Norse: Followers and Gods/Goddesses

The Norsemen


  When asked who the Norsemen are, most people usually think of them as the Vikings, or if you were a Roman citizen in the 8th century AD, the Norsemen were considered as "barbarians".  We will get into that topic about Norsemen and the Romans later, but for now, back to the main topic.  The Norsemen is a named used to describe, not one specific ethnic group, but a variety of ethnic groups.  The Norsemen were great sailors, which not only traveled to Germany but also explored and settled in France, England, Iceland and Greenland.  Many people do not realize this but it was also the Norsemen that first reached the Americas, Northern Canada to be specific.  In an interesting side note, The Norsemen had 3 different classes of ships, warships, commercial, or general small boats.  The warships were named Drakkar, often large and decorated with runes, and a dragon at the head.  The commercial ships were named Snekkar, and the small boats Holkkar.  Originally from Scandinavia, the Scandinavians began to migrate down South, in what is now Germany.  Depending on the region, you could expect to find many different cultures and different languages spoken but also share a bit of similarities, such as their gods.  One group of Norsemen we will be concentrating on will be the Danes.  The Danes, characterized by the Danish language, were the early Norsemen that landed and settled in Northern Germany.

    The map above depicts a map of Scandinavian exploration and Viking raids from the 8th Century A.D to the end of the Vikings in the 11th Century A.D.  In addition the thousands of deaths caused by Viking raids, the Vikings were also believed to be the cause of the international trade between Middle Eastern kingdoms and Europe.


Getica. 26 Sep. 2008. 26 Sep. 2010 <http://www.geticagame.com/​index.php?section=norse&categ=civilization>.


Hooker, Richard. European Middle Ages: The Norse. 6 June 1999. 26 Sep. 2010 <http://wsu.edu/​~dee/​ma/​norse.htm>.