The Artios Home Companion Series Unit 7: The Coming of the Vikings Teacher Overview VIKINGS (also known as Norsemen or Northmen), were fierce Germanic tribesmen who swept down from Scandinavian lands to invade and plunder villages and towns along the coastal areas of northern Europe. News of their coming brought terror to people’s hearts wherever they went. Map showing area of Norse settlements during the 8th to 11th centuries (the Viking Age) Reading and Assignments In this unit, students will: Complete three lessons in which they will learn about the coming of the Northman, Rollo the Viking, and Alfred the Great, journaling and answering discussion questions as they read. Define vocabulary words. Complete a biography notebook page on Rollo the Viking. Complete a biography notebook page on Alfred the Great. Explore the following websites: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/ https://www.royal.uk/alfred-great-r-871-899 Visit www.ArtiosHCS.com for additional resources. Medieval to Renaissance: Middle School Unit 7: The Coming of the Vikings Page 80 Leading Ideas Vocabulary An individual’s character will be reflected in his Lesson 1: leadership. pillage For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. — Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) Lesson 2: siege There is power in the spoken word to do evil or to do besiege good. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Lesson 3: — Matthew 12:34 none The rise and fall of nations and leaders is determined Key People, by God. The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Places, and LORD; he turns it wherever he will. Events — Proverbs 21:1 Rollo the Viking God’s Word is the supreme source of God’s revelation Alfred the Great to man. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. — 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Norse clothes in the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities, Stockholm Medieval to Renaissance: Middle School Unit 7: The Coming of the Vikings Page 81 L e s s o n O n e History Overview and Assignments The Coming of the Norsemen “Armed, then, at all points, these joyous, bloodthirsty pirates set forth in their dragon-ships. Along the sides they hung their brightly painted shields, ringed and embossed with metal, and leaning upon their spears, they stood in the prow, while the short oars flashed and the wind sang through the sail. When storm winds blew and others sought the shelter of the shore, the dragon-ship sped forth, spurning as if in joy the foaming waves. Then, as day dawned, some sleeping village would hear the Viking battle cry.” — Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall Reading and Assignments Review the discussion questions and vocabulary, then read the article: Coming of the Northman. Explore more about the Vikings at: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/viki ngs Narrate about today’s reading using the appropriate notebook page. Be sure to include key people, events, and dates within the narration. Define the vocabulary word in the context of the reading and put the word and its definition in the vocabulary section of your history notebook. Begin gathering information for a display or presentation about the Vikings and their culture. Include information about their villages, Animal-head post found in the Oseberg vikingship, seen in their ships, and their language. the Viking Ship Museum, Oslo, Norway (By Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway - Museum In lieu of discussion questions, of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl, please spend your time on the https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3886717) research needed for your project. This activity will lead to great Vocabulary family and group discussion when presented. pillage Visit www.ArtiosHCS.com for additional resources. Medieval to Renaissance: Middle School Unit 7: The Coming of the Vikings Page 82 Adapted for Middle School from the book: The Story of Europe by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall The Coming of the Northmen We have studied the dim beginnings of disturbances, there were frequent attacks France, Italy, and Germany. But hundreds from without to be repelled, and these alone of years were to pass before these kingdoms were enough to prevent Europe from really became settled. The period which settling into peace. followed the Treaty of Verdun was one of Soon after the death of Charlemagne the constant turmoil and bloodshed, for the Saracens seized the island of Sicily, overran kings were often feeble, sometimes bad, and a great part of the south of the Italian their subjects were turbulent and rebellious. Peninsula, and even threatened Rome itself. Even a strong king had endless difficulties Avars and Hungarians from the wilds of to face. Asia swept over Germany and northern First, there was the lack of roads. One of Italy, reached even to the borders of France, the first things the Romans had done in a and at length settled in the land which is conquered country was to build roads. They now called Hungary. And lastly, there came knew that roads were great conquerors and the Vikings, or Norsemen (also called great civilizers. But the barbarians who split Northmen). They were the last of the up the Roman Empire did not know the German tribes to attack the civilization of value of roads, so the wonderful Roman Europe, and they left more impression on it highways were allowed to fall into disrepair. than almost any other, although they In Saxony, which the Romans had never themselves became absorbed in the peoples conquered, there were no roads at all. The they conquered. difficulties, therefore, of traveling from one part of the kingdom to another were immense, the transport of an army extremely difficult. Without roads, too, commerce languished. Secondly, the King was almost always poor, for the system of taxation was very imperfect. Being unable quickly to travel all over the kingdom himself, the King was obliged to delegate much of his authority to dukes and counts. Having little money, he paid them for their services in land, and their possessions often became so great that they were really more wealthy and powerful than the King himself, and rebelled against his authority. So civil wars were constant. Snow cover across Scandinavia, as imaged by MODIS Besides these and other internal on board NASA's Terra satellite in 2002 Medieval to Renaissance: Middle School Unit 7: The Coming of the Vikings Page 83 The Home of the Norsemen Norsemen began to sail forth from their Of their early history we know little or bays and fjords, and attack the Christian nothing. For while in southern and central kingdoms of Europe. They came from what Europe new kingdoms were being are now Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, hammered out of the old Roman Empire, but in those days men called them all Europe beyond the Baltic was a region indiscriminately, Danes, Norsemen, unknown. Until the end of the eighth Northmen, Vikings, or men of the bays and century we know almost nothing of fjords. The English chronicles generally call Scandinavia. Nearly all the Teutonic tribes, them Danes, the French chronicles it is true, who took possession of the empire generally call them Norsemen. But, by came, or had traditions of having come, whatever name they were known, for a from the far north. They came from beyond hundred years they made themselves the the sluggish sea where dwelt a mighty terror of seaboard Europe. people well skilled in the building of boats; For the attacks of the Norsemen differed they came “from the edge of the world.” But from those of any other barbarian people in little was known of this far-distant country. that they came from the sea, and not from Those of you who have read the the land. They sailed in long, narrow Germania of Tacitus may remember how he vessels, capable of holding fifty or sixty speaks of these northern peoples and their men. Bow and stern were alike, so that the land. “They live on islands in the sea,” he ship could be steered either way, and they says. “Their strength lies not in military were decorated with the head of a swan or forces only, but also in their dragon, or some other animal. But the ships . Beyond the islands there is dragon was the favorite. Rowers sat along another sea which is sluggish, and nearly the sides of the vessels, and there was also always still. It is believed to encircle the one large sail. earth, for here the light of the setting sun lasts until the sun rises again, and the light is bright enough to make pale the stars. Moreover, it is said that you can hear the sea hiss as the sun rises out of it and see the god’s face, and the halo about his head. This is the end of the world, it is said, and it may well be so.” The Norsemen as Raiders Hundreds of years passed, and people The preserved remains of the Oseberg Ship, now knew little more about this strange northern located in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. country than they did in the time of Tacitus. (By Hofi0006 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=268551) At length, however, toward the end of the eighth century, driven by poverty and the Accustomed as we are now to great necessity of finding new homes, or merely seagoing ships, the Viking ships seem the by the love of adventure, the heathen merest cockle-shells, and we marvel how Medieval to Renaissance: Middle School Unit 7: The Coming of the Vikings Page 84 men could venture forth upon the stormy with jewels, and were handed on from hero North Sea in such frail craft.