The vikings

Micaela Sanacore Malena Menchacabaso Maira Espoturno Catalina Dumrauf

Where did the vikings come from?

• The Vikings came from three countries of Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden and most Vikings settlements were northern Scotland and eastern England.

• The name 'Viking' comes from a language called 'Old Norse' and means 'a pirate raid'.

What did Viking women and men do? • The woman did spinning and

weaving to turn sheep wool into cloth. They looked after the children, made the family's clothes and cooked the two meals a day most families ate. Women baked bread and women milked the cows and made cheese.

• The Viking men were all-round handymen, but some had special skills. There were boat-builders, for example and potters, leather-workers and smiths. Most Viking men knew how to handle a boat. And most could fight if they had to, to protect the family or to support their chieftain.

Where did the Vikings live? • About the year 800, bands of

fierce raiders began to attack our coasts. They were the Vikings. They came across the North Sea, just as the Anglo-Saxons had done 400 years earlier. In time, like the Anglo-Saxons, they made their home here. They drove the Saxons out of part of the country and took it for themselves.

• King Alfred, Saxon king of Wessex, fought them in a great battle, but he could not drive them right away and had to let them have part of the country, called Danelaw.

What was the vikings´ religion?

• They were pagan and believed in Norse myths.Their old stories told about gods, goddesses, giants and monsters.In one story Thor the god of thunder, tries to prove his strength to Giant King.Odin was the ruler of the gods, and was god of magic,war and poetry; His wife was motherly Frigg, and they had a son was

Balder.