Barbarians

Vikings

From the eighth to the eleventh centuries, the Vikings set out from northern Europe and left a lasting imprint on European trade, exploration, and social geography. Barbarians: The Vikings explores their impact as warriors, explorers, traders, and settlers. It highlights the careers of Viking leaders such as Leif Eriksson and Harald Hardrada and describes Vikings’ establishment of the first European settlement in the North America.

CURRICULUM LINKS
Barbarians: The Vikings can be used in history classes.

NOTE TO EDUCATORS
This program is appropriate for middle school and high school students. It contains some descriptions of graphic violence.

OBJECTIVES
After viewing this program, students should be able to discuss the emergence, development, and decline of the Vikings; the careers and achievements of Erik the Red, Leif Eriksson, and Harald Hardrada; the design and importance of Viking longboats; Viking settlement in Newfoundland; and the Vikings’ impact on international trade.

STANDARDS
Barbarians: The Vikings fulfills the following National Standards for History for grades 5-12: chronological thinking, historical comprehension, historical analysis and interpretations.

PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITY
1.Before watching the video, read through and prepare to answer all the questions below.
2.What was happening elsewhere in Europe in the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries?

Discussion Questions

  1. What was the impact of the 1880 discovery by Norwegian archeologists of a Viking grave-ship?

  2. What was life like for the Vikings in the mid to late eighth century before they took to the seas? What kind of people where they? How was their life organized? Was it important that they lived in a cold northern climate? Why?

  3. How did expanding population contribute to the Vikings’ decision to set their sights abroad?

  4. Describe the Viking longship. Was the longship and its design important to the Vikings’ expeditions and exploits? Explain.

  5. The Vikings were a highly decentralized people, subject to no unifying authority or government. How did this affect their strategies, tactics, and goals?

  6. Mark on a map the major sites of Viking conquest.

  7. How was the geography of Europe’s rivers important to the Viking conquests?

  8. Who was Erik the Red, and what were his major accomplishments?

  9. Who was Leif Eriksson, and what were his major accomplishments?

  10. How did the career of Harald Hardrada reflect the Vikings’ impact on international culture and trade?

  11. What kind of city was Oslo under Harald Hardrada’s rule?

  12. In the ninth century, the French king Charles the Bald attempted to buy off the Vikings with nearly six tons of gold and silver, in order to convince the Vikings to leave and not return. Instead, such largesse only inspired more aggressive pillaging. But Charles was in a tough spot. If you had been one of his advisors, what would your advice to the king have been?

  13. Most historians now agree that Leif Eriksson’s voyages led him to North America—to Newfoundland, and perhaps further south—some five hundred years before Christopher Columbus’s more famous “discovery” of the Americas. Why is Columbus usually accepted as the original “discoverer”? What factors shape the establishment of these sorts of historical truisms?

  14. How did attempts to Christianize the Vikings relate to leaders’ attempts to exert more control? How successful were the attempts to Christianize the Vikings?

  15. In 1047, Harald Hardrada became king of the Vikings? Why was this significant? How would you characterize his rule?

  16. Describe other major developments in Europe, besides the Vikings, in the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries. In this context, how important are the Vikings to the broader developments of that era?
Extended Activities

  1. A Viking journal: Imagine you are a Viking attacking England, sailing up the rivers of Europe in search of plunder, braving unknown waters in the North Atlantic, setting trading relationships in Kiev. Write a series of journal entries about what this experience is like.
Related Videos
Primary Sources
  • Viking-related web links: http://www.mindwave.co.uk/vikings/links.asp

Air Dates

Classroom Materials