Advertisement
Articles

The Viking Age in Ireland – An Overview

vikings in munsterThe Viking Age in Ireland – An Overview

By Mark Kirwan

The Vikings in Munster, edited by Tom Birkett and Christina Lee (University of Nottingham, 2014)

Introduction: It is important to be aware that the term ‘Viking’ is a complicated one. The word comes from the Old Norse víkingr, usually meaning ‘pirate’, and is normally applied to medieval raiders from Scandinavia who attacked other countries by sea between the 9th and 11th centuries. Although the countries as we now know them did not exist at this time, we know that the Viking raiders who attacked Ireland primarily came from the regions which make up modern Norway and Denmark. The Irish sometimes referred to them as Lochlannach, meaning ‘men from the land of lakes’. This probably refers back to their native Scandinavia and its famous landscape, but it could equally refer to Scotland and northern England where the Vikings had also settled.

Advertisement

Not all medieval Scandinavians were Vikings, though, and not all Vikings were Scandinavian: they were often joined by warriors from other countries, and some Irish people even became Vikings. There are many theories as to why people chose a Viking lifestyle: some historians have suggested that they were driven outward by the shortage of good farmland back home, while others think that Viking bands were mostly composed of ‘second sons’, who could not inherit much from their fathers and therefore needed to build up their wealth in other ways. It is also possible that they were exiles, outlaws, and political outcasts, or maybe they simply saw an opportunity for adventure: after all, the Vikings were the most famous explorers of their age. Whatever their reasons, the Vikings’ actions shaped the course of much of medieval European history, but their influence is nowadays often overlooked because of their reputation as violent marauders.

Their longships were the most important part of their way of life. Vastly superior to other ships of the time, they enabled the Vikings to travel the world more widely than any of their contemporaries. They journeyed as far east as modern-day Russia and Istanbul (then called Constantinople), and as far west as the shores of North America, via Iceland and Greenland. They often settled in these places, and over time they established a vast network of trade routes that distributed goods and wealth in all directions. Far from being unruly savages, the Vikings were skilled navigators and their long voyages required them to operate as a well-drilled unit, which may have also given them an edge in combat. The speed of their longships meant the Vikings could strike coastal sites and escape before significant resistance could be mounted against them, but they preferred to fight on foot rather than at sea if they could help it – their ships were much too valuable to risk in battle.

Advertisement

Click here to read this article from the University of Nottingham

Advertisement