Viking Longships.
Look at the map of the Viking world. How far west had the Vikings travelled?
What were the farthest points they had travelled to the north, east and south?
This passage from Egil's Saga shows how news travelled throughout the Viking world long
before the time of telephones, radio and television. A Viking called Bjorn wanted to marry
a young woman called Thora, but her father would not give them his permission. So Bjorn
took Thora away. Because of this, Bjorn was declared an outlaw, and this message was
passed from settlement to settlement:
This extract and others from Egil's Saga show us that the Vikings were a sea-going
people. For them, their ships were of the greatest importance. They had to be large and strong,
able to travel great distances and survive heavy seas and Atlantic storms. Viking longships
were some of the best sea-going vessels the world has ever seen
Let us try to find out what these longships were like:
As you read the evidence note important pieces of information about the ships - what
they looked like, how big they were, how people lived on board, how they moved through the water, how
they were steered.
Here are two lined from Egil's Saga. How was the ship propelled? What decorated the ship?
Another part of the saga mentions two other Vikings:
Great Viking poems like King Harold's Saga tell us many things about longships.
They are mentioned so often that they must have been of great importance to their owners.
One Saturday, King Harold
Battle-keen warriors
Driving west from Russia
Just before winter a boat from Orkney put in at Shetland. It brought news that a longship from
Norway had arrived at Orkney in the autumn. The king's men had been aboard, carrying
the message that the king wanted Bjorn dead, no matter where he was found. This same
message had been sent to the Hebrides and even as far as Dublin.
Try to find all the places mentioned in this story in your atlas.
Let's beat the oar blades
Of our shield adorned ship.
They had a fast ship with twelve or thirteen oars on each side and a crew of about thirteen
men.
The ship was richly painted above the sea line and magnificently decorated . . .
and it had a blue and red striped sail . . . It was fully rigged with tents and provisions.
See the great longship
Proudly lies at anchor.
Above the bow,
THe dragon's golden head
Stands high, overlaid with gold.
Had the deck tent hauled down.
And the women proudly watched
The ship speed past.
Pulled oars through the water.
Norwegian arms heaved
The iron nailed dragon
Down the river
Like an eagle on the wing.
Harold's gold filled ship
Sails wet with spray
Flying before the wind
The colourful sails strain.
Some Viking princes were so rich that they could afford to be buried in their magnificent longships. Some of these ship burials have been discovered and examined by archaeologists.
Using the written evidence and the pictures, draw your own picture of a Viking longship.
Look up the meaning of each of these words or phrases: Prow, stern, keel, rudder, oar port.
Label your longship drawing to show these parts.
Here is a list of things found in a ship burial. Write the list in your notebook.
Beside each item tell why you think it was carried on a Viking ship:
