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It began with the sacking of the monastery at Lindisfarne in 793 and ended in 1066, at the Battle of Stanford Bridge where King Harald Hardråde was killed.

These two bloody events mark the opening and closing of an era in Nordic history which featured dramatic social change. The Viking Era.

When it started, paganism dominated and the countries were fragmented into countless chiefdoms and minor kingdoms. When it ended, power had been vested in the king and church. For the first time in history, we see a west European type society emerge.

Written records in western Europe describe the Vikings as robbers and pirates who burned, pillaged and raped. Laying waste monasteries and churches, they tyrannised Christian Europe.

At the same time, they were extraordinarily skilled seafarers. They crossed huge ocean tracts and discovered Iceland, Greenland and North America.

Arabian sources describe them cruising along the Russian rivers to the Black and Caspian Seas, trading and pillaging as they went. Viking sorties also reached into the Mediterranean.

Danish kings succeeded in conquering England at the latter stages of the Viking Era. The Viking chieftain Rollo established his own kingdom in Normandy.

Neither before, nor since in European history have the Nordic peoples exercised such political importance.

Excavations of towns and settlements have provided new insight into daily life, crafts and trade. A powerful surge in trading took place in Europe during the 700’s and the first towns where established in Scandinavia.

In the period 800-900, the Vikings played a central role in the burgeoning commercial trade which was drawing Europe together. Cities like York in northern England and Dublin in Ireland were Scandinavian communities.

Compared to population size, there was a scarcity of resources in many parts of the Nordic region. Voyages to the south, east and west gave the peoples an opportunity to seek out new and better living conditions. So the Vikings emigrated in their thousands, hunting out places where they could settle and farm. With the aid of the sword, they established themselves in Normandy and England. Other places the Vikings came across were already sparsely populated, like the Hebrides, Shetlands and the Orkney Islands. The Vikings were the first settlers on Iceland, the Færoe Islands and Greenland.

Archaeological excavations have shown that the Vikings also attempted to settle in Newfoundland. Their lack of success was probably due to conflicts with the indians.

The art of shipbuilding was well developed but in the 700’s a technological breakthrough was achieved which was to affect marauding raids, commercial voyages and emigration.

With the discovery, the Viking ships could now be developed to carry sail. They were faster and better suited to sail than any other ship of that time. The Viking ships also had the advantage that they could navigate shallow waters. They could therefore slip easily up rivers and onto shallow shorelines.