Page 221 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

Vikings Attacking England. An illustration from an eleventh- century English manuscript depicts a group of armed Vikings invading England. Two ships have already reached the shore, and a few Vikings are shown walking down a long
gangplank onto English soil.
rivers to Novgorod and Kiev and established fortified ports throughout these territories.
Early Viking raids had been carried out largely in the summer, but by the mid-ninth century, the North- men had begun to establish winter settlements in Europe from which they could make expeditions to conquer and settle new lands. By 850, groups of Norse- men had settled in Ireland, and the Danes occupied an area known as the Danelaw in northeastern England by 878. Beginning in 911, the ruler of the western Frank- ish lands gave one band of Vikings land at the mouth of the Seine River, a section of France that ultimately became known as Normandy. This policy of settling the Vikings and converting them to Christianity was a deliberate one, since the new inhabitants served as pro- tectors against additional Viking attacks.
The Vikings were also daring explorers. After 860, they sailed westward in their long ships across the north Atlantic, reaching Iceland in 874. Erik the Red, a Viking exiled from Iceland, traveled even farther west and discovered Greenland in 985. A North American Viking site has also been found in Newfoundland.
By the tenth century, Viking expansion was drawing to a close, but not before Viking settlements had been established in many parts of Europe. Like the Magyars, the Vikings were assimilated into European civiliza- tion. Once again, Christianity proved a decisive civiliz- ing force, another indication that Europe and Christianity were becoming virtually synonymous.
The Viking raids and settlements also had impor- tant political repercussions. The inability of royal authorities to protect their peoples against these incursions caused local populations to turn instead to the local aristocrats who provided security for them. In the process, the landed aristocrats not only increased their strength and prestige but also assumed even more of the functions of local govern- ments that had previously belonged to kings; over time these developments led to a new political and military order.
The Emerging World of Lords and Vassals
Q FOCUS QUESTION: What was fief-holding, and how was it related to manorialism?
The renewed invasions and the disintegration of the Carolingian Empire led to the emergence of a new type of relationship between free individuals. When govern-
ments ceased to be able to defend their subjects, it became important to find some powerful lord who could offer protection in exchange for service. The con- tract sworn between a lord and his subordinate (known as a vassal) is the basis of a form of social organization that later generations of historians called feudalism. But feudalism was never a system, and many historians today avoid using the term.
Vassalage
The practice of vassalage was derived from Germanic society, in which warriors swore an oath of loyalty to their leader. They fought for their chief, and he in turn took care of their needs. By the eighth century, an
The Emerging World of Lords and Vassals 183
Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
a The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York/Art Resource, NY