ie desiease, violence
2007-05-31 08:41:00 · 7 answers · asked by Jock _203 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
orange cats...seriously...I saw a documentary about cats which said that the Vikings carried orange cats with them and distributed them all over the world. I think they originally picked up the cats in Turkey. The only reason I remembered this bit of trivia is that I have two enormous orange cats who enjoy pillaging.
2007-05-31 08:46:42 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
They were bullies. And while orange cats may have been a minor issue, they were hardly a major problem to any country they conquered. They real issues were that they took over a country, took over the trade, for their own benefit, robbed the countries of wealth and anytime an institution began to gain wealth, a monastery for instance, then the Vikings would not only raid the monastery and steal the money, but they would kill the monks as well and destroy anything of value that could not be carted off. The Vikings were the Nazi's of their day. They came into an area and totally dominated, killed those they didn't like and destroyed every institution of learning, trade and civilization they could.
2007-05-31 08:53:10 · answer #2 · answered by John B 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not quite sure what your framework of reference is.
The Vikings were certainly violent and obviously unwelcome in the lands they decided to invade. However, there is no evidence that they were any more violent than any other people of the time.
As a historian I find them fascinating, because although they had their leaders, they were in many ways quite democratic. Longship crews were made up of equals, a sort of joint investment company, who set out either for plunder or to find somewhere decent to settle. They had parliaments, called "Things" which met regularly, primarily to administer justice.
They were also apparently quite clean, bathing regularly, which gave them an edge when competing for women in the lands they settled. Laws were passed in England in the early 11th century forbidding bathing and hairwashing in order to give native Englishmen an even chance of finding wives!
Medical knowledge was very limited and we really do not know whether they spread any diseases. However, given that they were relatively clean, there is no reason to believe that they brought any disease that was hitherto unknown.
The Vikings settled in all the fringes of Europe - Britain, Ireland, coastal France and Spain, Sicily, and they also sailed down the Volga, settling Russia, the Ukraine and the northern shore of the Black Sea (modern day Turkey) where their fairhaired descendants still thrive.
They founded the Duchy of Normandy which eventually conquered England, as well as the principalities of Kiev and Russia.
So while it is fair to say that the Vikings brought changes to other countries, I am not sure that is correct to assume that these changes were problematic.
2007-05-31 13:47:51 · answer #3 · answered by marguerite L 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They pillaged the new places for anything of value (including land) and the killed most if not all the men. However they did start the idea of "no surrender no retreat" because they burned their longboats when they landed. They most likely did bring in new diseased, just like the Europeans did when they took over the "new world" and brought in smallpox.
2007-05-31 08:53:43 · answer #4 · answered by † Seeker of Truth † 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mostly the killing, rape, and pillage parts were the things people in other countries found to be really annoying when the Vikings would show up.
2007-05-31 09:27:55 · answer #5 · answered by will5352 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
pillage, burn, take slaves, ask for protection money... and then come and settle in, taking the land itself. I never heard of disease brought by them. But they terrorized Europe for centuries, bringing war and destruction, going down as far as the Mediterranean Sea.
2007-05-31 11:07:20 · answer #6 · answered by Cabal 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lutefisk.
2007-05-31 09:36:29 · answer #7 · answered by 2jaxx 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋