Norse Art - Historical Context

Historical Context

The term "Norsemen" comes from "North men", referencing their place of origin. They were called the Vikings after the “trading places” from the Norwegian shoreline. Vikings terrorized Europe from 793 to the mid-11th century. Known as the pre-Christian traders and pirates of Scandinavian descents, they began to destroy the Christian monastic community on Lindisfarne Island, the Jarrow monastery, and the monastery on Iona Island. All of these attacks occurred after they landed on the British Isles. Normandy- which means "home of the Norsemen", who later came to be called Normans- was the name of the land the Vikings governed in Northern France during the early 10th century. The Vikings used their great ships to invade Europeans coasts, harbors and river settlements on a seasonal basis. Their voyages included heading east from Ireland to Russia, west to Iceland and Greenland and they reached Newfoundland before Christopher Columbus discovered the "New World". They created fast and seaworthy longships. The Vikings had a tailored way of succeeding all their attacks. They did not just hit and run, they colonized all the lands they occupied. This allowed them to grow and govern large areas of Ireland, England, France, Baltic regions and Russia.