Vikings

73 Pages·2018·22.94 MB·English

by  Dorling Kindersley

Vikings
Author: Philip Steele
Consultant: Dr. Ragnhild Ljosland
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Contents
Project editors Satu Hämeenaho-Fox, Roohi Sehgal
Editor Radhika Haswani
4 Who were the Vikings?
Project art editor Emma Hobson, Radhika Banerjee
Art editor Mohd Zishan
US editors Allison Singer, Jenny Wilson 6 Viking voyages
DTP designers Dheeraj Singh,
Mohd Rizwan, Vijay Kandwal
Picture researcher Sumita Khatwani 8 Longship
Jacket co-ordinator Francesca Young
Jacket designer Suzena Sengupta
Educational consultant Jacqueline Harris 10 Raids
Managing editors Laura Gilbert, Monica Saigal
Managing art editor Diane Peyton Jones
Deputy managing art editor Ivy Sengupta 12 Warriors and weapons
Senior Pre-production Producer Luca Frassinetti
Senior producer Isabell Schart
Creative director Helen Senior 14 Traders
Publishing director Sarah Larter
DIGITAL OPERATIONS, DELHI 16 Myth busters
Editor Suruchi Bhatia
Production co-ordinator Manish Bhatt
18 Famous Vikings
DK CREATIVE, DELHI
Assistant editor Prerna Grewal
20 Walls and forts
Art editor Mohd Zishan
Managing editor Monica Saigal
Deputy managing art editor Ivy Sengupta 22 Viking society
eISBN: 9781465483379
Digital edition published by
Dorling Kindersley Limited 24 At home
First American Edition, 2018
Published in the United States by DK Publishing
345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 26 Jobs and skills
Copyright © 2018 Dorling Kindersley Limited
DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC
28 Viking feast
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part
of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise),
without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited
DK books are available at special discounts when purchased
in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use.
For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets,
345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
[email protected]
A WORLD OF IDEAS:
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www.dk.com
Thorc’sh harammmer Drinking horn Viking child practising
fighting skills
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Contents
30 Viking animals 54 After the Vikings
32 Viking women 56 A Viking adventure
34 Growing up 58 Viking facts and figures
36 Games and sports 60 Timeline of key events
38 Words and music 62 Viking runes
40 Writing in runes 64 Glossary
42 Art styles 66 Index
44 Dress like a Viking 68 Acknowledgments
46 Gods and goddesses 69 Quiz
48 A Norse tale 70 Quiz answers
50 Afterlife
52 Meet the expert
K
nif
e
Loom
The Oseberg ship
Stave church in Norway
3
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Who were
Warriors
Viking fighters were
mostly part-time
the Vikings? warriors who left their
farms to go raiding.
In the Middle Ages, the people of
Europe’s far north were farmers and
sailors. From the 790s they began to
attack neighboring lands, killing
people and stealing their treasure.
The Vikings are remembered as
fierce warriors, but they made
history in other ways, too, as
traders, explorers, craft
Children
workers, and storytellers. Kids didn’t go to
school, but they had
to learn skills such as
farming or weaving.
How did the Vikings
get their name?
Viking meant “raiding” or “raider.” They were
Traders
also known as “Northmen.” Today we use the
Viking merchants
word Viking to describe Scandinavian people
traded far from home,
in the time between about 790 and 1050.
including in Greenland,
Russia, and Baghdad.
The Vikings attacking Paris
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Farmers Settlers
The Vikings were You needed to be
skilled farmers, even tough and brave to
in lands with harsh leave home and move Viking community
weather. to an unknown land.
Many Vikings lived in remote
farms, linked only by muddy
tracks or by boat. Where the
farmland was good, there
were more people, and
trading towns grew up
around ports.
Rulers
Power was held by
leaders called jarls,
local assemblies called
Things, and by chiefs
and kings.
Parents and babies
Strong family bonds
helped Vikings
survive cold winters
in Scandinavia and
Greenland.
FACT FILE
»
Who: The Vikings
»
When: The Middle
Ages, between about
790 and 1050
»
Where: Originally
in Denmark, Sweden,
and Norway
»
What: Raided overseas,
in Great Britain, Ireland,
France, Iceland, and
Greenland
»
Language: Old Norse
5
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Greenland
In about 982, Erik the Red explored
TIMELINE
this bleak and icy land. He named it
» 780–90 The first raids Greenland to persuade other Vikings
are carried out to move there. The first permanent
settlement was made in 985.
»
800s New settlements
are founded
»
900s Kings begin to
rule over the Vikings
» Iceland
1000s Vikings reach
Viking seafarers, fishermen,
mainland North America
and farmers made their
homes in Iceland between
about 870 and 930.
NORTH
Canada ATLANTIC OCEAN
Erik’s son, Leif the
Lucky, sailed to what
is now Canada. He
Ireland
probably explored
Vikings raided Ireland
Baffin Bay, Labrador, and
from the 790s, and by
Newfoundland in 1001.
845 had founded a
town at Dublin. They
also settled around
Wexford, Waterford,
Cork, and Limerick.
Viking homelands
Viking voyages
! WO
W!
The Viking homelands were surrounded by seas
and had deep, narrow inland waters called
It took about
fjords. This meant the Vikings had to learn to
seven days to sail
be sailors and shipbuilders. Their warriors and
from Scandinavia
traders sailed long distances to discover new to Iceland.
lands. In some places they built settlements,
which were places for Viking people to live.
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The Faroe Islands ARCTIC OCEAN
The remote Faroe islands Sweden
were settled by Viking sheep Norway Swedish Vikings farmed
farmers in about 800. Norwegian in the southeast and on
Vikings lived
islands in the Baltic Sea.
by the fjords of
Scotland and
the west coast.
the Isle of Man
Vikings from Norway
took over Scotland’s far
north, the Shetland and
Orkney Islands, and the
Isle of Man.
L T I C S E A Russia
England A Vikings from Sweden,
B
By 876 a large area of known as Varangians,
England, known as traded with the Slavs of
the Danelaw, was Russia and eastern Europe.
under Viking rule.
Denmark
Danish Vikings lived
in the far south of the Constantinople
Viking homelands. This city (modern Istanbul)
France was capital of the Byzantine
Wales Viking armies put Paris under Empire. The Vikings called it
Wales was siege in 845 and 885–886. In 910 Miklagard, the Great City.
raided by the they were given a large area of
Vikings from 850. France called Normandy.
Southern Europe
Viking raiders and
traders sailed into the
Mediterranean Sea.
Medieval neighbors
WO
W!
The Vikings lived alongside many
other medieval powers. In the 800s,
the Frankish emperor Charlemagne
ruled a huge area of France,
Germany, and Italy. Most of Spain
was ruled by Muslims called the
Moors. In the 800s the Anglo-Saxon
King Alfred of Wessex fought
against large armies of Viking
invaders in Britain.
Charlemagne King Alfred
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6
Longship
The longship was a narrow boat
designed for speed. The underside
was flat enough to sail up a river
without hitting the riverbed, and
could be dragged up onto a beach.
The longship was ideal for raiding,
but a wider, sturdier ship called a
knarr was used for carrying cargo.
! WO
W!
A longship
could move at
up to 17 miles
(28 km/h)
an hour.
3
1
5
4
Overlapping planks
Each plank, or strake,
overlapped the next,
2
and was fixed with
nails and rivets.
8
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