Iceland was first settled around 870.[123] The first permanent settler in Iceland is usually considered to have been a Norwegian chieftain named Ingólfr Arnarson. According to the story, he threw two carved pillars overboard as he neared land, vowing to settle wherever they landed. He then sailed along the coast until the pillars were found in the southwestern peninsula, now known as Reykjanesskagi. There he settled with his family around 874, in a place he named Reykjavík (Bay of Smokes) due to the geothermal steam rising from the earth. It is recognized, however, that Ingólfur Arnarson may not have been the first one to settle permanently in Iceland – that may have been Náttfari, a slave of Garðar Svavarsson who stayed behind when his master returned to Scandinavia.
- Great portions of the Low
Countries were in almost continuous occupation by
them during the 9th century, but the opportunity
was lost, and beyond an important share in the
development of the trade of Duurstede, the Vikings
hardly left a sign of their influence behind them. - In any case, without any official backing, attempts at colonization by the Norse proved failures.
- Here the
province later known as Normandy (including the
counties of Rouen, Lisieux, Evreux and the district
between the rivers Bresle and Epte and the sea)
was given to Rollo and his followers as a beneficium,
on condition that he defended the kingdom against
attack, and himself accepted Christianity. - The great development of Viking activity which
took place after 855 was certainly not unconnected
with the course of events in Denmark itself.
These ‘Rus’ or ‘Rhôs’ soon came
into relations, both of trade and war, with the
Byzantine empire. We have preserved to us from
the years 911 and 944 commercial treaties made
between the ‘Rus’ and the Greeks showing that
they brought all kinds of furs and also slaves to
Constantinople, receiving in exchange various articles
of luxury including gold and silver ornaments, silks
and other rich stuffs. The names of the signatories
to these treaties are, on the side of the ‘Rus,’ almost
entirely of Scandinavian origin and may to some
extent be shown to be of definitely Swedish
provenance.
About game provider
The
Danes in Flanders were defeated by Arnulf (afterwards
emperor) on the Dyle, near Louvain, in 891,
but it had no great effect for soon after we find them
again as far east as Bonn. A bad harvest in the
summer of 892 brought famine in its train and this
was more effective in ridding the land of invaders. In the autumn of the year the whole army, horses
and all, crossed in one passage in some 250 ships
from Boulogne to the mouth of the Limen in Kent
and, shortly after, Hásteinn with a fleet of 80 ships
left the Somme and sailed to Milton in North Kent. For the first time since 840 the Frankish
empire was free from invaders. Grievous as were
the losses of the Franks, it is well to remember that
those of the Danes had been great also.
Game Detail
The identification of the ancient ‘Rus’ with the
Swedes was long and hotly contested by Slavonic
patriots but there is now a general consensus of
opinion that the evidence for it is too strong to be
overthrown. Not only have we the evidence given
above but also the very names ‘Rus’ and ‘Varangian’
can be satisfactorily explained only on this theory. The name ‘Rus’ is the Slavonic, ‘Rhôs’ the Greek,
and ‘Rûs’ the Arabic form of the Finnish name for
Sweden, viz. This name was originally derived
from Roþr or Roþin, the name of certain districts
of Upland and Östergötland, whose inhabitants were
known as Rods-karlar or Rods-mæn. The Finns
had early come into relation with the Swedes and
they used the name of those people with whom they
were in earliest and most intimate contact for the
whole Swedish nationality. When these Swedes
settled in Russia the Finns applied the same term
to the new colonists and the term came to be
adopted later into the various Slavonic dialects.
The ‘ridings’ of Yorkshire and the Lindsey division
of Lincolnshire were originally ‘thrithings’ (O.N.
þriþjungr, a third part), the initial th being later
absorbed by the final consonant of the preceding
‘East,’ ‘West,’ ‘North’ and ‘South’ (in Lincs.). [13] This word survives in another form in more than one Thingwall
among place-names. The varying customs attending burial are happily
illustrated in the two accounts preserved to us
of the burial of king Harold Hyldetan, who died
c. The accounts were written down long after
the actual event, but they probably give us a good
picture of familiar incidents in burial ceremonies
of the Viking period. [4] A third explanation has recently been suggested by Dr Björkman,
viz. That it is a Low German word meaning ‘shipmen’ which came
to be used specially of the Vikings.
Western and Southern Europe
Few targets could escape Verdandi’s pursuit after being shot, for Verdandi also has a clever pet wolf named Rebecca. The Elders noticed, and held a special meeting to enlist Verdandi as part of the elite scouts. “Verdandi is an intelligent warrior. She doesn’t conform blindly. She knows how to play to her strengths, and hide her weaknesses. I’m glad we didn’t overlook her talents.” Because of Jormungand’s blessing, each Sterling can understand the serpent language and manipulate its spirit.
Bekkr, búð (booth), dalr, ey
(island), garðr, lundr, þorp, topt, þveit, vík (v. supra,
pp. 124-5). The dialect of Normandy to this day
contains a good number of Scandinavian words,
and others have been introduced into the standard
language. Norman law and
customs also show many traces of Scandinavian
influence and so does Norman folk-lore. There was free intermarriage between Norse and
Irish (v. supra, p. 56), but the strength of the clan-system
kept the vikings plunder online races distinct and there was no such
infiltration of the whole population as took place in
the English Danelagh. This system prevented any
such settlement of Norsemen upon their own farms
as took place in England, and the invaders lived
almost entirely in the coast towns and the districts
in their immediate neighbourhood, busying themselves
with trade and shipping. The Vikings were guilty of two besetting sins—immoderate
love of wine and of women.
When the
Irish found the Danes cooking their food on spits
stuck in the bodies of their fallen foes (v. supra,
p. 55) and asked why they did anything so hateful,
the answer came ‘Why not? Children were tossed
on the point of the spear and the Viking leader who
discouraged the custom was nicknamed barnakarl,
i.e. children’s friend. The Jómsvikings played an important if stormy
part in the affairs of the three Scandinavian kingdoms
in the later years of the 10th and the early 11th
century. Many of them came to England in the
train of king Svein, while Jarl Thorkell was for a
time in the service of Ethelred the Unready. The
decline of Jómsborg as a Viking stronghold dates
from its devastation by Magnus the Good in 1043,
but the importance of Julin as a trading centre
continued unimpaired for many years to come.
