0:00:02 > 0:00:07We all think the Vikings were just violent warriors but they weren't.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10Heave!
0:00:10 > 0:00:13How can that be a thousand years old?
0:00:13 > 0:00:17I'm going on a journey to find out who they really were.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19< CALLS IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE
0:00:34 > 0:00:38Over 1,000 years ago York, in northern England,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40was one of the greatest cities of the Anglo-Saxon world...
0:00:43 > 0:00:45..and the people who lived here spent their time
0:00:45 > 0:00:47going about their daily lives.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52'But York had a shock coming because in 866 AD'
0:00:52 > 0:00:57an entire army arrived here and turned the place Viking
0:00:57 > 0:00:58and called it Jorvig,
0:00:58 > 0:01:03this city and half of England besides became part of Scandinavia.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Today, even over 1,000 years later,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13people still believe the Vikings were simply dangerous
0:01:13 > 0:01:16and fearsome warriors.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Thank you.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22I just want you to tell me what you think of
0:01:22 > 0:01:24when you hear that word Vikings.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28- What's the picture in your head? - Big bloke with a beard and horns.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30The guys are, like, big brutal men, very hairy,
0:01:30 > 0:01:32perhaps with horns on.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35- What about the women?- They were probably quite hairy as well!
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Big furs on their shoulders, big swords,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40beards and quite scary, actually.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43What we know, or think we know, about the Vikings
0:01:43 > 0:01:45is much more myth than reality.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Even the famed horned helmets are a modern invention.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52So, just who were the Vikings?
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Here in Shetland, off the north coast of Scotland,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05is a place called Jarlshof.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11It's one of the best preserved Viking settlements anywhere.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18And by looking at these archaeological remains,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21the buildings the Vikings left behind,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24we can see that they weren't just violent warriors...
0:02:24 > 0:02:28but that many were farmers trying to live peaceful lives...
0:02:29 > 0:02:32..because this is a farmstead.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35Over here there are the foundations
0:02:35 > 0:02:38for seven long rectangular buildings.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40These were built and used by the Vikings.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44This would have been part of the main family quarters.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Along here there would have been wooden topped benches
0:02:47 > 0:02:50for sitting on and sleeping on - on either side,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53a central hearth, there would have been a timber support, probably,
0:02:53 > 0:02:55holding up the roof beam
0:02:55 > 0:02:58and then at the far end was a corn drying room,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00where there would have been heat
0:03:00 > 0:03:02that would have dried the crop for storage.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06And then at the far end the archaeologists found burnt stone
0:03:06 > 0:03:12so it suggests there may even have been a primitive sauna in use here.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16In this end, where it's got all the hard standing,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18this would have been byre for the animals.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21The cattle would have been in here, especially during the winter months.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26The bones of sheep, cows, pigs and ponies
0:03:26 > 0:03:28have all been found on this site...
0:03:30 > 0:03:34..but it's the many Viking objects dug from Earth across Shetland
0:03:34 > 0:03:38that show us how the people here really lived.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42What it specifically for? I mean, it's some kind of scoop...?
0:03:42 > 0:03:45It is indeed a scoop but it's not a scoop for grain, as you might think.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50The thing is used in a boat and you're bailing water.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52- Our, it's a bailer, right! - Yeah, that's right.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55It would be all too easy just to let the thing to shoot out of your hand
0:03:55 > 0:03:57and it might plop in the sea.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00So, you want to have a little bit of a back strap on it,
0:04:00 > 0:04:01to stop it shooting out.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04That's gorgeous, look at that!
0:04:04 > 0:04:06looked at the shine on it from being handled.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09You know, that patina know they're being held and used.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Exactly. That's what brings the past to life.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19Ian showed me many amazing objects from Viking times.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23It's got this little depression, there, and that's for your thumb,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25so as you can carry it.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Things they used in their everyday lives.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33A cooking pot but it's much more interesting than just a cooking pot
0:04:33 > 0:04:35because it's a half-made cooking pot.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39'But there was one single item that completely blew me away.'
0:04:41 > 0:04:48It's a piece of a glove or a mitten that's been carbon dated to 975 AD.
0:04:50 > 0:04:56Oh, wow! How can that be 1,000 years old?! Is that knitted?
0:04:56 > 0:04:58- It's woven, believe it or not.- Gosh!
0:05:00 > 0:05:02I think it's just absolutely electrifying to see an item like this
0:05:02 > 0:05:07where something as powerful as the human hand is...
0:05:07 > 0:05:08is there to be seen.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14I think what makes these so special is that you think of Vikings
0:05:14 > 0:05:17and you think of men, warrior, graves, swords
0:05:17 > 0:05:20and all the rest but this kind of material reminds you that...
0:05:20 > 0:05:25there are men, that there are women and children as well.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Finding objects in the ground shows us how the Vikings lived...
0:05:35 > 0:05:38..but I was interested in how they survived the winters
0:05:38 > 0:05:42because Shetland and Scandinavia, where the Vikings came from,
0:05:42 > 0:05:43are northern places.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49So, food is hard to find in the long, cold, dark winter months.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53So, I've come to a reconstruction of a house
0:05:53 > 0:05:56of the Vikings' ancestors, in Denmark,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59to ask an expert how they coped.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06What kind of challenges faced farmers...
0:06:06 > 0:06:10as the, the long, dark nights of winter set in?
0:06:10 > 0:06:13The most important thing was to get enough provisions
0:06:13 > 0:06:15to get you through the winter.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19If you were completely starved in the spring
0:06:19 > 0:06:24you couldn't, you know, start working the land and that was very important.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33The residue of this drink was found in a bark bucket in a burial mound.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37- OK.- So, it's malted wheat, honey...
0:06:37 > 0:06:42bog myrtle to give it a bit of bitterness and cranberries.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46- Slainte mhath!- Skal.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54That's fantastic! That really is.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56- It just tastes like fruit juice. - Yes.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04'We know that the Vikings could make drinks that would last the winter
0:07:04 > 0:07:07'but more of a problem was keeping food for months on end -
0:07:07 > 0:07:09'especially meat.'
0:07:10 > 0:07:14'And they did this by preserving it in a milky liquid
0:07:14 > 0:07:15'to stop it becoming rotten.'
0:07:18 > 0:07:19It's raw pork, yes.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23And all that happened is it's sat in some liquid acquired from milk?
0:07:23 > 0:07:24Yes.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26OK!
0:07:30 > 0:07:35- It's got all the texture but it only tastes very faintly of meat.- Hm-mm.
0:07:35 > 0:07:36But, you know...
0:07:38 > 0:07:43- ..but then I do like raw meat! I've always been drawn that way! - SHE LAUGHS
0:07:45 > 0:07:49'Preparing for winter, storing and preserving food,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53'collecting firewood and keeping warm were all necessary
0:07:53 > 0:07:56'if you were going to survive freezing weather.'
0:07:58 > 0:08:01'But I wanted to find out how comfortable it was to sleep
0:08:01 > 0:08:05'in a house that the Vikings' ancestors would have slept in.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09'One thing I did know was that I needed to wrap up warm.'
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Let's see how I get on.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18Hopefully these sheepskins will make all the difference.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31'I don't suppose there were many occasions'
0:08:31 > 0:08:36when a person had a night to him or herself inside a house like this.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41It would have been...with their family, almost all of the time.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56There we go.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58I have to report, first of all...
0:08:58 > 0:09:04that despite all my best intentions to report throughout the night
0:09:04 > 0:09:05I fell asleep!
0:09:05 > 0:09:07HE LAUGHS
0:09:07 > 0:09:11So, I survived my winter's night.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14Quite good, really.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24After spending a night as the Vikings would have done,
0:09:24 > 0:09:28I've learned that they found ways of overcoming the wind and the cold...
0:09:32 > 0:09:36..but I've also discovered that the Vikings weren't just fierce warriors,
0:09:36 > 0:09:40they were farmers as well - with families and communities.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59The Vikings came from Scandinavia, where there are many mountains.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Crossing those mountains was difficult,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08so the easiest way to travel was by boat...
0:10:09 > 0:10:13..through the steep, sea-flooded valleys known as fjords.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17And over thousands of years, the Vikings learned how to build
0:10:17 > 0:10:20seagoing boats and become expert sailors.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Today, in Oslo, the capital of Norway,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34is the best Viking ship ever discovered.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40It is over 1,000 years old, and just as the Vikings left it.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48This stunning craft is the Oseberg Ship.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53It's certainly the most famous Viking ship we have,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57and, to my eyes, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most beautiful.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05This ship was built almost entirely of oak, and is over 18 metres long.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13It has a steering board on its right hand side and an iron anchor.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17And it would've had a crew of around 35 men,
0:11:17 > 0:11:21and could be powered by either oars or sails.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27But it's the carving on the ship that I find truly incredible.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31The ship itself is the work of many craftsmen,
0:11:31 > 0:11:33but here, in this carving,
0:11:33 > 0:11:37is the imagination and the skill
0:11:37 > 0:11:41of just one artist, one person.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46It's this exciting, vivid depiction
0:11:46 > 0:11:52of a dragon or sea serpents twisted together, biting tails.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55The scales on the skin are picked out
0:11:55 > 0:11:58with these carefully-etched lines.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01To be reminded that these people
0:12:01 > 0:12:05were capable of this kind of imagination,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09to make something so big, it makes them that bit more real.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13This, this is what the Vikings were capable of.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27For centuries, the secret of Viking success was their ships.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29To sail in them was to be a Viking.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36They were built from shaped, wooden planks
0:12:36 > 0:12:40held together with iron rivets and wooden frames.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45Any gaps were sealed with animal hair to make them waterproof.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50Rowing one of these on a day like today is actually quite pleasant,
0:12:50 > 0:12:51if you can get into the rhythm.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56It's not such a bad way to spend a morning.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02Oh, hold on, hold on! It's all gone terrible.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13If there was no wind, the Viking boats could be powered by oars.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16But they really came into their own as sailing ships,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19then there were able to travel much, much further.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27It seems remarkable that when the Vikings reached the open sea,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29far away from land,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32somehow they still knew where they were going.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36One expert sailor thinks she knows how this was done.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39They were dependent on the sun.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44If they didn't find the sun, they were lost at sea.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49- That's something you don't want to hear on a Viking ship.- Right.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52But what happens if you're in the open ocean
0:13:52 > 0:13:55and the weather is bad and you don't see the sun for hours on end?
0:13:55 > 0:13:59I've done it several times. The sky is all grey.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02We really need the sun, we haven't seen it for a long time,
0:14:02 > 0:14:07it's raining, I'm looking and looking and looking, where's the sun,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11maybe there, maybe there, yes! And then you just get it for 10 seconds.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15Like that. Wow, you've got it.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18And you adjust your course because you can see, OK,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22maybe we've been sailing 30 degrees wrong, but we are on course again.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Thank you. I'm so happy with that sun.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32But not all Viking boats and ships
0:14:32 > 0:14:36were meant for sailing across the open ocean.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Some Vikings used their vessels to sail up the mighty rivers in Russia
0:14:40 > 0:14:42and beyond.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45This would take them to the mysterious lands in the East,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49where they could find riches beyond their wildest dreams.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Morning, Vikings. Where can I be?
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Up here?
0:14:54 > 0:14:58But travelling along the rivers presented a whole new challenge.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06If they reached a point where the river was blocked,
0:15:06 > 0:15:11by ice or rapids, the boats could be taken out of the water
0:15:11 > 0:15:15and rolled on logs beyond the obstacles.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Sometimes, they would even transport their vessels
0:15:19 > 0:15:21between different rivers.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24That's why these boats are smaller than the ocean-going ships.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26They weren't so heavy, and they could be moved
0:15:26 > 0:15:30metre by metre overland from one place to another.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Imagine how long it'd take to get anywhere.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38You leave home in Sweden, across the Baltic in ships,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41and then get everything onto boats like this.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Every now and again, you've got to take the boat out of the water
0:15:44 > 0:15:46and move it overland.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49These guys must have been away for years at a time.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59It's time-consuming and it is laborious,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03but there's enough men here to move a boat this size,
0:16:03 > 0:16:07so the system does work, as history shows.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23As well as exploring and travelling along the rivers
0:16:23 > 0:16:30east across Russia, the Vikings also explored new lands far to the west,
0:16:30 > 0:16:31across the vast North Atlantic Ocean.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41One stormy day, some time in the second half of the ninth century,
0:16:41 > 0:16:43a Viking ship
0:16:43 > 0:16:46sailing from Norway to the Faroe Islands was blown off course.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49After several more days sailing,
0:16:49 > 0:16:54it finally beached up on an uninhabited, unexplored shore,
0:16:54 > 0:16:55here on Iceland.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Some of the Vikings settled on Iceland and built farms there,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09but in time, they headed even further west.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14And in 1000 AD, the unforgettably-named Erik the Red
0:17:14 > 0:17:18led a fleet of 25 ships out into the North Atlantic
0:17:18 > 0:17:21in hopes of founding a new colony.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28After a difficult voyage, during which many Vikings lost their lives,
0:17:28 > 0:17:33just 14 boats arrived on what we now know as Greenland.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35But in the years to come,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39other Viking explorers would go even further.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41Objects dug up in Newfoundland
0:17:41 > 0:17:44tell us that the Vikings set up a trading camp there,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48and that makes them the first Europeans ever to reach America.
0:17:56 > 0:18:02The distance from Norway to Newfoundland is 4,500 miles,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04and we're talking about a time
0:18:04 > 0:18:06when that land mass was beyond the knowledge,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10far less the reach, of any other Europeans.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14What those Vikings did, then, was simply staggering.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40The Vikings travelled far and wide,
0:18:40 > 0:18:46not just to raid, plunder and find land,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50but also to trade, to buy and sell goods.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54And this took them to new, exotic places far from home.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11When I started investigating the Vikings,
0:19:11 > 0:19:17I didn't think I'd have to travel 1,500 miles south of Scandinavia.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24But here I am, in an ancient city that links Europe to Asia.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28Istanbul.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33In Viking times, this was the greatest city on Earth,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37and it was called Constantinople.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44And for those Vikings,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48it was the end of a long and dangerous journey from the north.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54Because within its walls were some of the richest markets in the world.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11For a Viking, this would have been all but overwhelming,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14because this is on a completely different scale
0:20:14 > 0:20:17from anything he would have witnessed before.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21Instead of hundreds of people,
0:20:21 > 0:20:26here it would have been thousands, or even tens of thousands, and from all over the world.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31And then, there were all the exotic sights and sounds and smells.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35It's all but an assault on the senses.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41- Hey!- Yes?- Do you speak English? - I speak English, my friend.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44- Can I have 100 grams of the red spice?- 100 grams.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46- OK.- Something else?
0:20:46 > 0:20:48No, that's all. How much?
0:20:49 > 0:20:53Once here, they could buy finely woven silk
0:20:53 > 0:20:55worth its weight in gold
0:20:55 > 0:20:59in exchange for the goods they had brought with them from the north.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02Precious amber, Arctic furs, and slaves.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Any Viking who spent three months or more in the city
0:21:08 > 0:21:12was entitled to buy silk up to the value of two slaves.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18That silk was so valuable, that when the Vikings took it home,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21it made them rich beyond their wildest dreams.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32But some of the Vikings never went home.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35They stayed, and made Constantinople their home.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38One of them even left his mark on the city
0:21:38 > 0:21:43in one of the most historic and holy places on the planet.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45This is the Hagia Sophia.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49Most of what you're looking at was built in the sixth century,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51which means that, by the time the Vikings turned up,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54that building was already old.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Think of the impact it must have had on them
0:21:57 > 0:22:00when they arrived from their Dark Age world.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02Some of them at least said that when they were inside,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06they didn't know if they were on Earth or in Heaven itself.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10But to find any evidence of the Vikings, I have to go inside.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25The Hagia Sophia was built as a Christian church,
0:22:25 > 0:22:27but later turned into a Muslim mosque.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31All around me are remnants
0:22:31 > 0:22:34of over 1,000 years of Christian and Muslim worship.
0:22:38 > 0:22:44In one tiny corner is proof that a Viking once came to this place.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53These dark lines etched into the marble are Viking runes,
0:22:53 > 0:22:55ancient Viking writing.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58They're almost indecipherable.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01The only bit that's in any way clear is part of someone's name,
0:23:01 > 0:23:03a man's name - Halfdan.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06And the rest of it is assumed to read "was here."
0:23:06 > 0:23:09So you've got, "Halfdan was here" or, "made these runes."
0:23:10 > 0:23:15Halfdan may have been part of the bodyguard of the Byzantine emperor,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18the great ruler of Constantinople,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20or he may've been just a trader.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22These few lines show us
0:23:22 > 0:23:26how far the Vikings had travelled from the homeland.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37If and when the Vikings did return home,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40they took with them the valuable goods they had traded.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43The silks, spices and silver.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Birka is a small island near Sweden's capital city, Stockholm.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56No-one lives here today.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58But in Viking times,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02it was one of the most important towns in Scandinavia.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06It's the places like this that the Vikings brought their goods
0:24:06 > 0:24:09from Constantinople to sell them in the market.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14In Birka, we should glimpse traces of everyday life.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18What's preserved in Birka is more than just a town.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21It's an entire culture.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Merchants came here from all over Scandinavia, so Birka market
0:24:30 > 0:24:35would have been very busy, full of people buying and selling goods.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40Is it fair to say that Birka was a completely new kind of settlement?
0:24:40 > 0:24:45It is totally a new kind of settlement, a new way of life,
0:24:45 > 0:24:49people from all over the world probably came here to do trade.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53So Birka is like a department store where you can get clothes,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56you can get jewellery, you can get furnishings for your home...
0:24:56 > 0:24:59Weaponry, food...
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Imported food, I should say.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07- Um... Spices, textiles. - What kind of things do you find?
0:25:07 > 0:25:12You know, is it rich pickings out where the people lived?
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Yeah, it's very rich pickings.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18- Gold and silver?- No, not today.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25- This is an iron weight.- OK.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32What is the significance of finding a weight here?
0:25:32 > 0:25:36It's a very good example of what they actually did here.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38The trade is at the heart of everything.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43Silver is the main currency, and it's the silver weight that's interesting.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45- So this isn't for weighing the goods themselves?- No.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48- This is how you make sure someone's paid the right price.- Exactly.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Items from all over the world were traded here,
0:26:00 > 0:26:05and in nearby Stockholm, there's an amazing collection of treasure
0:26:05 > 0:26:08that shows us just where they came from.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13Look at these three marvels.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18They are known collectively as the Helgo Treasure.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22They were all found together in one house.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28First of all, there's a bishop's crosier,
0:26:28 > 0:26:32which is the headpiece that would be on top of a staff
0:26:32 > 0:26:35carried by a bishop as a mark of his office and status.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40Everything about its decoration is typically Irish.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44Next here, we have a ladle.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48It would've been used in religious ceremonies,
0:26:48 > 0:26:50specifically for baptism.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53It's to pour water over the head of someone
0:26:53 > 0:26:57who's being welcomed into the Christian church.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02It's made of bronze, and it's probably from North Africa.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10The crosier and ladle are priceless objects.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12But there was something found beside them
0:27:12 > 0:27:14that I find even more extraordinary.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20It's a bronze Buddha.
0:27:21 > 0:27:22This was probably made
0:27:22 > 0:27:25in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Maybe Pakistan or Afghanistan.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31And it has made its way here, passing through many hands,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34going through Constantinople, through Russia,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37and eventually finding its way to Helgo.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42It's incredible that these objects came from places as far away
0:27:42 > 0:27:48as Africa, Ireland and India, and all ended up here,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50in one Viking home in Scandinavia.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55Think how far the Vikings have come.
0:27:55 > 0:28:02It's only 100, maybe 150 years since those first raids, but by now,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05those Vikings have stretched their hands
0:28:05 > 0:28:08across the face of the known world.
0:28:08 > 0:28:09The Vikings have arrived.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26Over 1,000 years ago, on June 8th 793 AD,
0:28:26 > 0:28:31a small band of Vikings sailed down the eastern coast of England.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39Their target was a monastery, called Lindisfarne,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42and they decided to launch a surprise attack.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47It's likely that the first thing the monks saw
0:28:47 > 0:28:50was the outline of two or three ships on the horizon,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53but that would hardly have been unusual.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55Living here, there would have been accustomed
0:28:55 > 0:28:58to the arrival of ships from all sorts of places.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01Maybe a few of the monks came down onto the beach
0:29:01 > 0:29:04to welcome the newcomers with open arms.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13But the monks weren't prepared for visitors like these.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17Because these were Viking warriors.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26And they had come to kill the monks and steal the monastery's treasure.
0:29:31 > 0:29:35Life in England was about to change for ever,
0:29:35 > 0:29:40because the savage attack on Lindisfarne was just the beginning.
0:29:48 > 0:29:5250 years after the attack on the Lindisfarne monastery,
0:29:52 > 0:29:57a huge force of around 3,000 Vikings arrived on our shores,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00and they wanted to conquer the whole of England.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05This was truly a force to be reckoned with.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08The Anglo-Saxons called it the Great Heathen Army,
0:30:08 > 0:30:12and it wasn't just a raiding party intent on slaves and gold.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16The Great Heathen Army wanted everything, and to get it,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19they would have to take on the Anglo-Saxons.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26The conquest of England was a task far greater
0:30:26 > 0:30:29than anything the Vikings had ever attempted before.
0:30:29 > 0:30:34England was divided into four powerful, well-organised kingdoms.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia and Wessex.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45So to succeed, the Vikings would have to defeat them all.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53The Viking army didn't stay on the English coast,
0:30:53 > 0:30:55but struck at the very heart of England,
0:30:55 > 0:30:58a town in Derbyshire called Repton.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04When the Great Heathen Army arrived here in Repton,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06they'd come to take Mercia.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09Now, Repton's small and out of the way today,
0:31:09 > 0:31:13but 1,000 years ago, it was the most important town in Mercia,
0:31:13 > 0:31:17and Mercia was the second most powerful kingdom in all of England.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26When the Vikings came to Repton in the winter of 873 AD,
0:31:26 > 0:31:31they transformed the sacred church of St Wystan into a fortress.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34It was an important step in their bold attempt
0:31:34 > 0:31:36to take the whole of England.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43If you look down just beyond the graveyard,
0:31:43 > 0:31:45you can see a stretch of water,
0:31:45 > 0:31:49and that's a relic of a much older course of the River Trent.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52That's how the Vikings would have approached, along the river,
0:31:52 > 0:31:55and then they would have moored the ships just down there
0:31:55 > 0:31:58and come out onto the bank to set about the business of takeover.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05In the churchyard, archaeologists have dug up the remains
0:32:05 > 0:32:09of the Vikings' impressive fortress.
0:32:09 > 0:32:14We've got a D-shaped enclosure with a fourth side created by a river.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18And, great tacticians that they were,
0:32:18 > 0:32:22the Vikings here have even employed the Christian church
0:32:22 > 0:32:26and turned it into a defensive gateway into their fortress.
0:32:26 > 0:32:27Genius!
0:32:29 > 0:32:32There's not only a fortress,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35but the remains of the warriors themselves.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40Just here is grave number eight.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45That's one of the most important Viking graves ever found in Britain.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47I must be just about standing on the spot.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51Just about here. Imagine that!
0:32:55 > 0:32:58Right here, archaeologists discovered the remains
0:32:58 > 0:33:00of a six-foot-tall skeleton.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02A typical Viking warrior.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08He was not a Christian. He was a pagan, believing in many gods.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12He was buried with his most precious possessions.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19The Viking belief dictated that whatever you needed
0:33:19 > 0:33:24and wanted in the next life had to go into the ground with you.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28First of all, you've got the perfect weapon.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Which is not just giving him the ability to fight,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34but it says something about who he is in life.
0:33:34 > 0:33:39This is actually an iron sword in a scabbard.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42It's a wooden scabbard with a fleece lining
0:33:42 > 0:33:44to protect the blade, and then on the outside,
0:33:44 > 0:33:46there's a leather casing.
0:33:46 > 0:33:47So a man on the battlefield
0:33:47 > 0:33:51with a sword is already someone you would notice.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56But a man with a sword and a scabbard is another step up again.
0:33:56 > 0:34:01So this man was clearly a leader amongst his own kind.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06This is a little silver hammer.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09The Repton Warrior was wearing this around his neck
0:34:09 > 0:34:12in the same way that a Christian would wear a cross.
0:34:12 > 0:34:18It's connecting him physically to the god Thor.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23For a man like the Repton Warrior, everything about him was building
0:34:23 > 0:34:26to one ideal conclusion.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28He wanted a heroic death on the battlefield
0:34:28 > 0:34:32that would guarantee him access to the next world,
0:34:32 > 0:34:34which for him was Valhalla,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38a place where he would fight all day with other heroes
0:34:38 > 0:34:40and then feast all night.
0:34:40 > 0:34:41It was the perfect Viking heaven.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47For the Anglo-Saxons, this is the worst-case scenario,
0:34:47 > 0:34:50because it's in the Viking mindset to fight to the death.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53And it's a horde of men
0:34:53 > 0:35:00who think like this that the Anglo-Saxons here had to face.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13The English kingdom fell into the hands of Vikings
0:35:13 > 0:35:14like the Repton Warrior.
0:35:14 > 0:35:20Only Wessex, led by its king, Alfred, withstood the brutal attack,
0:35:20 > 0:35:25and even he wasn't quite strong enough to drive them out completely.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Eventually, Alfred and the Vikings agreed to make peace,
0:35:28 > 0:35:35the terms of which basically gave the Vikings control
0:35:35 > 0:35:37of a territory north of a line
0:35:37 > 0:35:40stretching between Chester and the Thames.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43The territory became known as the Danelaw.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48It was basically a Danish Viking colony.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51All of this land that I'm travelling through now
0:35:51 > 0:35:54was under Danish Viking control.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01The most important city in the Danelaw was called Jorvik,
0:36:01 > 0:36:03or York as we know it today.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11Over 10,000 people, men, women and children, lived here,
0:36:11 > 0:36:17and it became an important place to buy, sell and make goods.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20The things Vikings used in their everyday lives.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27There's a comb for personal grooming and taking care of head lice.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30You've got amber jewellery, possibly from the Baltic.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34This is a gaming piece, and it's walrus ivory,
0:36:34 > 0:36:37maybe from as far away as Greenland.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43Along with these fascinating objects the Vikings left in the ground,
0:36:43 > 0:36:47there's something else that remains from the Viking age,
0:36:47 > 0:36:51something that we all use every day, and that's our language.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55How many of the words we use every day
0:36:55 > 0:36:58actually have their roots in Viking words?
0:36:58 > 0:37:01Lots and lots of really basic everyday words.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05Things like eggs, skirts, I see some bags over there.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09The sky, windows, other things that I can see
0:37:09 > 0:37:11include skin, leg, skull...
0:37:11 > 0:37:15- So very simple words?- Very simple, basic words for things, yeah.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20Also words which describe how we feel and how we react to stuff.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22So if you're angry, if you're happy, if you're ill...
0:37:22 > 0:37:25- Those words as well? - All these words come from Norse.
0:37:25 > 0:37:31Does language reveal anything about the extent of Viking colonisation?
0:37:31 > 0:37:33There are lots of Old Norse place names.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Words which are wholly or partly from Old Norse.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40So anything involving '-by'. B-Y.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43- Places like Grimsby... - Or Whitby.- Whitby, yes. Selby.
0:37:43 > 0:37:48- And what does the '-by' mean?- "-By" seems to mean a settlement, village.
0:37:48 > 0:37:49It's amazing, isn't it?
0:37:49 > 0:37:53We're talking about people who arrived, you know,
0:37:53 > 0:37:541,300, 1,200 years ago,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56and yet the words they brought with them
0:37:56 > 0:37:58are still echoing around us today.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02They're all around, yes. That's right. That's right.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09When you come to a place like this, is easy to see the impact
0:38:09 > 0:38:11the Vikings have had on us.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14And it's not just the place names
0:38:14 > 0:38:16or the words in our everyday language.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18The Vikings are part of who we are.
0:38:18 > 0:38:23By setting up their own towns, and by marrying the locals,
0:38:23 > 0:38:25their blood mixed with our blood.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27And they're still here with us today.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd