286 oxford big ideas geography | history 8: australian curriculum

6.3 How did Viking conquests change societies?

Changes within the Viking homelandThe Viking Age was a period in which many Vikings set sail to foreign lands to raid and plunder. The riches they brought back to the Viking homeland changed political and economic systems that had been in place there for hundreds of years. Over time, many Vikings left their homeland to settle in the places they, or their ancestors, had once raided. Others set out to discover new lands.

Political changesWarriors returned ‘home’ from their raids with large stores of plundered loot (including prisoners taken as slaves). This started a process of great change in the Viking homeland. In time, this loot made some local Viking rulers enormously wealthy. Some became so powerful and in!uential that they no longer needed the support of jarls in order to rule. Smaller local tribes began to join together under the protection of one ruler, forming larger kingdoms. These kingdoms covered the areas we now know as Norway, Sweden and Denmark (see Source 6.42).

Economic changesAfter they began raiding, the Vikings developed an economy based on exchanging goods for the value and weight of different precious metals. Silver was most commonly used. Much of this silver was brought back to the Viking homeland as plunder. These silver items would be broken into smaller pieces until they matched the weights needed to buy other goods such as cloth, grain and even slaves.

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Baltic Sea

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Source 6.42 Source: Oxford University Press

THE KINGDOMS OF NORWAY, SWEDEN AND DENMARK

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287chapter 6 the vikings

Source 6.43 A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry showing the army of William, Duke of Normandy, crossing the English Channel to attack England. William was a descendant of Viking settlers who left their homeland to settle in northern France.

Source 6.44 A stockpile of Viking loot found in a !eld in Yorkshire, England, in 2007. The stash, which had been buried for over 1000 years, included 617 coins.

The Vikings also collected taxes (often as coins) from villagers in the places they colonised. The penalty for not paying taxes to the Viking rulers in Ireland during the 8th century was to have your nostrils slit with a knife. This is where the saying ‘to pay through the nose’ comes from.

Over time, the Vikings developed an economy based on money – that is, one where a particular coin had a particular value. This is similar to the way our currency works today. Most of the places the Vikings raided and colonised had similar economies. In many cases, Vikings even copied the designs of coins used in the regions they colonised. By the late 10th century, the kings of the emerging kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark were all issuing their own currencies.

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