Vikings Home example essay topic

Who Were the Vikings? The word Viking in the Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language says that the word Viking means the following. "Viking 1. any of the Scandinavian pirates who plunder the coasts of Europe from the 8th to 10th centuries. 2. a sea-roving bandit: pirate. 3. a Scandinavian. 4. U.S. Aerospace. One of a series of space probes that obtained scientific information about Mars".

(1) The Vikings lived about one thousand years ago in the lands that we now call Iceland, Lapland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. To most people the Vikings were raiders that got in their longboats and sailed somewhere and then went from town to town killing and pillaging. This is not completely true, because the Vikings were also great adventurers. They set up trading links and looked for land that they could settle down make a home and have a farm. But not to say that the Vikings weren't fierce warriors, because they were great warriors that won almost every early battle. Although they never had an empire, the King of Denmark ruled Norway and England for a brief time from 1030 to 1035.

The Vikings had many reasons for leaving their homeland and living up to being the great adventurers that they were. One reason to leave was that the land that the Vikings were living in was becoming over populated, such that one family couldn't own as much land, as he would like. Also the land in Scandinavia, that they lived on was very mountainous and had very little land that could be farmed. Likewise Sweden contained many forests that made it not fit for farming. The Viking people were divided up into different classes much like many other societies. They were divided up by how much land and money that they had.

There were the "kings" that ruled over each township. Below him came the rich noblemen, or jars. The king and the jars were the most powerful people in a township. Then below the jars there were the freemen or the karl's, which included craftsmen, merchants, and farmers. At the very bottom of the totem pole were the slaves otherwise known as thralls. The majority of Vikings spent very little time away from home on raids.

Instead they were at home working as farmers, growing oats, barley, rye, and vegetables, and tending to their cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats. They also kept fruits, such as apples, and nuts such as hazelnuts and walnuts in storage for the winter. Other thing of plenty where reindeer, rabbit, hare, and wild bears that were hunted, they also found cod, salmon, and trout in the Scandinavian rivers and streams. Still other Vikings worked as merchants, traveling far and wide to trade their goods. Some were even specialized craftsmen such as silversmiths, blacksmiths, and woodcarvers.

But the most famous of all the skilled Viking workers was the master shipbuilders and excellent sailors. Viking Lifestyle The growing population of Vikings in towns such as Birk a in Sweden, Ribs and Hedeby in Denmark, and Kau pang in Norway prospered for the trading that took place along this string of cities. The trading flourished even though Danish and the Norwegian Vikings were raiding all the cities over in Europe. The Scandinavian towns were built on major waterways that were easy to reach by ship which in turn made trading much easier. The Viking houses were built on or near a water source for obvious reasons and also had access to their ships much faster being so close to the water.

When there was no water source nearby they would dig wells and reinforce them with stones or wood that was sealed with a pitch. There were no sewers in Viking towns, but instead each house had a garbage heap. The larger towns produced their own goods such as pottery, products made out of iron, ships, glassworks, and leather products. Towards the end of the Viking age, as power became more concentrated, the Viking towns became large prosperous cities. The biggest city of the Viking time was Hedeby; it was the biggest city in the Viking era.

It covered about sixty acres and at the peak of its population it had several thousand citizens. As the kings became more powerful they soon had their royal homes built in the cities. The kings' armies would protect the traders from raiding and granted trading rights that helped the population of traders to grow wealthier. A house to a Viking was a place to sleep and eat. It was also a reasonable place to store their possessions.

The houses of the Vikings were not very fancy and usually consisted of one room. Some of the Vikings built their houses out of materials like stones, which were readily available. They also made them out from turf that was cut of surrounding fields, or out of heavy trees they would then plaster the house with mud, which provided better insulation. Some chose alternate ways to build homes such as to alternate turf then rock.

The availability of building materials depended on which part of the country they were in. Few trees grew in Iceland, the Shetland, and Orkney Islands, or in northern Britain. To solve the problem of not having trees to use to build their houses the Vikings used the stones that were cut off the cliff sides and mountains. But in Sweden and Denmark there were vast forests of oak, birch, and pine that provided adequate building supplies for their homes, workshops, barns, and ships. To raise a new house, Viking builders made straight and heavy oak posts and put them in deep postholes to be used as roof supports. Then the walls were put up, which were made out of pine planks.

They would place the planks verticality into the ground, then lashed to the oak posts, plastered with a mixture of straw, mud, and animal dung. The Vikings also made walls of logs that were laid down on their sides with notches in the ends. They also made walls out of lattice out of tree branches, which were then covered with a mud and straw mixture. The advantage to this was it would let light into the building. Normally the houses of the Vikings did not have windows in them, but in some cases they would use thin animal membranes that were translucent to let light in. The roof was made out of blocks of turf or blankets of reeds and thatch that were laid down over planking of birch bark, this served as a way to keep the rain and snow out of the house.

In the center of the roof there was a hole cut out to let smoke out from the cooking fires. In some of the houses there were no support posts used on the inside so they would put wooden poles on the outside to keep the walls from collapsing under their own weight. Digging houses out of the ground made some of the Viking homes, so that the floors would be below ground level. But there was a disadvantage to having the floor below ground level was that when there was a storm it would flood with water and mud. So usually the earth houses were used as sheds, workshops, or homes for slaves. Inside of a Viking home it was very simple.

Most homes had only a single long, rectangular room. The floor was usually dirt covered with straw, and in some homes people hung textiles on the walls, which helped the house warm better as well as look better. Next to the walls they would make benches out of branches and or dirt that they would use to sit at while they ate or to sleep on. The bigger Viking homes had a larger room that was called the 'great room" and several small rooms that lead off the main room. Most Viking homes did not have many pieces of furniture in them.

Usually they would have some stools, small tables, and storage chests. The chests were used to hold personal belongs such as clothes, shoes, furs, jewelry, and other valuables. When the town knew that it was going to be raided the chest could easily be buried underground in a hiding place. That way if the person that owned the box did not die in the raiding he would still have all his personal belongings. The more wealthy families had their home furnished with glass drinking cups, wooden beds, chairs, and plates and other eating utensils that were mad out of silver and gold. At the center of every home there was a hearth that was used for light, cooking, and heat.

Inside the hearth there was a roasting rack as well as big pots that usually hung from the ceiling by chains. Also near the hearth is where the skillets were kept along with buckets of milk, butter, cheese, and clay plates and bowls. For light the Viking used oil lamps that were made out of stone or clay. The lamps were usually filled with whale oil or seal oil. But the turn of the tenth century the Vikings were using wax candles that were imported from the European continent. A Vikings home must have smelled of wood smoke, and of damp earth, of burning seal oil, of the bread, ale and roasting meat served around the hearth.

And during the winter it must have smelled like livestock because the Vikings would bring their livestock into the shelter and warmth of their home. Food and Clothing of a Viking Inside the house of a Viking there was always a fire burning inside of the hearth. The way the Vikings started a fire was by striking steel against flint or quartz to make a spark and then they fueled the fire with branches, bark, logs, or, where there weren't very many trees, peat moss or turf was used. In front of the fire is where the two meals of the day were made. "There was one meal in the morning and one in the evening". (2) The evening meal was the heartiest of the day, it was served after sundown when all work had stopped in the surrounding fields and the hunters had come back with their prey.

Viking cooks prepared most of their meals in big cauldrons or cooking pans that were placed over the hearth. Meat and fish were cooked by wrapping them in leaves and placing them in the ground with heated stones, or in small pots. Meat would be boiled in pots with many vegetables, or they could be roasted on a rack over an open fire. The plates and bowls the Vikings used were made out of clay or wood. It is still not known if the Vikings used forks and knives. Bread was the main staple food for Vikings.

The Scandinavians made bread from ground bailey and rye flour; finer wheat flower was not very common. The grinding process was done by using large heavy stones known as "querns" (3). The flour was poured in between the two stones and then the stones were turned which would crush the wheat kernels into flour. The downside to using the stones was that they would leave fragments of the stones in the flour and this would make it gritty. The flour was then made into dough and rolled out and put over an open fire or put into a pan over hot coals. The bread had to be eaten quickly before it hardened because the Vikings did not use leavening.

When grain was scarce the cooks would use dried peas or the inner layers of pine bark ground in to a powder to make the dough go farther. Cabbage, peas, and onions were the most common vegetables, usually cooked in stews with a mixture of herbs as well as beef, pork, or fish. For meat the Viking raised pigs, cattle, and sheep; they also hunted the plentiful amount of wild boar, elk, deer, and bear in the forests of Scandinavia. In the lands where it was too cold to grow crops, hunting was the major food provider. On the barren coasts of Greenland the Vikings depended on seal, fox, marten, reindeer, polar bear, and art ic caribou. The Vikings also ate whale and seal meat along with game birds, honey, eggs, and wild fruits such as apples, plums, and berries.

When the temperatures started to drop for the winter it was not uncommon for families to slaughter their old and weak livestock then smoke the meat and pickle it with salt. The salt was gathered from seaweed and seawater to preserve the meat. Harvested vegetables and grain was stored in sheds nearby the meat. When there was a famine or food shortage, the Vikings had to survive on tree bark, wild nuts, and seaweed. When the Vikings would set out on a long sea voyage they would stock their ship with salted meat, fish, water, milk, and of course beer. The Vikings brewed their own beer and prepared mead, it was a strong alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey with water, often with added spices.

Wine from the Rhineland area of Germany was rare and too expensive for anyone but the wealthy chiefs and kings. But the Vikings would still treat each other well in each other's homes. When guests arrived after a long journey, the best foods were brought out and served. The Viking had a poem called Hava mal advises its listeners: "When a guest arrives chilled to the very knees from his journey through mountains, he needs fire, food, and dry clothes". (4) Viking Weapons Every Viking - man, women, traders, merchants, craftsmen, and especially warriors carried and owned weapons. The most prized weapon of a Viking was the long sword.

The long sword was made out of iron and had a double-edged blade. It hung from the belt of a Viking where he or she could get to it easily. The grip of the long sword was usually engraved with some kind of symbol that told who the owner was. The engravings were usually very detailed, and were sometimes the coat of arms of that person's family.

In battle, the Vikings would also use spears, axes, and bows and arrows. For protection against the enemy a Viking would carry a wooden shield with a central iron boss. The better-equipped Viking warriors had suits of chain mail that would protect them from cuts and arrows to a certain extent. The chain mail was made out of hundreds of little iron rings all linked together to make one heavy suit of armor. Helmets were also worn to protect the gray matter from injury such as arrows, swinging swords and other thing that would not penetrate the helmet. The helmets were made out of iron and leather.

Obviously the iron would be much stronger than the leather. The leather would be lightweight and protect from small things such as a mosquito biting the Vikings head. The iron would protect from many other things (see above). The men also carried knives and the women carried small knives along with many other household items such as needles, scissors, and tweezers that were all on little chains the were connected to her belt or in little boxes. In areas where iron was not plentiful the Vikings would use bones of animals to make their tools and weapons. Weapons were made out of whalebone or seal bone.

Arrowheads and spears points were made out from the antlers of reindeer. There have been findings that the Vikings used bone in northern Greenland in the applications mentioned above. Viking Sports and Games The Vikings spent many long winter nights inside their houses telling traditional stories that were passed down for many generations, and playing games. Small pieces of wood, stone, walrus ivory, bone, and amber that were used in games have been found in the graves and home sites of the Vikings. One of the games that the Vikings played was called. It was a board game made up of forty-nine small peg holes to hold the pieces for each side and a central home for the king piece.

The object of the game was to maneuver the pieces around the board and to defend or capture the king. And by the Eleventh Century the game chess had arrived in the northern Europe from India and the Middle East. The Viking children had their own games and toys much like today's children. Many small wooden models of horses and miniature tools have been found in the graves of Viking children. These toys helped the children get used to the toil of farming at an early age. Also small wooden boats have been found at many seaside excavations.

As grown-ups, the Vikings took great delight in matches of strength and endurance. According to the Iceland sagas, they sometimes played war games and held contests of physical strength. These included wrestling and rowing matches. One of the popular summer sports among the Vikings was stallion fighting. "There were many stallions, everybody had a good time, and the contests were fairly even". (5) "Many stallion fights took place on this day.

In the end it came about that an equal number of stallions had been bitten well on both sides, and as equal number had run away" (6) Viking Ships To build a Viking long ship, a boat had to begin with the longest and heaviest most complicated part: its oak keel. The keel had to be straight, without any imperfections, and made from a single piece of wood. Making the keel deeper under the center of the ship helped the boat not be caught by an underwater current. Making it shallower under the bow and stern helped the crew to more easily turn and maneuver the vessel.

For the sides of the ship, the Vikings used thick vertical ribs and horizontal strakes were set in rows, with each row slightly overlapping. They were shaped with a plane and either tied with thick roots to the ribs of the boat or fastened to the ribs with iron rivets. The ropes kept the boat watertight while allowing the strakes to move and bend slightly when hit by heavy seas. At the rear of the boat, always on the right side, a side rudder was used for steering. The steersman moved the rudder with a wooden tiller.

The rudder could be raised quickly in shallow water, allowing the boats to run completely up on a beach. The side rudder also allowed the strakes to curve upward at the stern, where the fixed rudders on other kinds of boats were placed. This symmetrical design served another important purpose: The raised bow and stern prevented waves from breaking into the boat in rough weather. Viking Raids The Viking used their long ships to raid nearby every corner of Europe, from Ireland to France, Spain, Italy, the Baltic Coast, and along the rivers of the central Europe. The reasons for Viking raids is still not sure, they had occurred for centuries in Scandinavia, where chief attached rivals living across mountain ranges or along distant yet familiar coasts. Hit-and-run warfare was not new to Europe ant the time.

"As historian P.H. Sawyer notes, "The Viking raids were not so very different from the raids of Saxons on the Franks or the Frankish attacks on the Saxons and the Avars. Charlemagne was certainly filled with a sense of Christian mission, but he too was compelled by the need to reward his follower with land and treasure". (7) "There was one important difference: "When the Vikings came, there was little time to assemble opposition. Equally, their way of retreat was often safe, certainly from pursuit" (8) Conclusion The Vikings were a smart people because they, for one built boats that could cross-oceans and then they would destroy towns and cities very easily.

To be able to do this required some brains. While doing this report I have learned that the Vikings were much more than just vicious killers that went from town to town killing and pillaging, but farmers and families that like to have fun and enjoy life and were just trying to survive.

Bibliography

1. Done by Committee, "Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language" Random House Value Publishing, Inc, (c) 1996, page 21222.
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Done by Committee. Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. New York, NY; Random House Value Publishing, Inc, (c) 1996.
2. Martell, Hazel Mary. What Do We Know About The Vikings? New York, NY; Simon & Schuster Young Books, (c) 1992.
3. Ga neri, Anita. Focus On Vikings. New York, NY; Aladdin Books, (c) 19924.
Streissguth, Thomas. Life Among the Vikings. San Diego, California; Lucent Books, Inc, (c) 19995.