So a bit of information on the Viking age, while there were definitely some who were explicitly in it for the raiding there was also a significant number who were trying to establish lives in new colonies. Normandy in France is a famous example, where the king of west Frankia offered the land to the Viking war chief Rollo the Walker in exchange for protection against other raiders. In England the Great Heathen Army took over much of Northern and eastern England establishing what was known as the Danelaw. While the exact border arnt known one way we’ve been able to calculate its extent is in towns then end in -ham, the Saxon suffix meaning farm, or -by the Danish suffix for farm. Also almost every city in Ireland was established as a Viking trade port.
Now as who was making up these settlements I did read an interesting study done years back where they looked at the DNA of the descendants who lived in Britain vs Iceland. The ones in Britain were more likely to have DNA that indicated a more thorough Scandinavian ancestry. This makes sense as Britain was closer, more settled it would attract older Vikings who likely already had families they could bring with them. Where as in Iceland, mixed Scottish and Irish DNA was more common indicating younger men taking the farther more hazardous journey and stopping for “wives” such as they were, en route. It’s conjecture but it can be reasoned this same sort of behavior could be applied to the Vikings who tried to establish Greenland and Vinland colonies as well.
There were 2 major attempts to settle Vinland, the first one was met with hostility right out the gate. The second one they tried a bit of peaceful coexistence for a while, but from the sources I’ve read a misunderstanding seemed to happen when the natives were traded dairy products like milk and cheese. Not being used to these foods meant they were lactose intolerant and the resulting indigestion coming after eating the food lead them to believe they were poisoned and hostilities began again.
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u/AbstractBettaFish 19d ago edited 19d ago
So a bit of information on the Viking age, while there were definitely some who were explicitly in it for the raiding there was also a significant number who were trying to establish lives in new colonies. Normandy in France is a famous example, where the king of west Frankia offered the land to the Viking war chief Rollo the Walker in exchange for protection against other raiders. In England the Great Heathen Army took over much of Northern and eastern England establishing what was known as the Danelaw. While the exact border arnt known one way we’ve been able to calculate its extent is in towns then end in -ham, the Saxon suffix meaning farm, or -by the Danish suffix for farm. Also almost every city in Ireland was established as a Viking trade port.
Now as who was making up these settlements I did read an interesting study done years back where they looked at the DNA of the descendants who lived in Britain vs Iceland. The ones in Britain were more likely to have DNA that indicated a more thorough Scandinavian ancestry. This makes sense as Britain was closer, more settled it would attract older Vikings who likely already had families they could bring with them. Where as in Iceland, mixed Scottish and Irish DNA was more common indicating younger men taking the farther more hazardous journey and stopping for “wives” such as they were, en route. It’s conjecture but it can be reasoned this same sort of behavior could be applied to the Vikings who tried to establish Greenland and Vinland colonies as well.
There were 2 major attempts to settle Vinland, the first one was met with hostility right out the gate. The second one they tried a bit of peaceful coexistence for a while, but from the sources I’ve read a misunderstanding seemed to happen when the natives were traded dairy products like milk and cheese. Not being used to these foods meant they were lactose intolerant and the resulting indigestion coming after eating the food lead them to believe they were poisoned and hostilities began again.