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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page research paper which examines whether the Vikings were primarily a constructive or a destructive force in European development. The writer shows that while the term "Viking" has been used to describe those who made brutal raids on European coastal settlements, it has also been used to describe the peaceful Scandinavian farmers, traders and craftsmen who brought beneficial skills to the European countries in which they settled. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Vikings.doc
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in raiding the European coastline. Over the centuries this term has been applied, more or less, to all Scandinavians who lived in what historians have termed the "Viking Age"
which roughly covers the period beginning around 790 A.D. to around the middle of the eleventh century when raids and emigration had ceased and Viking settlement abroad had become thoroughly
integrated with the native populations (9). Thus, we have the term "Viking" referring to farmers, merchants, poets, explorers, craftsmen and settlers as well as to the men who actually did
the raiding (Magnusson 10). Because of this the word "Viking" has become associated in the mind of the public with an age of terror and unbridled piracy. Although even the
Viking raiders had a positive influence on Europe in that the by posing a mutual threat, in many cases this solidified political unity among competing factions within a country, certainly
the "Vikings" who consisted of Scandinavian settlers brought many valuable contributions to European society. These contributions have been overlooked because of the image of the Norse men of this time
period as one of freebooters, heathen barbarians, who came swarming over civilized Europe with nothing but conquest and rape on their minds. This vision of the Vikings can be
traced back to the rather lurid sensationalism of ecclesiastical writers of that period (Magnusson 10). Since monasteries were frequent targets of Viking "smash-and-grab" raids, it is easy to see how
they would picture them in a negative light (10). Irelands monasteries were major targets since they were major centers of populations and wealth. While these vicious attacks were
definitely a destructive force, the Vikings were not a totally negative force in European development. Vikings were great traders and did quite a bit to develop trade in medieval Ireland
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