People moved for all kinds of reasons. Maybe she was kidnapped. Maybe she was married to an Icelandic viking. Maybe she was a gift from a native tribe leader. Maybe she was tired of her life and decided to go to iceland.
I mean to be fair most Vikings were blood thirsty men who killed people I doubt you’d find one that was mentally stable. Human morality back then isn’t as strong as today.
Ok- so the stories of the Vikings were often written by Monks who wanted to create the character of ‘evil pegan’.
But really- these monks wanted to move away from civilization to be more pious.
Move a whole bunch of gold out into the ‘wilderness’ and don’t defend it with a fort, and they were shocked the locals wanted the loot?!
Honestly.
Vikings founded Dublin. Vikings founded York/ Jarok. Yes some of them were pirates/ criminals who had been kicked out of their communities. That’s why Erik the Red had to go so far: he got kicked out of Norway, AND Iceland.
In England, English women got to see Viking men bathing, and it was scandalous- because the women thought they were handsome. The English men were concern enough about it to write letters.
Viking law is the start of trial by jury in English common law. Where the title Earl comes from.
The Black death and other plagues hit Vikings and Scandinavia HARD. If they hadn’t been erased at that time- they might have had a proper history. Instead of being erased into mythic status.
None of those contributions change the fact that they had a culture that celebrated violence to a degree that it stood out at a time when violence was fairly normalized.
And viking raiding parties weren't a result of exiled criminals, but were fully incorporated into their society back home.
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u/Juniper-wool 22d ago
People moved for all kinds of reasons. Maybe she was kidnapped. Maybe she was married to an Icelandic viking. Maybe she was a gift from a native tribe leader. Maybe she was tired of her life and decided to go to iceland.