Vikings Introduction

Question 1

What are the basic dates for the Viking Period?

Answer 1

800-1050

Question 2

Which historian said that the latter 8th century is when the Vikings “Made themselves known”?

Answer 2

Steven Brink

Question 3

Which people does the early Scandinavian expansion particularly focus on?

Answer 3

Norwegians and Danes

Question 4

Latter 20th century study into Vikings has focuses more on….?

Answer 4

Portraying the Vikings as a peaceful trading culture.

Question 5

An example of how Viking culture has been misappropriated?

Answer 5

To peruse political ideas e.g. As the ideal warrior race by the Nazis.

Question 6

What date is set as the start of the Viking Age?

Answer 6

793AD

Question 7

Why is 793AD recorded as the beginning of the Viking Age?

Answer 7

Anglo-Saxon chronicles record Viking raid on Lindasfarne monastery.

Question 8

What date is recorded to be the end of the Viking age?

Answer 8

1066

Question 9

Why is 1066 recorded as the end of the Viking age?

Answer 9

The Vikings lost the battle of Stanford Bridge.

Question 10

In what way are the dates surrounding the Viking age a qualified truth?

Answer 10

Expansion was believed to begin early 700’s.

Viking activity carried on post 1066 e.g. Cnut invasion in 1075

Question 11

What did the Francian contemporaries refer to the Vikings as?

Answer 11

Northmen and Danes

Question 12

What did the Anglo-Saxon contemporaries refer to the Vikings as?

Answer 12

Danes and pagans.

Question 13

What is believed to be the most direct contemporary written source of the Vikings?

Answer 13

Runes

Question 14

One example of a written source from a culture that came into contact with the Vikings?

Answer 14

The Anglo-Saxon chronicles.

Question 15

What aspect of the Icelandic sagas means they may not be reliable?

Answer 15

Not contemporary with Vikings, meant more as propaganda.

Question 16

Which Icelander constructed the ‘Family Saga’s’?

Answer 16

Snorri Sturlson

Question 17

What was the purpose of the Family Sagas?

Answer 17

Constructed lineages and entitlement. Often dealt with feuds.

Question 18

What is the name of the Viking creation story that details the gods?

Answer 18

Edda

Question 19

What can pre-Christian Scandinavia be likened too?

Answer 19

Non-western pre-industrial communities

Question 20

Which people held 6th century Scandinavia in high esteem?

Answer 20

The migrating Germanic people.

Question 21

What suggests early contact with between the Scandinavians and Western Europeans?

Answer 21

A rich archaeological material.

Question 22

Why did Scandinavia not develop at the same rate as the rest of Europe during the 1st-4th centuries?

Answer 22

They were never conquered by the Romans.

Question 23

What did the migration of the Germanic tribes in the late 4th century ultimately lead too?

Answer 23

The collapse of the Roman Empire and the establishment of small kingdoms across Western Europe.

Question 24

What far Eastern people did the migration include during the 5/6th centuries?

Answer 24

Slavs

Question 25

What was the political environment like during the 7/8th centuries?

Answer 25

Relatively stable, consolidation took place.

Question 26

What did stability in the 8th century allow for?

Answer 26

Trade and contact with Scandinavia.