Original subtitles

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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

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societies it's a story about the

Vikings and how they transformed the

world for most people the Vikings are

seen only as plunders and

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Pirates but is that the whole

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truth they're going abroad to take what

they

seek in this this series we we dig

deeper and gain more insight into who

the Vikings really

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were and the truth turns out to be

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surprising hallu hallu hallu hallu

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Hall

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in the late 8th Century the Vikings

started appearing along Ong the coast of

Europe with their long BS 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 be spare the Wrath of

the

norsman over the years the Viking

strategy changed they were not only

brutal

Warriors but also skilled diplomats not

afraid to mix with powerful rulers who

wanted to create a new

Europe in fact the Vikings would reshape

several European countries one of these

was frankia a kingdom that we will come

back to over the course of this

series but why did the Scandinavian

indans set sail across the seas and

become

pirates in order to answer this we must

go back to a time before the Vikings

journey into

Europe to 6th Century

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well the sixth centur is a really

interesting

time not just for the Nordic countries

but for the whole of Europe in

general it's the period following the

collapse of the Roman Western

Empire and characterized to a great

extent by political instability and

turmoil um conflict and also large scale

human migrations and that it's that

aspect of the period that lends its name

to to how we characteriz this time which

is is often as the migration period

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s

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

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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 uh what we're

looking at is a series of one or more

volcanic

events

and in the early Medieval World you know

a couple of bad years of harvest would

be enough to really enforce some quite

dramatic

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changes

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how do we know that the climate crisis

actually

happened what evidence do we

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have it's there but it's it's dim it's

not giving out heat it's not even

creating Shadows during the

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day the sun essentially isn't doing what

it's supposed to

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do

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AB

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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

archaological evidence we see certain

settlements they seem to have been

attacked sometimes burned

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down and the main key bit of evidence

that leads us to believe that these were

attacks not accidents is that in some of

these places people are left unburied

within the burn

houses

It is believed that around the year 580

more than 1 million people may have

lived in Denmark Norway and Sweden of

these perhaps 3 or 400,000 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 returns to

normal soon the population starts to

grow again however Scandinavian Society

has

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changed

for

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for

basically you have large tracks of land

that can then be snapped up essentially

by those who are seeking to preserve

their lives and preserve their

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status

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for 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 uh more apparent it may be a

time where we see an intensification of

slavery or um dependency of the lower

classes on the aristocracy and as a

result that gives the aristocracy the

the the means and the power uh to

consolidate their hold on that

landscape but as well as this we also

have 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 subsistent

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 um

to produce what people need to to live

out their daily lives

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we can say

at

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and now when the warrior ideals is

upheld to an even greater

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extent powerful leaders thought to

emerge leaders who will play important

roles in what lies

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ahead societies are becoming

increasingly

militarized Warfare becomes a really

kind of prominent theme in material

culture of the period leading to a time

where we have the higher status uh boat

burials in places like valota and Sweden

these beautiful ornate um pieces of arms

and armor speaking to a a militarized

aristocracy who are engaging in endemic

perhaps smaller scale conflict uh but

this becomes a central aspect of elite

power at the

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time

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fore

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for

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man

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foree

women served a particularly important

role as craft Specialists especially in

the process of of textile

production which during the Viking age

would have uh ranged from producing

everything from in addition to the

everyday items that a family needed uh

to survive you know their clothes for

example but also traveling clothes so in

this there in very important place in in

the organization and the ability of

communities uh to engage in in travel

and

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warfare

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preser

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it's quite possible that many ways uh

they were simply

perceived from quite an early age as

just kind of small adults in that they

would take on the same roles as their

family members before them their

extended kinship networks and the

communities that they lived uh within so

they would take part in in 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 uh 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

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skill

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for

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apprentic and from quite a what we would

call a young age perhaps in the mid

teens um children living in the Viking

age might have actually started to

participate in overseas travel um and

perhaps raiding and this would be part

of their continuing education as it were

uh in Warfare um and and

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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

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vessels despite having known about

sailing vessels earlier through their

contacts with the Roman Empire the

Scandinavians didn't copy these but

instead built 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 kill

that allowed beating to

Windward this would prove to be very

useful for the Vikings in the

future

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even though the men built the actual

ships the women in scavia society also

played a vital

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part

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can

experimental archaeology has shown that

just to produce well to spin and weave

the the wool needed for a single cell

would take someone working on their own

years of fulltime work what this implies

is that there had to be um a level of

production among these societies

actually in all likelihood far exceeded

the kind of standard subsistence uh

demands uh that were made on them during

everyday

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life after months of hard work the new

vessels are

finished sales have been made and the

first Expeditions are being

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organized

f

for

Expedition

on forf

for

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but as well as this 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

we're not quite sure exactly who

participated in these raids it could

have been you know almost anyone uh 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 uh project

a kind of Martial identity they might

have certainly uh chosen to uh undertake

rating taking with them perhaps perap

the professional uh 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 uh 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 a small Target

is with their new ships the

Scandinavians could finally set sail

across the seas in search of Fortune and

a better

life they were now able to reach more

distant places than ever

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before

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mon

the monks are blissfully unaware of

what's about to

happen as the sailing vessel swiftly

approach from the

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sea raiding the shores the Vikings prove

just how efficient their ships

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are

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with

for

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l

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on

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for

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plit

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what

the angon chronicle especially is is

quite silent on on what's taking place

at this time um in fact is it was for

many years believed that there was a

kind of uh a pause um after the initial

raids before we move into the later 9th

century but there has been some what I

feel is really quite convincing uh

Recent research which has 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 um monasteries are are

being tasked with ensuring that they are

properly prepared against people

described um as pagans and 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 is

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 uh in Viking

raiding

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the Vikings 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

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ships but is the word pirate fitting

description for the Vikings

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when we look at the available sources uh

from Western Europe we see Viking

Raiders and raiding parties being uh

portrayed as as incredibly brutal and

unsophisticated

groups all of the cliches of burning

monasteries and and killing

monks but as quite clear that even to

engage in this kind of overseas rating a

great deal of organization is needed um

both of materials and

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people

for

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for

fore the

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normal

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for

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so I think when we're talking about the

early Viking raids the term piracy is

actually quite apt um but perhaps not in

quite the way that we would understand

it today I think certainly um 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

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seek what we're looking at here is

fairly indiscriminate Seaborn rating

these are groups that are operating

independently engaging in opportunistic

raiding um 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 Seaborn raiding fits into it does

kind of fit very well with what we would

in the modern day call 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 for a 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

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elsewhere 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 uh

these Viking groups and and what they're

doing um

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overseas

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e

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for

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men

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early on the Vikings had good fortune as

pillagers and they were soon looking for

new areas to plunder for wealth

but when they start attacking the coast

of the Frankish Empire they suddenly

face resistance unlike any found on the

British

Isles for the ruling Emperor here has no

plans of surrending his Christian lands

to the Pagan

Pirates his name

is

Charlamagne

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a great climate crisis in the 6th

century was one factor that changed

Scandinavia leading to long-term

transformation of societies and

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territories which provided them the

opportunity to to travel further out and

reach easily plundered targets such as

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monasteries they had now become

Vikings during the 9th century the

Vikings tried to advance into frankia

something that greatly increases the

violent conflict between Northern pagans

and Christian frankian and sets off for

rivalry between two kings when the

Vikings begin attacking frankia charlan

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 in

itally but due to tumultuous and

unexpected events in Denmark as well as

in frania the Vikings will finally be

able to travel up the rivers and further

Inland and soon great citizens like

Paris are under

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attack in the late 700s the

Scandinavians set sail across the sea

Seas searching for a better life looting

and pillaging eventually becoming what

we know as the

Vikings using their longships 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

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successful the Frankish defenses built

by Charlamagne 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

frania in order to answer that we have

to find out more about Charlemagne and

what happened during the very first

Viking attacks on frankia

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charlem 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 shoman 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

for 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

which has even suggested to have

resulted in in large scale

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Massac

and it's been suggested that this

somehow generated um the perception that

there was a need um for a strike on the

Christian World from Scandinavia and in

this the early Viking rat have sometimes

been presented almost for one of a

better term as a 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 um economic and

ideological factors at play here um but

I'm not sure that charlamagne's actions

in expanding his Empire really did

provide the the primary impetus um 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 irminsul which can be

likened to the tree ugra an important

symbol in the north religion of

Scandinavia

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on

for for a long time the Frankish Empire

had suffered constant raids from the

Saxons but around the year

772 charlan decides to strike back and

attacks

Saxony this time he doesn't only want

revenge he wants to to force the Saxons

to convert from their Pagan beliefs to

Christianity once and for

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all

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charlamagne's servant a scholar and a

monk by the name einhard wrote the

Franken Emperor biography the Vita

Koli life of Charlamagne in this

biography einhard writes the last war

that sha undertook was against those

northmen who are called d

who first came as pirates and then

ravaged the coast of G and Germany with

a greater Naval

Force he was of course talking about the

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Vikings

he instituted a system of coastal

defense on the Frankish

Coast he put in place not only orders to

construct ships to deter seor 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

uh those forces um on the beach as it

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were at the beginning of the 9th century

the system seemed to work quite well in

820 we have a fairly small Viking raid

on the Frankish Coast the Vikings make

several attempts to enter uh Frankish

waterways uh to plunder and each time

they are thrown out essentially uh by

this Frankish Coast

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Guard 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 plunder bring

pagans into his

country the setback of the first attacks

leads some Viking Chiefs to Simply leave

the Frankish Empire and focus on easier

targets the Danish King gfred is one of

these powerful men who gives up on

frankia and heads for other

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destinations other Vikings decided to go

different

routes

good Fred's younger brother haldon for

instance chooses not to follow his

brother's example and instead Alliance

himself with Charlamagne becoming the

Danish Envoy to the Frankish

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Emperor for a while it almost seems like

the violent Viking attacks on frankia

have ceased for

good

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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

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made

and these uh collectively provided Hub

in Northwestern Europe for the exchange

of goods across long

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distances from

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SC

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for

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for

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the

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see

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raing also gives the Vikings access to

another product one that they buy and

sell at various

markets

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spe

men

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in

for visitors to these trading post are

mainly engaged in peaceful trade and as

the buying and selling of various Goods

increases the Trading Post 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

88 the great Trading Post of Rik is

suddenly attacked by the Danish King

goodfred

Rik

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what we have in Denmark at this time uh

in during the reign of godfred is an

attempt to by the king to consolidate

his power which is you know at least uh

to some extent in relation um to the

increasing an antagonistic contacts uh

but between the Danes and and the

carolingians

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fr

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d

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for

tillmar tland is

and there he basically had control over

these individuals and these are craft

Specialists specialists in trade they

can bring in a lot of income uh this

income can be taxed and this directly

has consequences for for godred's power

it also sends a strong message to the

Carol Indians that godfred the the

Danish King is is a force to be reckoned

with and that he now has the influence

and the power to bring you know elements

of this North Sea and 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

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danava

Long

in all likelihood according to the

archaeological evidence this Monument

was already in existence during godf

fr's Reign so what he probably did was

was refortify it uh but nonetheless that

indicates that he must have had um

extensive control not only over a

significant a pool of resources but also

a pool of Labor so from this we can

infer that uh certainly uh within

godred'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 um the

general population as

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well conclud then

Westmark

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for

naturally the sacking and destruction of

rerik was a clear provocation of

Charlemagne on the part of the Danish

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King peace negotiations were held

between the two sides but in the end

they came to nothing

after this charlan created a permanent

Garrison north of the river

Elba he planned to retaliate and when

the Danish King brought hundreds of

ships to raid the fishan

coastline charlan gather his forces to

strike

back

just before the Frankish attack

something happens Charlemagne is reached

by a

messenger Good Fred is dead killed by

one of his own

bodyguards when goodfred 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 conflict are

nothing compared to what happens when

the Great Frankish Emperor dies Just 4

years later in

8814 he had ruled France for 46 years

and during his Reign he created a strong

Christian Empire well equipped to deal

with a viking

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threat what would happen now when he was

gone

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fore

for

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ific

and so what we have here is really a

kind of a perfect set of circumstances

uh for Viking raiding groups to um start

not only raiding the coast but to

penetrate much further in 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

welldeveloped defensive system in place

which in theory was supposed to to um

counter these attacks the Kings had the

ability to master large armies often at

short notice but at the same time

they're often hampered um in their

ability to do so simply because they

cannot always count on the support um of

their

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Magnus

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for man

for

cler while the Franks 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

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a

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door

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better

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fore

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what we're looking at here is is no kind

of concerted attempt to extort money or

land out of the Carol Indians or or any

other societies that uh the these groups

are coming into violent contact with but

rather there 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 uh

rather than kind of conforming to to a

general strategy um that may not have

actually existed did 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 Bal 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 s 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

Bold was eventually forced to pay a

large amount of gold and silver as

ransom for his

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City

for

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after the events in Denmark more and

more people travel Trav from Scandinavia

and across the seas to other

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countries it's not only armed men in

search of gold and Glory who make the

voyage they are also families with women

and children and sometimes the journey

can be very

long

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for

land of till

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England

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the frankis Civil War gives the Vikings

an opportunity to stay in frankia 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 fr Frankish

Empire but life in Exile at Winter Camp

is not easy the majority of the

information we have uh 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 uh to identify these sides

where we have had some really good

archaological research done recently is

in England and what we found uh in

England are at least two now um winter

camps essentially when these Viking

forces were operating in the field for

long periods of time they'd often spend

the winter ins sconed in some kind of of

temporary

[Music]

encampment

[Music]

[Music]

on what we're seeing here groups that

are very different uh to the early

Viking raiding fleets these aren't just

a few Crews of individuals operating

opportunistically but rather they're

very large uh comprising perhaps

thousands of people moving around the

landscape for long periods of time

andlike the early Raiders who would uh

raid seasonally these groups were

staying out in in what is now France in

in England um for years and even over

Decades of time

what we're not really sure about at this

time is what these camps physically

looks

like what we do see evidence for though

is their occupation of the side itself

largely uh through evidence of metal

production and Manufacturing and and

trade and the thing about these sites is

that they're often detected uh through

the work of metal detectorist uh 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

[Music]

trade

[Music]

[Music]

they

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fore

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Al

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[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

for of whole

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[Music]

London

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cap

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for

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Sur

AR

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but one of the thing I find really

interesting about these sites is what

they mean uh for our perceptions of the

later settlement of the landscape uh in

both England and in the Carolian Empire

if we're to accept that these large

Viking forces were comprised of numerous

autonomous groups uh coming together and

acting together uh for a short period of

time then what we essentially have here

is the creation of although we call them

um often uh armies they're actually kind

of mobile Societies or polities in their

own ride and the conditions in which

they're living in these camps uh might

actually provide a kind of precursor for

the later settlement of 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 uh and

inhabiting a single area in such a

way

[Music]

after the death of Charlamagne Civil War

raged in frania and the coastal defenses

couldn't be

maintained the area lay open open to

Scandinavians searching for gold to

glory and eventually land meanwhile

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

frankia their tactics

changed they went from pillaging small

monasteries to attacking large cities

like Paris a common Viking stragedy 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

Vikings will not be able to

remain the resistance soon becomes

stronger again and the new Frankish

Emperor manages to rebuild his defenses

including those along the river s

preventing further attacks on Paris

during the years that follow the Vikings

will instead turn toward the British

ises this however is only temporary the

Vikings haven't finished with

frankia when they return they do so with

a new goal to become an integrated part

of Frankie society and in order to

achieve this the Vikings are willing to

go to any

[Music]

length

[Music]

at the end of the first Viking invasion

of France the plundered cities began to

build walls and

fortifications making the Viking attacks

more difficult but despite this the

Viking fleets grow in number as more and

more people continued to join the

Voyages to frankia hoping to find glory

and

wealth when the Frankish defenses for

time became too strong the Vikings

instead set their sides on

England at the end of the 9th century

however the Vikings once again see their

chance to return to frankia 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 Dutch and

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 frankia in the late 9th

century when Charles the board was still

[Music]

King

[Applause]

[Applause]

during the 880s the Carol Indians

actually managed to reestablish their

kind of power and initiative in their

defense against various Viking raiding

groups and they begin to refortify their

borders and push these groups back out

to the

Sea

Charles the bald who was the Frankish

Emperor and the grandson of Charlamagne

had repeatedly been forced to pay Ransom

to the Viking

[Music]

Invaders 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 Viking 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 Indians 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

[Music]

here 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

[Music]

[Music]

launched

[Music]

for

[Music]

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for

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

while the Siege on Paris may have been

relieved um various Viking groups were

still been quite successful in the field

they were still managing to extract

tribute from the Franks uh 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 um and think

about these groups more on their own

terms as autonomous raiding fleets and

armies operating with their own

individual

goals

[Music]

SC

[Music]

AC

[Music]

for

[Music]

after a period of illness the Frankish

Emperor Charles The Bard dies on October

6

[Music]

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

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

[Music]

Christianity there are a number of

reasons why the Vikings are now

converting from their old Faith to to

become

[Music]

Christians the christianization process

uh happened uh for a number of reasons

in 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

um with the Anglo-Saxon Kings in

England

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

cont

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Mar

[Applause]

scav

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for E

Frank

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sign

in the historical record we see a

surprising number perhaps of um quite

powerful leaders of raiding fleets

accepting baptism as part of uh that

diplomatic contact with the carolingian

Kings and also in Anglo-Saxon England we

see this

too and this served um a number of

pragmatic reasons it meant that these

leaders could be incorporated into

the christianized framework of diplomacy

and kingship that existed um in Europe

at this time it allowed uh the Carol

Indians and the Anglo-Saxons uh to deal

with these um leaders of these rating

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 uh of

Christian

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Europe

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an

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for

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for

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for

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cont

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fr

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for

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for

for

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for

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n

Bona

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for

for

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for

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fore

you of fundamental

Ro

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first

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

[Music]

same but at the same time I think it's

important to acknowledge that uh 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

in the sense that we would today

understand it but more a kind of belief

system um 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 and 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

acknowledgement of other beliefs and

maybe there was some way um

that these could be integrated into into

people's existing um belief systems

rather than replacing them

[Music]

directly

in the late 9th century and early 10th

Century as more and more Viking groups

in frankia learn the language and

convert from paganism to Christianity

they start to naturally integrate into

Frankish society and as more Vikings are

integrated they also become a

significant and Dangerous Power to be

reckoned with

[Music]

nor

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 as

Rolo is granted a sth of territory in

what is now

[Music]

Normandy

[Music]

fr

GR

for

for this agreement with r is a clear way

for the Frankish power to control him

and make him an ally

this will have enormous

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

consequences and the purpose of this I

think primarily from the Carolinian

perspective is to establish a strong um

powerful adversary in a region where if

you know he's become uh almost a

protector of of the carolingian Kingdom

because their job essentially um in in

holding this territory is to stop other

Potential incursions from taking

[Music]

place

for

very quickly it seems that the territory

of Normandy grows uh more land is

granted and this this area this new

Scandinavian Enclave uh 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 um disappearance of

Scandinavian custom and the emergence of

of what really looks like a Frankish

territory

[Music]

fore till

morning

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[Music]

Frank

[Music]

I think trying to put a a single

determining Factor on why these

processes of a culturation take place is

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 inte

ation 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 an

exchange of ideas and I think in that

sense that this is a a process that

can't necessarily be Quantified or or

put into a box and say this is why it

happened I think it's 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

[Music]

century

[Music]

R'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

[Music]

Normans

the union of gunar the daughter of a

rich family in West Normandy and R's

grandson Richard the first of Normandy

proved to be one of the most important

political marriages in the

region

[Music]

l

for

[Music]

[Music]

say

[Music]

[Music]

for

[Music]

I mean of course uh these kind of

marriages would have strengthened uh

political and and personal bonds uh

between very powerful families um 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 uh 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 of rule and in that sense that these

marriages legitimize the future rule of

the children born of those

unions

[Music]

[Music]

for

[Music]

even though Christianity reduced the

status of women some of them actually

gained more power through these

political

marriages

[Music]

I I think it goes go through out saying

that women have always been prominent in

matters of politics um and religion we

just don't always read about them in the

texts which are are quite heavily biased

um towards describing the lives of Kings

essentially but as we move into this

period women do hold an increasingly

powerful role um in dynastic Politics as

people uh 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 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 you know higher

status families um contributed to the

strong relationship that secular rulers

had with the church and they greatly

facilitated

this 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

the

[Music]

h

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for

e

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till

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for

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fore

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for

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for

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point

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forlo

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Saxon

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norest

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the reason why the Vikings chose to

integrate into Frankish culture and

become Europeans were 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 and this

would soon result in a decisive

conclusion and lead to one of the most

famous battles in European

[Applause]

history 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 long ships from

Scandinavia down to

frania 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

[Music]

battle but why was it the Normans who

finally managed to conquer England once

and for

all to answer this we must find out why

William a Norman was relevant as a

possible successor to the king of

England Edward the Confessor

[Music]

after ruling England for 24 years Edward

the Confessor dies on January 5th in the

year

[Music]

1066 Edward's Death was start a new

power struggle for the English

throne in Normandy Duke William is

making plans to become

[Music]

king but it will not be

[Music]

easy well there had been previously

existing relationship between the royal

families of Normandy and of England and

and through this uh William had um a

familiar uh connection uh to Edward the

Confessor

William Vo

[Music]

[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 um at some point in

the the

1050s the problem with all of this is

what the throne was also uh claimed by

Harold

godwinson the son of el 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

illei

[Music]

so what we have here are um two

competing claims but also made more

difficult by uh the suggestion again

that Harold had actually sworn um an

oath of of fty uh to William um when he

had been made a hostage um in France so

I guess in William's mind um all of

these things together um May actually

you know give him a fairly good claim to

the throne of England um especially o

over someone like Harold

[Music]

godwinson

[Music]

Harold new over

England

[Music]

G

[Music]

hard

[Music]

the details of the conflicts that follow

have actually been

[Music]

preserved

[Music]

for

[Music]

for

what we see in this is for example the

supposed swearing of an oath by Harold

godwinson to William on Royal relics

which gives 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 William's

preparation for invasion

we see him constructing his ships um

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

[Music]

Hastings and his depiction of the battle

of tapestry does prioritize uh certain

features of the action over others

especially it gives preference to the

Williams use of Cavalry and the pivotal

role that this is supposed to have

played in the

battle it does seem that William is

introducing some Cavalry tactics that

are not being used in England at this

time which may have given him an edge uh

during the battle itself but I think the

uh

actual um course of events on that day

at Hastings they must be uh much more

complex uh than than what we see there

on the tapestry itself

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

then

then

[Music]

although there is a new King in England

Harold good Winson it's a time of worry

and

[Music]

[Applause]

uncertainty this is the Calm before the

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

storm

[Applause]

so in the months following Harold's

coronation um events start to spiral

quite rapidly um of course we already

know that in Normandy William um is

intending to pursue his claim to the

throne and he begins to construct um his

Fleet and gather his invasion

Force Harold godwinson knows about this

and he has encamped uh his army in

Southern England uh waiting for the

invasion to take

place

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 sigon uh 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 just as William is constructing

his own Fleet in Invasion Force Harold

sigon is doing the same and he's

actually assisted um and in Alliance

with Harold godson's brother uh an Earl

by the name of tostig um who had

previously been exiled from England so

while Harold godwinson and his army are

sitting in the South um in late

September Harold siggson and tosti's

Invasion force uh lands in in

[Music]

Yorkshire they head towards York which

is the uh the major uh City in that

region um 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

um a few miles outside of the city at a

place called fulford uh they run into

two Anglo-Saxon Earls and their forces

who have mobilized uh to come and

attempt to stop The

Invasion the battle results in a

Norwegian Victory and Harold

uh hardrada goes on to receive a

submission of York and he prepares his

for forces to March South during this

time Harold godwinson has actually got

word um of the Norwegian uh 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 uh they come into contact

with the Norwegians at a place called

Stanford Bridge

[Music]

on your

[Music]

ground

stord

Bridge

the Battle of Stanford Bridge was

decisive uh for a number of reasons

first it resulted in a Norwegian defeat

Harold hardrada um was slain in what is

often described in the uh kind of

anglocentric perspective on the Viking

agees the last kind of Viking invasion

of England so this initially seems um

positive because Harold godwinson his

army have seen off one uh Invasion Force

but unfortunately it's while he is in

the north that Harold learns that

William has bought 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 um towards the southern

coast

[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

godson's Army would have been under

strength and tired after Stanford bridge

but he still had to head south to meet

Williams force on the southern

coast but I think that if Harold hard

Rader and his Norwegian Force had not

landed uh in Yorkshire and forced that

engagement with the English 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 had

been fresher if Harold had had more

troops um maybe the the course of

history would have been changed

[Music]

there

[Music]

for

[Music]

[Music]

for

[Music]

for

[Music]

Bridge he also may have sought papal

consent um 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 bought his

invasion Force together the biotapestry

is actually quite informative it shows

um stacks of armor and weapons being

loaded onto his ships and also uh

they're used to transport uh infantry

archers and

Cavalry this is clearly a very large and

Powerful Invasion

[Music]

Force Williams troops must now be loaded

onto the many ships that will carry them

across the sea towards the coast of

England

for

Williams Cavalry will be of vital

importance at the Battle of Hastings

because William has decided to employ a

novel

[Music]

tactic

Norman Battle Tactics seem to prioritize

the use of heavy Cavalry formations in

this their tactics markedly differ from

those of Harold godwinson his 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 um and

learned from the Carol Indians

and it's clear that the Cavalry play a

pivotal role in the battle it's been

suggested that one of the uh tactics

used by the Norman Cavalry uh was the

fainted retreat in which uh Horsemen

would approach the enemy um 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

biotapestry

elements of the English

Force pursuing elements of the Norman

force and being cut down when they do

so and this seems to be how the English

are worn down throughout the

[Music]

[Applause]

day and if this is the case if the um

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 um and simply in ways that the the

English had not used them

before

[Music]

I think as in all these discussions

there's no single factor to explain why

the Normans won uh at the Battle of

Hastings as always there there's many

different uh issues that we need to

consider if we to believe the accounts

of the battle then the use of Cavalry

and Cavalry tactics certainly seems to

have played a role the English uh did

not fight on Horseback they were not

necessarily used to en en countering

Cavalry in the field and so the the

Norman's novel and Innovative use of

Cavalry may have certainly contributed

uh to their Victory especially if there

was indiscipline among the English ranks

which led to them pursuing um any Fain

Retreat uh by the Cavalry

[Music]

itself

but I don't think it's really fair to

say that um these Cavalry tactics

automatically gave uh 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 uh was

finally routed but I think certainly

that um 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 Fame Retreat uh that would have

probably played quite an important role

um in their

defeat can set

[Music]

[Music]

up

[Music]

some William

[Applause]

had

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

oh

[Applause]

[Music]

I think to really understand uh the

events of Hastings we do have to U 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 Stanford Bridge so to have

forc marched his army North uh to 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 um 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 uh that he would have

otherwise have desperately

needed

[Music]

say

for

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

uh would give him the edge um in

motivating himself and his forces uh to

carry the victory on that day

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when the battle is finally over William

stands

Victorious from now on he will be known

as William the

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Conqueror

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har

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what

BL

uh

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sometime after the Battle of Hastings

the Baya tapestry

made which depicts the events

surrounding the great

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battle

Afters

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Williams

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for

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for

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part

terminal

William Crown at Westminster Abbey in

London on Christmas Day in the year

1066 he is now the ruler of England and

Normandy William to f

nor

for

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one of the first things he did was parel

land out to his Barons um in that sense

he B the Norman aristocracy over to

England um and instored them en within

the system of

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government seon 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 uh brutality um of this

campaign is debated by historians it

certainly shows that William Was Not

Afraid uh to crush any political oppos

opposition with um overwhelming

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Force

def

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uh

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to win the battle for the English crown

William used his multiculture

Heritage for instance he landed soldiers

directly onto the shore door from

shallow draft

ships a tactic 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 archers to

great effect in addition his timing was

good as he arrived not long after the

the Battle of Stamford Bridge and

finally he had luck on his

side 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 the history

books the Battle of Hastings marks the

end of the Viking age the Vikings have

now become

Kings from the end of the 8th century

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 and

finally They seized the supreme power

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till

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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 that we have

constructed

for

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for

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for

for 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 um

events of 793 uh the events of the mid

9th century and eventually of 1066 that

shaped uh 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 uh trade

Warfare and

colonization that effectively shape the

social and political landscape of Europe

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today and therefore you know without the

Viking age U I don't think we'd have the

modern world as we know it today at all

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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