Lore-and-Saga Living history services and resources for schools, museums and heritage sites. Viking and Roman in school sessions and craft demonstrations. teachers notes and worksheets. Vikings, Saxons, Romans, national curriculum, invaders and settlers, key stage 2, history, teachers information, living history interpreter, in school sessions, storytelling, Roman resources, educational presentations, Viking lore, runes, Roman lore, Viking saga, living history interpretation, Viking resources, Odin, Viking crafts demonstrations, Roman cookery display, Viking silverwork, Roman games, chronology, Viking games, Roman school visits, Viking runes, national curriculum history key stage two, Viking school visits
How did Odin lose his eye?Why did we call our Viking and Roman Living History Education service Lore and Saga?
The Vikings travelled to the East and and were known as Rus by the Slavic peoples
Do You Want to Know the Secret of Fire?

The Vikings.

( What has gone before. )

772 - 792 CE. Charlemagne massacres thousands of Saxons and destroys their sacred sites in Europe because they are Pagans.

789 CE. Three Viking ships raid Britain.

793 CE. Vikings raid Abbey at Lindisfarne.

Dragons are seen flying through the air. ( According to reliable sources of the time.)

800 CE. Charlemagne is made Emperor by the Church and improves Europe’s coastal defences.

845 CE. People start paying the Vikings to go away.

860 CE. Vikings discover a place covered with Ice and call it Iceland.

865 CE. The Danes stop messing around and invade England properly.

878 CE. Alfred gives up baking and defeats the Danes.

892 CE. Eric the Red discovers a land covered with rocks and calls it Greenland.

965 CE. Harald Bluetooth becomes a Christian and tells his subjects they are going to do the same.

995 CE. Olaf Tryggvasson tells Norway and Iceland to convert at the point of a sword.

1002 CE. Aethelred massacres all “Danes” settled in England on St. Brice’s Day.

1013 CE. Danes conquer England and Aethelred flees.

1016 CE. Knut the “Great” unifies all England and Denmark.

1028 CE. Knut adds Norway to his holdings.

1030 CE. Sweden joins Knut's “Empire”.

 

( For more details and less flippancy see the Chronology. )

The Viking World.

The Viking World encompassed Scandinavia, large sections of Russia, Britain, Normandy, Iceland, Greenland and even a small part of North America at one point. Trade was established with Constantinople or “Mikligard”, as they called it, bringing goods from as far afield as China and India. The discovery of America is attributed to Bjarni Herjolfsson in 986 CE. and Leif Eriksson landed there in 1002 CE. calling it “Vinland”.

The Viking World shown in Red. ( Trade Links Extended Much Further )

Who were the Vikings ?  Vicious raiders or law abiding settlers ? Why did they take to the seas and travel across half of the known world ?

The real truth of the matter is that we can not know the minds of our Scandinavian forebears but we can look at some of the existing evidence to try to answer some of these questions.

Of one thing we can be certain, they were sailors. If they had stayed at home European history would have been very different.

Sailing a Viking Ship on the Baltic Sea
A Viking raid. The Vikings are famous as bloodthirst warriors but the Vikings were no worse than many other people of the time.

Written accounts of the time describe them as terrifying raiders who attacked and desecrated Christian monasteries.

But place names and the Norse words littering our language point to the fact that they were certainly builders and settlers.

Agriculture and fishing played a vital part in the supply of food for most people of the era so the Vikings needed land.

Goods found in Viking graves and sites travelled from some of the furthest reaches of their known World. These items were not only booty but goods brought by traders.

Then there are the things that they made for their own use and for trade. Fine textiles, practical metalwork, elaborate jewellery, carved bone, ivory and wood. The people who made these things earned the right to be called craftsmen.

These are some of the aspects that go towards understanding the Vikings and form part of my presentations for schools.

 

Working inside a Viking house. The Vikings were great craftsmen and examples of Viking crafts still survive from many sites.
[Living History] [Resources] [Services] [Whats New] [Contact] [<©>]
Lore-and-Saga Living history services and resources for schools, museums and heritage sites. Viking and Roman in school sessions and craft demonstrations. teachers notes and worksheets. Vikings, Saxons, Romans, national curriculum, invaders and settlers, key stage 2, history, teachers information, living history interpreter, in school sessions, storytelling, Roman resources, educational presentations, Viking lore, runes, Roman lore, Viking saga, living history interpretation, Viking resources, Odin, Viking crafts demonstrations, Roman cookery display, Viking silverwork, Roman games, chronology, Viking games, Roman school visits, Viking runes, national curriculum history key stage two, Viking school visits
Follow the Dragon up the tree for more Viking, Saxon, Roman and Celtic Living History.
Home
Living History
Resources
Services
Whats New
Contact
Links
Guestbook
<©>
Follow the Dragon to the next branch for more Viking, Saxon, Roman and Celtic Living History.
Follow the Dragon down the tree for more Viking, Saxon, Roman and Celtic Living History.
Educational resources for teachers
Internet Content Rating Association