Notes On The World Of The Vikings - 2151 Words

Kelsey Bean 2/12/15 HIST 307 Prospectus The Eighth Century, although often over looked, held many events that marked the beginning of a drastic change in Europe s economic and political systems. With increasing interest in trade with China and other Eastern Asian civilizations, and heavy friction among Byzantine, and Scandinavian loyalties, the fight for power within northern Europe’s trade routes began. Seedlings of Feudal law began to rise, most clearly seen with the emergence of the Vikings. The age of the Vikings begins with the earliest recorded raids in the 790s and continues until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 (Barrett). Geographically, the Viking Age cannot be confined purely to pre medieval Scandinavian lands†¦show more content†¦The Vikings are of Scandinavian decent, said to have lived in small villages that were run by a sort of lord or king, some of which held more power than others (Sawyer). The Viking rain began several hundred years after the fall of the Roman Empire and the emerg ence of the English, Irish and Frankish Kingdoms, which happened to be common victims of Viking pillaging. The Viking political system was more of an organized group of cities states rather than a kingdom of its own (Peterson). Although the villages of Vikings participated in a more agricultural society, the culture was famous for its less conventional means pf obtaining materials, such as pillaging other kingdoms. The Viking religion is believed to be what made the viking soldiers so fearless of death. Strongly centered on the honor one was awarded when they died in battle, Norse religious practices evoked its worshipers to see life as a form of captivity and death as its release (Sawyer). Within the limits of this paper will be discussed the effect of how Viking exploration and trade networks effected their trade commodities and major sources of economic stability. This will be followed by the discussion of the political turmoil that lead the leaders of the Viking to pursue pirac y and pillaging as a valuable source of economic strength. Working backwards in our study of the