Norsemen: The Complete History Of The Viking Age | Last Journey Of The Vikings | Chronicle

this channel is part of the history hit Network [Music] this is a story about the people who came sailing across the ocean it's a story about a long and perilous journey of upheaval which came to change populations and influence politics trade culture religion and entire societies story about the Vikings and how they transformed the world for most people the Vikings are seen only as plumbers and Pirates is that the whole truth is [Applause] [Music] they're going abroad to take what they seek in this series when we dig deeper and gain more insight into who the vikers really were turns out to be surprising [Music] [Applause] thank you in the late 8th Century the Vikings started appearing along the coast of Europe with their longboards adorned with dragon heads and loaded with well-armed Warriors the Vikings soon became Infamous for their Swift and brutal raids initially they mainly targeted monasteries pillaging them for gold and silver the monks whose only weapon was their Christian faith were an easy prey and would seldom despair the Wrath of the Norsemen over the years the vika strategy changed they were not only brutally Warriors but also skilled diplomats not afraid to mix with powerful rulers who wanted to create a new Europe in fact the Vikings would reship several European countries one of this was Frankie a kingdom that we will come back to over the course of this series but why did the Scandinavians set sail across the season become Pirates in order to answer this we must go back to a time before the Vikings journey into Europe [Music] foreign [Music] is a really interesting time not just for the Nordic countries but for the whole of Europe in general it's Superior following the collapse of the Roman Western Empire [Music] and characterize to a great extent by political instability in turmoil conflict and also large-scale human migrations and that is that aspect of the period that lends its name to how we characterize this time which is as often as the migration period foreign [Music] the resources needed for survival existed but still for some reason the people of Scandinavia migrated there are very many various political social factors that would contribute to all of this but um there is a suggestion now that part of this might be linked to some kind of climatic event that takes place around the the mid uh 6th century what has been suggested is that either in the 530s around 536 or over a slightly longer period of time between the 530s and the 550s what we're looking at is a series of one or more volcanic events they don't ever call it brother sister is foreign [Music] and in the early Medieval World you know a couple of bad years of harvest would be enough to really enforce some quite dramatic changes foreign [Music] crisis actually happened what evidence do we have contemporary music the description it's there but it's it's dim it's not giving out heat it's not even creating Shadows during the day foreign [Music] essentially isn't doing what it's supposed to do [Music] is um [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] it also seems that large areas of agricultural land are returning to Forest and on top of this there is some quite dramatic evidence for violence as we can tell from the archaeological evidence we see certain settlements they seem to have been intact sometimes burned down [Music] [Music] and the main key bit of evidence that leads us to believe that these were attacks not accidents is it in some of these places people are left unburied within the bone houses It is believed that around the year 580 more than one million people may have lived in Denmark Norway and Sweden of these perhaps three or four hundred thousand would suffer an early death because of the climate crisis it seems that powerful land owners use the climate crisis to brutally seize even more land and resources from rival Villages and Families it could be said that the power struggles that took place during these years transformed the society's ruling class after the immediate crisis it's more than 50 years before the dust in the atmosphere clears and the temperature turns to normal soon the population starts to grow again however Scandinavian Society has changed any resource complex [Music] basically you have large tracts of land that can then be snapped up essentially by those who are seeking to preserve their lives and preserve their status foreign [Music] it seems to be much more hierarchical in which power is to a great extent based on the ownership of land and territory so if we are looking at a time where we're seeing increased social stratification um that's going to make the social and economic differences uh between different social classes if you want become more apparent it may be a time where we see an intensification of slavery or dependency of the lower classes on the aristocracy and as a result that gives the aristocracy the the means and the power uh to consolidate their hold on that landscape but as well as this we also haven't you know if we have increasingly stratified societies and people's roles might become more defined of course Scandinavia like other early medieval societies they're essentially subsistence societies they people need to produce what they need to live so agricultural practices are incredibly important as are all kinds of production processes that take place within the household to produce what people need to live out their daily lives [Music] today [Music] we can see it is [Music] and now when the warrior ideals is upheld to an even greater extent foreign leaders start to emerge eaters who will play important roles in what lies ahead societies are becoming increasingly militarized Warfare becomes a really kind of prominent theme in a material culture of the period leading to a time where we have the highest status boat burials from places like valstiota and Sweden and these beautiful ornate pieces of arms and armor speaking to a a militarized aristocracy who are engaging in endemic perhaps smaller scale conflict but this becomes a central aspect of elite power at the time [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music] uh foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] women served a particularly important role as craft Specialists especially in the process of textile production which during the Viking age would have ranged from producing everything from in addition to the everyday items the farming needed to survive you know their clothes for example but also traveling clothes so in this they're in a very important place in in the organization and the ability of communities uh to engage in in travel and warfare [Music] calendar [Music] apart um [Music] foreign [Music] it's quite possible that in many ways they were simply perceived from quite an early age it's just kind of small adults in that they would take on the same roles as their family members before them they're extended kinship networks and the communities that they lived with them so they would take part in and agricultural practices in cleaning and learning to cook and produce certain craft items but these roles again as they were learned would probably vary across Society so especially for higher status children there might have been an element of training in Warfare to become a professional or at least semi-professional uh fighter and looking at you know what's happening in the period that would be quite an important skill [Music] um foreign [Music] foreign what we would call a young age perhaps in the mid-teens children living in the Viking age might have actually started to participate in overseas travel and perhaps raiding and this would be part of the continuing education as it were in Warfare um and and travel after the climate crisis in this new Society the role of the sea becomes increasingly important and the people of Scandinavia strive to travel further and further out in search of a better life to do this they need ships suitable for long Journeys the Scandinavian people have known about ship building techniques for a long time but in the past they have mainly built rowing boats in the 600s however in the wake of the climate crisis they learn how to build a new type of ship sailing vessels tonight despite having known about sailing vessels earlier through their contacts with the Roman Empire the scandinavias didn't copy these but instead build their own type of ship one more suited to their needs it was a ship that could be operated by a small crew and had a keel that allowed beating to Windward this would prove to be very useful for the Vikings in the future [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the women in Scandinavia Society also played a vital part and is syllable fabrication is [Music] foreign [Music] experimental archeology has shown that just to produce what to spin and weave the the wool needed for a single cell would take someone working on their own years of full-time work what this implies is that there had to be a level of production among these societies that actually in all likelihood far exceeded the kind of standard subsistence demands that were made on them during everyday life [Music] after months of hard work the new vessels are finished sales have been made and the first Expeditions are being organized foreign fellow ship Expedition is [Music] Collective the music foreign foreign [Applause] [Music] but as well as this do you need a crew you need someone to operate these vessels and when you reach your destination to do what it is you need to do foreign we're not quite sure exactly who participated in these raids it could have been you know almost anyone to some extent certainly I think it's possible that members of the aristocracy for whom an element of their power depended on on being able to project a kind of Martial identity they might have certainly chosen to undertake grading taking with them perhaps the professional Warriors of their household but in addition to this if you need to think about equipping a ship with 30 to 40 or perhaps more individuals you might take with you members of the local farming community so essentially we might refer to them as kind of part-time Vikings for whom their daily life was consumed by agricultural work and again subsistence but during certain seasons of the Year there might be the opportunity to increase your status and your wealth by joining one of these expeditions and especially during the early Viking age the period where we see the first raids I think it's likely that these these uh Ventures were organized probably more at a community level um with relatively small numbers of people and small numbers of ships um which is why we see them generally attacking quite small targets [Music] across the seas in search of Fortune and a better life [Music] they were now able to reach more distant places than ever before [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign the monks are blissfully unaware of what's about to happen sailing vessels swiftly approach from the sea raiding the shores the Vikings prove just how efficient their ships are [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Music] transformation foreign [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] Urban are some legs [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Applause] after the initial raids before we move into the late 9th century but there has been some well I feel is really quite convincing uh Recent research which was taken into account a number of Charters concerning uh Anglo-Saxon Ken the southeast of England an area where we don't read of any early Viking attacks and actually what this research has shown is that even in the 790s and early 800s the aristocracy and monasteries are being tasked with ensuring that they are properly prepared against people described as pagans and in this period I'm not sure who else we would think these people are aside from Viking Raiders and they are told for example to make sure that they continue to maintain fortifications to construct and maintain Bridges also actively engage these people when they encounter them in the field it's quite striking that we read of none of this in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and it's been suggested that actually the historical record has essentially been for one of a better word whitewashed because it's not until slightly later into the second quarter of the 9th century that we start to see a real again a surge in Viking raiding the vikers have often been described as pirates violent pillagers who spread fear and Terror as they set out along the coasts of Europe in their long ships [Music] but is the word pirate A fitting description for the Vikings when we look at the available sources from Western Europe we see Viking Raiders and raiding parties been portrayed as as incredibly brutal and unsophisticated groups foreign monasteries and and killing monks but it's quite clear that even to engage in this kind of overseas writing a great deal of organization is needed um both of materials and people [Music] um foreign the normal foreign [Music] foreign so I think when we're talking about the early Viking raids the term piracy is actually quite apt but perhaps not in quiet the way that we would understand it today I think certainly in Scandinavia these people would not have been perceived as acting outside of the law in any way they're not committing violence among their home communities they're going abroad to take what they seek what we're looking at here is fairly indiscriminate Seabourn rating these are groups that are operating independently engaging in opportunistic raiding in search of plunder without a kind of sense of overall strategy these very much seem to be at this time opportunistic seasonal raids that doesn't mean they're not well organized and they're not well planned but I think what this kind of model of of Seabourn raiding fits into it does kind of fit very well with what we would in the modern day called piracy it's really quite interesting to look at how these groups organize themselves and how they operate especially as we move into the later 9th century in Europe where we have lots of individual Viking groups which range in size from a single ship's crew to a much larger number of Ships coming together and operating together for short periods of time in pursuit of mutual goals for quite suddenly splitting up to literally sail off in opposite directions in pursuit of plunder elsewhere [Music] and so I think in in doing this and in trying to um not directly compare but to construct analogies between these groups I think that offers quite a lot um to how we understand these Viking groups and what they're doing overseas [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] the Vikings had good fortune as pillagers and they were soon looking for new areas to plunder for wealth start attacking the coast of the Frankish Empire they suddenly face resistance unlike any found on the British Isles sense of surrounding its Christian lands to the Pagan Pirates foreign [Music] Charlemagne [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] a great climate crisis in the 6th century was one factor that changed Scandinavia lead into long-term transformation of societies and territories [Music] which provided them the opportunity to travel further out and reach easily plundered targets such as monasteries [Music] during the 9th century the Vikings tried to advance into frankia something that greatly increases the violent conflict between Northern pagans and Christian frankians and sets off a rivalry between two kings when the Vikings begin attacking frankia Charlemagne is determined not to let plundering Pirates into his country the frankian defenses work the raiding Vikings are held back at the coast at least initially but due to tumultuous and unexpected events in Denmark as well as in frankia the Vikings will finally be able to travel up the rivers and further inland assume great cities like Paris are under attack foreign [Applause] [Applause] s the Scandinavians set sail across the seas searching for a better life looting and pillaging eventually becoming what we know as the Vikings using their long ships the Vikings began wreaking havoc along the coasts of the Frankish Empire sacking Villages as well as monasteries but even though the Vikings quickly became notorious for their violent raids abroad their first attacks on the Franks were not very successful the Frankish defense is built by Charlemagne were simply too effective and the Franks were able to prevent the Vikings from sailing up the Great Rivers and Advance further inland so how were the Pagan Vikings able to push into Christian Francia in order to answer that we have to find out more about Charlemagne and what happened during the very first Viking attacks on Frankie [Music] [Applause] [Music] Charlemagne is a key figure in medieval European history and one of the most influential rulers the continent has ever known his Empire consisted of not only what is today France but also present-day Western Germany Northern Italy Switzerland and Austria so the emperor Charlemagne was an incredibly powerful ruler and during his Reign he greatly expanded uh the borders of his empire into the North towards the area of Southern Scandinavia what we now refer to as Denmark Hanover Village yeah and it's been suggested um that the way in which he did this not only um undertaking military conquest but also in seeking to convert large numbers of people to Christianity at the point of a sword [Music] which is even suggested to have resulted in in large-scale massacres [Music] foreign [Music] suggested that this somehow generated um the perception that there was a need for a strike on the Christian World from Scandinavia and in this the early Viking race of sometimes been presented almost for one of a better term as a pagan Crusade and I certainly don't feel that this was um such an important factor in that sense what we have happening at this time in Scandinavia is that Society is changing greatly and there is a number of of social and political economic and ideological factors at play here um but I'm not sure that Charlemagne's actions in expanding his Empire really did provide the the primary impetus for these raids Charlemagne was known for his strong Christian faith and he wouldn't tolerate any pagans in the Frankish Empire in fact he repeatedly tried to convert other nations to Christianity by force including the Pagan Saxons whose religion had strong similarities with the beliefs of the Vikings for example the most important religious symbol of the Saxons was the sacred tree irminsu which can be likened to the tree ugdrasil an important symbol in the Norse religion of Scandinavia uh Orion from [Music] freeze Concepts from a Christianity foreign the Frankish Empire had suffered constant raids from the Saxons but around the year 772 Charlemagne decides to strike back and attacks Saxony this time he doesn't only want revenge he wants to force the Saxons to convert from their Pagan beliefs to Christianity once and for all [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] servant a scholar and a monk by the name einhardt wrote The frankian Emperor's biography the Vita Carole magni life of Charlemagne in this biography einhardt writes the last war that Shaw's undertook was against those northmen who are called Danes who first came as pirates and then ravaged the coast of Golan Germany with a greater Naval Force he was of course talking about the Vikings activities [Music] um foreign you've instituted a system of coastal defense on the Frankish Coast he put in place not only orders to construct ships to deter seaborne Pirates but he also installed a coast guard system a system of armed groups who would watch for threats coming from the sea and their job was primarily to stop those forces on the beach as it were [Applause] at the beginning of the 9th century the system seemed to work quite well in 820 we have a fairly small Viking ride on the Frankish Coast the Vikings make several attempts to enter Frankish waterways to plunder and each time they are thrown out essentially by this Frankish Coast Guard thank you and when the Vikings now start attacking frankia Charlemagne Who has fought extended Wars against people belonging to other religions is determined not to let plundering pagans into his country it's back of the first attacks leads some Viking Chiefs to Simply leave the Frankish Empire and focus on easier targets the Danish King Guildford is one of these powerful men who gives up on Francia and heads for other destinations [Music] other Vikings decided to go different route [Music] foreign for instance chooses not to follow his brother's example and instead Alliance himself with Charlemagne becoming the Danish Envoy to the Frankish emperor [Music] for a while it almost seems like the violent Viking attacks on frankia have ceased for good [Music] during this time the Vikings quickly become known in Europe as bloodthirsty Pirates pillaging and looting whenever they are able to their far-flung Journeys outside Scandinavia also lead to an increase in trade Communications foreign and these uh collectively provided a hub in Northwestern Europe for the exchange of goods across long distances plots [Music] is foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] as a production is [Music] the distribution of the resource foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] raiding also gives the Vikings access to another product one that they buy and sell at various markets [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] visitors to these trading posts are mainly engaged in peaceful trade and as the buying and selling of various Goods increases the trading posts grow rapidly as does their political significance they soon become centers of political power and important strategic points to control as a result the conflicts between the Vikings and the Franks flare up once again in the year 808 the great Trading Post of rarik is suddenly attacked by the Danish King Good Fred it is what we have in Denmark at this time during the reign of godford is an attempt to by the king to consolidate his power which is you know at least to some extent in relation um to the increasing and antagonistic contacts but between the Danes and the Carol engines foreign [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] he basically had control over these individuals and these are craft Specialists specialists in trade they can bring in a lot of income this income can be taxed and this directly has consequences for for godford's power it also sends a strong message to the Carol engines that godfred the the Danish King is is a force to be reckoned with and he now has the influence and the power to bring you know elements of this North Sea Atlantic and Baltic trade under his Direct Control he also is recorded as establishing a large linear earthwork in southern Jutland it's called the dhanavirka and long policies in all likelihood according to the archaeological evidence this Monument was already in existence during godford's Reign so what he probably did was it was re-45 but nonetheless that indicates that he must have had um extensive control not only over a significant uh pool of resources but also a pool of Labor so for this we can infer that uh certainly within godfred's sphere of power there was um certainly a degree of centralized political power allowing him to draw on his various uh subordinates and and likely large numbers of the uh the general population as well foreign [Music] uh [Music] digital naturally the sacking and destruction of Eric was a clear provocation of Charlemagne on the part of the Danish King [Applause] peace negotiations were held between the two sides but in the end they came to nothing [Applause] after this Charlemagne created a permanent Garrison north of the river Elba plan to retaliate and when the Danish King brought hundreds of ships to Reign the fishing coastline Charlemagne gather his forces to strike back [Music] for the Frankish attack something happens Charlemagne is reached by a messenger Good Fred is dead killed by one with his own bodyguards when Good Fred dies in 810 Denmark is torn by severe internal strife as the Danish Elites are drawn into a power struggle for the Danish crown but the Danish conflicts are nothing compared to what happens when the Great Frankish Emperor dies just four years later in 814 he had ruled France for four to six years and during his Reign he created a strong Christian Empire well equipped to deal with a viking threat [Music] what would happen now when he was gone after college um together last stability is foreign [Music] and so what we have here is really a kind of a perfect set of circumstances for Viking raiding groups to um start not only raining the coast but to penetrate much further and land and and to really start to cause havoc and that's exactly what we see in the historical record the carolingians did have a world developed defensive system in place which in theory was supposed to um counter these attacks the Kings had the ability to muster large armies often at short notice but at the same time they're often hampered in their abilities to do so simply because they cannot always count on the support of their magnets um foreign [Music] foreign s are occupied with the Civil War the Vikings finally managed to push past their defenses and sail up the Great Rivers in search of gold glory and ultimately land they Advanced deeper into Frankish Empire than ever before [Applause] foreign foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign foreign [Music] attempt to extort money or land out of the Carol engines or any other societies that these groups are coming into violent contact with but rather the these are small groups operating very much within their own interests I think we need to look at these groups as having their own individual objectives and goals and and pursuing them in their own ways rather than kind of conforming to to a general strategy um that may not have actually existed within their own minds in March 845 a large Danish Viking Fleet consisting of 120 ships sails up the river sand to Paris the new King Charles the bald had tried fighting the Vikings off with his army but failed Paris had a high city wall dating back to Roman times and the city had several churches inside the wall as well as outside on the beaches of Sam two Bridges led to the city on the mainland these Bridges were guarded by tall Stone Towers the Vikings organized a Siege on the city the Franken King Charles the bald was eventually forced to pay a large amount of gold and silver as ransom for his City is Plaza [Music] [Music] after the events in Denmark more and more people traveled from Scandinavia and across the seas to other countries [Music] it's not only armed men in search of gold and Glory who make the voyage [Music] they are also families with women and children and sometimes the journey can be very long [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] Civil War gives the Vikings an opportunity to stay in Francia for considerably longer periods of time they managed to exploit the unrest for their own game and are able to remain over the winter in several places in England as well as in the Frankish Empire but life in Exile at Winter Camp is not easy the majority of the information we have from the continent at the moment is limited to the historical sources we know the locations where they were setting up temporary encampments but archaeologically at least it's quite difficult to identify these sites where we have had some really good archaeological research done recently is in England and what we found in England are at least two now winter camps essentially when these Viking forces were operating in the field for long periods of time they'd often spend the winter ensconced in some kind of temporary encampment foreign [Music] [Music] what we're seeing here are groups in a very different uh to the early Viking raiding fleas these aren't just a few Crews of individuals operating opportunistically but rather they're very large comprising perhaps thousands of people moving around the landscape for long periods of time unlike the early Raiders who would raid seasonally these groups were staying out in in what is now France in England for years and even over Decades of time what we're not really sure about at this time is what these camps physically looked like foreign [Music] though is their occupation of the side itself largely through evidence of metal production and Manufacturing and trade and the thing about these sites is that they're often detected through the work of metal detectorists so we actually have a preponderance of fragments of jewelry of fragmented coins bits of silver bullion which attest to actually quite a large amount of loot being processed at these sites and also to substantial trade foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] solitary but one of the thing I found really interesting about these sites is what they mean for our perceptions of the later settlement of the landscape in both England and in the carolingian Empire if we're to accept that these large Viking forces were comprised of numerous autonomous groups coming together and acting together for a short period of time then what we essentially have here is the creation of although we call them often armies they're actually kind of mobile Societies or politics in their own right and the conditions in which they're living in these camps might actually provide a kind of precursor for the later settlement that the landscape both in England and within the carolingian empire because it might have been the first time that many of these groups were coming together and inhabiting a single area in such a way [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] after the death of Charlemagne Civil War raged in frankia and the coastal defenses couldn't be maintained the area lay open to Scandinavians searching for gold to glory and eventually land and why there was also unrest in Denmark along with usual Adventures there were now other people in Exile looking for new opportunities abroad during the 800s as the Vikings managed to push deeper into Christian Francia their tactics changed they went from pillaging small monasteries to attacking large cities like Paris a common Viking strategy was to hold a city hostage forcing them to pay a ransom usually gold and silver despite the turbulence that plagued frankia during this period the vikers will not be able to remain their resistors soon become stronger again and the new Frankish Emperor manages to rebuild his defenses including those along the river sand preventing further attacks on Paris during the years that follow the Vikings will instead turn toward the British Isles this however is only temporary the Vikings haven't finished with Frankie when they return they do so with a new goal to become an integrated part of Frankie's society and in order to achieve this the Vikings are willing to go to any length [Music] at the end of the first Viking invasion of France plundered cities began to build the walls and fortifications making the Viking attacks more difficult but despite this the Viking fleets grow in number as more and more people continue to join the Voyages to Francia hoping to find glory and wealth when the Frankish defenses for a Time became too strong the Vikings instead set their sights on England at the end of the 9th century however the Vikings once again see the chance to return to Francia but this time they don't go back simply to loot it is now that the Vikings decide to become Europeans and soon a new Dutchy Normandy will be created but how and why did the Vikings become Normans in order to answer that we have to know more about the Vikings failed attacks on Francia in the late 9th century when Charles the board was still King [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] Journey 880s Carol engines actually managed to re-establish their kind of power and initiative in their defense against various Viking writing groups and they begin to refortify their borders and push these groups back out to the Sea [Applause] Charles the bald who was the Frankish Emperor and the grandson of Charlemagne had repeatedly been forced to pay Ransom to the Viking Invaders [Music] but during his Reign the Frankish defenses were developed with the addition of a Cavalry as well as fortified Bridges along the rivers but when we come back to this question of whether these walking groups somehow failed uh during the 880s I think we need to uh again think about this this notion of whether there was a concerted kind of Viking strategy these groups were still being quite successful in the field they were still managing to extract tribute and plunder out of the Carol engines so whether or not any particular engagement um ended in in a victory for them I think might be kind of narrowing the the focus a little too much uh here foreign but although the Frankish resistance is becoming increasingly structured the Vikings once again decide to attack Paris and so another Siege of the Metropolis is launched Spanish is one person foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] various Viking groups were still being quite successful in the field they were still managing to extract tribute from the Franks they were still causing quite a lot of damage um in in many parts of the Kingdom so again I I think we need to come back to this idea of whether there was any concerted strategy in the first place and think about these groups more on their own terms as autonomous raiding fleets and armies operating with their own individual goals foreign [Music] religion approval development [Music] after period of illness the Frankish Emperor Charles the Bold dies on October 6 877 after his death the Frankish Coastal defenses diminish and the Vikings see an opportunity to increase their numbers in frankia and now begins a new era one where the objective is not only looting but also integration Scandinavian numbers the Vikings were polytheistic which meant they worshiped several gods this religion existed in all Germanic tribes of Northern Europe until it was ushered out by Christianity [Music] [Music] there are a number of reasons why the Vikings are now converting from their old Faith to become Christians the christianization process happened for a number of reasons and in a lot of different ways I think when we're looking at these Viking groups operating on the continent there's certainly an element of pragmatism the opportunity to engage in trade or to engage in diplomacy uh with not only uh the Carol Indians but also with the Anglo-Saxon Kings in England and hello christianism foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] here dinner foreign [Music] in the historical record we see a surprising number perhaps of um quite powerful leaders of raiding fleets accepting baptism as part of their diplomatic contact with the carolingian Kings and also in Anglo-Saxon England we see this too and this served a number of pragmatic reasons it meant that these leaders could be incorporated into the christianized framework of diplomacy and kingship that existed in Europe at this time it allowed the Carol Indians and the Anglo-Saxons to deal with these leaders of these raiding fleets as legitimate um kind of political figures rather than simply as as Outsiders and what this is doing is really integrating uh the Scandinavians into this diplomatic network of Christian Europe [Music] [Applause] [Music] calendar [Music] there is foreign [Music] existence [Music] is particularly accepted the only contextual expansion Frank Vernon is the facility is [Music] [Music] Verity [Music] Christianity unique [Music] opportunism is foreign concerning [Music] families foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign foreign [Music] foreign [Music] I think today that the idea of giving up one's religion and accepting a new set of beliefs would be a huge thing for an individual to take on and certainly for at least some people during the Viking age I think that must have been very much the same [Music] foreign [Music] I think it's important to acknowledge that the pre-christian belief systems of Scandinavia during the Viking age they didn't conform to any kind of religious Doctrine um this was not a religion in the sense that we would today understand it but more a kind of belief system or a way of seeing the world and interacting with the world around you and in that sense if you have um a polytheistic outlook on religious beliefs you have many gods um in addition to those you have a whole range of spirits and supernatural creatures that live in the world around you and you interact with these on a daily basis then the idea of taking on another deity as part of this may not have been as as outlandish or as traumatic as we as we might think there is an acknowledgment of other beliefs and maybe there was some way um that these could be integrated into people's existing belief systems rather than replacing them directly [Music] all right foreign in the late 9th century and early 10th Century as more and more Viking groups in frankia learned the language and convert from paganism to Christianity they start to naturally integrate into frankly society and as more Vikings are integrated they also become a significant and Dangerous Power to be reckoned with foreign foreign [Music] [Applause] for the Frankish Emperor it became important to have good diplomatic relations with the Vikings and their leaders and in 911 an experienced Viking Chief steps forward what we see at this time as part of diplomatic negotiation a viking leader who we we know in the historical record is Rollo is granted uh a swathe of territory in what is now Normandy [Music] in um foreign foreign Normandy this agreement with Rollo is a clear way for the Frankish power to control him and make him an ally this will have enormous consequences foreign [Music] and the purpose of this I think primarily from the Carol engine perspective is to establish a strong um powerful adversary in a region where if you know he's become almost a protector of the carolingian Kingdom because their job essentially um in in holding this territory is to stop other Potential incursions from taking place [Music] foreign mm-hmm very quickly it seems that the territory of Normandy grows more land is granted and this this area this new Scandinavian Enclave starts to expand quite rapidly and a part of this we see an acculturation uh into Frankish Society not only the adoption of of Christianity which is an ongoing process but also a move towards a more Frankish way of life quite quickly I think within a number of years um we're not going to be seeing uh or hearing rather Scandinavian languages spoken in the Normandy region we're going to see a disappearance of Scandinavian custom and the emergence of what really looks like a Frankish territory culture [Music] the tall valid courted in London full theater de France men come over [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] to put a a single determining Factor on why these processes of acculturation take place is quite difficult in one sense I think there's an element of pragmatism here if you're going to be establishing yourself within a new landscape and among a new Society there has to be a degree of integration to ensure peaceful coexistence but at the same time I also think this is natural as people come together and coexist and communicate and learn from each other there's going to be an exchange of culture and exchange of ideas and I think in that sense that this is a process that can't necessarily be Quantified or put into a box and so this is why it happened I think as over time this is something that would naturally take place as we see in the continuing evolution of Normandy to what it becomes in the 11th century colonizations [Music] rollo's reign of Normandy lasted until 928. he is believed to have died in 930 at the age of 70. Ronald's Offspring and his followers became known as the Normans [Music] defense toilet so what the camera and stability at is normally not selecting NLS so and so on and until it is foreign foreign the union of Gunner the daughter of a rich family in West Normandy and rollo's Grandson which are the first of Normandy proved to be one of the most important political marriages in the region is exceptions [Music] processes the stabilization is [Music] but if the first one if you don't add the first one active radius is important evidence is [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign of course these kind of marriages would have strengthened uh political and personal bonds between very powerful families and across borders in addition to this I think there would have been um also a financial gain for one of both parties but also a chance to again for these people to increase their power through these relationships and these marriages greatly facilitate the establishment of what would hope to be stable dynasties of rule and in that sense that these marriages legitimize the future rule of the children born of those unions [Music] is foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] Ty reduced the status of women some of them actually gained more power through these political marriages [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] I think it goes about saying that women have always been prominent in matters of politics and religion we just don't always read about them in the text which are quite heavily biased towards describing the lives of Kings essentially but as we move into this period women do hold an increasingly powerful role in dynastic Politics as people from which you have Royal dynasties and bloodlines they become diplomatically as well um very important people through marriages between families um in an effort to strengthen political ties and establish bonds um both between families and across territorial borders as well in addition to this women held many important roles within the ecclesiastical hierarchy and this um as members of higher status families um contributed to the strong relationship that secular rulers had with the church and greatly facilitated this [Music] it also seems that women are becoming increasingly active in aspects of political leadership and playing key roles in the formation of alliances and relationships between powerful families [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign finish it is foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign scientists [Music] at ocean is [Music] [Music] red foreign [Music] [Music] MCL foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] the reason why the vikers chose to integrate into Frankish culture and become Europeans where the great advantages that came with it only Christian Europeans could own land in Normandy and owning land was far more important than simply owning gold land meant real power which gave the Viking influence over the political landscape in Normandy after a time of Viking integration many members of the Norman as well as the English Royal courts now have their origins in Scandinavia there is a large degree of cultural mixing at the various courts which creates tension between the Royal houses as we have seen this tension can be reconciled through marriage however this led to Sibling Rivalry and family feuds over claims to the crown this would soon result in a decisive conclusion and lead to one of the most famous battles in European history [Applause] the story of the people who came sailing across the sea is not over yet the Vikings who in the late 8th Century sailed their longships from Scandinavia down to Francia will once again cross the waters this time in the year 1066 it's a power struggle for the throne of England the battle for the throne is a brutal and bloody story involving many participants from several different countries in Normandy it's Duke William who decides to conquer the throne this will be a historic and revolutionary event it will also be known as the Vikings last battle but why was it the Normans who finally managed to conquer England once and for all to answer this we 'd find out why William a Norman was relevant as a possible successor to the king of England Edward a Confessor [Music] foreign [Music] England for 24 years Edward the Confessor dies on January 5th in the year 1066. foreign [Music] death would start a new power struggle for the English throne in Normandy Duke William is making plans to become king [Music] well there had been previously existing relationship between the royal families of Normandy and of England and and through this William had a familial connection to Edward the Confessor the game [Music] Williams foreign [Music] but I think perhaps um the more strong aspect of his claim was that there is an indication that Edward actually promised William the throne at some point in the the 1050s the problem with all of this is what the phone was also uh claimed by Harold godwinson the son of Earl Godwin of Wessex who was purportedly also um given stewardship or control um over the Throne of England by Edward um near to the time of his death is foreign [Music] claims but also made more difficult by uh the suggestion again that Harold had actually sworn um an oath of fealty uh to William when he'd had been made a hostage in France so I guess in William's mind all of these things together um may actually you know give him a fairly good claim to the throne of England especially over someone like Carol goblinson is foreign [Music] foreign [Music] long letter it was England foreign [Music] the details of the conflicts that follow have actually been preserved street is area [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] take stations foreign foreign [Music] what we see in this is for example the supposed swearing of an oath by Harold godwinson to William on Royal relics which gives the William his of course his legitimate claim to the throne of England we see the death of Edward the Confessor and very soon afterwards uh Harold's coronation as king of England and in response to this Williams preparation for Invasion we see him constructing his ships bringing all of his forces together very large Invasion force of Cavalry archers and infantry we see them crossing the sea uh to England and then meeting Harold's Force at Hastings [Music] [Applause] and his depiction of the battle the tapestry does prioritize a certain features of the action over others especially it gives a preference to the Williams use of Cavalry and the pivotal role that this is supposed to have played in the battle Liam is introducing some Cavalry tactics that are not being used in England at this time which may have given him an edge during the battle itself but I think the actual [Music] um course of events on that day at Hastings they must be much more complex uh than what we see there on the tapestry itself [Music] [Music] foreign foreign [Music] foreign although there is a new King in England Harold goodwinson it's a time of worry and uncertainty [Music] this is the Kong before the storm [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] coronation events start to spiral quite rapidly of course we already know that in Normandy William um is intending to pursue his claim to the throne and he begins to construct his Fleet and gather his invasion for us Harold godson knows about this and he has encamped uh his army in Southern England uh waiting for the invasion to take place [Music] but if we head north we find that William isn't the only person seeking to claim the Throne of England in 1066. in Norway we come across a man a king named Harold sigurdson also commonly known as Harold hardrada who himself has a fairly tenuous claim to the English throne and he intends uh to assert that right so Justice William is constructing his own Fleet in Invasion Force Harold sigurdson is doing the same and he's actually assisted and in Alliance with Harold godwinson's brother an Earl by the name of tostig who had previously been exiled from England so while Harold godwinson and his army are sitting in the south in late September Harold sigurdson and tostig's Invasion Force lands in in Yorkshire [Music] foreign they head towards York which is the uh the major city in that region to receive its submission and this would give them a firm foothold um for their later movements um into the into the English Countryside but on their way there on the 20th of September a few miles outside of the city at a place called fulford they run into two Anglo-Saxon Earls and they're forces who have mobilized uh to come and attempt to stop the invasion [Music] the battle results in a Norwegian Victory and Harold hardrada goes on to receive a submission of York and he prepares his forces to March South during this time Harold godwinson has actually got word um of the Norwegian force and their presence in in Yorkshire and what he does is he basically gathers all of his troops and force marches them to the north and a few days later on the 25th of September they come into contact with the Norwegians at a place called Stamford Bridge [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the Battle of Stanford Bridge was decisive for a number of reasons first it resulted in a Norwegian defeat Harold hardrada was slain in what is often described in the kind of anglo-centric perspective on the Viking ages the last kind of Viking invasion of England so this initially seems um positive because Harold godwinson his army has seen off one Invasion Force but unfortunately it's while he is in the north that Harold learns that William has brought his forces across the channel and landed in the South so having just fought a major engagement Harold has no choice but to turn his army around again and head south and over the course of several weeks he makes his way towards the southern coast [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] in order to conquer England William has to make a huge amount of preparation everything must be perfectly planned and executed there is no room for error it goes without saying that Harold goblinson's Army would have been under strength and tired after Stamford Bridge but he still had to head south to meet Williams force on the southern coast but I think that if Harold hardware and his Norwegian Force had not landed in Yorkshire and forced that engagement with the English that that well the outcome at Hastings might well have been very different as it was we know that Hastings was a a long and drawn-out battle um it certainly wasn't over quickly and if Harold and his forces have been fresher if Harold had had more troops um maybe the the course of history would have been changed there [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] universe [Music] from the world foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] he also may have sought paper consent in order to launch his campaign which would have again strengthened uh the legitimacy of his actions and in trying to understand exactly how uh William brought his invasion Force together the bio tapestry is actually quite informative it shows stacks of armor and weapons being loaded onto his ships and also they're used to transport infantry archers and cavalry this is clearly a very large and Powerful Invasion Force troops must now be loaded onto the many ships that will carry them across the sea towards the coast of England is foreign will be of vital importance at the Battle of Hastings because William has decided to employ a novel tactic Norman Battle Tactics are seen to prioritize the use of heavy Cavalry formations in this that tactics markedly differ from those of Harold godwinson's Force in England at the time armies arrived on the battlefield as mounted infantry they rode to battle but generally dismounted um to fight on foot and this isn't what we see the Normans doing at Hastings it's possible that they're here using some tactics that they've refined and learned from the carolingians and it's clear that the Cavalry play a pivotal role in the battle it's been suggested that one of the tactics used by the Norman Cavalry was the feigned retreat in which uh Horsemen would approach the enemy pretend to wheel and panic and and run away and with the hope of basically drawing out the enemy formations to chase them and this is what we see on the bio tapestry [Music] pursuing elements of the Norman force and being cut down when they do so be how the English are worn down throughout the day [Applause] and if this is the case if the priority that the tapestry gives to the Cavalry actually reflects the historical reality of of the battle then what we see here is Cavalry being used in in quite an Innovative and sophisticated way and simply in ways that the the English had not used them before [Music] [Applause] thank you I think as in all these discussions there's no single factor to explain why the Normans won at the Battle of Hastings there's always there's many different issues that we need to consider if we're to believe the accounts of the battle then cut the use of Cavalry and Cavalry tactics certainly seems to have played a role the English did not fight on Horseback they were not necessarily used to encountering Cavalry in the field and so the enormous novel an Innovative use of Cavalry may have certainly contributed uh to their Victory especially if there was in discipline among the English ranks which led to them pursuing um any feign Retreat uh by the Cavalry itself [Music] but I don't think it's really fair to say that um these Cavalry tactics automatically gave the Norman Force an edge um over the English one simply as we see in in the fact that the battle wore on for a very long time it was not a quick affair um it was towards the end of the day that the the English force was finally routed but I think certainly that the use of Cavalry had a role to play there especially if there was um indiscipline among the English ranks and they did indeed um fall for the tactic of a faint Retreat that would have probably played quite an important role in their defeat plan Mike effects foreign foreign [Music] [Applause] Lord yet [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] thank you [Applause] [Applause] I think to really understand uh the events the Hastings we do have to look back at the the events immediately preceding it we need to remember that just a couple of weeks before Hastings Harold godwinson had fought off another Invasion force uh this time in the north of England at Stamford Bridge so to have Force marched his army North uh to a fight a very drawn out and vicious battle to then Force March his army South again um would have had a huge impact uh on the ability of the English to bring a healthy and rested Army into the field Harold's forces would have been depleted they would have been tired and I think he certainly would have lacked reinforcements that he would have otherwise have desperately needed [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign but all these things considered I think it's important still to remember that the Battle of Hastings was not a quick Affair um it was actually quite a protracted engagement that lasted throughout most of the day and so in all of these things I think that luck certainly played a role if any one of these factors um had combined in a different way then the course of events May have turned out very differently it's also possible that there was some kind of um ideological Factor uh in the Norman victory at Hastings no matter whether we believe the uh histories given to us by the biotapestry and later commentators or not it seems that William clearly believed that he had a right to pursue his claim to the throne of England and I think that this really psychologically would give him the edge in motivating himself and his forces uh to carry the victory on that day [Music] when the battle is finally over William stands Victorious from now on he will be known as William the Conqueror [Music] you say is thank you [Applause] [Music] foreign foreign foreign [Music] tomorrow sometime after the Battle of Hastings the Bayer tapestry is made which depicts the events surrounding the great battle then normal foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign at Westminster Abbey in London on Christmas Day in the year 1066 he is now the ruler of England and Normandy [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] the game Pluto [Music] uh one of the first things he did was parcel land out to his Barons um in that sense he bought the Norman aristocracy over to England and stored them essentially within the system of government but despite this he did face rebellions um quite a number of them and these had to be put down and this culminated um in a campaign into Northern England in what is known historically as the harrying of the North while the brutality of this campaign is debated by historians it certainly shows that William was not afraid to crush any political opposition opposition with um overwhelming Force foreign [Music] fromever [Music] [Applause] [Music] to win the battle for the English crown William used his Multicultural heritage for instance he landed soldiers directly onto the shore from shallow draft ships that his ancestors used for centuries perhaps the knowledge of how to ship horses across the seas was also something that the Vikings had brought to Normandy furthermore William used his Frankish Heritage Cavalry and arches to great effect in addition his timing was good as he arrived not long after the battle of Stamford Bridge and finally he had luck on his side [Music] William the Conqueror ruled England and Normandy as two separate countries until his death in the year 1087. after his death the kingdom was divided between his sons his son Robert became Duke of Normandy and William became the new king of England according to the history books the Battle of Hastings marks the end of the Viking age the Vikings have now become Kings foreign when the first raids began to the 11th century the Vikings made an astonishing Journey they began by attacking and looting monasteries went on to become colonizers [Music] finally They seized the supreme power Marcus was foreign fried [Music] I don't necessarily think it's um right to talk about an end to the Viking age um this is an arbitrary historical period that we have constructed is foreign [Music] the phone um foreign when we think about the events of this time that we call the Viking age we really need to appreciate the impact that they've had on the social and political development of Europe over over the past millennium it was the events of 793 the events of the mid 9th century and eventually of 1066 it shaped the political landscape of Europe and I think it's important to appreciate the continuities um between the Viking age and the modern day it was these processes of raiding trade Warfare and colonization that effectively shaped the social and political landscape of Europe today [Music] and therefore you know without the Viking age I don't think we'd have the modern world as we know it today at all foreign [Music] [Music] truly the Vikings transformed the world around them we have only just scratched the surface when it comes to history of the people who perform these feats there is much more to be told and investigated

Channel: Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries

Views: 698,849

Keywords: history documentary, medieval history documentary, middle ages, medieval history, the middle ages, chronicle

Id: 6oRriqcQWNk

Length: 192min 22sec (11542 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 02 2022