. Instead, demonstrating how “they were no more violent than anybody else, they were no less civilised than anybody else” (Winroth, 2013) of their time.
Professor of archaeology at Stockholm university, Ingmar Jansson, states that “The Norsemen were not just warriors, they were farmers, artists, shipbuilders and innovators”, as well as a host of other vocations. Despite a quarter of the modern Orkney genome appearing to come from Norwegian Vikings, the lack of Danish DNA in modern descendants of Anglo-Saxons despite their long campaign, suggests the original belief of Viking barbarity was not as true as previously thought, because if there was as much rape as claimed, there would have been some trace of it in these modern genetics. The Vikings …show more content…
William Fitzhugh believes the Vikings were “relatively ruthless, but … this was a ruthless age with far more than just peaceful farmers living peaceful lives”, and Winroth stated in a 2013 interview that, “the Vikings behaved the way early medieval people behaved” and although they were violent, it was “no more than anyone else at the time” (Winroth, 2013). For example, Emperor Charlemagne relied on campaigns for funds to run the Frankish empire, and these campaigns were very bloody, and not even a source as biased as the Royal Frankish annals pretends otherwise. In 774 AD, Charlemagne entered Saxony, “with fires and pillaging devastating everything, and several Saxons who were attempting to resist were killed”. Additionally, during a single day in 782 AD, Charlemagne ordered 4,500 Saxons to be decapitated. In the words of Winroth, “The Vikings execution of 111 prisoners in 845 pales in comparison” and they “never got close to that level of efficiency” However, it is the Vikings who receive the reputation for violence and bloodthirstiness, while Charlemagne in comparison is generally praised as a founding father of Europe. The main reason for this is due to the fact that Charlemagne was a Christian and Holy Roman Emperor, and that the Vikings, unlike Charlemagne, “attacked those with a monopoly on writing, it is their deeds, not Charlemagne’s that have gone down in history as infamous, irrational, and
Professor of archaeology at Stockholm university, Ingmar Jansson, states that “The Norsemen were not just warriors, they were farmers, artists, shipbuilders and innovators”, as well as a host of other vocations. Despite a quarter of the modern Orkney genome appearing to come from Norwegian Vikings, the lack of Danish DNA in modern descendants of Anglo-Saxons despite their long campaign, suggests the original belief of Viking barbarity was not as true as previously thought, because if there was as much rape as claimed, there would have been some trace of it in these modern genetics. The Vikings …show more content…
William Fitzhugh believes the Vikings were “relatively ruthless, but … this was a ruthless age with far more than just peaceful farmers living peaceful lives”, and Winroth stated in a 2013 interview that, “the Vikings behaved the way early medieval people behaved” and although they were violent, it was “no more than anyone else at the time” (Winroth, 2013). For example, Emperor Charlemagne relied on campaigns for funds to run the Frankish empire, and these campaigns were very bloody, and not even a source as biased as the Royal Frankish annals pretends otherwise. In 774 AD, Charlemagne entered Saxony, “with fires and pillaging devastating everything, and several Saxons who were attempting to resist were killed”. Additionally, during a single day in 782 AD, Charlemagne ordered 4,500 Saxons to be decapitated. In the words of Winroth, “The Vikings execution of 111 prisoners in 845 pales in comparison” and they “never got close to that level of efficiency” However, it is the Vikings who receive the reputation for violence and bloodthirstiness, while Charlemagne in comparison is generally praised as a founding father of Europe. The main reason for this is due to the fact that Charlemagne was a Christian and Holy Roman Emperor, and that the Vikings, unlike Charlemagne, “attacked those with a monopoly on writing, it is their deeds, not Charlemagne’s that have gone down in history as infamous, irrational, and