The End of The Viking Era

The Vikings raided and traded their way around a large part of the world from the 8th to the 11th centuries, leaving an enduring legend of terror and admiration mixed. For 300 years the Vikings spread out from their Scandinavian homelands, sweeping the world from Baghdad to North America.

They were an extraordinary group of people who were not only ferocious attackers and fearless warriors, but also shrewd traders, skilled explorers and navigators, superb shipbuilders and craftsmen, and pagans with a rich mythology and strong tradition of story-telling. Their name remains legend for the terrifying raids on the coasts of Britain, Ireland and Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries. Famed for their navigation ability and long ships, Vikings in a few hundred years colonized the coasts and rivers of Europe, the islands of Shetland, Orkney, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and for a short while also Newfoundland circa AD 1000, while still reaching as far south as North Africa, east into Russia and to Constantinople for raiding and trading.


The Vikings valued glory and valor above all things. A warrior's death meant a place in Valhalla. They formed large trading centers in their own lands and in other countries, where they practiced crafts like wood turning, jewelry making, blacksmithing and textile work. Their societies were loosely democratic, and Viking women often had power and status, running estates while the men were gone.


Viking voyages grew less frequent with the introduction of Christianity to Scandinavia in the late 10th and 11th century. The Vikings lost their pagan beliefs as they settled in Christian countries and as Christianity spread into the North. Their societies changed with the medieval world. The age of the Viking was over, but they made a mark never forgotten.


For more information on how you can get a hold of popular Viking collectibles, learn more about Viking History or The Dark Ages, visit The Historical Weapons Store.com