A rather peculiar civilization - Meet the Vikings
In Virtual Variety we love to learn, we love to investigate and share what we know, that's why we are lovers of History, because with it we learn from the past, without it we are lost. That is why we see it necessary to know about a civilization that changed the course of European History and the world, today these characters are remembered by some people as: "savages, violent, barbarians". Among other things, however you will be the judge of who the Vikings really were.
Who were the Vikings?
The truth is that they were several things: Warriors, Traders, Farmers, among other things, their origin goes back to the Germanic peoples, those who fought against the feared Romans, for that reason we see many similarities in their culture, and actions in and out of the battlefield. These were located in northern Europe, to be exact in the region of Scandinavia, this region consists of three countries: Sweden, Denmark and Norway. It should be noted that in these places the climatic conditions are extreme, compared to others in Europe where the land is favorable for agriculture without much problem, in Scandinavia everything changes completely. Although they began as a quiet and sedentary people, everything was changing, in the VIII century after Christ, its population began to grow in a vertiginous way, creating an overpopulation bringing with it as consequences, famine, due to the scarcity of the few foods that they could obtain.
Due to this terrible problem, poverty visited the largest Viking population in Norway, many young people did not know what to do and for this reason many decided to leave the field to join the war and it was in the year 793 AD when they arrived in northern Britain and sacked the monastery of Lindisfarne, as this assault was successful, they saw this as a divine sign from the Gods to continue plundering faraway places, and thus bring wealth home and that none of their own died of hunger.
What was the Viking Society like?
Although some people make them look like savages, as violent, or ruthless warriors, the Viking society turns out to be very different from how they are not told in the movies, as curious as it may seem, women had an important role unlike other civilizations such as the Romans, in the Viking women had the right to divorce and keep half of the belongings of their husbands, they had the right to be educated and if any wanted to could fight, although there are few historical evidence where we can corroborate this data, because women were not treated as an object. And all this is because women assumed the role of men when they went to loot other places or on exploration trips, they stayed for months alone, in charge of farms or houses, watching over the upbringing of their children, caring for the animals and other things. Something curious is that many women were allowed to have a lover if their beloved lasted long at sea, very open minded these people, the truth is that there was a quite considerable respect for women, they could even inherit land and possessions if her husband died.
In the movies we see that the Vikings were dirty, smelly, however the reality is different, according to some historical articles, these bathed every Saturday, even cut their hair, and cleaned their ears, to be as clean as possible, both men and women, although they could not read or write, they were dedicated to kidnapping monks, who served as scribes to tell their experiences. It should be noted that the Vikings were divided into groups that dominated small states or territories throughout the Scandinavian region, each of these states were composed of nobles, free men, free women and slaves. It is curious to mention, but the free people, could dedicate themselves to many things, from being merchants (these mostly settled on the coasts), to great warriors, the slaves were mostly soldiers or people from other places, these in turn were captured in battles, although it is also known that some Vikings who could not pay their debts, were punished with slavery, mostly slaves were responsible for helping in the houses, farms and workshops, practically were the servants and if anyone had a child, this was also born with that condition. The noble Vikings were those who fulfilled certain characteristics among them: "To possess a great fortune or to be descendant of a great warrior", those who belonged to the nobility, had the opportunity to become Chief of some territory or community.
Were there several groups of Vikings?
The truth is that yes, we speak of the Vikings to encompass and not confuse the readers, however there were 3 types of Vikings:
The Danes - Undoubtedly one of the most fortunate, numerous and best organized groups, their geographical location helped them to control in the best way the trade routes of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, thanks to all their skills and military organization they undertook great conquests throughout the West.
The Norwegians - Dedicated only to trade, they were in charge of patrolling the North Sea, however these great characters used an invention that changed the life of the entire Viking Civilization, the famous Drakkars (Viking ships, light and very fast, specialized to transport military troops, civilians and settlers). Thanks to the use they made of this transport they achieved a unique feat, 400 years before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas, the Norwegians had already set foot on American territory, exactly in Canada. In short they were in charge of conquering different lands, they risked beyond their limits.
The Swedes - They acted in a different way from the other groups, unlike the Danes who were in charge of controlling commercial routes, having a great military power and the Norwegians, they focused on using the rivers to their advantage, to enter Eastern Europe, they dared to reach Constantinople and were in charge of founding the Kievan Rus (Federation of Slavic Tribes), in this way they formed a kind of Feudal Monarchy.
What was their religion?
Unlike what we see today as religion, following a God, asking him for our life, for our health, the Vikings were moved more by interest than by the same faith, they were polytheists (they believed in several Gods), and their faith was based on giving to receive, they asked different favors to their Gods in exchange for some sacrifices, prayers, and even offerings, to please him, among the Gods that they believed we have:
Odin - For them this was the King of all Gods and father of everything in the world, he was respected and most of the Warriors a few minutes before going to battle they entrusted to him and not so much to win that fight, but to die with dignity and be reunited with all the Gods.
Frigg - Goddess of Motherhood and Marriage, all young couples entrusted themselves to her to have a beautiful and happy marriage and that she would grant them the joy of having strong and healthy children. Something curious is that this Deity was Odin's wife.
Thor - To be a good Viking warrior you needed strength, cunning and great strength, so many turned to the great Thor, the favorite son of Odin, God of Thunder and Strength.
Apart from these curious Gods, they believed in Heimdall (Odin's jaded son - God of Light and Protector of the World), Freyja (Goddess of Love and Beauty), Freyr (God of Fertility, Rain and the Rising Sun), Loki (For us evil is represented by Satan or the Devil, for the Vikings this God was the one in charge of the Case and the Lie, an enemy of Odin who was constantly seeking to destroy him). For the Catholics, there is life after death, because the "Beyond" is the space where we can all meet with those loved ones who departed before us and with God himself, however something like that thought the Vikings, for them that "Beyond", was called Valhalla, the paradise where they ate, drank and enjoyed the company of all their Gods.
Something that really calls the attention, is that in the Viking tribes or villages, there were no big temples or priests to perform any mass, or to worship some of these Gods, on the contrary, each one of them paid tribute in their houses, where they built some altars, and it is there where they asked for some favor. Instead of a priest, they had a kind of fortune teller, who was in charge of predicting the future and the fate of those great battles or harvests, for this they sacrificed some animal, where they watched carefully if this peculiar character gave a good omen or if something bad was coming for the entire population. For the Vikings hell was not hot, nor full of fire, but a cold place.
What was its end?
The great majority of the Vikings understood that they could not spend their lives plundering and killing people, because if they were getting great wealth, but also great enemies, at the end of the eleventh century in England the Norwegian King Harald the Merciless was defeated by the Saxons, while this happened in Scandinavia many of their territories were Christianized, bringing as a result the union of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, these in turn sought ways to trade with other kingdoms of Europe without any problem and keep the peace, leaving aside that violent past, little by little the Vikings were "disappearing from the historical radar", however its people continued to retain part of their culture, as they settled in different parts of Europe, and some dare to say that even in America.
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