Did the Vikings have an empire???

[Tallanas]

Some of you guys are missing some pieces to the puzzle here... who captured York just prior to the Battle of Hastings? That's right, the Vikings. After Norman Invasion, the direct influence of the Vikings on England was lessened but many of the viking that came to raid coastal settlements in England actually stayed. Though subtle, English culture as we know it has some of its roots in Viking culture. It would be unfair to say that they were simply "assimilated". In the English language, the names of 4 of the 7 days of the week have their roots in Norse. Other English words that have Norse roots: knife, eggs, husband...

Apologies for the double post - two entirely different points to make!

If anything, Scout, you understate the importance of the Vikings in the culture and language of England. Particularly in the north of England, Viking influence is enormous - place names (York, originally Yarrvik) and bloodlines are full of this influence. One branch of my family for instance (yes, I'm a northerner ) has a surname that hasn't changed for 1000 years, it's just pure Norse.

And I agree on the idea of assimilation. People misconstrue the Norman Invasion as some sort of massive cultural shift throughout the whole of Britain. But pretty much the only thing that changed was the replacement of a ruling clique of "English" lords with a ruling clique of Norman lords. The ideas of England and France were very new at this stage, and for the next 3 centuries, the ruling dynasty that termed themselves Kings of England ruled up to 2/3 of what is now France... But I digress. The common people of England throughout the Middle ages are descendents of the original Viking settlers in many parts of the Kingdom. If anyone was assimilated, it was the Normans.

We see this time and again with barbarians and empires or kingdoms that they invade. The barbarians pillage and plunder, then settle and replace, The barbarians weren't beaten but are nowhere to be seen, the kingdom crumbles but is still there! The only exception to this being the steppe nomads who were more horse-bound, mobile peoples, who had a tendency to frighten the living daylights out of everyone before disappearing up their own horse paddock as soon as the Great Khan's heir drowns in a vat of grain spirit...

Tal

 

[scoutsout]

Oh yeah - I seem to remember that Norse is still spoken in Iceland or somewhere...

 

[Rammstein]

No it isn't, but it's a lot closer to it than Norwegian, Swedish and Danish are.

 

[Kafka2]

And I agree on the idea of assimilation. People misconstrue the Norman Invasion as some sort of massive cultural shift throughout the whole of Britain. But pretty much the only thing that changed was the replacement of a ruling clique of "English" lords with a ruling clique of Norman lords. The ideas of England and France were very new at this stage, and for the next 3 centuries, the ruling dynasty that termed themselves Kings of England ruled up to 2/3 of what is now France... But I digress. The common people of England throughout the Middle ages are descendents of the original Viking settlers in many parts of the Kingdom. If anyone was assimilated, it was the Normans.

While it's true that the Normans were assimilated, I wouldn't downplay the cultural impact of their conquest. After all, our laws, aristocracy and political structure remained Norman. In the novel "The Last King of England" there's a hilarious section where William's army of villains and bastards are described- and their Norman surnames were all names shared by the then Tory govenment in the mid-1990's.

England had been established nearly 150 years before 1066, and had been continuously united under a single crown since 959. That made it older than many current-day nations, who certainly aren't lacking in national identity.