Why did the Vikings Collapse?

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Artist: RKVC Title: Claim of Thrones

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#History #Documentary #Vikings

[byzantinetales]

From raids to crusades. That's what we call efficient rebranding 😁

[jacobloft]

They didn’t so much collapse as they did slowly fade away.

[GarkKahn]

Saying all scandinavians were vikings is like saying all japanese were samurai

[lucamarino]

They never fell, they just integrated in the countries they conquered/invaded

[HistoryOfRevolutions]

"Looters become looted, while time and tide make us mercenaries all"

- Patrick Rothfuss

[GamingJustice]

A boat burial on the Saaremaa island in Estonia has uncovered viking raids before the 793. The attack is dated to be between 700-750AD and they were mostly likely killed by the local islanders. That was proven by the arrow tips that were similar to the ones found from elsewhere in Estonia. If anyone is interested, look up the Salme Boat Burial, there were two boats very close to eachother, with one of them most likely having a king buried with the othe 30 soldiers. The richest burial site of the time period ever found.

[asetbilibaev]

Conquered slavs, established Rurik dynasty lasted 700 years and ultimately gave the new empire it’s name - Rus?

[howser]

Entertaining and informative - thank you - But when the vikings "stumbled upon" Iceland there was little to no resistance - because the island WAS UNINHABITED !

[Ludohistory]

This has a ludicrous number of errors, I'm kinda staggered.

1) the "Viking Ave" lasted until traditionally 1066, which is not early in the 11th c. I have problems with this dating, but I'd push it LATER, into the 1100s, not earlier.

2) the Gesta Danorum dates to c. 1200, not the 16th century! This is an egregious error, and erases all the Frankish, English, and German sources contemporary or near-contemporary to the Viking Age, much less the entire runestone corpus. (If you'd said the *Crymogaea* instead, I'd agree - that's the text that introduces Norse mythology to a broad European audience, and it dates to c. 1700).

3) the idea that they are "different from the Christians" around them is.. also wrong. The Vita anskarii says that in the early 9th century that there was an extant Christian population in Birka, in Sweden, on his arrival. Additionally, the "prime sign" (being marked with the Cross, but not baptized) was widespread to enable trade with Christian communities.

4) settlement colonialism as an aspect of trade was incredibly important - the whole system of emporia, or trade towns, that reached from Dublin to the Volga river were a form of settlement colonialism. There was variation, and any given raider probably was looking for moveable wealth, but pretending they weren't interested in the project of kingdom-formation is just wrong.

5) Normandy wasn't granted to Rollo until the 10th century, pretending that the Vikings went to England after a "trial run" of exchanging land for service is horribly backwards.

6) 927 is the end state of 40+ years of conquest This is Æthelflæð erasure.

7) Iceland was known to Norse people since at least 800, as archaeology has recently shown through a longhouse in the East Fjords, and was completely settled by 930, it didn't somehow happen after they were displaced from

8) while I broadly see similarities between the initial northern crusades of the 12th century an outgrowth of Viking-ness (though not the post-Hansa League crusades), this is a totally inaccurate characterization given that the idea of "taking the cross" wasn't a thing until the First Crusade in 1091, which makes it totally, utterly out of place in this video.

9) This is Isle of Man erasure and I won't stand for it. They continued raiding until well after Henry II hired them to transport his army across the sea for his Irish campaigns in the 12th century.

10) the idea of raiding for land and renown wasn't discouraged by the elites of Scandinavia.... The Baltic continued to see raids, and the warring petty kings within Scandinavia and the Orkneys are absolutely the same thing, but you can see this continuing in elite society in Norway until at *least* Hákon IV c. 1260, which blasts a massive hole in your argument on why it ended and the role Christianization played in it. Christians fought other Christians all the damn time, and Canute the Great (the DANISH King of England) was Christian!

It's not hard to find good sources - Anders Winroth and Neil Price both write in a fairly accessible style and know what they're doing, and it's frustrating to see such a lack of research be put in.

[BasitAli-tunl]

Oldest example of rebranding. Very informative. Love your content.

The first son inherited the land. The younger sons ”went viking”.
The vikings and their seafaring and international trade culture didn’t disappear, it spread to the target lands. Most of all the british isles. It’s not a coincidence that tha target of the most prominent seafarers, britain, would end up becoming the susequent most prominent seafarers.

[lerneanlion]

Only if some of them escaped to North America, the culture and lifestyle of the Vikings could have been continued for longer for sure. If they didn't have bad relations with the natives, of course.

[gnewsome]

"The Vikings have invaded our lands, pillaging and killing anyone they come across. And the worst part, they are sponsored by Raid: Shadow Legends"

[nilsliljeberg]

As far as I see it, the battles of Britain in 1066 was more or less a norse affair. In one corner you had Harold Godwison, king of England. But his mother was 100% norse and his father Godwin at least 50% norse. He fought and won over Harald Hårdråde (they share the same name by the way) in 1066. Hårdråde was king of Norway and 100% norse. After the victory over Hårdråde, Harold Godwinson fought and lost to William the Conqueror. And who was William? He was a direct descendant to Gångerolf (Rollo) the first duke of Normandy who was....norse.

[AxionXIII]

There were Vikings along the whole coast of the Baltic. The Curonians along Latvia/ Lithuania were written about in the sagas numerous times as fighting with and against the Danes and Norse.

[koseku]

vikings also tried to raid constantinople and i am originaly from istanbul, i know my ancestors are greek but i did ancestory test and found out i have more scandinavian genes than most turks. i found out that those vikings were guards in byzantine

[SorceressWitch]

It's also funny how many people claim to have Viking ancestors but they mean their ancestors were from Scandinavia and most likely lived on farmland.

[a.l.]

"It gladdens me to know that Odin prepares for a feast. Soon I shall be drinking ale from curved horns. This hero that comes into Valhalla does not lament his death. I shall not enter Odin’s hall with fear. There I shall wait for my sons to join me. And when they do, I will bask in their tales of triumph. The aesir will welcome me. My death comes without apology. And I welcome the Valkyries to summon me home."

- King Ragnar Lothbrok

[timetraveler]

One thing missing - the mini ice age. It ended the Viking era once and for all. That ceased to exist Viking settlements in Greenland. The colder climate reduced the growth of forestry and agricultural products. That shrunk the revenues and availability. That eroded the Viking's prosperity and resilience. 😢

[whothecookies]

I'm surprised at the lack of mention of the North Sea Empire. Hardrada had some legitimacy in claiming the throne because of the NSE, and their battles likely weakened the defenders enough for William the Bastard to seize the throne.