5 myths about Vikings that everyone believes - Stephanie H. Smith

Ah, yes: the Viking Age. When medieval horn-helmeted Scandinavian men ravaged Europe, scribbling mysterious runes and toasting their victories in goblets forged from enemy skulls before bidding farewell in fiery funerals.

Except, that’s not quite how it went... It’s unclear where the word “Viking” came from, but in Old Norse it apparently referred to an act of maritime raiding.

Historians long pinned the start of the Viking Age to a brutal ambush on an English monastery in 793 CE, which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle described as an onslaught of lightning, “fiery dragons,” and “heathen men.” The more recent discovery of Scandinavian artifacts at a site in Estonia suggests that Viking activity began decades earlier.

But whatever the precise 8th-century start, it persisted for the next 300 years.

We don’t know exactly what prompted all this Viking-ing.

But volcanic activity in the mid-500s triggered a mini Ice Age that destabilized Scandinavia.

Its society grew increasingly militarized, and like many warrior-based peoples, local chieftains legitimized their rule through gift giving.

So, wealth-acquiring expeditions helped maintain authority.