Were vikings noble warriors or savage barbarians ?
When describing past cultures it is an easy trap to be caught up in stylized descriptions that represent characterizations rather than real people. The so called Vikings were in general Northmen comprised of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes. It is true that as a part of their culture they plunder through private acts of piracy and coastal raids to formidable invasions in quest of new land to colonize. These acts began before 800 CE and ran for more than two centuries. These acts touched not only on Western Europe, but also right through the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Asia Minor inclusive of what is now Western Russia. This Scandinavian commercial ‘enterprise’ also linked Byzantium and Arabia to Sweden. They were neither ‘Noble’ warrior nor were they barbarians, and their acts were little different than similar acts by other cultures. For example, from around the year 700 CE and for much longer than two hundred years, the Islamic Moors did much the same thing ranging through much of t
