The Vikings: thorny, brawny and brutal they plundered and pillaged across continents in the days before the Norman Conquest. Their longships wreaked havoc across the North Atlantic. Dan Snow, The Vikings Uncovered, BBC 2016
Newfoundland: The first people to explore this place … may have been British (Vikings) … 1960: archaeologists made the remarkable discovery of a Viking transit camp. ibid.
At the end of the eighth century … the first place ripe for plunder was the unsuspecting British Isles. ibid.
In York the raiders and settlers became successful urban traders and manufacturers in the first industrial revolution. ibid.
Their next major port of call was Iceland. ibid.
Harold had killed his rival brother – the exiled earl Tostig, ending a bitter family feud. The Viking Harald Hardrada had died a warrior’s death in his bid for immortal glory. (England & Medieval & Vikings) Dan Snow, 1066: A Year to Conquer England III
On 8th June 793 A.D. Europe changed for ever: the hallowed monastery at Lindisfarne on the Northumberland coast was suddenly attacked and looted by armed seafaring Scandinavians. Timewatch: The Vikings: Foe or Friend? Alice Roberts, BBC 2017
Were they really sadistic raiders or enterprising traders? ibid.
New insights into women’s position in Viking society. ibid.
What motivated them to make these treacherous journeys? ibid.
Crossing the oceans and seas by flat-bottomed boat, the Vikings had already terrorised and begun to colonise the British Isles, Iceland and France. They’d even reached Greenland and North America. Now they were heading deep into the heartlands of eastern Europe. Andrew Marr’s History of the World IV: Into the Light, BBC 2012
In the years 986 a Viking ship penetrated Arctic ice guarding the coast of an unknown land. The frigid waters teemed with life. A Viking colony was established at the very edge of the known world in a country the settlers named Greenland. Three and a half centuries later, a ship from Europe put into the settlement. The sailors found the colony empty, abandoned, desolate. Why had the Viking settlers vanished? In Search of s3e13 … Lost Vikings, 1978
Last summer, and under cover of darkness a powerful armada bearing down on the British mainland. It’s one of the largest invasion forces to ever threaten our shores. But these aren’t Spanish men of war, they’re Norse longships. And this isn’t the English channel, it’s the west coast of Scotland. The Battle of Largs in 1263 was the last time Norse invaders fought on our soil. The Last Battle of the Vikings, BBC 2019
This is a story of the Vikings of Scotland. It’s a story of brutal violence and pitiless warfare. But it’s also a story of new technology and exquisite art. ibid.
The Viking influence remained. Part of a new nation. ibid.
By the end of the eighth century the Vikings exploded on to the world map. ibid.
They had no qualms about attacking religious sites. ibid.
Slavery, not silver or land, was the real engine of early Viking Scotland. ibid.
A new culture emerged. A new nation was born. It was called Alba … a kingdom united in opposition to and fear of the Vikings. ibid.
Norway: The discovery of the world’s oldest and best-preserved Viking ship built at the very beginning of the Viking era, it was buried as part of a royal funeral. Somehow the ship and its vast collection of burial treasures survived almost intact for a millennium before it was discovered intact in 1903. Raiders of the Lost Past with Janina Ramirez s2e2: Vikings, BBC 2021
In the mid-1300s the Bubonic Plague wiped out nearly two-thirds of Norway’s population including most of its social elite. ibid.
In Kensington Minnesota 1898 a Swedish immigrant Olof Ohman found a stone with runic inscription. Now this rune stone came to be known as the Kensington Rune Stone, and it became one of the most controversial artefacts in history. The year 1362 is carved on the rune stone along with an inscription of a Viking journey, suggesting that Europeans were here way before Christopher Columbus. But scholars have declared it a hoax. Secrets of the Viking Stone I: Rocks Don’t Lie, Peter Stormare reporting, History 2021
So what does it say? … 8 Goths and 22 Norwegians upon a journey of discovery from Vinland westwards. We had camp by two skerries one day’s journey north from this stone … 1362. Secrets of the Viking Stone II: Skeletons in the Closet
The inscription on the stones speaks of a massacre of ten men, one day’s journey north, which could be where those skeletons were found in the Ashby gravel pit. ibid.
Vinland, west of Greenland, Helga and Ann Ingstad in 1960 a Norwegian couple … used these sagas to navigate around Newfoundland and they eventually found a Viking settlement that was dated to the year around 1,000. This changed everything. ibid.
So what does it say? … 8 Goths and 22 Norwegians upon a journey of discovery from Vinland westwards. We had camp by two skerries one day’s journey north from this stone … 1362. Secrets of the Viking Stone II: Skeletons in the Closet
The inscription on the stones speaks of a massacre of ten men, one day’s journey north, which could be where those skeletons were found in the Ashby gravel pit. ibid.
Vinland, west of Greenland, Helga and & Ann Instad in 1960 a Norwegian couple … used these sagas to navigate around Newfoundland and they eventually found a Viking settlement that was dated to the year around 1,000. This changed everything. ibid.
The Vikings went almost everywhere in Europe … They settled on whatever islands they could find in the north Atlantic. Secrets of the Viking Stone III: Viking Confidential, historian
The fur trade was exactly what would have brought a group of Norsemen to Kensington, Minnesota, in 1362. ibid.
Elroy and I continue to search for an archaeologist who would be willing to hear us out about the Code Stone. Secrets of the Viking Stone IV: One Two Three, Archaeology!
‘The DNA testing worked very well’ … We had a suspicion it might be Native American … Since the skull was Native, we had to figure out a way to get the skull back to the Native Americans. Academics have a hard time believing that the Vikings came to Minnesota, but some are open to the idea L’Anse aux Meadows wasn’t the final stop. ibid. expert
L’Anse aux Meadows: ‘It looks like it had the materials you needed to repair ships: that’s why there’s so many rivets founds there, and also a place where you could make rivets.’ ibid. Dr Anders Winroth
Whoever did this, that’s the person I would like to meet. It’s the last runemaster. Secrets of the Viking Stone V: Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Dr Winroth
There was no doubt that the stone had been found wrapped in tree roots. And all the witnesses who had signed affidavits regarding the age of the tree stated it was at least twenty-five to thirty years old when Olof found the stone. Secrets of the Viking Stone VI: The Discovery
It [stone] was in the ground before he [Olof] even got here. And we’ve proved that. ibid.
According to Scott, the Knights Templar had been using the hooked X for centuries … The hooked X was carved on other rune stones that had been found right here in these United States. ibid.
The Bayeux Tapestry is an extraordinary work of art. Made in the 11th century it tells the incredible story of the Norman conquest of England. Betrayal, bravery, invasion, and bloody battle. It is a truly epic saga. Nearly seventy metres in length, the tapestry depicts hundreds of characters, animals, buildings and ships, illustrating the end of the Viking and Anglo-Saxon era and the beginning of the age of chivalry. The tapestry still holds many mysteries: who commissioned it, who created it, where was it made and for what purpose? Mysteries of the Bayeux Tapestry, BBC 2022
Throughout history tales of the dreaded Vikings evoke images of slaughter and terror, wanton pillage and savage bloodletting. But beneath the infamy of sordid violence lies a fascinating true story. The Vikings were fierce warriors, but they were also seasoned navigators, intrepid explorers, craftspeople, merchants, politicians and poets. Between the years 700 and 1100 these Norse warriors conquered Britain, Ireland, laid siege to Paris, built complex trade networks as far east as Constantinople and Baghdad. They were the first Europeans to set foot on the wild plains of America before fading into obscurity. Vikings: The Rise & Fall s1e1: The Road to Lindisfarne, National Geographic 2022
Although Viking raids may have begun as early as the year 750, historians like to mark the 793 attack on the holy island of Lindisfarne as the official start of the Viking age. ibid.
The word Viking is sometimes explained as being more of a profession than a nationality. They are the outward face of the local people who live in Scandinavia. ibid. Dr David Petts
Their world belonged to a pantheon of rugged gods and mythical beasts led by Odin and Thor. ibid.
These compact lightweight rowing vessels were a precarious way to travel with little room for cargo. ibid.
These small-scale sporadic raids grew frequent. With wealth and honour for the taking, the daring fighters wreaked untold havoc on their peace-loving targets before calmly disappearing over the horizon. The Vikings were slowly building a fearsome reputation. ibid.
Britain proved a fertile country, rolling hills and arable farmland, a stark contrast to bleak Scandinavia. The Vikings began to settle. They assembled large camps to survive the winter. ibid.