. Today they conquer science and technology while they foster an equitable and coherent community.

As of 2013, happiness is greater in Denmark than in any other country in the world. Wealth per capita is also higher in Denmark than in any other country in the world. They have no natural resources and the climate is harsh. How do they do it ? It is the pale skinned, blue eyed, Viking spirit that dates back to the dawn of their history.

I am proud to have come from their origin.