Course Learning

The Vikings were not all bloodthirsty raiders. Some came to fight, but others came to Britain to live peacefull

Norwegian Eric ‘Bloodaxe’ led his own kingdom in York in the 950s.

31 coins minted at York bear Eric’s name but he was betrayed and killed in AD954.

Many Vikings worked as farmers. Everything had to be done by hand on a Viking farm, so life was tough.

Farmers grew oats, barley and wheat. They ground the grain to make flour, porridge and ale. They planted vegetables, and kept animals like cows, sheep, pigs and chickens.

Other jobs were:

• Craft workers who made plates, cups, belts and shoes.
• Jewellers who made rings and brooches from precious metals.
• Blacksmiths who hammered red-hot iron into tools, knives and swords.
• Potters who baked clay pots in a wood fire oven.

People sold these goods at markets. Here a family could buy anything from amber beads and apples, to walrus tusks and wolf-skins. Vikings also sailed the seas to buy silver, silk, spices and furs.

• With just one room for all the family to share with their animals, a longhouse would have been a crowded and smelly place to live.
• This was built from wood or stone and had a thatched or turf roof on top.
• There was no bathroom inside, but the Vikings kept clean by washing in a wooden bucket or beside a stream.
• Instead of toilets, people used a cesspit, which was a hole outside dug for toilet waste.

The Norse people worshipped many gods and loved to tell stories of magic and monsters around the fire.

The Vikings loved to tell myths and legends about their gods.

• Vikings had their own laws and government.
• People gathered at a meeting called a ‘Thing’. Here they would settle problems and make decisions.
• People could vote on what should happen. For example, the Thing might decide who owned a piece of land or how to punish a criminal.
• All this was overseen by a judge known as a law-speaker.
• Viking laws were not written down, so laws were passed from person to person by word of mouth.
• People who broke the law became outlaws. They had to live in the wilderness and anyone was allowed to hunt them down and kill them.
• Vikings could also settle arguments with a fight known as a Holmgang. Whoever won the duel was seen as chosen by the gods.