--Luther Olson

King Harald died in his bed in Rogaland and was buried in a howe at Haugar.

 “So say men of knowledge that he had been the finest and strongest and biggest of all men, generous with his goods and friendly towards his men, and from his kin have come ever after the kings of Norway”.

During the eighth century, Charlemagne was the Christian Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, having conquered all of central Europe, parts of France and even south into Italy.  England also was now mostly Christianized as well.

It was during the Viking Era of the 9^th, 10^th and 11^th centuries that Christianity was first introduced to the Norse—usually at the point of a sword, it should be added.  Three events that were recorded give us an idea of the fierce struggle that took place.

1. You will recall that Harold Fairhair sent his son, Hacon, to England to live with King Athelstan. 

“Athelstan had Hacon christened and taught him the right faith and good habits and all kind of learning and manners.  He loved him much, more than he did all his own kin, and so did everyone who knew the boy.  He was afterwards called Athelstan's foster-son.  He was wise, of fair speech and a good Christian.”

As a young man, however, Hacon was killed in battle while attempting to regain the throne in Norway, lost at the death of his father.  He was laid to rest in a howe, in full armour and his richest array.  With splendid rites his people sped him on his way to Odin, and the once-Christian king was now praised as the defender of temples, and welcome to the Aesir where he joined his eight heathen brothers, the sons of Harald Fairhair, in the company of the Valkyries, feasting and carousing in the banquet halls of Valhalla.

2. King Alfred, the younger brother of Athelstan who succeeded him to the throne, and who eventually became “Alfred the Great”,  became King of Wessex in one of England's darkest hours. The Danes, part of the Viking forces that had begun to raid the English coasts in the late 8th century, had given up their primary goal of plunder and were now set on conquering all of England. Wessex and Alfred were all that stood in their way.  Alfred at first had to buy time to organize his troops, but after his victory at Edington in 878 he forced the Danish king, Guthrum, to accept baptism.  Along with King Guthrum, all his troops also instantly became Christians.

3. Hundorp is a famous farm in Norwegian history, probably one of the oldest farms in Gudbrandsdalen, where the kings and chieftains of old had their seat.  Haakon of Hundorp, my 18^th Gr.-Grandfather, owned the farm in the early 13^th century, which then stayed in the family for generations,

Prior to that, however, in the early 11^th century, the farm belonged to King Gudbrand, and it was here that a most historic battle was waged.

The poet, Sigvat the Scald wrote about Gudbrand:

The battle took place when King Gudbrand was confronted by King Olaf the Stout, who later became known as Saint Olaf.  Sturlason describes the event in great detail in the HEIMSKRINGLA SAGA.

“When Gudbrand got tidings that King Olav was come to Loar and had made the folk take up Christianity, he called all the Dale men to meet at the place called Hundtorp (now Hundorp in southern Fron). 

There he told them that the man who is called Olav is come to Loar and will offer us another faith than we formerly had and break all our gods asunder, and he says that he has a much greater and mightier God.  It is strange that the earth does not break asunder under him when he dares talk of such things or that our gods let him live longer.  I expect that if we bear out of our temple Thor, who stands in this place and who has always helped us, and if he sees Olav and his men, then will Olav's God, Olav himself, and his men melt and become as nothing.  Then they all shouted out at once and said that Olav should never go from there if he came to meet them.

     Over this troop Gudbrand's son, Guthorm, was leader; he was eighteen years old and many noble men followed him.  They came to a garth called Hov and were there three nights, where they met others who would not take up Christianity.

     When King Olaf came and saw the army before him, he put on his war clothes and drew up his own army and rode before Gudbrand's men, urging them to take up Christianity.  They answered: "Today thou mayest well do otherwise than mock us", and they shouted their war cry and struck their weapons on their shields.  But the king's men then leaped forth and shot their spears; and Gudbrand’s men turned in flight, and Gudbrand's son was taken captive.

     The son was released and returned to urge Gudbrand to accept Christianity. He would not, however, and prepared to do battle a second time, when Olaf's forces again caused their opponents to flee. 

     Eventually, Gudbrand stood up and said: "Great scathe have we got for our god, but since he could not help us we will now believe in the God whom thou believest in"; and then they all took up Christianity.  The bishop christened Gudbrand and his son and left priests there.  They who before were foes parted as friends, and Gudbrand had a church built in the Dales.

Years later, in a battle between two minor kings, King Halfdan the Black defeated King Eystein--when Eystein then fled to Gudbrand, in the north.

There he gathered the people to him and afterwards went out to Hedemark. He met Halfdan the Black on a great island where they held battle: Halvdan had the victory and many people fell on both sides, and amongst them was Guthorm, the son of Gudbrand the Chief, who was the youth of greatest hope in the Uplands.

The church built by Gudbrand stood at Listad until 1787, when it was moved to the spot where Sondre Fron church now stands

Unfortunately, the motives for the Viking raids are not stated in any explicit or authoritative text (in general, one could consider this era in Europe to be essentially pre-historic), but a few obvious factors could be noted.

(1)  Though Viking ships had been sailing the seas in search of trade for centuries, by the 9th century population growth was taxing Scandinavia’s limited resources. A shortage of both food and land limited social mobility, economic opportunities and internal migration.  (My ancestors came to America a thousand years later for the same reasons)

(2) The wealth of the South, as well as the East, long known to the Norse from trade and travel, was an obvious attraction, especially for the Norse kingdoms that were becoming unified and in need of more revenues.  Unlike corporations that can merge operations and economize, as kingdoms get larger their financial needs increase as they are forced to field larger armies, provide more services, and tend to support a more extravagant royal lifestyle. 

(3)  Something we don’t normally consider--the emergence of more centralized monarchies pushed many lesser chieftains and family leaders to look for new frontiers, whether it was to Iceland, France or the British Isles. Thus many Viking leaders took to the seas and when they went they were apt to take both their men and all their men’s families with them.

(4) More in the realm of conjecture: it is possible that the brutal wars conducted by Charlemagne against the Saxons in Germany in the 8th century may have warned the Norse of a potentially powerful enemy to the south. They undoubtedly began to feel vulnerable and a bit insecure.  It could well be that they recognized  that the control of the East and West flanks would drastically shift the balance of power more in their favor

The South

The Roman Emperor of the West, VALENTINIAN III, r 425-455, was assassinated by followers of one of his most famous generals.  His wife, LINCINIA, sought revenge and invited GENSERIC, King of the Vandals, in Carthage, North Africa, to sack Rome. The Vandals were a northern Germanic tribe who migrated south through the entire European continent, crossed the Straight of Gibraltar in 429, and then headed east until they came to Carthage.  They accepted her invitation and "Vandalized Rome"--and when they left they also carried off LINCINIA and her two daughters.  (Perhaps her idea--she certainly couldn't have been welcome in Rome)

One of her daughters,  EUDOCIA, later married the son of the Vandal GENSERIC, King HUNERICUS.  It is most incredible that the granddaughter of this union was HILDA, who married the Norse king, VALLDAR OF ROESKILDE, r 6th & 7th cen.  Roeskilde is the old cathedral city near Copenhagen, home of the ancient Viking kings.

How did a king in Roeskilde come to marry a young girl from Africa—in the 6^th century?  Obviously, because even during this early era his Viking ships put into port in Carthage, and returned with word of a beautiful (or possibly rich) young princess?  Can you imagine the sight of that Viking flotilla carrying their new queen-to-be as they sailed out of the harbor?

The East

The Vikings expeditions from Sweden were both aggressive and vigorous. They turned to the east and south, into and beyond the Baltic, away from the heartland of continental Europe, and into an area of vast spaces and few people. These Vikings were drawn by trading links rather than a thirst for empty land.

They settled, traded and had a military presence on all the major rivers of western Russia and Ukraine, the Dnieper, Don and Volga, and on both the Caspian and the Black Seas, as well as the city of Constantinople and the entire Mediterranean.  It was the Swedish Vikings who influenced the growth of the early state around Kiev.

In Constantinople they formed the mercenary guards of the Byzantine emperors in the 11th century. An article in National Geographic a few years ago showed photos of Viking graffiti found in the walkways above the dome of the great HAGIA SOFIA in Constantinople.  As in their western expeditions, they were soldiers, new settlers, and able traders.

RUSSIA

The name RUS is thought to have been the Finnish name for Sweden.  There were so many Swedes in what is now Russia, that the Finns called it Sweden.  In fact, the Swedes themselves called Russia “GREATER SWEDEN”.

In the 6th century, King RADBERT of Gardarike married AUDA of Sweden.  Both were Norse, and Gardarike was the Norse name for Russia.

UKRAINE

        The early Ukrainian rulers were Scandinavian, as the entire area was controlled by the Vikings (which occurred at the same time as their Norwegian and Danish brethren were active in England—in other words, during the height of the Viking period). 

         RURIK, the first Grand Prince of Kiev, 9th cen., is thought to be a legendary Danish Viking. 

         VLADIMIR, Prince of Novgorod, Grand Prince of Kiev, 10th cen., converted to Christianity and changed the language of the Church from Norse to Slavonic.  Vladimir was later canonized and became a saint.

The Vikings in France and Normandy

These raids were possible because of the special design and construction of the Viking sailing vessels.  Their ships drew little water, and therefore could sail, not only along the coasts of the North Sea or in the open seas, but also on rivers inland.  No other ships at the time could match their versatility, speed or sea worthiness.

They were the first to learn how to build ships with a keel, which permitted the craft to sail straight and true, rather than just floating around like a tub.

They were also the first to learn how to construct a mast that was strong enough to withstand the forces of the open seas, and from that mast they constructed sails that for the first time permitted them to tack into the wind.  This feature was a constant surprise to their enemies.

Seaports, river towns, and monasteries situated near waterways became their victims. Rouen and Paris on the Seine River, Tours, Blois, and Orléans on the Loire, Bordeaux  and many other towns were pillaged by the Vikings--as were the abbeys of Saint Denis, burial place of the kings of France near Paris, Saint Martin, Saint Benoît on the Loire, and others. 

In 911 a large company of Vikings (called in French Normands), accepted from the West Frankish king Charles III the Simple the territory in the lower Seine Valley that became known as Normandie (“territory of the Northmen”).  The Vikings had been terrorizing the French, so it was hoped that by giving them that large coastal area they would stay out there and leave the rest of the country alone.

Here they flourished and gained great power, eventually conquering England.  "Norman" is the French name for "Norseman".

Their leader was Rollo, who together with his warriors became Charles’ Christian vassals, and in turn pledged to defend their new duchy against other Vikings.  Rollo was his French name, but his Norse name was Rolf the Ganger, and we can read about his life in Sturluson’s HEIMSKRINGLA SAGA.   

        “Ragnvald was King Harald Whiteleg's dearest friend and the king valued him highly.  He and his wife, Hild, had two sons, Rolf and Tore. Rolf was a great viking; he was grown so big that no steed could bear him and he therefore walked everywhere, and was therefore called "the Ganger".  Rolf harried much in the eastern countries.  One summer when he had come from a viking raid in the east he made a shore raid.  King Harald, when he learned of this became very wroth, for he had strongly forbidden robbery in the land.  King Harald declared Rolf to be an outlaw in Norway. 

             But when Rolf's mother heard that, she went to the king and asked frith for Rolf.  But the king was so wroth that her asking availed her naught.  Rolf the Ganger afterwards crossed the sea to the Hebrides and then to France where he became the first duke in Normandy”.

These Vikings adopted the French language and ways and developed an exceptional state in Normandy. In 1066, Rolf’s gr-gr-gr-grandson, William, 7th Duke of Normandy, lead his followers across the English Channel and conquered England, ending not only Anglo-Saxon rule, but (what is not so well-known) Viking rule as well.

The main area of attraction for our Norwegian forbears was England and France.  It was here that they first pillaged, then settled and eventually built a thriving society that lasted for 300 years.  During the 9^th, 10^th and 11^th centuries they achieved their greatest power and influence on Western civilization.

They began to raid their southern neighbors seriously and systematically in 789. In both the British Isles and France there was a fairly uniform evolution as raids gradually changed from small hit-and-run attacks to larger and more ambitious forays. 

The early raids were essentially summer excursions during which time wives and children were left home to run the farm while the man was out doing what good Viking men are supposed to do. The winter was undoubtedly spent repairing equipment and replenishing stocks of weapons.  As the attacks grew in size, however, base camps were built where they might spend the winter.  Now they could avoid the hazards of long sea trips, spend more time in the field, and not have to worry about the responsibility of family.

“The Viking became a byword for sea borne terror:  Violent raiders descending in their longships to plunder monasteries and butcher peaceful communities of men, women and children”.

But were they really more violent than their Christian contemporaries?  After all, Charlemagne executed 4500 Saxon rebels at Verden, and William the Conqueror was also capable of ruthless behavior.  Even earlier, during the Roman Empire, it was standard practice to kill at least 5,000 people after conquering an enemy.

As early medieval armies had to live off the land, there can be little doubt that the peasantry would have suffered greatly from pillaging and personal indignities by enemy armies--and the foraging of “friendly” armies may have been only slightly less destructive.

But the institution that undoubtedly suffered the most from Viking raids was the Church.  Until now the Church had been relatively immune from warfare between Christians: even in Ireland, were battles between the monks of rival monasteries were not unknown, churches were rarely plundered. 

Why all these Viking attacks on the Church?  Keep in mind that the “Medieval Period” was also the “Monastic Period”.  It was the monasteries that were the repositories of most of the wealth of the Church.  This changed during the Renaissance when the wealth moved to the bishops in large cities, who built large cathedrals--but the Medieval Church was essentially a secluded, rural institution.  And the followers of the Norse battle-god, Odin often had little respect for the property of this religion, or for the lives of those that followed it.

Most of the accounts of Viking raids were written by monks. According to these sources, the raids were often marked by terrible destruction and savagery, like nothing these writers had ever experienced.  It is, of course, very likely that these accounts were often exaggerated.  After all, the writers were filled with personal fear and horror.

It should be noted, however, that they generally agree quite closely with accounts written by the Vikings themselves.  Skaldic poetry of the Viking age glories in bloodshed, as we hear in these words in praise of King Erik Bloodaxe. (my 31^st Gr-Grandfather)

“The destroyer of the Scots fed the wolves: he trod on the eagle’s evening meal (of corpses).  The battle-cranes flew over the rows of the slain; the beaks of the birds of prey were not free from blood; the wolf tore wounds and waves of blood surged against the ravens’ beaks.”

Skaldic verse was composed for an elite warrior audience, however,  which may not have been typical of Scandinavian society taken as a whole.  Regardless, there is no reason to suppose that the Viking behavior was either better or worse than that of their contemporaries, the Franks or Anglo-Saxons.

As the Vikings began raiding the coasts of the British Isles and the western portions of the Carolingian Empire. The ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE recorded their arrival:

“In this year the ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God’s church on Lindisfarne, with plunder and slaughter.”

[Lindisfarne was an old Norse community on an island off the northeast coast of England.]      (Catherine has visited there)

The Vikings landed on undefended coasts and attacked churches as well as isolated farmsteads, towns, and villages. As in France, their longboats were able to travel up rivers to settlements that until now had seemed immune to maritime attack and thus were totally surprised and unprepared for the onslaught to come. 

They conquered much of England except Wessex, and they established a kingdom in Ireland. The Viking hold on such northern islands as the Shetlands, Hebrides, and Faroes lasted through and beyond the Middle Ages.

However, even in their most predatory days the Vikings had not always been fierce raiders; often a fortified harbor or the presence of soldiers caused them to fall back on their role as traders and merchants.

Until the Viking raids began, Christian Europe had never worried about an enemy from the sea. It took the better part of a century before leaders like Alfred the Great of Wessex and Charles II the Bald and Louis III in France could fortify their towns and station fleets that could patrol their coasts. 

Eventually, by the late 9th century the Viking armies grew in

size. Many of the men became settlers in the lands where they had first appeared as marauders and raiders. They began to convert to Christianity and either brought families from home or intermarried with the local people, creating a new combination of cultures, languages, and institutions.

Viking Influence

Archaeological evidence reveals a Norse culture that was the most advanced in Europe in the manufacture of arms and jewelry, as well as shipbuilding. Many styles of Viking ships were adopted by other European powers, most notably Alfred the Great.

The Vikings fostered urban growth and commerce throughout much of England and Ireland, founding many prominent cities and towns. York, Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, Wicklow and Wexford all emerged as prominent trade centers.

Signs of the Viking influence are found in our English language, vocabulary, and especially the place-names of the areas in which they settled. These offer clues regarding their migration and assimilation, clues that otherwise would be non-existent because (1) of the lack of recorded history and because, especially in the British Isles, (2) there is little archaeological evidence such as burials, stone-carvings or settlements that give evidence of the Viking presence.  Place-names are the most important source of evidence of the extent of Viking settlement in both Britain and Ireland. 

In the Orkney and Shetland Isles and the Scottish County Caithness, almost all place names are of Scandinavian character.  They are also common in the Isle of Man, Cumbria, Yorkshire and the East Midlands, in East Anglia, the Hebrides and Galloway,  As one would suspect, there are few Scandinavian place-names south of the border of the Danelaw in Wessex.

Place-names ending in -by, as in Thurkleby or the home town of my youth, Westby, indicate a farm (Thurkle’s farmstead), and a -thorpe is an outlying farm (as in Kettlethorpe).  Those ending with -tun (-ton), as in Grimston, indicate a village (Grim’s village). 

Common coastal place-names are -ey (island--the Orkneys), -holm (islet--Stockholm), -wick (bay--Chadwick) and -ford (fjord--Oxford, Stratford, Waterford and Wexford).

The New World

Viking adventurers reached Iceland in the mid-9th century (at the same time they were active in the British Isles), and within fifty years their new home had become a center for settlement by Norwegians and Danes. Iceland was a launching point for expeditions and ventures farther out into the North Atlantic.  Not all were “adventurers”, however, as some were exiles from the warfare between the minor kings in Norway as they sought to enlarge and unify their holdings.

Eric the Redled an expedition from Iceland which settled in Greenland, and in the year 1000 his son Leif Ericson landed on North America, where they existed for several generations.

Those Norse who settled Iceland founded a new way of life and prospered, even to today.  But those who headed further west to Greenland and North America, however, did not fare so well.  Fortunately, much research is still taking place to learn more about these small settlements in an effort to determine the reasons for their rather early demise.

It has usually been thought that the distances where just too great, the weather and climate too inhospitable, and perhaps altercations with unfriendly natives finally persuaded them to pull up stakes and head back to the friendlier confines of Iceland or Norway.  Recent research, however, does not support these ideas.  Now we  perhaps are beginning to discover the real problem--and that problem was the Viking settlers themselves. 

The natives in these areas had lived there successfully for hundreds, if not thousands of years before the new arrivals.  They could do this because they adapted their lifestyle to this inhospitable northern region. 

The Vikings, however, still tried to live as they had in Norway, raising the same crops and keeping the same livestock—but the region just could not support the demands of these crops and animals.  Slowly the resources began to dwindle, the land became poorer and food became scarcer.  What the research has determined was that the settlers became malnourished and faced starvation, with the consequence that their health deteriorated and producing healthy offspring dwindled.

As the settlements became smaller and smaller, buildings fell into disrepair and crumbled, the death rate continually climbed and the presence of these hardy settlers gradually came to an end. 

In England meanwhile, in the year 1066, the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada marched the main body of his Viking army to York, and after resting his troops, he continued on about twelve miles to Stamford Bridge on the Derwent.  The ANGLE-SAXON CHRONICLE describes the battle that followed: 

Then Harold our king (Godwinson) came unexpectedly upon the Norwegians, and met them with a great host of Englishmen, and that day a very stubborn battle was fought by both sides.  There were slain Harald Hardrada and Earl Tostig, and the remaining Norwegians were put to flight, while the English fiercely assailed their rear until some of them reached their ships: some were drowned, others burnt to death, and thus perished in various ways so that there were few survivors. 

The king then gave quarter to Olaf, the son of the king of the Norwegians, who swore oaths that they would ever maintain peace and friendship with this land; and the king let them sail home with twenty-four ships

Harald Hardrada's body was brought from England to Norway where he was buried with this lament (paraphrase):

These warriors, the royal descendants of the Norse god, Ingvi, who flaunt their strength over their enemies, these heroes are now gone--vanquished forever

And with Hardrada’s burial that glorious era of the Viking came to a close.