I.

Introduction

Vikings, collective designation of Nordic peoples—Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians—who spoke a language they called Danish and experts now call Old Norse (see Danish Language; Norwegian Languages; Swedish Language). The Vikings ranged beyond Scandinavia by sea and land during an extended period of dynamic expansion within the Middle Ages, from around ad 750 to 1100. Called the Viking Age, this period has long been popularly associated with unbridled piracy, when longships appeared without warning along the coasts and rivers of Europe, disembarking fierce pagan warriors who burnt, pillaged, and seized slaves. Their fiercest warriors were the beserkers, whose immense aggression put great fear into their enemies. Contemporary European chroniclers were particularly horrified by their attacks on monasteries and churches. The traditional and popular view is now recognized as an oversimplification. Modern scholarship instead emphasizes the achievements of the Viking Age, in Scandinavian art and craftsmanship, marine technology, exploration, and the development of commerce and towns. The Vikings are seen as traders and not simply as raiders (see Viking Art; Viking Exploration).