Who were the Vikings?

The Vikings left their homes in Norway, Sweden and Denmark because there was not enough farmland to produce food and they did not have enough goods for trade.

The Vikings were fierce warriors and invaded Britain in AD865.

They conquered the land for farming and raided monasteries and villages to gather goods for buying and selling.

The name 'Viking' comes from a language called 'Old Norse'. It means ‘a pirate raid’. People who went off raiding in ships were said to be 'going Viking'. But not all the Vikings were bloodthirsty warriors.

Some came to fight, but others came peacefully, to settle. They were farmers, and kept animals and grew crops. They were skilful at crafting, and made beautiful metalwork and wooden carvings.

Viking warriors fought using long swords and axes.

The first Viking raid recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was around AD787. It was the start of a fierce struggle between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings.

The Vikings were pagans, not Christians like most people living in Britain at the time. They did not think twice about raiding a monastery.

Christian monasteries in Britain were easy targets for the Vikings. The monks had no weapons and the buildings were filled with valuable treasures, like gold, jewels and books. There was food, drink, cattle, and clothes too.

In AD865 an army of Vikings sailed across the North Sea. This time they wanted to conquer land rather than just raid it.

They stayed in Britain for the first time in the winter of AD866.

Over several years the army battled through northern England, taking control of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia and most of Mercia.

By AD878, almost all the kingdoms had fallen to the Vikings. All except for Wessex, which was ruled by Alfred the Great. King Alfred beat the Viking army in battle but wasn't able to drive the Vikings out of Britain.

The Vikings travelled from Scandinavia to Britain because the climate was not good for farming with long, cold winters and short, crisp summers.

As their population grew, there was not enough farmland to grow food. There were also not enough goods in their homeland to trade.

Some Norwegian Vikings or 'Norse' sailed to Scotland. They made settlements in the north, and on the Shetland and Orkney Islands.

Vikings also settled on the Isle of Man and often raided Wales, but few made homes there. In Ireland, the Vikings founded the city of Dublin.

The Vikings did not control Wessex because King Alfred paid them some money to leave his kingdom alone. However, the Vikings launched a surprise attack.

In AD878, King Alfred was successful and he defeated the Viking leader, Guthrum at the Battle of Edington.

This lead to the creation of the Danelaw area.

The Danelaw covered an area east of their line joining London and Chester. Everything to the east belonged to the Vikings.

There were three main areas where Vikings lived in England:

• Northumbria (which included modern-day Yorkshire)
• East Anglia
• The Five Boroughs (also known as a town: they were Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Stamford and Lincoln)

Viking families came to settle on these lands. There wasn't much good farmland in the Vikings' own countries, and they were looking for a better life.

The most important city in the Danelaw was the city of York, or ‘Jorvik’ (pronounced 'your-vick'), as the Vikings knew it. Over 10,000 people lived there and it was an important place to trade goods.

Many towns and cities in Britain that were founded by the Vikings can still be spotted today. Places that end in -by, -thorpe or -ay were almost certainly Viking towns.

Almost all of the written evidence about the Viking invasions and settlement in Britain comes from the English version of events, mostly from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and later medieval sources, such as histories and poems.

These usually show the Vikings as blood-thirsty invaders and the people and kings of Wessex as the heroic defenders of ‘England’.

The Vikings themselves did not leave a written record during the Viking Age (AD700-1100) but Vikings did use runes. There is writing from the 13th century that records stories handed down by word-of-mouth for centuries.

Archaeology is a major source of evidence, including the long ships, grave-goods, and coins.

Have a look at the thinking points below and think about your answer to each question. You could even write them down on a piece of paper or discuss them with somebody else if you want to.

• Why did the Vikings leave their homes in Scandinavia?

• Why did the Vikings raid monasteries?

• Why was Danelaw important to the Vikings?

Are you a parent, carer or teacher? Take a look at some of the links below on KS2 History which are packed full of knowledge, videos, quizzes and activities.

Are you a teacher looking for more resources? This collection of short KS2 Vikings videos can help to support your lessons and highlight what life was like as a Viking in Britain.

BBC Bitesize for Teachers has thousands of free, curriculum-linked resources to help deliver lessons - all arranged by subject and age group.