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<p>[QUOTE="+VGO.DVCKS, post: 7750889, member: 110504"]Many thanks, [USER=84905]@Tejas[/USER], for your valued emphasis on on the origin of the word, 'viking' in reference to the activity of raiding. (Cf. Gwynn Jones' encapsulation of informed speculation regarding the term, and its likely Old Norse, Old English, and even --less convincingly-- Latin cognates, in <u>A History of the Vikings</u> (2nd ed.; Oxford UP, 1984), 75-6 and n. 1.)</p><p>...But here we inexorably run into another semantic can of worms, comparable to that involving the distinctions between 'Byzantine' and 'Romaion,' or simply 'Roman.' In both cases, the layers of historical and linguistic revisionism are thick as weeds on an unmowed lawn.</p><p>Although you're absolutely correct about the beginning of the Viking Age being datable to the Lindisfarne raid, and myriad other ones during its early phases, the Scandiavian movement in(/to) western Europe (only most saliently in England and Ireland) had components of political conquest and colonization from the 9th century. Particularly by way of the Rus' (at the eastern extremity of the 'Viking World'), trade was no less integral to the Vikings' aggregate activities from a comparable interval. This is why many academics in Britain and the UK have resorted to the terms, 'Viking' and 'Viking Age' in reference to the broader activities of a loosely distinguishable ethnic group over the course of the late 8th-11th centuries.</p><p>The wonder of the period has a great deal to do with its multifaceted complexity from very near its onset, comprising piratical, military /political, economic and --not least-- cultural components.</p><p>On one hand, there's no need to refer to the 'Great Armies' which invaded England and Francia in the later 9th centuries, with agendas which already included conquest and settlement, as consisting of anyone besides 'Vikings.' On the other, the Danish incursions into England from early in the reign of AEthelred II (c. 985) can be seen as an echo (or, as Mark Twain would say, 'rhyme') of the progression which began two centuries earlier. Beginning as raids, they culminated in conquest and settlement. In each instance, the scope of activity, over time, can be seen as having followed pragmatic adaptation to existing circumstances.</p><p>Granting that (however provisionally), the initial phase which is evident in both contexts --raiding-- is repeated in much later ones. The <u>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</u> reports a raid in England as late as the reign of Edward 'the Confessor' (from memory: c. mid-1040s). This is noted as a recurring phenomenon in the Orkneys as late as a century afterward, following the death of the Norse Earl /Jarl Rognvald, when one of his prominent subjects is purported to have undertaken annual 'viking trips' to the Hebrides and Ireland. (<u>Orkneyinga Saga</u>. Ed. /trans. Palsson and Edwards; Penguin, (1978/) 1987, 214-8. As near as the events are to the saga's composition --c. 1200-- this is probably one of its more accurate accounts.)</p><p>This is partly to underscore that what the Vikings got up to, over the course of three centuries, always involved a wide spectrum of activity. Trade, conquest and settlement began as early as raiding ended late. The aggregate cultural legacy (again, notably in parts of England) was profound ...and ultimately my favorite part of the story.</p><p>...And just because I can, here are my two fragmentary Scandinavian (presumably Swedish) imitations of AEthelred II 'long cross' pennies, temp. Olof Skottkonung or (likely as not) later in the 11th century.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1327072[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1327073[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1327074[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1327075[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="+VGO.DVCKS, post: 7750889, member: 110504"]Many thanks, [USER=84905]@Tejas[/USER], for your valued emphasis on on the origin of the word, 'viking' in reference to the activity of raiding. (Cf. Gwynn Jones' encapsulation of informed speculation regarding the term, and its likely Old Norse, Old English, and even --less convincingly-- Latin cognates, in [U]A History of the Vikings[/U] (2nd ed.; Oxford UP, 1984), 75-6 and n. 1.) ...But here we inexorably run into another semantic can of worms, comparable to that involving the distinctions between 'Byzantine' and 'Romaion,' or simply 'Roman.' In both cases, the layers of historical and linguistic revisionism are thick as weeds on an unmowed lawn. Although you're absolutely correct about the beginning of the Viking Age being datable to the Lindisfarne raid, and myriad other ones during its early phases, the Scandiavian movement in(/to) western Europe (only most saliently in England and Ireland) had components of political conquest and colonization from the 9th century. Particularly by way of the Rus' (at the eastern extremity of the 'Viking World'), trade was no less integral to the Vikings' aggregate activities from a comparable interval. This is why many academics in Britain and the UK have resorted to the terms, 'Viking' and 'Viking Age' in reference to the broader activities of a loosely distinguishable ethnic group over the course of the late 8th-11th centuries. The wonder of the period has a great deal to do with its multifaceted complexity from very near its onset, comprising piratical, military /political, economic and --not least-- cultural components. On one hand, there's no need to refer to the 'Great Armies' which invaded England and Francia in the later 9th centuries, with agendas which already included conquest and settlement, as consisting of anyone besides 'Vikings.' On the other, the Danish incursions into England from early in the reign of AEthelred II (c. 985) can be seen as an echo (or, as Mark Twain would say, 'rhyme') of the progression which began two centuries earlier. Beginning as raids, they culminated in conquest and settlement. In each instance, the scope of activity, over time, can be seen as having followed pragmatic adaptation to existing circumstances. Granting that (however provisionally), the initial phase which is evident in both contexts --raiding-- is repeated in much later ones. The [U]Anglo-Saxon Chronicle[/U] reports a raid in England as late as the reign of Edward 'the Confessor' (from memory: c. mid-1040s). This is noted as a recurring phenomenon in the Orkneys as late as a century afterward, following the death of the Norse Earl /Jarl Rognvald, when one of his prominent subjects is purported to have undertaken annual 'viking trips' to the Hebrides and Ireland. ([U]Orkneyinga Saga[/U]. Ed. /trans. Palsson and Edwards; Penguin, (1978/) 1987, 214-8. As near as the events are to the saga's composition --c. 1200-- this is probably one of its more accurate accounts.) This is partly to underscore that what the Vikings got up to, over the course of three centuries, always involved a wide spectrum of activity. Trade, conquest and settlement began as early as raiding ended late. The aggregate cultural legacy (again, notably in parts of England) was profound ...and ultimately my favorite part of the story. ...And just because I can, here are my two fragmentary Scandinavian (presumably Swedish) imitations of AEthelred II 'long cross' pennies, temp. Olof Skottkonung or (likely as not) later in the 11th century. [ATTACH=full]1327072[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1327073[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1327074[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1327075[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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