Editing Viking metal (section)

=== Vikings ===
{{Main|Vikings}}

{{multiple image
| align     = right
| direction = vertical
| image1    = Viking ship "Lofotr".jpg
| width1    = 165
| alt1      = Lofotr ship
| caption1  = A replica longship, ''Lofotr''
| image2    = Vidfamne.jpg
| width2    = 170
| alt2      = Knarr Vindfamne
| caption2  = The ''Vindfamne'', a replica ''knarr''
| footer    = The [[longship]] and ''[[knarr]]'' enabled Vikings to embark on far-reaching military and trading expeditions.{{sfn|Couper|2015|p=34}}
}}

Viking metal features the [[Vikings]] as its subject matter and for evocative imagery. The Vikings were [[Northern Europe]]an seafarers and adventurers who, during the [[Middle Ages]], relied on sailing vessels such as [[longship]]s, ''[[knarr|knerrir]]'', and ''[[karve (ship)|karvi]]'' to explore, raid, pirate, trade, and settle along the [[Borders of the oceans#Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic]], [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]], [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], [[Black Sea]], and [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] coasts and [[Eastern Europe]]an river systems.<ref>{{harvnb|Lovgren|2004}}</ref> The [[Viking Age]] is generally cited as beginning in 793, when a Viking raid struck [[Lindisfarne]], and concluding in 1066, with the death of [[Harald Hardrada]] and the [[Norman conquest of England]].<ref>{{harvnb|James|2011}}; {{harvnb|Sjåvik|2010|pp=xxiii, 6}}</ref> During this two-hundred-year period, the [[Viking expansion|Vikings ventured]] west as far as [[Ireland]] and [[Iceland]] in the North Atlantic and [[Greenland]] and what is now [[Newfoundland]] in [[North America]], south as far as the [[Kingdom of Nekor]] (Morocco), [[Italian peninsula|Italy]], [[Sicily]], and [[Constantinople]] in the Mediterranean, and southeast as far as what are now [[Belarus]], [[Russia]], and [[Ukraine]] in Eastern Europe, [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgia]] in the [[Caucasus]], and [[Baghdad]] in the [[Middle East]].<ref> {{harvnb|Jakobsen|2013}}; {{harvnb|Kendrick|2012|pp=143–388}}; {{harvnb|Lovgren|2004}}; {{harvnb|Peterson|2016|p=230}}</ref>

The Vikings originated from the [[Nordic countries]] and the [[Baltic states]], and consisted mostly of [[North Germanic peoples|Scandinavians]], though [[Finns]], [[Estonians]], and [[Curonians]], went on voyages as well.<ref>{{harvnb|Kasekamp|2010|pp=21–23}}; {{harvnb|Gustin|Wessman|2021}}; {{harvnb|Hofstra|Samplonius|1995|pp=239-245}}</ref> [[Sami people|Sámi people]] also closely interacted with the Scandinavian Norse and engaged in widespread trade expeditions.{{snf|Gjerde|Bergstøl|2021}} While otherwise disparate peoples, they shared some commonalities in that they were not considered "civilized" and were not, at first, adherents to Christianity,{{sfn|Williams|2011}} instead following their indigenous [[Nordic religion|Nordic]] and [[Finnic mythologies|Finnic]] religions.<ref>{{harvnb|Anttonen|2012|pp=185–221}}; {{harvnb|Nordberg|2012|pp=125–126}}</ref> They often adopted Christianity upon settling in an area, intermixing the faith with their own [[paganism|pagan]] traditions, and by the end of the Viking Age, all [[Christianization of Scandinavia|Scandinavian kingdoms were Christianized]] and what remained of Viking cultures was absorbed into [[Christianity in Europe|Christian Europe]].{{sfn|Williams|2011}}