Ancient History Resources for Homeschool and Personal Study. This weeks topics: The Norse Culture, Vikings, Danes and Warfare.

Ancient History is studied through the collection of archeological evidence, written records and oral stories or myths. Just because evidence shows a particular belief or custom was common at a particular time does not mean that everyone in that civilization shared that belief. When you study the topics for this week, you can either go deep on one topic for the week and skip the others or you can do a new topic each day. This outline is just a suggested pace, you can go slower or faster as needed. This outline is intended to provide you with a place to start. You will still need to do your own research.

Homeschool Topics for Week 30

The Norse Culture

Vikings

Danes

Warfare

Discussion Questions

The Norse Culture

The term Norse is fairly recent but the Norse culture, which originated in Scandinavia, was divided into three classes. The Chieftain (Jarl), the freemen (Karl) and the slaves (Thralls). Theirs was an aggressive farming culture with a knowledge of shipbuilding. The Norse settled the north coast of France, taking territory from the Franks. This is why that area is called "Normandy." The Norse in the early Middle Ages terrorized Europe as seen in epic poems like Beowulf.

Vikings

Vikings raided and settled parts of the British Isles. They raided and burned Hamburg in 845 AD. They also raided Spain through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Vikings are said to have colonized Kiev in present day Ukraine. The Viking settlement on Iceland was crucial for preserving the history of the Norse peoples. Erik the Red discovered Greenland and his son Leif attempted to colonize North America. According to Wikipedia Viking women had religious authority and were active as priestesses (gydja) and oracles (sejdkvinna). The Vikings grew flax in order to make linen cloth.

Danes

The tribal Danes practiced the old Norse paganism worshipping Thor and Odin. They wrote in runes but left no written records. One of their kings Cnut the Great ruled a unified territory called Dena land consisting of modern-day Denmark, England and Norway.

Warfare

The Norse method of warfare was based on their cultural ideology. Essentially, they believed that the time of death for any individual was predetermined. So there are only two outcomes of any battle, success or death. They settled all disputes with violence and expected of each other a certain fearlessness. Vikings designed a ship that could be landed quickly on a sandy beach and didn't require a harbor. They practiced hit-and-run attack styles on coastal settlement.

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