Knowra Norsemen Norsemen Norsemen were seafaring peoples of Scandinavia who raided, traded, settled, and explored across northern Europe and beyond from the late eighth century onward.
Viking Age : The period of Scandinavian expansion, raiding, trade, and settlement conventionally dated from the late eighth to the eleventh century. This era frames the overseas activity associated with Norsemen.
Viking ship : A clinker-built Scandinavian vessel designed for seafaring, with a shallow draft suited to coastal and river travel. Its combination of seaworthiness and shallow draft enabled rapid raids and inland access.
Old Norse : The North Germanic language spoken in Scandinavia and Norse settlements during the Viking Age and medieval period. A shared language linked communities across distant settlements.
Scandinavia : The northern European region comprising Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, with boundaries varying by context. These homelands supplied the communities and resources behind overseas expansion.
Kievan Rus' : A medieval polity in eastern Europe that developed around the Dnieper River and included Scandinavian and Slavic elements. Scandinavian travelers and rulers contributed to the formation of this eastern European polity.
Viking expansion : The movement of Scandinavian raiders, traders, settlers, and rulers across Europe and the North Atlantic. It traces the broad routes and changing reach of Norse activity.
Longship : A long, narrow Norse warship propelled by oars and sail, used for fast travel and coastal warfare. Longships carried warriors swiftly between open sea and shallow rivers.
Norse mythology : The body of myths about gods, giants, and the cosmos preserved in medieval Scandinavian sources. Its stories illuminate religious ideas recorded among Norse-speaking peoples.
Lindisfarne raid : A Norse attack on the monastery of Lindisfarne in Northumbria in 793, recorded in English sources. The raid became a landmark in accounts of the beginning of Viking Age attacks.
Norman Conquest : The conquest of England by William, duke of Normandy, culminating in his victory at Hastings in 1066. The descendants of Scandinavian settlers reshaped England through this conquest.
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