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Historical Dictionary

First posted on May 11th 2004

Narratives : Vikings, Saracens, Magyars http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sat/texts/narrvikings.html

For centuries, the Roman Empire, an advanced civilization, was in contact with peoples dubbed Barbaric - Germanics, Slavs, Celts, the Berbers (see chapters Roman Empire, Barbaric Peoples' Migrations; for the Magyars : History of Central Asia, for the Saracens : History of North Africa). The Roman Empire traded with these peoples in a very single-sided trade; the Barbarians had little the Romans were interested in - the Germanics had to offer amber, blond hair (for wigs), fur, slaves. The easiest way for Germanics to make money and enjoy part of the luxuries the Roman Empire had to offer was to enlist in the Roman army. Over the centuries, the Roman (and later the Byzantine) army consisted mainly of foreign soldiers. The Roman Empire trained the Germanics, in a way the British trained the Gurkhas in the 19th century. The Byzantinians used Lazica, the eastermost stretch of their Empire, as a recruitment place for mercenaries. Central Asian tribes moved there and fought each other in the sight of the Byzantinians, in order to be offered a lucrative alliance. Thus, fighting was a way to make a living; for some, the most promising way to make a career in their days. The Vikings, Magyars and Saracens had in common superior mobility. The Vikings and Saracens were seafarers, practically controlling the Baltic and North Seas respectively the Mediterranean Sea. Close to the end of the 8th century, the Vikings gave up the traditional way of sailing within sight of the coast in order not to lose orientation and sailed straight across the North Sea, for example, from Norway or Denmark to a certain spot on the English or Frisian coast. So they could surprise their victims, land, grab what they could and disappear before the local forces could arrive on the scene. Magyars and Saracens were mobile on horseback; Saracen raids are recorded as far as St. Gallen, Magyar raids, from their base in Pannonia (Hungary), as far as Andalusia (Spain). The Viking boats were fast, but comparatively small and shallow - permitting their crew to land at flat beaches, to row upriver, even up smaller creeks. They would use the Russian river system, rowing up one river, pulling their boat a short distance and rowing down another river, thus travelling from the Baltic to the Black or Caspian Sea. While the (Western) Roman Empire had disintegrated in 476, western central Europe still exercised sufficient attraction for the raiders. Monasteries were the richest prizes, and monks were unarmed. It has been argued that christianization had taught people to be less warlike; the pagan respectively Muslim Vikings, Saracens and Magyars certainly had few scruples when it came to fighting and killing. On the other hand, they took on great risks, being exposed to the weather at sea, or to the danger of rowing/riding into a trap, or into coincidentially assembled superior forces - this is what seems to have happened at the famed Battle of Tours and Poitiers 732, which was more of a skirmish between a Frankish army and a Saracen raiding party. When the Magyars moved into Pannonia, they were expelled from their previous pastures in Ukraine, their bellicose mood thus caused by even stronger forces in their back. For the Norwegian Vikings, trade was a bare necessity - grain does not grow in Norway, and the fear of famine may have been among the motives driving them into raiding Europe. Among the Vikings, Magyars and Saracens were a good number, which made fighting, plundering and conquering a way of living. However, there also was a legitimate trade between them and their 'usual victims'. In pre-crusade Europe, Muslim traders were not an unusual sight; there are accounts of Muslim merchants who travelled Europe, such as that of al-Tartushi. Among the Vikings, there also were traders; the island of Gotland emerged as a major trading hub. Here the densest concentration of coin hoards in all of Scandinavia is found; yet the poor written documentation of the 10th to early 13th century describes the picture of a peaceful 'republic' of free peasants (a warrior-nobility was absent here) who at times tried themselves as seafaring merchants. The Viking, Saracen and Magyar raids caused the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish states to react. The construction of stone bridges could prevent Viking parties to sail upriver. a chain of stone towers connected by palisades could prevent raiding parties on land to cross a certain line; this strategy was applied by Alfred the Great against the Danelaw Danes. Towers made of stone, without windows on the lower floors, perhaps surrounded by a moat, in French called 'la Motte', the tower 'Belfry', could provide temporary protection for the peasants and their livestock. Smaller raiding parties did not have the patience for a siege. Most notably, the Anglo-Saxons and Franks had to develop a mobile, efficient fighting force of their own. Thus nobles were required to keep castles of the "Motte" type, to own horses and armour and to train using both. During the Magyar threat, in the East Frankish (Roman or German) Kingdom, the consumption of horse meat was forbidden; horses were indispensable. Both the West and the East Frankish Kingdoms, in 887/888 implemented constitutional reforms which stated the respective kingdom to be indivisible; only the eldest son could inherit the crown. This reform permitted the establishment of permanent institutions besides the king, and a more efficient defense of the country. While the pagan traditions of the Vikings and Magyars may have appeared to contemporary christian observers as barbaric, for instance few christians of his time would have seen so much of Europe as Harald Hardrada, nicknamed "the Thunderbolt of the North" - during his lifetime he visited, outside of Scandinavia, Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Byzantium (where he was employed in the Varangian Guard), Palestine, Sicily and England. Vikings had a rich oral culture - most of the sagas were not written down until the 13th century, neither were their law sets. Their knowledge of the georgaphy of Europe - and beyond - similarly was memorized, despite the fact that they had a script of their own - Futhark. They were quick learners, taking over from their neighbours (victims) institutions they could make use of. The Normans assimilated into French feudal christian civilization, to become the most successful feudal adventurers of their times, French speaking feudal warriors with Viking lust for adventure. In the end, the Viking and Magyar societies also assimilated, accepting christianity and feudalism, and settling down (with the exception of the Hungarian Szeklers), losing much of their nomadic warrior identity. The Saracens were expelled from their bases in Fraxinetum (Provence) and Garigliano (975 resp. 915). It is assumed that some of them remained in Europe, where they are believed to have assimilated into the local population.

click here for an older WHKMLA narrative on the history of the Vikings

EXTERNAL FILES

The Viking Network Gotlands Fornsal Vikings : the North Atlantic Saga, Smithsonian Exhibition The Pirates of St. Tropez

REFERENCE

John Haywood, The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings, London : Penguins 1995 [G]

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