Editing Vikings (section)

==History==
{{See also|Scandinavian prehistory|Battle Axe culture|Nordic Bronze Age}}

===Viking Age===
{{Main|Viking Age}}
[[File:Miscellany on the Life of St. Edmund - MS M.736 fol. 9v.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Sea-faring [[Norsemen]] depicted invading England. [[Illuminated manuscript|Illuminated]] illustration from the 12th-century ''Miscellany on the Life of St. Edmund'' ([[Morgan Library & Museum|Pierpont Morgan Library]])]]

The Viking Age in Scandinavian history is taken to have been the period from the earliest recorded raids by Norsemen in 793 until the [[Norman conquest of England]] in 1066.<ref>Peter Sawyer, ''The Viking Expansion'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=PFBtfXG6fXAC The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, Issue 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022182316/https://books.google.com/books?id=PFBtfXG6fXAC&printsec=frontcover |date=22 October 2015 }} (Knut Helle, ed., 2003), p. 105.</ref> Vikings used the [[Norwegian Sea]] and [[Baltic Sea]] for sea routes to the south.

The [[Normans]] were descendants of those Vikings who had been given [[feudal]] overlordship of areas in northern France, namely the [[Duchy of Normandy]], in the 10th century. In that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe. Likewise, King [[Harold Godwinson]], the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, had Danish ancestors. Two Vikings even ascended to the throne of England, with [[Sweyn Forkbeard]] claiming the English throne in 1013 until 1014 and his son [[Cnut the Great]] being king of England between 1016 and 1035.<ref name="Lund">Lund, Niels "The Danish Empire and the End of the Viking Age", in Sawyer, ''History of the Vikings'', pp. 167–81.</ref><ref>[http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensofEngland/TheAnglo-Saxonkings/Sweyn.aspx The Royal Household, "Sweyn"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129012256/http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensofEngland/TheAnglo-Saxonkings/Sweyn.aspx |date=29 November 2014 }}, ''The official Website of The British Monarchy'', 15 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015</ref><ref name="Lawson">Lawson, M K (2004). "Cnut: England's Viking King 1016–35". The History Press Ltd, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0582059702}}.</ref><ref>[http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensofEngland/TheAnglo-Saxonkings/CanutetheGreat.aspx The Royal Household, "Canute The Great"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129012257/http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensofEngland/TheAnglo-Saxonkings/CanutetheGreat.aspx |date=29 November 2014 }}, ''The official Website of The British Monarchy'', 15 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015</ref><ref name="Badsey et al.">Badsey, S. Nicolle, D, Turnbull, S (1999). "The Timechart of Military History". Worth Press Ltd, 2000, {{ISBN|1-903025-00-1}}.</ref>

Geographically, the Viking Age covered Scandinavian lands (modern [[Denmark]], [[Norway]] and Sweden), as well as territories under [[Germanic peoples|North Germanic]] dominance, mainly the [[Danelaw]], including Scandinavian York, the administrative centre of the remains of the Kingdom of [[Northumbria]],<ref>[http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/VikingNorthumbria.html "History of Northumbria: Viking era 866 AD–1066 AD"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730071112/http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/VikingNorthumbria.html |date=30 July 2013 }} www.englandnortheast.co.uk.</ref> parts of [[Mercia]], and [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglia]].<ref>Toyne, Stanley Mease. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yvGt8gfBlEIC&dq=Viking+Age+East+Anglia&pg=PA27 ''The Scandinavians in history''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101203825/https://books.google.com/books?id=yvGt8gfBlEIC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=Viking+Age+East+Anglia&source=bl&ots=chkBibhiGs&sig=NX79_9WHb2BL7ctaNdj1L1D93f8&hl=en&ei=f28eS-aUHovkswPr4v36CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CCkQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Viking%20Age%20East%20Anglia&f=false |date=1 January 2016 }} Pg.27. 1970.</ref> Viking navigators opened the road to new lands to the north, west and east, resulting in the foundation of independent settlements in the [[Shetland]], [[Orkney]], and Faroe Islands; Iceland; [[Greenland]];<ref>[http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/ The Fate of Greenland's Vikings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111090459/http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/ |date=11 January 2011 }}, by Dale Mackenzie Brown, ''Archaeological Institute of America'', 28 February 2000</ref> and [[L'Anse aux Meadows]], a short-lived settlement in [[Newfoundland]], circa 1000.<ref>{{cite journal|title= The Norse discovery of America|pmid=16331154|date=4 April 2012 |volume=57 |issue=6|journal=Neurosurgery |pages=1076–87; discussion 1076–87 |author=Langmoen IA|s2cid=37361794|doi=10.1227/01.neu.0000144825.92264.c4}}</ref> The Greenland settlement was established around 980, during the [[Medieval Warm Period]], and its demise by the mid-15th century may have been partly due to [[Climate variability and change|climate change]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/05/31/climate-change-froze-the-vikings-out-of-greenland-say-scientists/#.UV_rr1eSnlw|title=Climate change froze Vikings out of Greenland|last=Ross|first=Valerie|date=31 May 2011|work=Discover|publisher=Kalmback Publishing|access-date=6 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430232629/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/05/31/climate-change-froze-the-vikings-out-of-greenland-say-scientists/#.UV_rr1eSnlw|archive-date=30 April 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> The semi-legendary Viking [[Rurik]] is said to have taken control of [[Novgorod]] in 862, while his kinsman [[Oleg the Wise|Oleg]] captured [[Kiev]] in 882 and made it the capital of the [[Rus' people|Rus]].{{sfn|Hall|2007|p=96}} The [[Rurik dynasty]] would rule Russia until 1598.{{sfn|Hall|2007|p=96|loc="Rurik... reportedly settled in Novgorod... and founded the Ryurik dynasty, which ruled Russia until 1598... Although the story of Rurik is at best semi-legendary, the region's links with Scandinavia are confirmed by
archaeological evidence"}}

As early as 839, when Swedish emissaries are first known to have visited [[Byzantium]], Scandinavians served as mercenaries in the service of the [[Byzantine Empire]].<ref>Hall, p. 98</ref> In the late 10th century, a new unit of the imperial bodyguard formed. Traditionally containing large numbers of Scandinavians, it was known as the [[Varangian]] Guard. The word ''Varangian'' may have originated in Old Norse, but in Slavic and Greek it could refer either to Scandinavians or Franks. In these years, [[Swedish people|Swedish]] men left to enlist in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in such numbers that a medieval Swedish law, the ''[[Västgötalagen]]'', from [[Västergötland]] declared no-one could inherit while staying in "Greece"—the then Scandinavian term for the Byzantine Empire—to stop the emigration,<ref>Jansson 1980:22</ref> especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians:<ref name="Pritsak386">Pritsak 1981:386</ref> Kievan Rus' {{Circa|980–1060}} and London 1018–1066 (the [[Þingalið]]).<ref name="Pritsak386"/>

There is archaeological evidence that Vikings reached [[Baghdad]], the centre of the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Islamic Empire]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0217_040217_vikings.html |title=Vikings' Barbaric Bad Rap Beginning to Fade |work=National Geographic |date=28 October 2010 |access-date=21 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514031909/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0217_040217_vikings.html |archive-date=14 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Norse regularly plied the [[Volga]] with their trade goods: furs, tusks, seal fat for boat sealant, and [[slaves]]. Important trading ports during the period include [[Birka]], [[Hedeby]], [[Kaupang]], [[Jorvik]], [[Staraya Ladoga]], [[Novgorod]], and Kiev.

Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonisation, and conquest. In this period, voyaging from their homelands in Denmark, Norway and Sweden the Norsemen settled in the present-day [[History of the Faroe Islands|Faroe Islands]], [[Settlement of Iceland|Iceland]], [[Norse Greenland]], [[Norse colonization of the Americas|Newfoundland]], [[Netherlands|the Netherlands]], Germany, [[Normandy]], Italy, [[Scandinavian Scotland|Scotland]], England, [[Wales]], Ireland, the [[Isle of Man]], [[Viking Age in Estonia|Estonia]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]],<ref>Butrimas, Adomas. [https://etalpykla.lituanistika.lt/object/LT-LDB-0001:J.04~2003~1593455293623/J.04~2003~1593455293623.pdf "Dešiniajame Savo Krante Svebų Jūra Skalauja Aisčių Gentis..."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806103215/https://etalpykla.lituanistika.lt/object/LT-LDB-0001:J.04~2003~1593455293623/J.04~2003~1593455293623.pdf |date=6 August 2023 }} ''Lietuva iki Mindaugo'' [''Lithuania Before Mindaugas''] (in Lithuanian). 2003, p. 136. [[:lt:Specialus:Knygų šaltiniai/9986571898|ISBN 9986571898]].</ref> [[Ukraine]], Russia and Turkey, as well as initiating the consolidation that resulted in the formation of the present-day Scandinavian countries.

In the Viking Age, the present-day nations of Norway, Sweden and Denmark did not exist, but the peoples who lived in what is now those countries were largely homogeneous and similar in culture and language, although somewhat distinct geographically. The names of Scandinavian kings are reliably known for only the later part of the Viking Age. After the end of the Viking Age, the separate kingdoms gradually acquired distinct identities as nations, which went hand-in-hand with their [[Christianisation]]. Thus, the end of the Viking Age for the Scandinavians also marks the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

====Intermixing with the Slavs====
Slavic and Viking tribes were "closely linked, fighting one another, intermixing and trading".<ref name="Smithsonian mag"/>{{sfn|Barford|2001|pp=89–90}}<ref name="University of Nottingham">{{cite web|last1=Radziwillowicz|first1=Natalia|title=Considering the connections between Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast in the 10th −11th Centuries|url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/documents/innervate/16-17/3.-radziwillowicz-n-q33408-dissertation.pdf|date=2007|publisher=[[University of Nottingham]]|location=Nottingham, England, UK|page=|isbn=|access-date=17 January 2021|archive-date=22 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122052625/https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/documents/innervate/16-17/3.-radziwillowicz-n-q33408-dissertation.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> In the Middle Ages, goods were transferred from Slavic areas to Scandinavia, and Denmark could be considered "a melting pot of Slavic and Scandinavian elements".<ref name="Smithsonian mag"/> Leszek Gardeła, of the Department of Scandinavian Languages and Literatures at the University of Bonn, posits that the presence of Slavs in Scandinavia is "more significant than previously thought",<ref name="Smithsonian mag"/> while Mats Roslund states that "the  Slavs and their interaction with Scandinavia have not been adequately investigated".<ref name="Roslund2007">{{cite book |last1=Roslund |first1=Mats |title=Guests in the House: Cultural Transmission between Slavs and Scandinavians 900 to 1300 AD |year=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-2185-6 |page=469 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1POvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA469 |access-date=12 February 2023 |archive-date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212154738/https://books.google.com/books?id=1POvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA469 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A 10th-century grave of a female warrior in Denmark was long thought to belong to a Viking. A 2019 analysis suggested the woman may have been a Slav from present-day Poland.<ref name="Smithsonian mag">{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/viking-woman-warrior-was-actually-poland-180972739/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117132710/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/viking-woman-warrior-was-actually-poland-180972739/|archive-date=17 January 2021|url-status=live|title=Viking Woman Warrior May Have Been Slavic |publisher= [[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |access-date=17 January 2021}}</ref> The first king of the Swedes, [[Eric the Victorious|Eric]], was married to [[Gunhild of Wenden|Gunhild]], of the Polish [[House of Piast]].<ref name="Olaf Britannica">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Olaf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117140527/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Olaf|archive-date=17 January 2021|url-status=dead|title=Olaf|publisher=[[Britannica]]|access-date=17 January 2021}}</ref> Likewise, his son, [[Olof Skötkonung|Olof]], fell in love with [[Edla]], a Slavic woman, and took her as his ''[[:sv:Frilla|frilla]]'' (concubine).<ref name="Lindqvist">{{cite book|last1=Lindqvist|first1=Herman|title=Historien om alla Sveriges drottningar: från myt och helgon till drottning i tiden|url=https://brill.com/view/book/9789047421856/Bej.9789004161894.i-557_006.xml|date=2006|publisher=[[Norstedts förlag|Norstedt]]; [[University of Wisconsin]]|location=|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=eesnAQAAMAAJ&q=Edla 24; 35; 536]|isbn=9113015249|access-date=17 January 2021|archive-date=2 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602012418/https://brill.com/view/book/9789047421856/Bej.9789004161894.i-557_006.xml|url-status=live}}</ref> They had a son and a daughter: [[Emund the Old]], King of Sweden, and [[Astrid Olofsdotter of Sweden|Astrid]], Queen of Norway. [[Cnut the Great]], King of Denmark, England and Norway, was the son of a daughter of [[Mieszko I of Poland]],<ref name="Cnut Britannica">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Canute-I|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117155542/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Canute-I|archive-date=17 January 2021|url-status=dead|title=Canute (I) king of England, Denmark, and Norway|publisher=[[Britannica]]|access-date=17 January 2021}}</ref> possibly the former Polish queen of Sweden, wife of Eric.

===Expansion===
{{Main|Viking expansion}}
[[File:Vikings-Voyages.png|thumb|Viking expeditions (blue line):  depicting the immense breadth of their voyages through most of Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Northern Africa, [[Asia Minor]], the Arctic, and North America. [[Lower Normandy]], depicted as a "Viking territory in 911", was not part of the lands granted by the king of the Franks to [[Rollo]] in 911, but [[Upper Normandy]].]]
[[File:Nicholas Roerich, Guests from Overseas (corrected colour).jpg|thumb|250px|''Guests from Overseas'' (1901) by [[Nicholas Roerich]], depicting a [[Varangian]] raid]]

Colonisation of Iceland by Norwegian Vikings began in the 9th century. The first source mentioning Iceland and Greenland is a papal letter from 1053. Twenty years later, they appear in the ''Gesta'' of [[Adam of Bremen]]. It was not until after 1130, when the islands had become Christianised, that accounts of the history of the islands were written from the point of view of the inhabitants in sagas and chronicles.<ref>Sawyer, ''History of the Vikings'', pp. 110, 114</ref> The Vikings explored the northern islands and coasts of the North Atlantic, ventured south to North Africa, and brought slaves from the Baltic coast and European Russia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rodin.uca.es:8081/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10498/7881/18385953.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Los vikingos en Al-Andalus (abstract available in English) |publisher=Jesús Riosalido |year=1997 |access-date=11 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718171837/http://rodin.uca.es:8081/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10498/7881/18385953.pdf?sequence=1 |archive-date=18 July 2011}}</ref>{{sfn|Hall|2007|p=25}}

They raided and pillaged, traded, acted as mercenaries and settled colonies over a wide area.<ref>John Haywood: ''Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings'', Penguin (1996). Detailed maps of Viking settlements in Scotland, Ireland, England, Iceland and Normandy.</ref> Early Vikings probably returned home after their raids. Later in their history, they began to settle in other lands.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wNOt9BJh080C&q=vikings+ph+sawyer&pg=PR1|title=Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe AD 700–1100|last=Sawyer|first=P. H.|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1134947775|language=en|access-date=29 October 2020|archive-date=14 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414031015/https://books.google.com/books?id=wNOt9BJh080C&q=vikings+ph+sawyer&pg=PR1|url-status=live}}</ref> Vikings under [[Leif Ericson|Leif Erikson]], heir to [[Erik the Red]], reached North America and set up short-lived settlements in present-day [[L'Anse aux Meadows]], Newfoundland, Canada. This expansion occurred during the [[Medieval Warm Period]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Haine|first=Thomas|date=1 March 2008|title=What did the Viking discoverers of America know of the North Atlantic Environment?|journal=Weather|language=en|volume=63|issue=3|pages=60–65|doi=10.1002/wea.150|issn=1477-8696|bibcode=2008Wthr...63...60H|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Viking expansion into continental Europe was limited. Their realm was bordered by powerful tribes to the south. Early on, it was the [[Saxons]] who occupied [[Old Saxony]], located in what is now Northern Germany. The Saxons were a fierce and powerful people and were often in conflict with the Vikings. To counter the Saxon aggression and solidify their own presence, the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]] constructed the huge defence fortification of [[Danevirke]] in and around [[Hedeby]].<ref name="Haywood2006">{{cite book |last1=Haywood |first1=John |title=Dark Age Naval Power: A Reassessment of Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Seafaring Activity |date=2006 |publisher=Anglo-Saxon Books |isbn=978-1-898281-43-6 |pages=170–171 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dus9AQAAIAAJ&q=%22Danevirke%22 |access-date=12 February 2023 |archive-date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212185651/https://books.google.com/books?id=dus9AQAAIAAJ&q=%22Danevirke%22 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Vikings witnessed the violent subduing of the Saxons by [[Charlemagne]], in the thirty-year [[Saxon Wars]] of 772–804. The Saxon defeat resulted in their forced christening and the absorption of Old Saxony into the [[Carolingian Empire]]. Fear of the [[Franks]] led the Vikings to further expand Danevirke,<ref name="Haywood2006" /> and the defence constructions remained in use throughout the Viking Age and even up until 1864.<ref name="Kold2014">{{cite web |url = http://danmarkshistorien.dk/leksikon-og-kilder/vis/materiale/dannevirke/ |title = Dannevirke |language = da |website = danmarkshistorien.dk |publisher = Aarhus University |last1=Kold |first1=Lotte Flugt |date = 3 November 2014 |access-date = 20 December 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061819/http://danmarkshistorien.dk/leksikon-og-kilder/vis/materiale/dannevirke/ |archive-date = 4 March 2016 |url-status = live |quote=Senest i krigen 1864 (2. Slesvigske Krig) fungerede Dannevirke som forsvarsværk, og fortidsmindet har en nærmest mytisk rolle i Danmarks historie." English: "Dannevirke last functioned as a defensive structure in the 1864 [[Second Schleswig War]]; this ancient structure has an almost mythical role in Denmark's history.}}</ref>

The southern coast of the Baltic Sea was ruled by the [[Obotrites]], a federation of Slavic tribes loyal to the Carolingians and later the [[Frankish empire]]. The Vikings—led by [[King Gudfred]]—destroyed the Obotrite city of [[Reric]] on the southern Baltic coast in 808 AD and transferred the merchants and traders to Hedeby.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Näsman|first=Ulf|date=1 November 2000|title=Raids, Migrations, and Kingdoms|journal=Acta Archaeologica|language=en|volume=71|issue=1|pages=1–7|doi=10.1034/j.1600-0390.2000.d01-1.x|s2cid=162638243 |issn=1600-0390}}</ref> This secured Viking supremacy in the Baltic Sea, which continued throughout the Viking Age.

Because of the expansion of the Vikings across Europe, a comparison of [[DNA]] and archeology undertaken by scientists at the [[University of Cambridge]] and [[University of Copenhagen]] suggested that the term "Viking" may have evolved to become "a job description, not a matter of heredity", at least in some Viking bands.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Curry|first1=Andrew|date=16 September 2020|title='Viking' was a job description, not a matter of heredity, massive ancient DNA study shows|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/viking-was-job-description-not-matter-heredity-massive-ancient-dna-study-shows|access-date=16 September 2020|website=Science {{!}} AAAS|language=en|archive-date=15 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211015230053/https://www.science.org/content/article/viking-was-job-description-not-matter-heredity-massive-ancient-dna-study-shows|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Motives====
The motives driving the Viking expansion are a topic of much debate. The concept that Vikings may have originally started sailing and raiding due to a need to seek out women from foreign lands was expressed in the 11th century by historian [[Dudo of Saint-Quentin]] in his semi-imaginary ''History of The Normans''.<ref name="Wyatt2009">{{cite book|author=David R. Wyatt|title=Slaves and Warriors in Medieval Britain and Ireland: 800–1200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RWJGynaKSkkC&pg=PA124|year=2009|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-17533-4|page=124|access-date=11 August 2019|archive-date=14 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414031011/https://books.google.com/books?id=RWJGynaKSkkC&pg=PA124|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Sfn|Choi|2016}}<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/12/151228-vikings-slaves-thralls-norse-scandinavia-archaeology/|title=Kinder, Gentler Vikings? Not According to Their Slaves|date=28 December 2015|website=National Geographic News|access-date=2 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802035726/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/12/151228-vikings-slaves-thralls-norse-scandinavia-archaeology/|archive-date=2 August 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> As observed by Adam of Bremen, rich and powerful Viking men tended to have many wives and concubines;<ref name="RaffieldPriceCollard2017a">{{cite journal |last1=Raffield |first1=Ben |last2=Price |first2=Neil |last3=Collard |first3=Mark |title=Polygyny, Concubinage, and the Social Lives of Women in Viking-Age Scandinavia |journal=Viking and Medieval Scandinavia |date=January 2017 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=176–177 |doi=10.1484/J.VMS.5.114355 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323982646}}</ref> and these [[Polygyny|polygynous]] relationships may have led to a shortage of  women available to the Viking male. Consequently, the average Viking man may have felt compelled to seek wealth and power to have the means to acquire suitable women.<ref name="Barrett2008">{{cite journal |last1=Barrett |first1=James H. |title=What caused the Viking Age? |journal=Antiquity |date=September 2008 |volume=82 |issue=317 |pages=680–681 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00097301 |s2cid=59363335 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/9AAD157E488AF39555B64D3529944D43/S0003598X00097301a.pdf/what-caused-the-viking-age.pdf |issn=0003-598X |access-date=13 February 2023 |archive-date=13 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213024148/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/9AAD157E488AF39555B64D3529944D43/S0003598X00097301a.pdf/what-caused-the-viking-age.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Several centuries after Dudo's observations, scholars revived this idea, and over time it became a cliché among scholars of the Viking Age.<ref name="RaffieldPriceCollard2017">{{cite journal |last1=Raffield |first1=Ben |last2=Price |first2=Neil |last3=Collard |first3=Mark |title=Male-biased operational sex ratios and the Viking phenomenon: an evolutionary anthropological perspective on Late Iron Age Scandinavian raiding |journal=Evolution and Human Behavior |date=1 May 2017 |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=315 |doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.10.013 |bibcode=2017EHumB..38..315R |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513816303075 |language=en |issn=1090-5138 |access-date=12 February 2023 |archive-date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212215203/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513816303075 |url-status=live |hdl=2164/8759 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Viking men would often buy or capture women and make them into their wives or concubines;<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Karras|first=Ruth Mazo|year=1990|journal=Scandinavian Studies|volume=62|issue=2|pages=141–162|issn=0036-5637|jstor=40919117|title=Concubinage and Slavery in the Viking Age}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Poser|first=Charles M.|year=1994|title=The dissemination of multiple sclerosis: A Viking saga? A historical essay|journal=Annals of Neurology|language=en|volume=36|issue=S2|pages=S231–S243|doi=10.1002/ana.410360810|pmid=7998792|s2cid=36410898|issn=1531-8249}}</ref> such polygynous marriages increase [[male-male competition]] in society because they create a pool of unmarried men who are willing to engage in risky status-elevating and sex-seeking behaviors.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Raffield|first1=Ben|last2=Price|first2=Neil|last3=Collard|first3=Mark|date=1 May 2017|title=Male-biased operational sex ratios and the Viking phenomenon: an evolutionary anthropological perspective on Late Iron Age Scandinavian raiding|journal=Evolution and Human Behavior|volume=38|issue=3|pages=315–24|doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.10.013|issn=1090-5138|doi-access=free|bibcode=2017EHumB..38..315R |hdl=2164/8759|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/vikings-may-have-first-taken-seas-find-women-slaves|title=Vikings may have first taken to seas to find women, slaves|date=13 April 2016|website=Science {{!}} AAAS|language=en|access-date=19 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727122934/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/vikings-may-have-first-taken-seas-find-women-slaves|archive-date=27 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''[[Annals of Ulster]]'' states that in 821 the Vikings plundered an Irish village and "carried off a great number of women into captivity".<ref name="DolfiniCrellin2018">{{cite book|author1=Andrea Dolfini|author2=Rachel J. Crellin|author3=Christian Horn|author4=Marion Uckelmann|title=Prehistoric Warfare and Violence: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8e1lDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA349|year=2018|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-78828-9|page=349|access-date=11 August 2019|archive-date=14 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414031027/https://books.google.com/books?id=8e1lDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA349|url-status=live}}</ref>

One common theory posits that Charlemagne "used force and terror to Christianise all pagans", leading to baptism, conversion or execution, and as a result, Vikings and other pagans resisted and wanted revenge.<ref name="Simek2004">{{cite book |last1=Simek |first1=Rudolf |editor1-last=Simek |editor1-first=Rudolf |editor2-last=Engel |editor2-first=Ulrike |title=Vikings on the Rhine: Recent Research on Early Medieval Relations Between the Rhinelands and Scandinavia {{!}} Volume 11 of Studia medievalia Septentrionalia |year=2004 |publisher=Fassbaender |location=Vienna |isbn=978-3-900538-83-5 |pages=24–25 |chapter-url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55887913 |chapter=The Emergence of the Viking Age: Reasons and Triggers|oclc=55887913 }}</ref><ref>Bruno Dumézil, master of Conference at Paris X-Nanterre, Normalien, aggregated history, author of conversion and freedom in the barbarian kingdoms. 5th–8th centuries (Fayard, 2005)</ref><ref name="annals R.20">"Franques Royal Annals" cited in Sawyer, ''History of the Vikings'', p. 20</ref><ref>Dictionnaire d'histoire de France, Perrin, Alain Decaux and André Castelot, 1981, pp. 184–85. {{ISBN|2-7242-3080-9}}.</ref><ref>"the Vikings" R. Boyer history, myths, dictionary, Robert Laffont several 2008, p. 96 {{ISBN|978-2-221-10631-0}}</ref> Professor [[Rudolf Simek]] states that "it is not a coincidence if the early Viking activity occurred during the reign of Charlemagne".<ref name="Simek2004" /><ref>[[François-Xavier Dillmann]], "Viking civilisation and culture. A bibliography of French-language", Caen, Centre for research on the countries of the North and Northwest, University of Caen, 1975, p.&nbsp;19, and "Les Vikings: the Scandinavian and European 800–1200", 22nd exhibition of art from the Council of Europe, 1992, p.&nbsp;26</ref> The ascendance of Christianity in Scandinavia led to serious conflict, dividing Norway for almost a century. However, this time period did not commence until the 10th century. Norway was never subject to aggression by Charlemagne and the period of strife was due to successive Norwegian kings embracing Christianity after encountering it overseas.<ref>"History of the Kings of Norway" by Snorri Sturlusson translated by Professor of History François-Xavier Dillmann, Gallimard {{ISBN|2-07-073211-8}} pp.&nbsp;15–16, 18, 24, 33–34, 38</ref>

[[File:Viking towns of Scandinavia 2.jpg|thumb|Viking-era towns of Scandinavia]]
Another explanation is that the Vikings exploited a moment of weakness in the surrounding regions. Contrary to Simek's assertion, Viking raids occurred sporadically long before the reign of Charlemagne; but exploded in frequency and size after his death, when his empire fragmented into multiple much weaker entities.<ref name="Viking expeditions and raids">{{cite web |url=http://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/expeditions-and-raids/ |title=Viking expeditions and raids |publisher=National Museum of Denmark |access-date=20 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318172137/http://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/expeditions-and-raids/ |archive-date=18 March 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> England suffered from internal divisions and was a relatively easy prey given the proximity of many towns to the sea or to navigable rivers. Lack of organised naval opposition throughout Western Europe allowed Viking ships to travel freely, raiding or trading as opportunity permitted. The decline in the profitability of old [[trade route]]s could also have played a role. Trade between Western Europe and the rest of Eurasia suffered a severe blow when the [[Western Roman Empire]] fell in the 5th century.<ref>{{cite web |last=Macauley Richardson |first=Lloyd |url=http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/72831997.html |title=Books: Eurasian Exploration |work=Policy Review |publisher=Hoover Institution |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091216043007/http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/72831997.html |archive-date=16 December 2009}}</ref> The [[Spread of Islam|expansion of Islam]] in the 7th century had also affected trade with Western Europe.<ref>Crone, Patricia. [https://books.google.com/books?id=VWL-_hRsm2IC&q=Islam+trade+Western+Europe+7th+century ''Meccan trade and the rise of Islam''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101203825/https://books.google.com/books?id=VWL-_hRsm2IC&dq=Islam+trade+Western+Europe+7th+century&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=x3QeS57kBo7ysQPZmvX9CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=11&ved=0CDAQ6AEwCg |date=1 January 2016 }}. First Georgias Press. 2004.</ref>

Raids in Europe, including raids and settlements from Scandinavia, were not unprecedented and had occurred long before the Vikings arrived. The [[Jutes]] invaded the British Isles three centuries earlier, from [[Jutland]] during the [[Age of Migrations]], before the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]] settled there. The [[Saxons]] and the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] did the same, embarking from mainland Europe. The Viking raids were, however, the first to be documented by eyewitnesses, and they were much larger in scale and frequency than in previous times.<ref name="Viking expeditions and raids"/>

Vikings themselves were expanding; although their motives are unclear, historians believe that scarce resources or a lack of mating opportunities were a factor.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Vikings : a very short introduction|last=Richards|first=J.D.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|location=New York|pages=50}}</ref>

The slave trade was an important part of the Viking economy, with most slaves destined to Scandinavia, although many others were shipped east where they could be sold for large profits.{{sfn|Frankopan|2015|pages=117–118}} The "Highway of Slaves" was a term for a route that the Vikings found to have a direct pathway from Scandinavia to Constantinople and Baghdad while travelling on the Baltic Sea. With the advancements of their ships during the 9th century, the Vikings were able to sail to Kievan Rus and some northern parts of Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Worlds Together Worlds Apart Volume One: Beginnings Through the 15th Century |last1=Tignor |last2=Adelman |last3=Brown |last4=Elman |last5=Liu |last6=Pittman |last7=Shaw|publisher=Norton|location=London|pages=352 |edition=Fourth}}</ref>

====Jomsborg====
[[File:The Curmsun Disc - Obverse.png|thumb|[[Curmsun Disc]] – obverse, Jomsborg, 980s]]

[[Jomsborg]] was a semi-legendary Viking stronghold at the southern coast of the [[Baltic Sea]] (medieval [[Wends|Wendland]], modern [[Pomerania]]), that existed between the 960s and 1043. Its inhabitants were known as [[Jomsvikings]]. Jomsborg's exact location, or its existence, has not yet been established, though it is often maintained that Jomsborg was somewhere on the islands of the [[Oder]] estuary.<ref>[[T. D. Kendrick]], ''A History of the Vikings'', Courier Dover Publications, 2004, pp. 179ff, {{ISBN|978-0-486-43396-7}}</ref>

===End of the Viking Age===
While the Vikings were active beyond their Scandinavian homelands, Scandinavia was itself experiencing new influences and undergoing a variety of cultural changes.<ref>Roesdahl, pp. 295–97</ref>

==== Emergence of nation-states and monetary economies ====
By the late 11th century, royal dynasties were legitimised by the [[Catholic Church]] (which had had little influence in Scandinavia 300 years earlier) which were asserting their power with increasing authority and ambition, with the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden taking shape. Towns appeared that functioned as secular and ecclesiastical administrative centres and market sites, and monetary economies began to emerge based on English and German models.<ref>Gareth Williams, "Kingship, Christianity and coinage: monetary and political perspectives on silver economy in the Viking Age", in ''Silver Economy in the Viking Age'', ed. [[James Graham-Campbell]] and Gareth Williams, pp.&nbsp;177–214; {{ISBN|978-1-59874-222-0}}</ref> By this time the influx of Islamic silver from the East had been absent for more than a century, and the flow of English silver had come to an end in the mid-11th century.<ref>Roesdahl, p. 296</ref>

==== Assimilation into Christendom ====
[[Christianization of Scandinavia|Christianity had taken root]] in Denmark and Norway with the establishment of dioceses in the 11th century, and the new religion was beginning to organise and assert itself more effectively in Sweden. Foreign churchmen and native elites were energetic in furthering the interests of Christianity, which was now no longer operating only on a missionary footing, and old ideologies and lifestyles were transforming. By 1103, the first archbishopric was founded in Scandinavia, at [[Lund]], Scania, then part of Denmark.

The assimilation of the nascent Scandinavian kingdoms into the cultural mainstream of European [[Christendom]] altered the aspirations of Scandinavian rulers and of Scandinavians able to travel overseas, and changed their relations with their neighbours.

One of the primary sources of profit for the Vikings had been slave-taking from other European peoples. The medieval Church held that Christians should not own fellow Christians as slaves, so [[chattel slavery]] diminished as a practice throughout northern Europe. This took much of the economic incentive out of raiding, though sporadic slaving activity continued into the 11th century. Scandinavian predation in Christian lands around the North and Irish Seas diminished markedly.

The kings of Norway continued to assert power in parts of northern Britain and Ireland, and raids continued into the 12th century, but the military ambitions of Scandinavian rulers were now directed toward new paths. In 1107, [[Sigurd I of Norway]] sailed for the eastern Mediterranean with Norwegian crusaders to fight for the newly established [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]]; the kings of Denmark and Sweden participated actively in the [[Baltic Crusades]] of the 12th and 13th centuries.<ref>The Northern Crusades: Second Edition by Eric Christiansen; {{ISBN|0-14-026653-4}}</ref>