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Going back to the first viking raids; who were these particular vikings? they couldn't have been rather peaceful farmers like some sources suggest. They had to have had previous experiences with violence and killing---so who were they?
If you read some history on the topic, you will find that the Vikings spent most of their time making a living on the homestead. Farming. Hunting. Gathering.
Violence? Yup. You are right. There was violence every day. They killed critters to eat. Critters sometimes killed them, or killed their animals. It was a wolf eat dog world.
Sometimes they went out trading, and sometimes they went out pirating, enslaving, all that. And sometimes they went out because they needed land to farm, and there wasn't any at home. Mom and Dad and all the family already had the homeplace, for sure, and there wasn't any room for junior to raise a family.
"the first" is a somewhat ambiguous question.
i can assure you there are no specific records of "the first".
it would be unlikely they were connected to a leader of repute.
Firstly, the Vikings did not have horned helmets, and the Pagan world they represented was coming to an end ( It ended in Britain), they deliberately targeted the religious houses of England and soft coastal towns, but when they faced the first organised British/Saxon army they lost, Alfred slaughtered them at Edington. The Vikings knew that they met their match in England/Ireland and their leaders renounced Paganism, as had the Saxons and the Celts prior to that. Pre 1066 Danish/Norse became farmers in the East and North East of England and South-Scotland, though they didn't inter-marry with the Britons.
Yeahhhh.... So I am a "peaceful farmer" then all at a sudden I get berserker mindset, build a kogg and go on bloody rampage across the world, killing and plundering anything I meet in my ways?
You actually saw a "peaceful farmer" in real life? those are about the most gullible folks you'll ever meet.
The Vikings went east, too. There are some interesting contemporary Arab and Persian narratives of encounters with the Rus while on trading missions. The Rus were essentially "landlubber" or river Norsemen (by most accounts) who established Kievan Rus and exerted control over an area from near the Black Sea northward to Lapland. There is a debate about where they came from and who they actually were. Their domination lasted until the Mongol invasion. They seemed to be an unruly bunch and took stuff from their neighbors, including slaves and livestock -- sometimes by trade. Artifacts of the Kievan Rus (tools, weapons, crosses and decorations) resemble Viking artifacts. Western Europeans at the time considered them to be cousins to the Danes and Swedes.
Yeahhhh.... So I am a "peaceful farmer" then all at a sudden I get berserker mindset, build a kogg and go on bloody rampage across the world, killing and plundering anything I meet in my ways?
You actually saw a "peaceful farmer" in real life? those are about the most gullible folks you'll ever meet.
All societies, everywhere, were violent back then. At least, by our standards today. When at home, the "Vikings" were generally peaceful. But life was demanding. They were no more violent than their neighbors. Everybody back then had to fight - or to have somebody to fight for them. Just the way of life.
This quote:
Quote:
So I am a "peaceful farmer" then all at a sudden I get berserker mindset, build a kogg and go on bloody rampage across the world, killing and plundering anything I meet in my ways?
shows a complete misunderstanding and lack of knowledge about the times and the people. Berserkers were a battle technique - not something that happened any extended time.
At home, they were peaceful. When profit promised, in plunder, land, or fame, sometimes they went out to get it. To them, there was no dichotomy. When you fought, you fought hard, so you would win. You didn't normally go around fighting, because fighting is risky. So mostly, you don't fight.
If you read some history on the topic, you will find that the Vikings spent most of their time making a living on the homestead. Farming. Hunting. Gathering.
Violence? Yup. You are right. There was violence every day. They killed critters to eat. Critters sometimes killed them, or killed their animals. It was a wolf eat dog world.
Sometimes they went out trading, and sometimes they went out pirating, enslaving, all that. And sometimes they went out because they needed land to farm, and there wasn't any at home. Mom and Dad and all the family already had the homeplace, for sure, and there wasn't any room for junior to raise a family.
They really hit the jackpot in Russia, if they were looking for farmland. But they were mainly seeking trade routes as far as the rivers would take them, which ended up being Constantinople. And they just happened to found the first Russian state (or Ukrainian, depending on which historians you listen to) in the process.
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