Essay On Norse Raiding

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Research Question: To what extent was the acquisition of wealth the primary motivation for the Norse raiding of Western Europe and the British Isles beginning in 793CE and ending in 1066CE? Introduction: The Vikings are some of ancient Europe’s most well-known seaborne raiders. ‘The Viking Age,’ was the time characterised by heavy Norse raiding of Europe, specifically Western Mainland Europe and the British Isles. It began in 793CE with the Norse raid on the Monastery of Lindisfarne in Northumbria, Britain and it ended in 1066CE with the arrival of William the Conqueror in Britain. The Vikings are so well-known, even in modern times, primarily because of the great frequency and success of their raids. A secondary reason for why the Vikings are so well known is that the Christian Church, the largest literate organisation in Europe at the time, was targeted to a great extent by the raiders. Most accounts of the Vikings, from their time period, are accounts from their victims. This is because most of their victims, like the Church, the Anglo-Saxons…show more content…
Again this shows that raiders often went raiding to prove themselves and got rich at the same time. This source refers to Norse religion encouraging raiding because they believed that the day of one’s death was predestined and one could do nothing to change it. This meant that a raider was not in any danger of death by going on a raid if that time was not predestined and that if you did happen to die in battle then you would go to Valhalla which was a form of paradise in the hereafter. Both of these beliefs encouraged raiding. Additionally, the widespread conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity coincides with the ending of raiding which suggests that Norse religion may have been a strong motivation to
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