Life and Adventures of a Ninth Century Viking

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My name is Frank and I was born as a Viking in ninth century. Vikings are Germanic people, originally from Scandinavia and are known as a final wave of Germanic migration. We are generally known as warriors and explorers who travel to steal and attack other cities. Although we are, indeed, guilty of such crimes we were originally travelers who needed to invade other countries because of the overpopulation of our own country. We are also known as the “Men of The North” or the Norsemen of Scandinavia and we have a reputation for implementing the most devastating and far-reaching attacks.

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I am proud to be a Viking and have been involved in many of those raids. In the beginning we used hit-and-run tactics which were attacks on a smaller scale but over time we became more adventurous and began to launch much bigger attacks. One of my biggest accomplishments was my involvement in part of the raid in Lindisfarne , one of the most significant Viking attacks of all time.

This attack started the other loots of monasteries in Scotland and Ireland and us Vikings became a force the Anglo Saxons feared.

During my time as a Viking I kept a diary that I updated on an infrequent basis throughout my life. I would like to share a number of extracts from 792 AD with you. August 792 AD Today I was confronted by one of the Chiefs of our town. He explained to me that in order for us to expand and overcome our problems of overpopulation we must search wealth and find new avenues of trade.

I agreed with him. Overpopulation has certainly become a problem for us in recent years and, due to our unsuccessful agriculture and domestication.

I was very honored when, during this meeting, the Chief offered me the position of a ship Captain and requested that I put together a crew in preparation for an attack on a place called Lindisfarne in England. My captain already knew that the England monasteries had kept treasures and Lindisfarne was one of the largest and holy monasteries. He believed that the treasures in these monasteries were left unguarded and were bountiful as they consisted of rooms full of coins bought by the people who believed that their souls could find a peace through gifts.

Furthermore, in the holy island of Lindisfarne, there were golden crucifixes, silver plates and ivory chests that were believed to be relics of the saints. If my crew and I successfully brought home the treasures from the monastery in Lindisfarne, the chief guaranteed me the share of the treasure and the new position as a chief in the neighboring city. I am very excited by this prospect. September 792 AD I have been preparing for the voyage to Lindisfarne for a number of weeks now. Bring known as sailors, we are also known for our boat technology and are superb shipbuilders and sailors.

Our ships are considered to be the best around. Long and narrow with beautifully carved arched prows, Viking ships look fearless. I personally am not interested in the boat’s appearance, more in the fact that we will need to travel close to a week in order to get to the island of Lindisfarne and it is therefore important that we build a fast and sturdy boat that can travel safely and effectively. Luckily smaller cities outside of the urban areas are often forested and this makes it easy for us to acquire wood to make ships.

The domestication of the sheep is not as vast though so my plan is to import wool from the neighboring cities in order to make sails. October 792 AD After acquiring all the wools and woods we have used almost half of our budget for this raid. Next, we have to start gathering carpenters in the urban area. They are able to determine the good supplies to build the ship and utilize the technology developed by our ancestors. First we use a long and bendable plank called a kneel as a backbone of the ship. Next, the side panels are made by another set of long planks called strakes.

In order to strengthen the ship the cross beams and inner ribs are attached. After that the carpenters’ cut out the oar-holes and the mast-step is placed in position. The rudder is attached to the stern on the right hand side and the shell of our first ship is built. The next important part of the boat is its sail. The sails are made out of the wool and they are coated with animal fat to become water proof. Lastly, the carpenter carves out a wooden figurehead of the mythical beast that our ancestors believed scared off the enemy as out boats approach.

The boat I am captaining is one of the dozen of boats that are to sail to Lindisfarne. The ship we have built is one of the larger scale of the dozen. The planks measure about thirty to thirty-six meters in length and the ship is able to achieve average speed of ten to eleven knots. Our ship could easily carry more than a hundred men but other ships can only carry about thirty to sixty men. March 793 AD The day of the attack is slowly nearing and we have constructed a dozen ships. I have now begun to recruit warriors and other various crewmembers.

As Vikings are actually only part time farmers they also work as warriors and it is therefore not too difficult to gather people to join the raid. My crew will consist of a berserker, a navigator, a sail maker, a carpenter, and the regular warriors. The berserkers are like special class of Viking warriors that every enemy fears, and rightly so! They work themselves into violent mental agitation before going into the battle and they claim not to feel any pain when attacked by an enemy. The rumors I heard were that they were using drugs as a painkiller in the battle.

The navigators are one of the most expensive to hire but they are essential to this journey in order to stay on the right path. They have detailed knowledge of landmarks and coastline, and this gives them the power to easily maintain or correct the course. The navigators also know how to use the nature such as the sun and the moon to guide our ship. We not only hire carpenters before the trip to build the boat but they were big part of the crew. They have the skills to repair damages on the ship during the journey since it is possible that we could confront enemy ships or the damage could be done by the harsh weather during the trip.

Not all of the crewmembers are men. I also recruited women who were skilled in spinning and weaving. They not only worked on land but also help the carpenters to repair the damages on the boat by making new sails while sailing. Also some women were recruited to join men on raids. April 793 AD We are all ready to go on this journey to the island of Lindisfarne but there was one more thing to do. Today I will pray to the Gods for a safe trip to the island and back home. Us Vikings consult with our Gods by casting runes which are Viking symbol-like letters that are carved onto woods or stone.

This morning I wrote my message on the stone to the chief god Odin as I was told by my ancestor that Odin would make spells and tell fortunes. I got a message from the Odin that Tyr will watch over me in the battle. Also, Thor, the god of thunder will help me make the trip to the island safe but I will still face challenges. Lastly, Njord is going to guide my ship but we still need to stay alert. After hearing from Odin, we were ready to go on board. May the Gods be with us! May 793 AD After six days at sea we have finally arrived at Lindisfarne. It has been a grueling experience crossing the North Sea.

The prayer to Odin didn’t seem to work because we lost many men and ship suffered a lot of damage from the stormy weather. We also had to battle other ships during this journey. Luckily we were able to destroy them because of our use of planks to get to the other ships and our experience in the hand-to-hand combat on the boats. When we arrived, we found the ideal location to land. It was a place where the monks of the monastery could not see us prepare for the attack. June 793 AD Today has been a great day. We finally launched our attack on the monastery.

The Monks, who did not prepare for any kind of attacks, didn’t stand a chance against us. The monks and the people at the monastery had set themselves in small, fortress-like places where they could pursue their studies and writing in peace. At the time I felt guilty for causing such a horror in a holy place however, I kept attacking for the sake of my own people. We savagely attacked any monks who tried to stop us from looting the monastery and we were able to find vast amount of coins and artifacts. We also brought home monks from the monastery to sell them as slaves. July 793 AD

We are back home at last. The way back home was much smoother than the way to the island and we were in high hopes due to our victory. We were able to predict the weather patterns and the navigators picked the week when the sea was more calm and had less storms. Also he had an idea that involved forecasting the climate by cutting a tree trunk. We came back home with the vast amounts of treasures and the chief was very impressed. Today it was confirmed that I will be awarded a significant portion of the treasures and will be appointed as a Chief in the Viking settlement in Denmark. I am a very proud man.