0:00:02 > 0:00:04HORN SOUNDS
0:00:05 > 0:00:12On 8th June 793AD, Europe changed forever.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20The hallowed monastery at Lindisfarne
0:00:20 > 0:00:24on the Northumbrian coast was suddenly attacked and looted
0:00:24 > 0:00:27by armed, seafaring Scandinavians.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34Striking at the very heart of Christian Britain,
0:00:34 > 0:00:38it also sent a shock wave rippling throughout the continent.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42A new order had begun.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47The age of the Vikings.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57Centuries later, and that image of the ruthless, marauding Viking
0:00:57 > 0:01:00still stalks our collective psyche.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02But just how truthful is it?
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Were they really sadistic raiders?
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Or enterprising traders?
0:01:09 > 0:01:14Using decades of BBC archive, I'll examine how historians,
0:01:14 > 0:01:19archaeologists and film-makers have re-evaluated the Vikings over time.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23I'll reveal how they've collaborated
0:01:23 > 0:01:26to crack the secrets of Viking technology.
0:01:26 > 0:01:32In terms of the Viking Age, it was a bit like going into outer space.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36How our changing values have changed how we interpret them.
0:01:36 > 0:01:42There is certainly an emphasis on the valorisation of bloody deeds.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46And I'll discover how the Vikings are still with us today.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48If you're angry, if you're happy, if you're ill.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51- Those words as well? - All these words come from Norse.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56I want to investigate the legacy of this ancient Norse culture.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Have the Vikings simply sailed off, disappearing into history?
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Or can we still detect their influence
0:02:04 > 0:02:07rippling through our modern world?
0:02:07 > 0:02:11This is the Timewatch guide to the Vikings.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29The Scandinavia of the 8th century was not as we know it today.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31With the countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden
0:02:31 > 0:02:33yet to be established,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36this was a land populated by scattered groups
0:02:36 > 0:02:39of fishermen, farmers and warriors.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44Descendants of Nordic tribes, they were not a unified people.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Not one culture governed by a leader
0:02:47 > 0:02:52but, rather, disparate clans, often at war with each other.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57To become the people we now know as Vikings,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00they would have to leave their homeland.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03To be a Viking was to take action.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07In the old Norse language, it was practically an occupation -
0:03:07 > 0:03:13"to go a viking" was to sail off in search of treasure and adventure.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19They couldn't have done this without one of the greatest technological
0:03:19 > 0:03:23breakthroughs of Europe's Dark Ages, the Viking long ship.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28The one thing that unified and defined the Vikings
0:03:28 > 0:03:30was their advanced naval technology.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34In the years following the raid on Lindisfarne,
0:03:34 > 0:03:36their iconic dragon-headed vessels
0:03:36 > 0:03:40would be seen from the North Sea to the Black Sea.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46So, in his definitive 1980s series, Vikings,
0:03:46 > 0:03:52Magnus Magnusson put major emphasis on how central the long ship was
0:03:52 > 0:03:54to their extraordinary success.
0:03:55 > 0:03:56You know, to the Vikings,
0:03:56 > 0:04:01running a ship came as naturally as driving a car does to us.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04But with one extra dimension -
0:04:04 > 0:04:07the sheer physical exhilaration of it.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11To feel a boat like this, thrumming and strumming underneath you,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14is really one of the most thrilling experiences you can imagine.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18The genius of the longship's design
0:04:18 > 0:04:21was that its keel could glide just under the surface of the water,
0:04:21 > 0:04:26allowing some ships to reach top speeds of almost 30kph.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30The largest could measure up to 35 metres in length,
0:04:30 > 0:04:34light and narrow and, with up to 78 oarsmen,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37these flexible machines could power through the waves.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43The ship technology of the Vikings
0:04:43 > 0:04:46had been developing slowly but surely over many centuries.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49And, then, suddenly, it seems, they were there.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51At Lindisfarne, everywhere,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54swarming out of their fjords across the northern seas.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58And they were there because they had put it all together.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02They had learned to build the best, the most beautiful,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05the most seaworthy ships in the whole wide world.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09The classic Viking longship, as we imagine it,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12had a number of advantages.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15For one thing, it has a fairly shallow draught,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17which means it can navigate river systems,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21and it can beach wherever it really wants to.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Secondly, the nature of the construction,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26the clinker-built construction, makes it extremely flexible.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29So it can move with the waves,
0:05:29 > 0:05:33and that gives it the technological advantage it needs
0:05:33 > 0:05:36to be a true ocean-going vessel.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39It's not just about the ability to travel across the sea,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41it's also about the ability to get away again, quickly.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45So, if you've got a ship that can move in fast, get away quickly,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49then that's an ideal, amphibious assault weapon.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51If it weren't for this technology,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54we would simply never have heard of the Vikings.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57These vessels were the engine that powered their rise.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02But, in the 1980s, details were still missing.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05There were many unanswered technical questions.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08How did the Vikings construct these ships
0:06:08 > 0:06:13and navigate such vast distances over 1,000 years ago?
0:06:13 > 0:06:15As their knowledge increased,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19archaeologists and historians wanted to delve deeper into the secrets
0:06:19 > 0:06:21of Viking naval technology.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25And one way of doing that was to perform experimental archaeology
0:06:25 > 0:06:28which also made for compelling television.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30By the 1990s,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34a new fashion in film-making had emerged as programme-makers and
0:06:34 > 0:06:38archaeologists began to work together to unlock the secrets
0:06:38 > 0:06:39of Viking technology.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44'Modern boats have radios, satellite navigation systems, radar.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47'The Vikings didn't even have compasses.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49'How was it possible?'
0:06:49 > 0:06:53In 1995, one of the greatest sailors of his generation,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Robin Knox-Johnston, had a theory.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59It lay in an 11th century sun compass.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03He wanted to test out if this was the lost piece of Viking technology
0:07:03 > 0:07:07that would finally reveal to us how they navigated the world.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11The answer just may be a simple, little, wooden disc like this.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Now, a third of one of these was found in a monastery in Greenland,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18and it was a long time before anyone noticed that it had got a curve
0:07:18 > 0:07:21traced on it. Eventually, a navigator looked at it and said,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23"Wait a minute, the curve shows
0:07:23 > 0:07:25"where the sun's shadow from this pin
0:07:25 > 0:07:28"has fallen during the course of the day."
0:07:28 > 0:07:30They suddenly realised, if I had a rough idea of time,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33I can tell where North is with this.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Once I know North, I can work out all the other points of the compass.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41To sail from Norway in the east to Greenland in the west,
0:07:41 > 0:07:46a Viking longship would have to have travelled 2,500 kilometres.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51Knox Johnston wanted to test if he could sail along a chosen latitude,
0:07:51 > 0:07:56guided only by the Sun's shadow cast on this primitive compass.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00'The trick appears to be to sit for a day due east of your destination.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04'Keep the sundial in a fixed position and, from time to time,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06'mark where the shadow falls.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09'Next day, you set out,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12'which is how we came to be sitting in the English Channel
0:08:12 > 0:08:14'60 miles east of the Lizard.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19'No compass, and at dawn no shadow to steer by,
0:08:19 > 0:08:23'Viking navigation would have to work with only occasional sunshine.'
0:08:27 > 0:08:30If you look at the map of the North Atlantic,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32most of the places that the Vikings went to,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35from Norway across to Shetland,
0:08:35 > 0:08:37to the Faroe Islands, to Iceland, to Greenland,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40are roughly in an east-west direction.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42And you can use sightings on the Sun
0:08:42 > 0:08:46to keep yourself heading in the correct direction.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49And, so, using this sun compass,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52the gnomon that Robin Knox-Johnston was demonstrating,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55which was found in an excavation in Greenland,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58it is possible, with care and skill,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01to maintain a reasonably accurate heading,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03when you're heading west, or east.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05In other words, do that, effectively.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07If it's there, I've got to do that.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Get that shadow on that line.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13We reckon that guessing the time to within half-an-hour
0:09:13 > 0:09:14would be good enough.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19Well, that's pretty fantastic, I must say.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22I didn't think we'd be that close.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Nine cables out after 60 miles.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26About a land mile.
0:09:26 > 0:09:27That's fairly remarkable.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32We now know a simple bit of wood and a little pin in the middle,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34and a rough idea of time, cos that's all we had,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38you can steer a remarkably accurate course.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41That's one of the most amazing things about the Viking Age,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45is that this is a phenomenon where people are taking these incredible
0:09:45 > 0:09:49risks on the open ocean in ways that had never been attempted before.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54And, in the process, you have a people who are the first to reach
0:09:54 > 0:09:57four separate continents over the surface of the Earth.
0:09:57 > 0:09:58This has never been done before.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03The strength of mind and will to do that is absolutely mind-boggling.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09By 2008, the era of reality television had arrived,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12and Timewatch followed the reconstruction
0:10:12 > 0:10:13of a 30-metre longship,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17filled it with a crew of over 60, rigged it with cameras,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20and prepared to sail from Denmark to Ireland.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25The aim was to capture every second of what a Viking voyage entailed,
0:10:25 > 0:10:30as the crew had to live, eat and sleep on the cramped, open ship.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37'They're sailing 1,000 miles in the world's largest Viking longship.'
0:10:41 > 0:10:45'900 years on, the ship has been painstakingly built,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48'using authentic Viking tools and methods.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53'Their mission is to discover just how ships like these
0:10:53 > 0:10:56'made the Vikings the rulers of the sea.'
0:10:59 > 0:11:02So, this footage really gives you a sense of how dangerous,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05how uncomfortable, how frightening
0:11:05 > 0:11:08it would have been to be on a ship like this.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Bear in mind that the people who are doing it as a reconstruction
0:11:11 > 0:11:14are doing it with life jackets and protective clothing
0:11:14 > 0:11:16and warm winter wear, and medical supplies,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19and a safety boat and all the rest of it.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22When this was happening for real in the 9th, 10th, 11th centuries,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24they had none of that.
0:11:26 > 0:11:27Woohoo!
0:11:31 > 0:11:34This unique partnership of programme-makers
0:11:34 > 0:11:36and experimental archaeologists
0:11:36 > 0:11:39could now give us a much closer look into the realities
0:11:39 > 0:11:41of the Viking experience.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45SHOUTING
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Lowering the sail prevents the wind from blowing the ship over.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00But it also makes the ship much less stable in the big waves.
0:12:02 > 0:12:03Never a good thing on this boat.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06On most other boats, it's for safety.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Not on this boat.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26They're making the sail smaller as there's so much wind right now,
0:12:26 > 0:12:31we are trying to make it as... Yeah, I think it's the last rope,
0:12:31 > 0:12:33so, now we can't make it any smaller.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37Enduring a tortuous, seven-week experience at sea,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41the crew are left in no doubt of the determination of the Vikings.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45I think the Vikings were tough in a way that modern people just aren't.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48And they were prepared to accept they might not make it,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51in a way that modern people generally aren't.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Going into the unknown, I think,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56was something which you just did at that time.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59Life, whether it's on land or at sea,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03entailed far more dangers and far more uncertainty
0:13:03 > 0:13:05than we think ours does today.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07It really helped, I think,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11to bring into focus the achievement of people 1,000 years ago,
0:13:11 > 0:13:13who were capable of doing that.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16'The ship has travelled 1,000 nautical miles
0:13:16 > 0:13:18'during 220 hours of sailing.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27'And, finally, they're nearing their destination.'
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Viking ships were certainly impressive.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37Their speed and size demonstrated technical and military prowess.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40But the decorative art which adorned them also held clues
0:13:40 > 0:13:43to the Vikings' deeply held, spiritual beliefs,
0:13:43 > 0:13:45and their mythologies.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52In his 2012 series, Vikings,
0:13:52 > 0:13:56Neil Oliver shifted our attention to this artistry
0:13:56 > 0:13:59which portrayed a realm of mysterious, mythical creatures
0:13:59 > 0:14:02and legends engraved within Viking culture.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07The ship itself is the work of many craftsmen.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10But, here, in this carving,
0:14:10 > 0:14:15is the imagination and the skill of just one artist.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17One person.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21It's this exciting, vivid depiction
0:14:21 > 0:14:25of a dragon or sea serpents twisted together,
0:14:25 > 0:14:27the scales and the skin are picked out
0:14:27 > 0:14:30with these carefully etched lines.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33While it's one thing to be handed an object
0:14:33 > 0:14:35that you can hold in your hand,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39and be told that this is 1,000 or 1,200 years old,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42it's of another order of magnitude
0:14:42 > 0:14:47to stand beneath something like this.
0:14:47 > 0:14:53This says that the Vikings were real people, with huge ambition.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57This is just one of hundreds or thousands of ships
0:14:57 > 0:14:59built during the Viking Age.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03This is what the Vikings were capable of.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07This particular ship was found within a burial mound.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Not only would these ships ferry Vikings in life,
0:15:10 > 0:15:14but they would carry them on their journeys into the afterlife.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16This only happened to the few.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20And they would see all the valuables going in,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23then the animals being killed, and put alongside.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27It would have stayed with those spectators for a lifetime.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30And they, in turn, would have passed stories about what they had seen,
0:15:30 > 0:15:32down through the generations.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37So, whoever went into the next life aboard this ship
0:15:37 > 0:15:38would never be forgotten.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41When you look at a ship like the Oseberg ship,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45it can be quite hard to understand why something
0:15:45 > 0:15:49with such a high level of investment that has gone into it
0:15:49 > 0:15:52would be buried under a mound like this.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53But it is really
0:15:53 > 0:15:59making a statement about status, about wealth,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02about the ability of a community to dispose of something
0:16:02 > 0:16:04of incredible value and artistry.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06It was clearly a treasured possession,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09and the fact that it could be disposed of like this
0:16:09 > 0:16:13really tells you something about the people who were buried with it.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17The beautiful Oseberg ship revealed the spiritual beliefs
0:16:17 > 0:16:19and the rituals of the Vikings,
0:16:19 > 0:16:23but it also held two totally unexpected new discoveries
0:16:23 > 0:16:25about their society.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27As an archaeologist,
0:16:27 > 0:16:31I tend to spend a lot of my time talking about powerful men.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34But when the Oseberg ship was excavated,
0:16:34 > 0:16:39the big surprise was that it contained two women.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43And these are the remains of one of them.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45In fact, the older of the two.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50We tend to think of the Viking,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53it's a guy, almost certainly blond, tall,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56very Scandinavian-looking, a warrior.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58It's not that that's inaccurate,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02but that's only one element of Viking society.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05We know that women were present during the raids,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09they formed a very important component of Viking settlements.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12They were a very influential force in Viking Age society.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17And analysis of the second woman makes things even more complicated.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20While there is every reason to believe that the older woman
0:17:20 > 0:17:22was Scandinavian born and bred,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26analysis of DNA taken from the younger woman's skeleton
0:17:26 > 0:17:29at least allows for the possibility
0:17:29 > 0:17:32that she was from as far away as the Middle East.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35So that, by as early as the end of the 8th century,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38the Vikings were doing much more than just causing trouble
0:17:38 > 0:17:41for their neighbours, like the people in the British Isles.
0:17:41 > 0:17:47They had contacts into the east and Eastern Europe.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53These investigations were revealing new insights into women's position
0:17:53 > 0:17:58in Viking society, and how they navigated vast distances,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02and even the onboard experience of a Viking voyage.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07But the big question for historians still
0:18:07 > 0:18:11was what motivated them to make these treacherous journeys?
0:18:12 > 0:18:16Their raid on the monastery in Lindisfarne in 793
0:18:16 > 0:18:19heralded the beginning of a relentless campaign of attacks
0:18:19 > 0:18:22on the vulnerable coastline monasteries
0:18:22 > 0:18:24dotted around the British Isles
0:18:24 > 0:18:28and, by the end of the century, continental Europe.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35The Vikings' repeated raids on monasteries gained them a reputation
0:18:35 > 0:18:39for incredible savagery, and this echoes down the centuries.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41In the early days of television,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44this is often what the programme-makers chose to focus on.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52'In the 8th century,
0:18:52 > 0:18:57'the men of Norway, Denmark and Sweden built themselves fine ships,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01'and began to look about them with greedy eyes.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16'The Vikings worshipped Odin and Thor, and hated Christ.'
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Ha! Did the Vikings hate Christ?
0:19:18 > 0:19:21No, no, the Vikings didn't hate Christ.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25I just don't think they really cared all that much.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28You have to remember that what we know about Viking belief
0:19:28 > 0:19:31was that it embraced a whole pantheon of gods and spirits
0:19:31 > 0:19:33and other supernatural creatures.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36So, the idea that there was something particularly bizarre
0:19:36 > 0:19:38about Christ, it doesn't really make any sense.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43I'm sure he was recognised as just another god, like all the others.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46But they certainly didn't see anything special about Christianity,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49and there was nothing special about Christian holy places.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recounts the Vikings as wild heathens
0:19:56 > 0:19:58on a mission to destroy the Church,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02while some monks even believed that these savage Norsemen,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04who'd suddenly appeared on the horizon,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08were God's punishment for wayward Christians.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13In reality, the Vikings simply viewed monasteries as easy targets.
0:20:13 > 0:20:20They were accessible, undefended, and filled with silver and gold.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25That 1965 broadcast was part of a time when we were almost
0:20:25 > 0:20:28still thinking in the backgrounds of our minds
0:20:28 > 0:20:31about the Second World War, about invasion,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35and about people coming across the sea to take things
0:20:35 > 0:20:39and to destroy, and we're sort of imposing that on the distant pass.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43By 1980, our views had changed.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46We'd previously taken the monks' version of events
0:20:46 > 0:20:49as the definitive accounts of Viking raids,
0:20:49 > 0:20:51but Magnus Magnusson pointed out
0:20:51 > 0:20:53that the Church was spinning history,
0:20:53 > 0:20:58attempting to paint the Vikings as the ultimate pagan barbarians.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03One of the more preposterous claims was that after a Viking host
0:21:03 > 0:21:06had sacked the great monastery of Clonmacnoise here,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10their chieftain placed his wife upon the high altar,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14where she chanted heathen spells and oracles.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19Now, this chieftain was a certain Turges or Turgesius, a Norwegian,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22who it was claimed had assumed the sovereignty
0:21:22 > 0:21:24of all the foreigners in Erin.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28He's credited with the foundation of Dublin and other Viking towns,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32but to his discredit it's said that he set himself up as some sort of
0:21:32 > 0:21:36pagan abbot, or a high priest of Armagh, which he'd also pillaged,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40and that he tried to convert the whole of Christian Ireland
0:21:40 > 0:21:43to the worship of the Norse god Thor.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45Now, this is patently absurd,
0:21:45 > 0:21:49the Vikings were the most unfanatical of believers,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53notable for their total lack of missionary zeal
0:21:53 > 0:21:55and modern Irish historians now tend to think
0:21:55 > 0:21:58that both Turges and his demonic wife
0:21:58 > 0:22:01are nothing more than a fevered, monkish fiction.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04I think there was a growing awareness
0:22:04 > 0:22:06that the monastic chronicles,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08although they reflected a true impression
0:22:08 > 0:22:12of how the monks themselves were feeling at the time,
0:22:12 > 0:22:18that that was only part of the story and a growing realisation
0:22:18 > 0:22:21that we have to be quite critical of our historical sources,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25that they might not... You can't just take them at face value.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30The Vikings do seem to have had less of a taboo, if you like,
0:22:30 > 0:22:36about attacking churches, smashing up shrines, killing church people,
0:22:36 > 0:22:37men and women,
0:22:37 > 0:22:42than their contemporaries in Irish or British society.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46However, they were by no means the only ones who were indulging
0:22:46 > 0:22:47in violence to get their own way.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51That was very common across early medieval Europe.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55We're not talking about the age of developed countries
0:22:55 > 0:22:58with the rule of law, nation states. This was just starting.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01They were in quite a mixed and fluid situation,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05and they were using violence to get their own way,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07but, really, everybody else was as well.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09By the end of the 20th century,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13historians had established that the Vikings' notoriety
0:23:13 > 0:23:17was partly built on medieval Christian propaganda.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19But archaeological finds showed us
0:23:19 > 0:23:23that their fearsome reputation was still justified.
0:23:23 > 0:23:29One dark, uncomfortable truth about Viking raids can't be denied.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31They didn't just steal ecclesiastical silver,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33they stole people.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37The Vikings built much of their wealth on the slave trade.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42In his 2001 series, Blood Of The Vikings,
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Julian Richards found that the city of Dublin owes its very existence
0:23:46 > 0:23:51to the Viking appetite for the buying and selling of human beings.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56But what was it in Ireland that attracted so much Viking commerce?
0:23:58 > 0:24:02The usual trade items that the Irish dealt with
0:24:02 > 0:24:05throughout most archaeological periods
0:24:05 > 0:24:10would have been animal hides and wool, for instance,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14but there's also little doubt that a very significant proportion
0:24:14 > 0:24:17of the trade was in the form of slaves.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22There's a hint of the scale of this trade in the Annals of Ulster
0:24:22 > 0:24:24from 871.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28The chronicler writes about the Viking rulers of Dublin,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31returning from an expedition to Scotland.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38'Amlaib and Imar came back to Dublin from Scotland
0:24:38 > 0:24:44'with 200 ships and they brought with them in captivity to Ireland
0:24:44 > 0:24:48'a great prey of Anglos, Britons and Picts.'
0:24:51 > 0:24:56Now, that must have been a very large haul of slaves
0:24:56 > 0:24:58and they were being brought back to Dublin because
0:24:58 > 0:25:02it must have been functioning as a sort of a slave emporium
0:25:02 > 0:25:04within the western Viking world.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08The Viking farmsteads are characterised by their huge size
0:25:08 > 0:25:11and slave labour would have been needed to operate those
0:25:11 > 0:25:13to their maximum efficiency.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16The likelihood is that they were shipped on,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19perhaps to Arabic Spain, but certainly over to Iceland,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21to the Viking farmsteads in Scotland,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24and probably back to Scandinavia itself.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28And there are even objects that could have been used in this trade.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31We have slave chains,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35they are large collars which are big enough to go around a person's neck
0:25:35 > 0:25:38and, attached to them, a long chain,
0:25:38 > 0:25:42exactly similar to the sort of slave chains which are associated
0:25:42 > 0:25:45with 18th century African slavery, for instance.
0:25:48 > 0:25:53Men from all over Europe were being sold here for 12oz of silver,
0:25:53 > 0:25:55and women for eight.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02We know that slavery took place across Europe at the time
0:26:02 > 0:26:07in most societies. So, they weren't that unusual,
0:26:07 > 0:26:12they were probably particularly enterprising slave traders.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15They may have been particularly brutal ones.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18If you're dealing in human beings,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21there is inevitably an element of violence
0:26:21 > 0:26:24in your means of acquiring that commodity.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27So you can conceivably have a scenario
0:26:27 > 0:26:30where the very same individuals who are raiding a coastal community
0:26:30 > 0:26:33on mainland Ireland, are taking monks,
0:26:33 > 0:26:37they're taking women and children from their homes
0:26:37 > 0:26:40and then selling them at the nearest market they come to.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44That the Vikings were formidable raiders is undisputed,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47but historians' continued questioning of sources
0:26:47 > 0:26:51has revealed that their practices were little different
0:26:51 > 0:26:53to those of their Dark Age contemporaries.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55As the 1980s began,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59the focus on the violent raider had shifted and an entirely different
0:26:59 > 0:27:02version of the Viking was now being presented to us.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06Accumulating wealth through plunder and conquest
0:27:06 > 0:27:08is just part of the Viking story.
0:27:08 > 0:27:14They built on that success to create a huge international trade network.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21The '80s was an age of enterprise, deregulation and entrepreneurship
0:27:21 > 0:27:25and our interpretation of the Vikings changed with the times.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30Magnus Magnusson presented us with a Viking for the new decade,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34not the grizzled slave owner, but an industrious,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37aspirational, global trader.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40Wealth, money, cash.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44Coins and bullion from the rich silver mines of the East.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53It all comes from one remarkable island in the middle
0:27:53 > 0:27:55of the Baltic, called Gotland.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Gotland was the Midas island of the Viking Age.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Everything that Gotland has touched turned to gold or silver,
0:28:03 > 0:28:05the sheer quantity is incredible.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10You know, sometimes the most significant historical documents
0:28:10 > 0:28:13turn out to be disarmingly insignificant,
0:28:13 > 0:28:15like this little piece of whetstone, for instance,
0:28:15 > 0:28:17which was found here on Gotland.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20It's got a runic inscription on it,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23not meant to some momentous message for prosperity.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26Frankly, just a doodle done in an idle moment.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29But how momentous it's turned out to be.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32It says, "Ormiga, Ulfar,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36"Greece, Jerusalem, Iceland, Serkland."
0:28:36 > 0:28:38Which means, in effect,
0:28:38 > 0:28:42"Me and my mate, Ulfar, we've been to Byzantium,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45"to Palestine, to Iceland and to Arabia."
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Just imagine it, a veritable Cook's tour of the Viking world
0:28:49 > 0:28:50of that time.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52And Ormiga wasn't even boasting about it,
0:28:52 > 0:28:54I think he was just doing his expenses.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57But the Gotlanders have always felt that they're
0:28:57 > 0:28:58the centre of the world,
0:28:58 > 0:29:02and, in Viking times, queening it over the trade routes
0:29:02 > 0:29:04of the Baltic here, they really were.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08And this little throwaway piece of stone actually proves it.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13In the 1980s, we see the idea of the Vikings as being adventurers,
0:29:13 > 0:29:15privateers, if you like.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17They were out there grabbing what they could,
0:29:17 > 0:29:23sailing past the customs men and not paying their dues,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26getting away from the nanny state and doing these exciting things
0:29:26 > 0:29:30on the open seas, in some cases quite brutally.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33And I think that chimed with the times, really.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35They're almost a Thatcherite Viking, if you like,
0:29:35 > 0:29:38a sort of "greed is good" Viking,
0:29:38 > 0:29:41which is very much in tune with the spirit of the age.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47The Vikings began to establish themselves as the foremost traders
0:29:47 > 0:29:50of their era, as they opened up new markets abroad.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56Filling their ships with distinctive northern European goods -
0:29:56 > 0:30:00amber, animal furs, honey and walrus tusks to barter with -
0:30:00 > 0:30:04it was the exotic trading capitals of the East that the Swedish Vikings
0:30:04 > 0:30:06would set their sights on.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11But, in the 20th century, much of their activities in Russia
0:30:11 > 0:30:14had been kept hidden from us behind the Iron Curtain.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20One big thing, of course, about Eastern Europe and Russia
0:30:20 > 0:30:24is the new knowledge and access we've had to it
0:30:24 > 0:30:30since the end of the Soviet Union, in the period 1989 to '91.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33Since then, it's been a lot easier to go to Russia
0:30:33 > 0:30:37and find out this kind of information than it was at the time.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42In the 1960s, we knew very little really, compared to today,
0:30:42 > 0:30:44about what had happened in that area.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47They used the sea as others used the land,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50using waterways and sea lanes as trails and highways.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Even the word "Norway" does not mean a piece of land.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00It means, "a sea road", "the way north."
0:31:05 > 0:31:09Scandinavians travelled up rivers into Russia,
0:31:09 > 0:31:11to the Black Sea and Byzantium.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16And along the coasts of Europe, to France,
0:31:16 > 0:31:20Spain and through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24When we started to have more of a global view of the Viking Age,
0:31:24 > 0:31:28we realised that these long-distance trade networks
0:31:28 > 0:31:32were being formed that stretched all the way from Ireland in the east,
0:31:32 > 0:31:34all the way to Constantinople.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37We began to see how interconnected the Viking world was.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42By 2012, historians and television crews could go deep
0:31:42 > 0:31:45into Russian territory to explore the true extent
0:31:45 > 0:31:47of the Viking trading system,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50something that would have been impossible during the darker days
0:31:50 > 0:31:52of the Cold War.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56Neil Oliver discovered the challenge facing the Swedish Vikings
0:31:56 > 0:32:00as they began to move east through the waterways
0:32:00 > 0:32:02and frozen terrains of Russia.
0:32:04 > 0:32:09By navigating the Russian rivers and lugging their boats when necessary,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12the Vikings could transport themselves all the way
0:32:12 > 0:32:15from the Baltic to the Caspian and the Black seas.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22It's time-consuming and it is laborious, but, you know,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25there's enough men here to move a boat this size,
0:32:25 > 0:32:27so the system does work.
0:32:27 > 0:32:32Well, the thing that really sets the Vikings apart from anybody else
0:32:32 > 0:32:36is their use of not just the sea, but also river systems.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42The rivers are difficult to navigate, they're not continuous,
0:32:42 > 0:32:45so you can't just go all the way in one boat.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48There would have to be transhipment points, and at these points they
0:32:48 > 0:32:52developed towns, places like Kiev, Novgorod.
0:32:52 > 0:32:57It became a functioning society that was linked into trade and transport.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00The arriving Vikings made such an impact
0:33:00 > 0:33:04that their merchant peers gave them a special title.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06They called them "the Rus,"
0:33:06 > 0:33:09which means something like, "The men who row."
0:33:09 > 0:33:12And it shows how influential they became, because, after all,
0:33:12 > 0:33:14this land is now called Russia.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27It's remarkable to think that one of the biggest nations in the world
0:33:27 > 0:33:31gets its name from the Vikings, who navigated its waterways,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35setting up trading posts and colonies as they went.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40But for the Vikings to build a truly global trading network,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43they had to come to the gateway to Asia.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45Between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean
0:33:45 > 0:33:48lay the greatest marketplace on Earth -
0:33:48 > 0:33:51Constantinople, now known as Istanbul.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08For a Viking, this would have been all but overwhelming,
0:34:08 > 0:34:12because this is on a completely different scale from anything
0:34:12 > 0:34:13he would have witnessed before.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Instead of hundreds of people, here it would have been thousands,
0:34:19 > 0:34:22or even tens of thousands, and from all over the world.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30And then there are all the exotic sights and sounds and smells.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33It's all but an assault on the senses.
0:34:34 > 0:34:39Nowhere captured the imagination of a Viking trader like Constantinople.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41Filled with silks and gold,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44this city had once been the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51The trouble was that Constantinople was tightly controlled
0:34:51 > 0:34:56with strict trade quotas, taxes and even immigration rules.
0:34:58 > 0:35:03But by the early 900s, the Vikings had been granted access.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07With a foothold in Constantinople, the Norsemen had now cemented
0:35:07 > 0:35:11their reputation as arguably the world's greatest traders.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15These long-distance trade networks were really sustained through the
0:35:15 > 0:35:21export of things like furs and hides, amber, wax,
0:35:21 > 0:35:23coming down from Scandinavia,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26huge amounts of Arabic silver going back the other way,
0:35:26 > 0:35:28along the Russian rivers.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32And massive, massive quantities of Arabic silver is one of the
0:35:32 > 0:35:34most distinctive features of the Viking Age.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38So trying to account for how all that silver entered Scandinavia,
0:35:38 > 0:35:41that's not through raiding, or at least not raiding alone,
0:35:41 > 0:35:45that's because of the trading networks of the Vikings.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Any Viking who had spent three months or more in the city
0:35:49 > 0:35:54was entitled to buy silk up to the value of two slaves,
0:35:54 > 0:35:56and that silk was so valuable,
0:35:56 > 0:36:00it made the perilous river journeys to get here more than worthwhile.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04A merchant could earn, in just a year or two,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07more wealth than a prosperous farmer
0:36:07 > 0:36:11back home in Scandinavia could acquire in an entire lifetime.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15From the wind-battered plains and fjords of Scandinavia,
0:36:15 > 0:36:17through the twisted rivers of Russia,
0:36:17 > 0:36:19the Vikings' entrepreneurial spirit had brought them
0:36:19 > 0:36:22to the Byzantine Empire and the centre of power
0:36:22 > 0:36:24in the medieval world.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28At the Hagia Sophia mosque, Neil Oliver uncovered a piece of
0:36:28 > 0:36:32evidence that hints that they'd now become elite members
0:36:32 > 0:36:34of Byzantine society.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38All around me are remnants of over 1,000 years of
0:36:38 > 0:36:39Christian and Muslim worship.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44But one tiny corner is Viking.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50These dark lines etched into the marble are Viking runes,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52ancient Viking writing.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55They're almost indecipherable.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59The only bit that's in any way clear is part of someone's name,
0:36:59 > 0:37:01a man's name, Halfdan.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04And the rest of it is assumed to read, "Was here."
0:37:04 > 0:37:06So you've got, "Halfdan was here."
0:37:06 > 0:37:09We'll never know for sure who Halfdan was,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12but it's possible that he was a member of the
0:37:12 > 0:37:17near-legendary elite bodyguard of the Byzantine Emperor,
0:37:17 > 0:37:19the so-called Varangian Guard
0:37:19 > 0:37:21who escorted the Emperor on special occasions
0:37:21 > 0:37:23and for special ceremonies.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27So we can allow ourselves to imagine that one day Halfdan was up here
0:37:27 > 0:37:31on duty, during a long, boring religious ceremony.
0:37:31 > 0:37:32And to pass the time,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35he carved his name and some words into the stonework.
0:37:40 > 0:37:45These few lines are such a moving, visceral reminder of just how far
0:37:45 > 0:37:49the Swedish Vikings had come since they first set out
0:37:49 > 0:37:51across the glassy Baltic Sea.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57The territories the Vikings covered stretched from Dublin to Kiev
0:37:57 > 0:38:00and from Greenland to Constantinople,
0:38:00 > 0:38:05places full of vastly different customs, landscapes and goods.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09They couldn't have maintained these complex connections for 300 years
0:38:09 > 0:38:13if they'd simply been opportunistic raiders.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17They had, in fact, formed a trading network like no other in the era.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26However we interpret the Vikings, one thing is consistent -
0:38:26 > 0:38:28we are fascinated by them.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34Scholars continue to try to define the legacy they left behind
0:38:34 > 0:38:37when they spread out from Scandinavia
0:38:37 > 0:38:39and settled all around the globe.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43So, what trace of the Vikings can still be detected
0:38:43 > 0:38:45in how we live today?
0:38:47 > 0:38:52Surprisingly, some of the Vikings' political ideals still resonate.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Searching for freedom from the abuses of an unchecked monarchy
0:38:55 > 0:38:59in the 9th century, Norwegian Vikings came to Iceland
0:38:59 > 0:39:02and attempted to build their own utopia.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07They set up, perhaps, Europe's first national assembly,
0:39:07 > 0:39:09known as the Althing,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12where every freeman could have a say in establishing the laws
0:39:12 > 0:39:16of this new, revolutionary model for society.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20It really was an astonishing enterprise,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23when you come to think about it, but entirely logical and consistent.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26These Norsemen had left their homelands to get away
0:39:26 > 0:39:28from the growing power of kings, and so here,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31from the Law Rock at Thingvellir in Iceland,
0:39:31 > 0:39:32they set up a republic.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36Just imagine, a country without a king at a time in history
0:39:36 > 0:39:39when the whole idea of kingship, of royal authority,
0:39:39 > 0:39:41was becoming politically paramount,
0:39:41 > 0:39:45a parliamentary democracy long before its time.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47If Westminster is the mother of parliaments,
0:39:47 > 0:39:50then Thingvellir is the grandmother.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54It really was a commonality of middle-ranking people
0:39:54 > 0:39:58who met at the Althing and sorted out their business.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01And I think that was very unusual at the time,
0:40:01 > 0:40:05but it's also been adopted by people in much more recent times
0:40:05 > 0:40:09as an example of something which we like to point to today.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12A lot of countries in Europe have got rid of their monarchies
0:40:12 > 0:40:16in recent centuries, for one reason or another.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Now we see Viking-age Iceland as an example.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24In the centre of Reykjavik, the modern-day Althing still exists
0:40:24 > 0:40:27as one of the world's oldest parliaments.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31Rather wonderfully, one of the Vikings' key legacies
0:40:31 > 0:40:34was a prototype for a democratic Europe.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38But this legacy has been joined by others,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41which may have surprised the Vikings.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43Their culture has been appropriated,
0:40:43 > 0:40:47twisted and repurposed by anyone who wants to use it.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52In the 19th century, the Northern Europeans began to talk about
0:40:52 > 0:40:56nations as "races of people", with national characters acquired
0:40:56 > 0:40:57from their ancestors.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02And they chose the ancestors they wanted.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04A lot of Victorians started to ask themselves, you know,
0:41:04 > 0:41:07"Why are we so successful?
0:41:07 > 0:41:09"Why have we got a great empire?
0:41:09 > 0:41:11"Why are we such a great trading nation?"
0:41:11 > 0:41:13And the answer that a lot of people came up with,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15or a significant number of people,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18like the assistant editor of The Times who, for 30 years,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21assistant-edited The Times and was one of England's greatest saga
0:41:21 > 0:41:25scholars, and his answer again and again was -
0:41:25 > 0:41:28"Viking blood in Victorian veins."
0:41:28 > 0:41:32The Vikings rule their empire in the 9th and 10th century
0:41:32 > 0:41:35and the Victorians rule their empire in the 19th century.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39Why? Because the Vikings and the Victorians got up early
0:41:39 > 0:41:42in the morning, were smarter than the next guy,
0:41:42 > 0:41:47and had that kind of continuity of spirit through blood.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51The Vikings have been used by successive generations
0:41:51 > 0:41:56to show something that those people wanted to demonstrate.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59So in the Victorian period, imperialism is going out
0:41:59 > 0:42:03and taking over other countries and imposing your will on them.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07This would reach darker depths in the 20th century,
0:42:07 > 0:42:10when a new brand of imperialists would lay their claim
0:42:10 > 0:42:11to the Viking legacy.
0:42:14 > 0:42:19And in Europe, fantasies of heroism, national pride in pagan ancestors,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23ideas about the proud northern race have had their darker side.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30In Germany, the Norse became images of the Ubermensch.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35Pagan heroism and contempt for the weak became virtues for a new Reich.
0:42:35 > 0:42:40It is possible to see, as the decades go on,
0:42:40 > 0:42:44people's preoccupation in their own time influencing their view
0:42:44 > 0:42:46of the Vikings.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49So the Vikings are sort of brought into the picture and, in a way,
0:42:49 > 0:42:54people project their own ideas and views of the world onto them.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58By the mid-'90s, film-makers were ready to explore how the Vikings
0:42:58 > 0:43:01became assimilated into other societies
0:43:01 > 0:43:03as they settled in new lands.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08As the European Union formed and themes of multiculturalism
0:43:08 > 0:43:11and globalisation rose in the national discourse,
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Timewatch began to delve into the Viking legacy of integration
0:43:15 > 0:43:17and assimilation throughout the continent.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21Palermo, which was ruled by Viking descendants,
0:43:21 > 0:43:23shows exactly what that means.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33This cloister, built in the 1170s, feels like an Arab courtyard.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Sicily had been ruled by Arabs 300 years back.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42The mosaic columns are Greek.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45The island had been part of the Greek empire of Byzantium
0:43:45 > 0:43:46100 years back.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55And on top of the columns, northern French carving -
0:43:55 > 0:43:58the latest conquerors had been Normans.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00But these Normans, Northmen,
0:44:00 > 0:44:03were the grandsons of Vikings, settled in France.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06And of that Viking heritage, no trace at all.
0:44:07 > 0:44:13They had already become French and now they were Sicilians.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17Their brilliance is a result of their complete open-mindedness.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21In the 1990s and the 2000s,
0:44:21 > 0:44:25the dominant view was that the Vikings were excellent
0:44:25 > 0:44:30at assimilating into the cultures that they came into contact with.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34They dropped their Scandinavian language and their clothes
0:44:34 > 0:44:38and their economic system and they embraced the existing systems
0:44:38 > 0:44:39that they found.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42I think that could be seen as of its time as well,
0:44:42 > 0:44:45in terms of a modern interpretation in the 1990s.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49We were very keen on integration and minimising differences,
0:44:49 > 0:44:52so that we could form a productive whole,
0:44:52 > 0:44:57and I think that is reflected in people's views of the Vikings.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02With the European Union and the kind of political focus on integrating,
0:45:02 > 0:45:06I think that filtered through into the prevailing scholarship
0:45:06 > 0:45:09of the day and I think now, 20 years on,
0:45:09 > 0:45:11we might take a somewhat different view.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17By 2001, in Blood Of The Vikings, Julian Richards
0:45:17 > 0:45:20wanted to further the argument that the Vikings' true legacy
0:45:20 > 0:45:24was a blueprint for a society that could easily assimilate
0:45:24 > 0:45:26and integrate with other cultures.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30And one of the tools they used was religion.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33He pointed us to 10th-century Denmark
0:45:33 > 0:45:35and to King Harald Bluetooth.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38The first king of a united Denmark was Harald Bluetooth,
0:45:38 > 0:45:42who was probably given his colourful name on account of his rotten teeth.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45But despite his dental afflictions, he was a ruler
0:45:45 > 0:45:47who changed the course of Danish history.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51And here, carved on this massive boulder, is the record
0:45:51 > 0:45:52of his greatest achievements.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56In the chaos of 10th-century Scandinavia,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59Harald Bluetooth was a unifier.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02He brought together the dissonant tribes spread across Denmark
0:46:02 > 0:46:04into a single kingdom.
0:46:04 > 0:46:09Harald changed our concept of the Viking as a ruthless barbarian.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11He was an astute political animal,
0:46:11 > 0:46:16who realised how power and religion were intertwined.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18But this third site is the most astonishing
0:46:18 > 0:46:21because there's what appears to be the figure of Christ.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25You can make out the face, outstretched arms and hands,
0:46:25 > 0:46:26right down to the feet.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31Now surely, at this time, the Vikings in Scandinavia were pagans.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35So what are they doing carving images of Christ?
0:46:35 > 0:46:37The runic inscription ought to provide the answer.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42Professor Else Roesdahl, a leading Viking archaeologist,
0:46:42 > 0:46:44has come to translate it for me.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46So, what does this say?
0:46:46 > 0:46:49It starts with the name of the king, Harald Bluetooth,
0:46:49 > 0:46:51who raised the stone.
0:46:51 > 0:46:56Harald, King, ordered these
0:46:56 > 0:47:00monuments to be made for Gorm, his father.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04And in memory of Thyra, his mother.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06That, "Harald,
0:47:06 > 0:47:10"who won, for himself, Denmark...
0:47:12 > 0:47:14"..and Norway."
0:47:14 > 0:47:19And then the last deed, "And made the Danes Christian."
0:47:19 > 0:47:23So his third great deed was to make the Danes Christian,
0:47:23 > 0:47:24to Christianise the Danes.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27- So that explains why you've got the figure of Christ...- Yes.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29- ..on this side.- Yes.
0:47:29 > 0:47:34And it's the oldest great picture of Christ in Scandinavia.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39The conversion of King Harald and Denmark to Christianity
0:47:39 > 0:47:43was actually a shrewd act of political pragmatism.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46By becoming a Christian, you gain access
0:47:46 > 0:47:51to a incredibly exclusive club of European monarchs,
0:47:51 > 0:47:56all united around the same religious ideas, and with it comes all of the
0:47:56 > 0:48:02trappings that have been handed down from the idea of the Roman Empire.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05The turning of rulership into kingship is something
0:48:05 > 0:48:08that must have been incredibly attractive.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11As a Christian king, he was acknowledged to be
0:48:11 > 0:48:13Christ's representative on Earth -
0:48:13 > 0:48:17a position which brought almost universal loyalty and allegiance.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22Programme makers were now ready to explore the idea
0:48:22 > 0:48:24of the cosmopolitan Viking.
0:48:24 > 0:48:29The mid-20th-century version of the intolerant, violent oaf
0:48:29 > 0:48:34was being replaced by an open-minded, cultured sophisticate.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37For the Danes, becoming Christian wasn't just a matter of exchanging
0:48:37 > 0:48:41a collection of Norse gods for one Christian God,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44it also brought them into the European fold,
0:48:44 > 0:48:48into a culture centred on books and learning, laws and taxes.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53But perhaps more significantly, a Christian king had divine authority,
0:48:53 > 0:48:57which gave him huge power and the means of showing it.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01It's a way of creating power structures
0:49:01 > 0:49:05that link you with the other Christian kings in Europe,
0:49:05 > 0:49:08to link you with a powerful administration,
0:49:08 > 0:49:10a powerful symbolism.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13For instance, through coinage.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17So Christianity gives you a cultural package, if you like.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21New rulers in new lands need, above all else,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25to be considered legitimate kings.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28And by adopting Christianity and taking on its trappings and
0:49:28 > 0:49:30presenting themselves in the way that people were used to kings
0:49:30 > 0:49:34presenting themselves, they were able to do that far more rapidly.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38One of the biggest questions about the Viking legacy in Britain
0:49:38 > 0:49:41has been whether they left a genetic trace.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46By 2001, the BBC hoped to use genetic testing
0:49:46 > 0:49:50to identify Viking DNA, and they commissioned the series
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Blood Of The Vikings to attempt just that.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57But first they explored how much the material evidence
0:49:57 > 0:50:01suggested that the Vikings had assimilated into British life.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04We thought that there would be Viking remains of some sort,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07but the finds we've made have exceeded our wildest expectations.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09These fantastic buildings, standing six feet high,
0:50:09 > 0:50:12and the 13,500 good objects we've got,
0:50:12 > 0:50:13it's way beyond our best hopes.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19York provides a picture of a wealthy trading centre.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22There were exotic items, like amber from the Baltic and silk
0:50:22 > 0:50:23from the Mediterranean.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28There were dyes for minting coins, scales,
0:50:28 > 0:50:30and an enormous amount of metalwork.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34York became a Viking boom town.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38But none of this evidence tells us just how many Vikings settled.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41So can genetics answer this question?
0:50:43 > 0:50:47Blood Of The Vikings was part of a long-running BBC brand
0:50:47 > 0:50:48called Meet The Ancestors,
0:50:48 > 0:50:51which focused on the study of human remains,
0:50:51 > 0:50:55as opposed to earlier documentaries which had concentrated
0:50:55 > 0:50:57on technology and historical events.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02It marked a shift, as we are now looking back,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05not just at culture, but at the people themselves.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11So would that unscientific Victorian claim
0:51:11 > 0:51:15that Britons are Viking descendants prove to be true?
0:51:15 > 0:51:18Presenter Julian Richards hoped that modern science could provide
0:51:18 > 0:51:21a definitive answer.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24In a pioneering survey, they'll be searching for signs
0:51:24 > 0:51:26of Viking genetic inheritance in the male Y chromosome.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32The DNA from Britain and Ireland will be compared to other samples
0:51:32 > 0:51:36taken in the Viking Scandinavian homelands and in northern Europe.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40And you don't have to look far to find people with theories on their
0:51:40 > 0:51:42Viking ancestry.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44The name Rimmer is derived from Ramer,
0:51:44 > 0:51:46which is Norse for a leather worker.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49And, curiously enough, I trained as a saddler,
0:51:49 > 0:51:52and my dad was a leather worker as well, so...
0:51:52 > 0:51:53Right, right.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56Fascinating results were soon discovered as the team began
0:51:56 > 0:52:00to take samples in the northern islands of Scotland.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02When we carry out just this very simple analysis,
0:52:02 > 0:52:05asking, with those chromosomal types we only find in Norway,
0:52:05 > 0:52:08how much of them do we see in the Scottish islands?
0:52:08 > 0:52:09We actually see quite a lot.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12When we look at Shetland, when we look at Orkney,
0:52:12 > 0:52:16we see something just under 30% of the chromosomes are found in Norway,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19but we can't find them in the indigenous population.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22So it looks actually quite likely that those chromosomal types
0:52:22 > 0:52:27have a Norwegian origin, so we right away see a clear indication
0:52:27 > 0:52:31of substantial Norwegian genetic input into those islands.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34That's quite a hefty figure, isn't it, really, for a first stage?
0:52:34 > 0:52:37It is a high figure and, in fact, probably in the end,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40when we've carried out a more complete statistical analysis,
0:52:40 > 0:52:43the figure will only go up, because those are the types
0:52:43 > 0:52:45that look pretty clearly to be Norwegian in origin.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50In fact, when the final data was gathered in,
0:52:50 > 0:52:53it was found that 60% of men in the northern Scottish islands
0:52:53 > 0:52:57had a striking genetic link with Norwegians.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00British people appeared to have Viking ancestry.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05I would say that we definitely should be Scandinavian
0:53:05 > 0:53:07more than Scots.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10I suppose we're all Vikings at heart.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15The programme revealed how the science of genetics was starting to
0:53:15 > 0:53:18contribute to debates which had previously been the preserve
0:53:18 > 0:53:20of archaeology and history.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24So we found the highest concentration of the
0:53:24 > 0:53:27continental invaders' DNA in northern England.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31Only in central Ireland and Wales did we find populations
0:53:31 > 0:53:34almost entirely descended from ancient Britons or Celts.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39Along the Northern Sea road, there's a different picture.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41From Shetland, all the way down to Cumbria,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44we found strong signs of Norwegian ancestry.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48There can be no doubt these were the lands of the Vikings.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54Blood Of The Vikings gave us the first exciting glimpse
0:53:54 > 0:53:58of the genetic legacy of the Norsemen in Britain.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02But 1,200 years after the first waves of Viking invaders
0:54:02 > 0:54:05arrived in Britain, you would perhaps expect their influence
0:54:05 > 0:54:08on our everyday lives to be negligible.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13In fact, in Britain, and in many parts of the globe,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16we keep the Viking legacy alive every day.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22In 2012, Neil Oliver was back in the Viking trading town of York
0:54:22 > 0:54:26to discover how their influence lives on
0:54:26 > 0:54:27through the English language.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32How many of the words that we use every day actually have their roots
0:54:32 > 0:54:33in Viking words?
0:54:33 > 0:54:36Lots and lots, really basic, everyday words.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38So the word you've just used, "root",
0:54:38 > 0:54:40itself probably comes from Old Norse,
0:54:40 > 0:54:43probably comes through the Viking side of English's ancestry.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45What about things around us in this market?
0:54:45 > 0:54:48Well, things like eggs, skirts, you can see some bags over there.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51The sky, windows.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55Other things that I can see include skin, leg, skull.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57So, very simple words?
0:54:57 > 0:55:00- Very simple, basic words for things.- OK.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04Also words which describe how we feel and how we react to stuff.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07So if you're angry, if you're happy, if you're ill...
0:55:07 > 0:55:10- Those words as well? - All these words come from Norse.
0:55:10 > 0:55:15Basic verbs as well, so "give" and "take", "get", "call"...
0:55:15 > 0:55:19It's wonderful to think that in our simple daily conversations
0:55:19 > 0:55:22we're actually expressing our inner Vikings.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26We're talking about people who arrived, you know,
0:55:26 > 0:55:271,300, 1,200 years ago,
0:55:27 > 0:55:31and yet the words they brought with them are still
0:55:31 > 0:55:32echoing around us today.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36Yeah, they're all around. Yes, that's right, that's right.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40In the language that's now spoken in every continent of the world,
0:55:40 > 0:55:43the words of the Viking are heard.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45Their legacy truly lives on,
0:55:45 > 0:55:49and 1,200 years after they sailed into view, we're still
0:55:49 > 0:55:51reassessing their impact.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55Once seen only as opportunistic raiders,
0:55:55 > 0:55:59we can now see that they were also open-minded nation builders.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04They contributed to the growth of towns,
0:56:04 > 0:56:07they stimulated the use of silver economies,
0:56:07 > 0:56:10they were responsible for establishing new societies
0:56:10 > 0:56:12in places that Europeans hadn't been before.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16With their advanced naval technology, they opened up
0:56:16 > 0:56:20a global trade network that was incomparable in their era.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25They really establish long-distance networks
0:56:25 > 0:56:28and communications between very distant lands,
0:56:28 > 0:56:32and they were perhaps the most prominent among
0:56:32 > 0:56:35contemporaries of bridging different communities.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40And we've realised that their brutal tactics weren't unique
0:56:40 > 0:56:44in the violence-saturated times of the Dark Ages.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48Even the violent aspects of the Viking phenomenon,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52the invasions and the raids, stimulated the development
0:56:52 > 0:56:55of new kingdoms, new identities, new people.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59New art styles came into existence as a result of Viking activities.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01And a lot of those things still endure.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06Here in Britain, we once characterised ourselves
0:57:06 > 0:57:11as a Christian nation set against pagan barbarians.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15In recent decades, we've come to realise that we cannot define
0:57:15 > 0:57:20Viking culture as entirely separate from our own.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24Archaeologists, historians and film-makers have continued to push
0:57:24 > 0:57:29forward our knowledge and understanding of the Viking world.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32There's been a tendency in recent years to really emphasise
0:57:32 > 0:57:36the global dimensions of the Viking expansion,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39the technological aspects of the Viking phenomenon.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44These are real leitmotifs for the 21st century,
0:57:44 > 0:57:46so in some ways it's no surprise that these are the things
0:57:46 > 0:57:49that we identify in the Vikings and elevate.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55They've become a big part of our own culture today.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59People know about the Vikings, are very interested in the Vikings.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01We have blockbuster exhibitions.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03People are fascinated with the subject,
0:58:03 > 0:58:07so they've become part of our modern culture, too.
0:58:07 > 0:58:09The Vikings have never left us.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11They're part of who we are today.
0:58:11 > 0:58:15Their story is ultimately not simply one of raiding and conquest,
0:58:15 > 0:58:18but of assimilation and integration.
0:58:19 > 0:58:24The Vikings came here to plunder, but then they stayed,
0:58:24 > 0:58:26and their legacy is still with us,
0:58:26 > 0:58:29in our language and in our blood.