The Vikings: Life And Conquests (1959)

oh our sea Steed through the foam goes prancing while Shields and Spears and Helms are glancing from Pure to Sea our ships ride free and down the wind with swelling sail we race before the Gathering Gale so sang the sea roving adventurers of the Early Middle Ages known as Vikings the Vikings came from Scandinavia in the far north of Europe from the countries we call Denmark Sweden and Norway the northmen sailed by the sun in the daytime and the stars at night in their sturdy long ships they traveled farther than any other Sailors of their time as they fared to their Adventures of Commerce and War thou Hast the AR O King of sailing stormy seas and living long Under the seaspray Tent the skills of seaf fairing were passed on from father to [Music] Sun from early youth they learned the secrets of the Winds and currents rowing when the air was still using the square sail when the breeze was favorable and down the wind with swelling sail we race before the Gathering Gale from the 9th to 11th centuries these Pagan Pirates Warriors colonists and Merchants poured over much of Europe they began by crossing the North Sea and making raids on Christian settlements [Music] from the fury of the Northman good Lord Deliver Us the Vikings looted and destroyed towns monasteries and castles along the the coasts and river banks sometimes they left as quickly as they came other times they stayed on to build their own settlements so they could continue their attacks further Inland neither the prayers nor the defenses of the Christians could stop the tide of the Viking [Music] Onslaught the solitary raids grew into big invasions as Petty Chieftain joined together under strong leaders and fleets of long ships assaulted the largest centers of the Western World during the Viking age the ships that sailed out of the North used two main routes the East way and the West way which took them to the two great empires of Chom the Vikings reached the farthest corners of the known world as they raided conquered traded and discovered and then stayed on to settle colonize and Rule from Ireland to Constantinople they left a trail of Destruction and plunder they also left a new way of life for Northern civilization was young and vigorous as yet Untouched by Greek Roman and Christian [Music] Traditions the Invaders lived in the spirit of myth and Legend performing Deeds of great boldness and Valor loving adventure and seeking fame and honor they were proud and independent yet from the peoples they conquered they learned many new things and their captives gained fresh ideas of freedom and equality for even slaves had recognized rights in Viking Society the skulls The Poets and storytellers of the north shared the life of the sea Rovers and told of their exploits in Noble Rhymes the scald would praise their skill in battle or Lament The heroic death of a young Warrior much the sea from me have taken cruel to count my family's L for my son has come to an end like a tree overturned by a storm sad is he who Bears the corpse of dear kin from his Dwelling Place when a Chieftain died he was often buried in his own ship in a special burial chamber here were placed all the possessions of the dead man all the things needed for his next life the Vikings honored their dead even though they had no fear of death itself they believed their ships would carry them to the spirit world to Valhalla mythical resting place of Norse Heroes the ships would be carried ashore and covered by huge Mounds such as this Graves from which the ships have now been dug up and whose contents tell us a lot about the daily life of the Vikings a people who left no written records except for brief inscriptions in the ancient runic alphabet these were often carved on huge stones and told of an important person or great event these early Scandinavians were not only seaf farers they were also Farmers wherever they lived they worked small plots of land using a crude type of plow to raise the cereals and hay which they needed for themselves and their Livestock in their farming methods they differed little from most other people of Europe in the 9th and 10th centuries the great difference lay in the fact that they were independent Farmers owning their own land and moving about as freely as they chose in peace and War these people were one another's equals men did the heavy work such as the threshing of the grain while women did the house chores like grinding the grain for use in cooking and baking cooking was done over an open fireplace in the center of the Vikings one room wooden houses their households were large and Family Ties very strong the idea of kinship of loyalty to one's blood relations was of great importance bear is the back of the brotherless says a proverb of the time a man's first Allegiance was to all his Kinsmen rather than to a Chieftain or a king from earliest youth children followed their Elders in play and in work girls learned to help their mothers who in addition of often had slaves to assist with the many jobs Viking women ran their households with a firm hand both in and out of the house women in the North had more equality and Independence and played a greater role than other women in medieval Europe grandparents shared the family home with their sons daughters and grandchildren and helped them with the various household tasks one of the most important of these was the spinning of wool which was the usual material for clothing and prepared entirely by hand it would first be spun into a coarse thread and then later woven into cloth on a simple Loom gambling and game playing was a favorite Recreation of the older men they could sit and occupy themselves for hours playing a table game very similar to Checkers or chest the large common room with its Open Hearth was the center of all domestic activity there were no Chimneys in these Viking houses and the smoke went out through an opening in the roof during the short days of the northern winter the men would spend their time hunting or making tools and other implements besides being expert ship Builders they were skilled Craftsmen in both wood and metal and able to make fine silver jewelry meals were eaten at a long wooden table and the headman of the house usually sat in the high seat or place of honor the Vikings had frequent feasts particularly during the long and dark winter months while they waited for the Snows to thaw and the iced in Furs to open up guests were always made welcome and the family was proud of the hospitality it could offer the men loved to eat and drink heartily and would entertain themselves by telling and listening to stories and sagas of exciting adventures and dangerous sea Journeys this did say my mother that for me should be bought a ship to share the life of Vikings and down the wind with swelling sail we race before the Gathering Gale the Norse sagas were first written down several hundred years later in Iceland discovered and settled by the Vikings in the middle of the 9th century from here the Norsemen sailed even farther across the Atlantic to found a colony in Greenland The Saga of Eric the Red who settled in Greenland speaks of his son Leaf who navigated even farther to the west to explore the far off shores of North America which he called vinand other sagas tell of permanent Viking settlements in Western Europe in Normandy in Ireland and above all in Britain in the Danish Colony known as the Dane law the Danes owned the land and imposed their own laws from here they spread and conquered the Anglo-Saxons uniting all of England under one [Music] ruler but in the East the swedes were looked to as protectors and known as varangians a Russian word denoting a merchant or a Trader their comers with Constantinople had many far-reaching results the Swedish Traders were received by the slavonic river towns as rulers who gradually accepted the religion and culture of the byzantian and formed an Empire of Nordic princes and Slavic subjects which became the foundation of the later Russian Empire but in the Scandinavian countries the coming of Christendom marked another phase in the clash between North and South The Saga of Olaf the holy king of Norway in the early 11th century relates how he fared throughout the land proclaiming Christian law and holding thing meetings with all his subjects the thing was the legislative assembly of the Vikings a gathering of all free men to make laws and settle disputes ol of saga tells of his thing meeting with the Freeman from The Dales and their Chieftain good Brun the sun had not yet risen when the King and his Bishop arrived at the thing place and saw the Dale folk approaching with their Pagan Idol Thor the God of War and thunder the carrier of the hammer the idol was placed in the middle of the thing me on one side was the King and his company on the other the men of Dale then goodan challenged Olaf and his invisible God where is thy God now it seeth to me that your Swagger is less for now our God is come Thor who can be seen so drop your Folly and Believe In Our God then the king replied thou threaten us with thy God but Lo look ye now and gaze Eastward there now fth our god with a great light as the men looked to the dawn Olaf quickly had their Idols smashed when the Dale folk saw their God destroyed they first rose and fled in panic but later they reluctantly returned to take christening rather than do battle against the king and his all powerful Christian God [Music] like all else in the north the Christianity of Olaf was fierce and strict yet while the Vikings were altering the life of southern Europe the church was beginning to tame the fury of the Northman as the new religion spread across Scandinavia the Viking period of expansion Drew to a close from coasts such as this the Northman in less than three centuries had carried their new and vigorous civilization across the whole of Christian Europe now a new era was being ushered in Long ships were becoming Merchant vessels and Northern Waters busy routs of trade in Scandinavia National States ruled by strong kings were beginning to emerge abroad the Vikings had hastened the development of feudalism by forcing the South to organize under strong rule rulers at the same time adopting many Christian ways and Customs so perish the old gods but out of the Sea of time Rises a new land of song fairer than the old Viking seafaring skill had brought the peoples of Europe into closer contact and laid the foundations for the maritime cities of the north today the Viking age has vanished but its Spirit of ad Venture and Discovery lives on as part of our common Heritage sing no more oh ye BS of the north of Vikings and of yals of the days of old preserve the freedom only not the Deeds of blood [Music]