0:00:21 > 0:00:26In 793, a chapter in the history of these islands began
0:00:26 > 0:00:30when from out there, across the North Sea, came a new enemy.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38Aggressive, well armed, complex and seemingly, beyond reason.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46The Vikings turned the ordered, newly Christian world on its head,
0:00:46 > 0:00:49made slaughterhouses out of monasteries,
0:00:49 > 0:00:53adornments out of sacred artefacts.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57Their footprints here were recorded by the monasteries they destroyed,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00written down by monks, scribes,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Christians who had survived their attacks
0:01:03 > 0:01:08or who'd heard about this terrible new threat.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10"It is nearly 350 years
0:01:10 > 0:01:15"that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land
0:01:15 > 0:01:18"and never before has such terror appeared in Britain
0:01:18 > 0:01:22"as we have now suffered from a pagan race."
0:01:22 > 0:01:24That's how they were written into history,
0:01:24 > 0:01:29fixed in time and imagination as barbarous aliens.
0:01:29 > 0:01:30And once it was written down,
0:01:30 > 0:01:35it was a label that stuck like a stain on their character.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38The story goes that they came, wreaked havoc
0:01:38 > 0:01:40and then, went away again
0:01:40 > 0:01:44back to their primitive homelands in the dark North.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46But is that really who they were?
0:01:46 > 0:01:48And is that really what happened?
0:01:50 > 0:01:52Well, not exactly.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54In some parts of the UK,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58as much as 60% of the population may be descended from them.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02We are as related to them as we are to the early Britons
0:02:02 > 0:02:05or Romans or Anglo-Saxons.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08So why do we know so little about them and their culture?
0:02:08 > 0:02:11I think the best way to understand who they really were
0:02:11 > 0:02:15is to look beyond this old view of them as an alien enemy.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20At the National Museum Of Scotland in Edinburgh, we can do just that.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23This exhibition, called simply Vikings!,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27comes mostly from the Swedish Historical Museum.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31It shows us who the Vikings are when viewed from the inside
0:02:31 > 0:02:35by people who consider them to be their direct ancestors.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39It really is a remarkable collection of objects.
0:02:39 > 0:02:45And what they would do is change your opinion on who the Vikings were
0:02:45 > 0:02:51and who we are, cos what they do is tell us the story of the Viking within.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03When I see a brooch like this
0:03:03 > 0:03:05or a necklace like this,
0:03:05 > 0:03:10I think, "Here is a voice from history. Here is a story."
0:03:10 > 0:03:13This is more true with the Vikings
0:03:13 > 0:03:15than probably any other European people,
0:03:15 > 0:03:19because it's so difficult to hear them in any other way,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23so little of their history was written down.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26What we do have is less a written history,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30more a set of carved-in-stone headlines,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33a version of who they were that's intellectually slender
0:03:33 > 0:03:36and struggles to convey their complexity.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41The Vikings did have a form of writing,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43it was known as runes.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45It's got a very distinctive appearance,
0:03:45 > 0:03:47it's all made up of straight lines,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50which enabled it to be carved often with a knife.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54And within the Futhark alphabet, as it was known,
0:03:54 > 0:03:58each letter acted like a modern A, B, C,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00liked the Latin alphabet,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03but each word also had a meaning attached to it.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10So this, for example, is the F-rune.
0:04:10 > 0:04:11It's got the name Fe,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14which, in old Norse, means wealth,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17but also cattle, livestock.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19Because in this barter society,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22you could trade cattle as a means of accruing wealth.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28So runes worked as a writing alphabet,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31as a means of creating words out of letters,
0:04:31 > 0:04:33but they also carried larger meanings,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37sometimes spiritual and mystical meanings.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46They could be used to make short statements,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49so you can have a love poem.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51"Think of me, I think of you, love me, I love you"
0:04:51 > 0:04:53is carved on a wooden comb.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00But they're not able to make sustained, long sentences
0:05:00 > 0:05:04or develop a true literary language.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10I think this has caused us
0:05:10 > 0:05:15to underestimate the entire Viking culture.
0:05:15 > 0:05:21Because the Latin language of the church was able
0:05:21 > 0:05:24to capture the Viking identity,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27it, in some ways, leads to this idea
0:05:27 > 0:05:31that Christians and the native British people
0:05:31 > 0:05:34were somehow superior to these Vikings,
0:05:34 > 0:05:38because they're not able to identify and define themselves
0:05:38 > 0:05:39in their own voice.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43But that, of course, is far too simplistic.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50So where did they store their religious beliefs,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53their laws, their stories?
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Well, they stored them in here,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58although they weren't a literate society
0:05:58 > 0:06:02in the sense that they didn't write down all this information,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04they were orally literate
0:06:04 > 0:06:08and had a huge capacity to memorise information.
0:06:08 > 0:06:14So things like who owned what land, what hero performed what deed,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16they were able to retain all of this.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19It's said that a minstrel in the hall
0:06:19 > 0:06:22could recite solidly for two days
0:06:22 > 0:06:25one long poem that he'd committed to memory.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28This shows great sophistication,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32but it wasn't just their memories that retained this information,
0:06:32 > 0:06:37they also reflected it through this remarkable collection of artworks.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44The objects here have mainly been recovered
0:06:44 > 0:06:47from archaeological digs and treasure hoards.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50They tell us more about the Vikings
0:06:50 > 0:06:53than the records of others ever could.
0:06:56 > 0:06:57This brooch, for instance,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01is made from gold, bronze and garnets.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03The decoration is remarkable
0:07:03 > 0:07:07and, because of its shape, it's thought to represent
0:07:07 > 0:07:09the magical necklace of a Viking goddess.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13It carries layer upon layer of sophistication.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18So why have we come to think about them like we do?
0:07:18 > 0:07:22I think that objects like the longship have a lot to do with it.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24And no wonder.
0:07:24 > 0:07:25Even this imaginary one,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29of which all that remains are nails and rivets,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31is an awe-inspiring sight.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37These were raiding vessels for a raiding people.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40This is cutting-edge technology of its time,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43specifically designed for a purpose.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47It has to be fast, manoeuvrable, it's got a shallow keel,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50which means it can go straight up onto the coastline
0:07:50 > 0:07:53and back out again quickly to get to the sea.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00The Christian monasteries that the Vikings initially attacked
0:08:00 > 0:08:02were ripe pickings.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Established just over 100 years earlier,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08places like Iona and Lindisfarne
0:08:08 > 0:08:11were deliberately placed on waterways
0:08:11 > 0:08:12to allow them to trade,
0:08:12 > 0:08:16but this made them very vulnerable to Viking attack.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23And these places were poorly defended as well,
0:08:23 > 0:08:25largely inhabited by monks,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29these Christians that the Vikings just couldn't understand.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32They saw them as militarily weak
0:08:32 > 0:08:38with this idea of peace and piety coming into direct opposition
0:08:38 > 0:08:44with their idea of military might and the heroic victory in battle.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48So the Vikings could simply come and take what they wanted
0:08:48 > 0:08:50and then go away again.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59If the sight of a longboat once instilled fear,
0:08:59 > 0:09:02today, it elicits a very different response in me.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08I'm so impressed by what must have been an object
0:09:08 > 0:09:10of great beauty and craftsmanship.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18An astonishing amount of time
0:09:18 > 0:09:22and raw materials would go into making a Viking longship.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26You needed four different types of wood, so oak for the planks
0:09:26 > 0:09:29and then pine for the mast
0:09:29 > 0:09:31and you also needed willow and ash.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Then, on top of that, you needed another 130 tons of wood,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39just for the charcoal to make the iron ore for these rivets.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43You needed 600 horse tails to make the ropes
0:09:43 > 0:09:47and 200 kilograms of wool to make the sail
0:09:47 > 0:09:50that would have carried it across the sea.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54The names that the Vikings attached to their ships
0:09:54 > 0:09:59show that they held a particularly special place in their imagination.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03So it's known as Tjaldfakr,
0:10:03 > 0:10:05the steed of the sea.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Or in Old English, Aethelede, traverser of the waves.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17As this picture stone shows, Vikings believed their boats
0:10:17 > 0:10:21could traverse not just the waves, but worlds as well.
0:10:23 > 0:10:30Boats were used as burial vessels, almost like enormous coffins.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33So a very important person would be placed inside it
0:10:33 > 0:10:37and then a large mound would be placed on top of it
0:10:37 > 0:10:38so it was buried.
0:10:38 > 0:10:44This extraordinary seafaring vessel was given up to the Earth.
0:10:44 > 0:10:50It's important to remember that the dead don't bury themselves.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55It's the living that organise these extraordinary burial rituals.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00And it was a way of showing the status of the family.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07So inside these burial ships,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11you'd have everything you would need for the afterlife.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14It had to be even better than your life on Earth,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18so you needed your finest jewellery, your best weapons,
0:11:18 > 0:11:23the most extraordinary array of foods and clothes.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28Because you would be feasting and fighting for all eternity.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33The Vikings, remember, were pagan.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38But that doesn't mean that they were godless barbarians,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41or without a religion that made sense of the world around them.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51They were, in fact, quite structured in their religious beliefs.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53There was a pantheon of gods.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55At the top you have Odin.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Odin is the god of wisdom and war.
0:11:58 > 0:11:59And he only has one eye,
0:11:59 > 0:12:03because he gave the other one up to receive knowledge.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Then you have his son, Thor.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10He is represented by a hammer,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14and it's this idea of Thor bashing his hammer in the heavens
0:12:14 > 0:12:16that gives us "thunder".
0:12:20 > 0:12:24And alongside these warrior gods,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26you also have fertility gods like Freya,
0:12:26 > 0:12:32and here you have a balance to all this macho heroic behaviour,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36with more of a focus on love, on procreation,
0:12:36 > 0:12:39on fertility and the harvest.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47If Vikings hadn't gone in for their pagan burials,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51we might not know half as much about them as we do.
0:12:54 > 0:13:00It really does hammer home the point that these burial boats,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04designed to carry the dead to the afterlife,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07have been blown off course through time.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11And yet have managed to carry their precious cargo
0:13:11 > 0:13:14over the centuries to us now.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17And that this is probably not
0:13:17 > 0:13:20what the occupant thought the afterlife looked like
0:13:20 > 0:13:24when he took his last breath over a millennium ago.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31Death and warfare are part of the longships' story.
0:13:31 > 0:13:37But the boat allowed Viking culture to flourish in other ways.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40It was a trading vessel,
0:13:40 > 0:13:45and I think it's important to emphasise this, because it was trade
0:13:45 > 0:13:51that grew the Viking ever closer and more permanently to these islands.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56The term Viking refers to an activity, of going a-viking.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Men, women and children could go a-viking,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03and it wasn't simply just raiding and destroying.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06It was more about making connections.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09In the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13the Vikings were travelling thousands of miles
0:14:13 > 0:14:15and covering the known world.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20This curious little object is a Buddha.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25It's come from the Swat Valley, so right in the heart of Asia.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30And what we can see is that it was obviously prized by the Viking
0:14:30 > 0:14:33that brought it all that distance.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Did they enjoy the expression on his face?
0:14:36 > 0:14:38Or just like the look of it?
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Or did they engage in a more spiritual sense
0:14:42 > 0:14:45with the Buddhists that they encountered on their journeys?
0:14:45 > 0:14:49While it's very difficult to know what each of these objects
0:14:49 > 0:14:53would have meant to this Viking that brought them with him,
0:14:53 > 0:14:59they give us these tantalising glimpses into individual lives.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03They really were cosmopolitan, well-connected people.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14And if there is one object that helped shed some light
0:15:14 > 0:15:19on the lengths the Vikings would go to to be able to trade, it's this.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23This is known as ring money.
0:15:23 > 0:15:29Now, these may look like bracelets, but there is a clue in the name.
0:15:29 > 0:15:30They were used as currency.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34What you have got here is silver that's been melted down.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37It may have come from coins or from plunder.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42But the Vikings have made an attempt to create
0:15:42 > 0:15:48a high-quality standardised form of currency that they can trade with.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53So what you would do is hack up one of these bracelets
0:15:53 > 0:15:57and these would allow you to have different transactions -
0:15:57 > 0:16:00a smaller one might go for a bag of grain,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03you might use half a bracelet for a cow.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08And this was a way of trading in a non-monetary society.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11The Vikings on the whole didn't use coins,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14but these allowed them to trade internationally.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21Behind all this trading was a system of brutal exploitation.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25This is an amazing little object.
0:16:25 > 0:16:31It really encapsulates so much about what the Vikings stood for,
0:16:31 > 0:16:33how they appeared to people.
0:16:33 > 0:16:39And it's a piece of slate that's been carved into, etched into,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42presumably by a child.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46And it's akin to scratching with a compass into a wooden desk.
0:16:48 > 0:16:54You need this replica, made from a cast, to bring the scene to life.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57There is this wild-haired Viking here,
0:16:57 > 0:17:02wearing a chainmail shirt, and he's moving towards
0:17:02 > 0:17:06this longboat here, with the oars depicted there.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10And dragging behind him there is this man
0:17:10 > 0:17:12who's presumably a monk, because he's got
0:17:12 > 0:17:16a reliquary box chained to his waist.
0:17:16 > 0:17:21Now, this was designed to contain relics of saints.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23So either parts of their bone
0:17:23 > 0:17:26or else things that they came into contact with
0:17:26 > 0:17:29like their books or their vestments.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33And these were particularly prized within monasteries
0:17:33 > 0:17:35as they were thought to connect the individuals
0:17:35 > 0:17:38directly with the saints themselves.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43And what it's showing is that during these Viking raids,
0:17:43 > 0:17:47it wasn't just plunder that was taken. People were taken, too.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52Slaves were very valuable, and could be sold on.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55And the money that was transacted
0:17:55 > 0:17:58could be turned into amazing objects like this.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02This is a brooch. This was used to hold a cloak up.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06And it's just such an extravagant expression of wealth.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10It's enormous. It weighs nearly a kilogram.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14And the decoration, it's all about display.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16So there's a connection between these objects.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20You've got this image of slavery and movement of goods
0:18:20 > 0:18:23via these longboats, and then the finished product.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Slavery stretched across the entire Viking trading network.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38Far afield, and also, as these manacles show, closer to home.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43Slavery was at the very heart of the Viking world.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47Not only were slaves important for trade,
0:18:47 > 0:18:51they were also essential for agriculture and manufacture.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53They formed part of a complex hierarchy,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57where there were degrees of free and unfree people.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02Indeed, Viking society was remarkably organised.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05There were systems in place to organise the family,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07the household and the tribe.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Society was held together in no small part by women,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17who played a fascinating and powerful role.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24We could see that reflected through the finds from their burials.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27So this is the burial of a wealthy woman from Gotland in Sweden.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31And here there are beads that are so colourful
0:19:31 > 0:19:35and drawn from all number of exotic locations.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Then you've got this key, that's on a chain.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42This is a symbol of her role as lady of the house.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47She controls the key to the home, but also to the treasure chests.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51While the men are away on raiding missions or trading,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Women had to control the wealth of the household.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59And this symbolic key reflects that power and authority.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05Then, there's more intriguing finds.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10There's a spindle here, which suggests that she was involved
0:20:10 > 0:20:14in the craft of tapestry making and weaving, but perhaps symbolically,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19it also reflects this association between women and the Norns.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23These mystical women who spun the strands of fate
0:20:23 > 0:20:26and could cut off destiny.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34What we can see from these sorts of grave goods is that women
0:20:34 > 0:20:37were respected and revered, and even played a role
0:20:37 > 0:20:42within the spiritual framework of the religious system.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45It's interesting, when you think of the role of women
0:20:45 > 0:20:49in Christian society, in a church that...
0:20:49 > 0:20:53The hierarchy of which is predominantly male.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55It seems that within Viking society,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59women could exert that extra bit of power.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04But Christianity and its new power structures
0:21:04 > 0:21:06couldn't be kept at bay for ever.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10And the objects here show how it began to influence the Vikings.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15This little fellow, from a rich woman's grave,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18is the earliest crucifix to be found in their world.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21And it heralds the start of a new era.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Christians weren't supposed to trade with non-Christians.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30And for a while, the Vikings were able to get around this
0:21:30 > 0:21:32by making the sign of the cross
0:21:32 > 0:21:34every time they encountered a Christian,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38to imply that they shared this set of beliefs
0:21:38 > 0:21:40and therefore could exchange goods.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44But as Viking society was changing,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48Christianity started to offer additional benefits,
0:21:48 > 0:21:53so as the tribal structure was becoming more and more hierarchical
0:21:53 > 0:21:57and certain individuals were growing in power,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00almost becoming king-like in their power,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04Christianity gave this structure whereby a king
0:22:04 > 0:22:08gained their power on Earth from the king in Heaven.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11So, Christianity offered the Vikings
0:22:11 > 0:22:14not just increased potential
0:22:14 > 0:22:19to trade but also a political and ideological framework that
0:22:19 > 0:22:23could fit with their changing place in the world.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30'So the Vikings, then, were pragmatists.
0:22:33 > 0:22:38'The old world they'd turned their back on wasn't immediately lost.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41'It was sometimes incorporated, at least symbolically,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43'into the new one.'
0:22:44 > 0:22:49Here is a necklace, made up of 35 separate pendants,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53each one of which is gold, silver and bronze
0:22:53 > 0:22:56and is in the shape of a fish tail.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59The fish was an important symbol in Christianity
0:22:59 > 0:23:02because of its name in Greek, Ichthys.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06If you take each of the letters in Greek,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10they spell out the phrase, "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour."
0:23:10 > 0:23:14So, you have this elaborate play with this word,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18and that was very important to Christianity.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22It was a religion of the book, it was a religion that prized literacy,
0:23:22 > 0:23:27and so its symbolism also plays with words.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30But what's interesting is that the fish seems to have been
0:23:30 > 0:23:33one of the symbols that made the greatest impact
0:23:33 > 0:23:36on Pagan Germanic people,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39and it's one of the first symbols that appears, I think,
0:23:39 > 0:23:44because of the fact that it prizes this part of the natural world,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46this living creature, the fish.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55'The people we know as Vikings were many different people,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57'spread over a vast area.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03'They didn't all convert to Christianity at once.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06'Nor did their new religion
0:24:06 > 0:24:09'necessarily put an end to their raiding.'
0:24:10 > 0:24:16Here you can see two small fragments of marble,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20and this one has been used as a pendant at some point.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23You can see there's a hole that's been drilled through
0:24:23 > 0:24:27so it can be worn on a chain or a leather thong around the neck.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Similar pendants have been found
0:24:29 > 0:24:32that have the residue of precious metals on their surface,
0:24:32 > 0:24:37and it's possible that these are being used as touchstones to
0:24:37 > 0:24:40assess the quality of gold and silver.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44The metals rubbed against the stone
0:24:44 > 0:24:47and then the quality can be assessed,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50and what's interesting about this example is it's made of porphyry.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55Now, porphyry was a marble that was used extensively
0:24:55 > 0:24:57on the continent, in churches,
0:24:57 > 0:25:02and here we have another piece of porphyry, and this seems to
0:25:02 > 0:25:07have come maybe from the floor of a church in Rome, possibly.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09It's clearly a tile that has been
0:25:09 > 0:25:12prised up from the ground
0:25:12 > 0:25:14and taken away as a souvenir.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18But what these two examples demonstrate is
0:25:18 > 0:25:22a re-appropriation of this precious marble, porphyry,
0:25:22 > 0:25:27and all its associations with the Imperial past and the church.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32It's gone from this sort of context to this sort of context.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36It really makes me think that what at first can look
0:25:36 > 0:25:42like destruction can actually be transformation and re-appropriation.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48'And let's face it,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52'the Vikings had a healthy appetite for re-appropriation.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55'They returned time and again to Britain,
0:25:55 > 0:25:59're-appropriating everything in sight, and eventually,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04'the kings of the British Isles began to pay them to go away.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07'This became known as the Danegeld.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11'The Danegeld was a Medieval protection racket
0:26:11 > 0:26:13'on an impressive scale.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17'It goes down in history as one of those "good ideas at the time".'
0:26:18 > 0:26:23What this meant, though, was that the Vikings kept coming back.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27In the 10th and 11th century, they started to settle more and more,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31taking over the land as well, so they never went away,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34and this led to the creation of the Danelaw.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39'The Danelaw was Danish-held territory in England,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42'and it eventually stretched from Northumbria
0:26:42 > 0:26:43'all the way to the Thames.'
0:26:46 > 0:26:49'In Scotland, it was mainly Norwegian Vikings
0:26:49 > 0:26:53'who made political centres across the Northern and Western Isles,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55'and the very North of Scotland
0:26:55 > 0:26:57'became their South, their Sutherland.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04'By the early 11th century, much of the present-day British Isles
0:27:04 > 0:27:10'were ruled and settled either by these Norwegian or Danish Vikings.'
0:27:12 > 0:27:16In our search for the true impact of the Vikings on the British Isles,
0:27:16 > 0:27:22we need look no further than that most seminal of dates, 1066.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26Traditionally, the history books have it that the Anglo-Saxons,
0:27:26 > 0:27:30led by Harald Godwinson, take on the Danes at Stamford Bridge
0:27:30 > 0:27:36and win, before ultimately being defeated by the Normans at Hastings.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40We have these three culturally distinct groups, the Danes,
0:27:40 > 0:27:46the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans, but there's a wonderful irony to
0:27:46 > 0:27:52the events of this year, because to some extent, all sides are Vikings.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55The most obvious connection is with the Danes,
0:27:55 > 0:27:59but when we look at the Normans, they get their name from being
0:27:59 > 0:28:02"Norse men" that have settled in France.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Then we get the Anglo-Saxons, who, because of the Danelaw,
0:28:06 > 0:28:10were profoundly influenced by Viking culture and society.
0:28:12 > 0:28:13'As the objects here show,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17'the Vikings infiltrated the culture as well as the DNA
0:28:17 > 0:28:21'of the British Isles, as warriors and traders,
0:28:21 > 0:28:23'family men and powerful women,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27'ridiculous show-offs and devout believers, they became us.'
0:28:29 > 0:28:34So, if you're still wondering how better to understand the Vikings,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36then you just need to look within.
0:28:39 > 0:28:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd