Vikings were terrifying

[there4eyeM]

nothing there to admire

Absolutely not admirable, just a fact, an implicit capacity of humans that has to be properly understood and channeled. We can't stamp out inherited traits without serious repercussions, but we can integrate and mitigate them.

 

[longly]

they were not after food, but after gold and slaves.
they were mean criminals

A thousand years ago, the world—especially Europe—was a very different place. Scandinavia was not ideal for farming before the scientific and industrial ages. Famine and starvation were common. As Mushroom mentioned, the future of the second son was often bleak.

I'm not saying all second sons were cast out by their older brothers. I believe that among Vikings, some brothers loved each other deeply. But a man had to choose between caring for his children and his brother. If he allowed his brother to remain as a worker on the farm, he might not have been able to support his own family. There were simply too many mouths to feed.

So, I suspect that the brothers who did care for their younger siblings helped set them up as Vikings—sending them off to make their own fortunes. One of the strategies Vikings used for survival was to capture red-haired Irish slave women in Ireland, take them to North Africa, and sell them for gold. They would then use that gold to buy grain and feed their families for another year.

It was food they were after. But this strategy became popular among many second sons. It wasn’t always about responding to famine—it was about knowing the land could only support so many people. They had to move out.

 

[Mushroom]

I'm not saying all second sons were cast out by their older brothers. I believe that among Vikings, some brothers loved each other deeply. But a man had to choose between caring for his children and his brother. If he allowed his brother to remain as a worker on the farm, he might not have been able to support his own family. There were simply too many mouths to feed.

This is the course of younger sons among almost all Feudal societies in the era. Be it England, France, the Italian Kingdoms, or in Scandinavia.

Younger sons generally did not inherit much land, wealth or power. Therefore a good way for them to gain such was to go off in search of such riches in other lands. It may be in the Crusades, where they went to the Holy Land in search of slaves, gold, titles, or land. Or it may be in fighting against other neighboring kingdoms.

Or as the Vikings where they did not have much wealth to take from each other they went and raided other nations far removed form their lands.

It really is all the same thing. And the Vikings were doing nothing different than younger sons all over Europe were doing at the time. Even the younger sons of Arab nobility did the same damned thing when raiding Europe and Africa.

And also among all three of those major groups, religion was a key part also. In most of Eurasia and Africa, it was Christians against Muslims. The Vikings were the last large group of Pagans in Europe, so they were mostly attacking the Christians for the same reason they were attacking the Muslims.

But there was absolutely nothing special or unique in what the Vikings were doing compared to any of the other groups in that hemisphere at the same time.

 

[Dekster]

I remember when we were on some tour in western ireland between stops and the guide pointed out that in that area a lot of the ruins along the coast weren't castles but early churches/monasteries that fell when the Vikings figured out that those were where the area's gold was to be found.

 

[longly]

This is the course of younger sons among almost all Feudal societies in the era. Be it England, France, the Italian Kingdoms, or in Scandinavia.

Younger sons generally did not inherit much land, wealth or power. Therefore a good way for them to gain such was to go off in search of such riches in other lands. It may be in the Crusades, where they went to the Holy Land in search of slaves, gold, titles, or land. Or it may be in fighting against other neighboring kingdoms.

Or as the Vikings where they did not have much wealth to take from each other they went and raided other nations far removed form their lands.

It really is all the same thing. And the Vikings were doing nothing different than younger sons all over Europe were doing at the time. Even the younger sons of Arab nobility did the same damned thing when raiding Europe and Africa.

And also among all three of those major groups, religion was a key part also. In most of Eurasia and Africa, it was Christians against Muslims. The Vikings were the last large group of Pagans in Europe, so they were mostly attacking the Christians for the same reason they were attacking the Muslims.

But there was absolutely nothing special or unique in what the Vikings were doing compared to any of the other groups in that hemisphere at the same time.

What was truly different about the Vikings was how they built their ships in Scandinavia—completely unlike other Europeans. Most European shipbuilders constructed vessels like houses: they started with a rigid frame and then added boards to it. Vikings did the opposite. They began with the hull and added the internal parts afterward.

They used overlapping, triangular-shaped planks that were split from logs using axes and mauls. These planks were then smoothed with adzes or possibly planes. Once the sides were completed, they nailed each side to a central keel board that ran from stem to stern. Using wedges and levers, they spread the two sides apart until they achieved the desired shape. Only then did they build the internal supports.

This method created an ideal vessel for raiding. Viking ships could land on shallow beaches, navigate up narrow streams and rivers, and even reverse direction simply by rowing backward—since both the bow and stern were pointed and symmetrical.

Clinker (boat building) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Mushroom]

What was truly different about the Vikings was how they built their ships in Scandinavia—completely unlike other Europeans. Most European shipbuilders constructed vessels like houses: they started with a rigid frame and then added boards to it. Vikings did the opposite. They began with the hull and added the internal parts afterward.

Which only differed in how they raided, no real difference otherwise between what they were doing or any others i Africa and Eurasia.

 

[hondo 50]

I read the thread title and right away knew you were not talking about the Minnesota football team.