2. INDEX
I. Great Britain before Vikings
II.Christian religion
III.The Vikings
IV.Viking army and religion
V. Confusing words
3. GREAT BRITAIN BEFORE THE
VIKINGS
The political situation:
Politics before the Vikings was very complex, there were three principal
kingdoms:
I. Wessex governed by the king Egbert (this kings were the monarchs that
governed at the time of the Viking invasion)
II. Mercia governed by the queen Kwenthrith
III. Northumbria governed by the king Aelle.
There were other less important kingdoms like the Kingdom of Kent or the
Kingdom of Anglia for example.
The situation between the principal kingdoms are the next:
Mercia: it was at war against almost Great Britain.
Wessex-Northumbria: they were allies because the daughter Aelle was
married with the Egbert´s son.
4. CHRISTIAN RELIGION
The ancient Christian one was very different to
actual.
The monks lived on monasteries; they can´t do
almost anything that they want, (they neither can
chose if they wanted to be clergy because according
to the tradition the smallest son of a family must be
it). Their life was based on 4 types of times: the
pray, the lunch, the art and the sleep.
At the start of the day they prayed 3 hours (they
start at 5 a.m.), later at 8 a.m. they write, study
and copy books in the scriptorium, at 1 p.m. they
eat, they only eat once at day and reading a book
with the rules of the monastery´s patron (in this
regions they usually read the Saint Jorge´s rules or
the Saint Andrew guidelines), at 2 p.m. they had
alchemist class, at 8 p.m. they had free time and at
9 p.m. they went to sleep.
Saint Jorge (England) Saint Andrew (Scotland)
Flag of Saint Patrick (Ireland)
5. THE VIKINGS
This first wave was led by the count Ragnar
Lodbrok and his wife Lagertha (the women had
more rights and influence in the zones of
Denmark than in the “civilized kingdoms”), years
later a massive invasion was sent to England by
the recently coronated king Ragnar I, in this
conquest they destroy the kingdom of
Northumbria and stablish different Danish states.
The Vikings come from the actual region
located around the Baltic Sea, the first
invasion consisted of five or six drakkars
(around 350 warriors). It was only an
expeditionary force because they
neither knew if Britannia (ancient name
of Great Britain) existed.
The word Anglo-Saxon word come from here,
from the union between the Anglos (Christian
kingdoms that lived there) and the Saxons
(the different Danish states)
Years later this states invaded Paris and
Frankia (France), under the reign of the
French king Charles II or Charles the bald
(grandson of Charlemagne).
6. VIKING´S ARMY AND RELIGION
At war they were technologically superiors to the British:
The Vikings were underestimated by the Christian kingdoms but in the
sieges topic they were superior, for example they used onagros (a
type of roman catapult), battering rams, and sieges towers.
Religion:
The Nordic religion was like almost ancient superstitions a cult based
in the war, basically there were five principal gods: Odin, Thor, Loki,
Freia and Tyr. At the Ragnarök day, the world will finish, the wolf
Fenrir is going to eat the moon, all the gods will die, but humans will
not die. At the end of the battle (the deaths are waiting for this
glorious day in the Valhalla, a giant tree) the world will be destroyed.
Vikings wanted that the Ragnarök comes (because the humans that
survived will converse in gods) and this will come when all the
unfaithful of the Nordic religion die or after 40.000.000 of years afetr
the last Ragnarök.
7. CONFUSING WORDS
I. Scriptorium: room of the monasteries very similar to
the actual libraries.
II. Drakkars: type of Viking ship, longer than the Europe´s
ships.
III.Expeditionary force: fuerza expedicionaria.
IV.Bald: calvo.
V. Underestimate: subestimado.
VI.Battering rams: arietes.
VII.Unfaithful: infieles.
8. Ceistean sam bith? (Have you got any question?)
Tha mi an dòchas gun do chòrd e riut
(I hope that you enjoyed it)
