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Documentary, Vikings End Of The Viking Age Part 3
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00:00One stormy day, sometime in the second half of the 9th century, a Viking ship was blown
00:14off course. It finally beached up on an uninhabited, unexplored shore here on Iceland. It must
00:25have presented a truly terrifying alien landscape, but its discovery meant that the Vikings were
00:34no longer just raiders and traders. From that moment onwards, they were explorers and adventurers.
00:41I'm retracing the steps of the Vikings to discover the truth about their lives and their mysterious
01:01world. Even now, this place feels like it's on the edge of everything. And, as an archaeologist,
01:12I'll be seeking out some of the most telling evidence of all, their very remains. This
01:21flamboyant hairstyle just adds to his allure. Last time, I travelled east to discover the
01:33far reaches of Viking trade. These dark lines etched into the marble are Viking runes, ancient
01:41Viking writing. Now, I'm heading west to find out how the Vikings became explorers.
01:50And kings, creators of an entire Viking empire of the north.
02:12By the end of the 9th century, the Viking age was in full swing, with their territories
02:17and influence spreading outwards from their Scandinavian homelands. The Swedes travelled east, down
02:22the great rivers of Russia. The Danes crossed the North Sea, raiding and colonising, and establishing,
02:30at York, the hub of a trading network in the west. For the Norwegians, however, it was a different
02:36story. I'm starting in Bergen, Norway, to see how the people of the north, the Norsemen, carved
02:51out their own slice of the Viking world. In the wild, uncharted Atlantic Ocean. From up here, you can
03:04clearly see that between the mountains and the fjords, there's precious little in the way of
03:09finding out the north. The north, it's not available farming land. So, for an expanding population, many
03:13of them ambitious young men, that absence of available land could have only one outcome. The
03:20most adventurous of them would seek to change the circumstances and their opportunities. And to do
03:27but they would up and leave.
03:36The secret of the Norsemen's success was their notorious longship.
03:46It's the icon of the entire Viking Age.
03:52And here in Bergen,
03:53people have built a decent seagoing reconstruction of one.
03:57Rowing one of these, well, on a day like today,
04:00is actually quite pleasant,
04:02if you can get into the rhythm.
04:08Oh, hold on, hold on.
04:10It's all gone terrible.
04:15The Vikings were notorious for their fast and manoeuvrable warships.
04:22But to conquer the ocean,
04:24they also needed sturdier vessels.
04:30Shorter, wider and powered by sail,
04:34they were perfect to carry goods, animals, tools and people.
04:42Crewed by as few as six men,
04:43ships like these carried the Norse to the end of the known world.
04:48And far beyond.
04:50Lena Beersen has spent months at sea,
04:57navigating without modern technology,
05:00to understand just how the Vikings did it.
05:03They were dependent on the sun.
05:08If they didn't find the sun, they were half-willed,
05:10they got lost at sea.
05:12Half-willed.
05:13Half-willed.
05:14That's a word you don't want to hear on a Viking ship then.
05:15Right.
05:16from experiments at sea Lina has discovered that being so dependent on an unreliable Sun
05:25the Vikings often had to be flexible about exactly where we ended up if you don't end
05:33up in Shetland you would end up in Orkney and that's not bad is it right so you just
05:39have to be a bit more open-minded about where you're going you've got it
05:46their epic voyages are a defining part of the Viking legend from coast hopping reads it wasn't
05:53long before the Norwegian adventurers started to strike out into the open ocean in search of new
06:00lands to settle now I'm following in their footsteps traveling from Bergen to Shetland one of the first
06:15stops we know that large numbers of them arrived on Orkney and here in Shetland from around 800 AD
06:34onwards because virtually all of the place names of Norse in origin no Pictish name survive we don't
06:41know if the local population was enslaved or exterminated or just driven off but knowing
06:47how badly the Vikings behaved elsewhere it was probably all three
06:50on Shetland they'd already been raiding and pillaging but some Vikings who arrived here came to stay
07:11and relics of the farms still survive this ancient site of human habitation is cheap by Joel with the
07:27airport so if you hear a roaring sound in the background not be the 345 to Bergen over here
07:37there are the foundations for seven long rectangular buildings these were built and used by the
07:43Vikings this would have been part of the the main family quarters along here there would have been
07:49wooden top benches for sitting on and sleeping on on either side a central hearth that's one of those
07:56planes I was talking about it would have been quite dark in here quite smoky then at the far end there's a
08:04corn drying room you up where there would have been a heat that would have dried the crop for storage
08:09and then at the far end the archaeologists found burnt stone so it suggests there may even have
08:15been a primitive sauna in use here often across the Viking world we discover burials treasure or the remains of
08:28warriors but on Shetland there are relics of more ordinary lives of Viking farmers and craftsmen it's a
08:40fantastic piece as you can see it's lovely it was found in a peat bug you'll see this a hook shape on the handle
08:48there the reason for that is that the thing is used in a boat and you're bailing water and of course
08:57it's a bailer right yeah that's right it would be all too easy just to let the thing shoot out of your
09:01hand and it might plop into the sea so you want to have a little bit of a backstop on it to stop it
09:07shooting out and you can see here that the wear pattern is on that side and it's a right-handed
09:13person this object was found in the 1970s in Shetland it's so fine look at the tines that's the
09:25little rivets because it's composite isn't it it's been made from multiple parts that's gorgeous look
09:32at that look at the shine on it from being handled you know that patina there of of being held and
09:39used exactly that's what brings the past to life handling these simple objects took me right into
09:47the practicalities of Viking daily life it's got this little depression there and that's for your
09:52thumb source you can carry it lamps wet stones loom weights and fishing tackle but best of all was one
10:03very personal possession and it's a piece of a glove or a mitten that's for a thumb that's a
10:11thumb for a Viking thumb yes yes a Viking thumb it's one thing to talk about Vikings but that was worn by
10:17a Viking hand well it's been carbon dated to 975 AD oh wow how can that be a thousand years old is that
10:27knitted it's woven believe it or not I think it's just absolutely electrifying to see an item like
10:35this where something as powerful as the human hand this is there to be seen
10:48through the 10th and 11th centuries Shetland supported a huge community of around 10,000 Vikings
10:55but these island settlements were just the first stepping stones for even greater and far more
11:05daring journeys while the Swedes were getting rich from trade in the east and the Danes were establishing
11:15a kingdom in England the Vikings here plotted a route into the west and the lands they revealed were much
11:22much more than just a day sail away from Shetland and continuing north and west to Iceland
11:41having braved the wild seas the Vikings reached here in the late 9th century
11:48I've been digging in this bank for a very good reason because I was told that if I went deep enough I
12:04would find a very important significant layer now if you look down in here first of all ignore that very
12:11obvious thick grey band down into that deep section do you see the quite narrow band of sandy coloured material in amongst much darker stuff
12:24now that believe it or not is debris from a volcanic eruption dated to 872 AD
12:30now no evidence of human habitation has been found below that layer meaning there was no one here before 872
12:39above that layer after that date you start to get evidence of Viking settlement and that's how we know when they arrived
12:49Iceland was some way north of the Viking homelands and although the Norwegians here were well used to surviving long dark cold winters this place was in a league of its own
13:07the very first settlements here were on the coast where there was easy prey in the water
13:17fish walrus seals even whales today just outside Reykjavik there's a Viking themed restaurant that recreates the delights of a unique diet
13:37I remember it when I was five six years old my father told me you will get strong if you eat it and he tell me keep telling me that
13:48the local Viking speciality rotten shark and you say rotten do you mean rotten what is actually rotten they cut the best pieces of the shark and put it in a box and they put the box into the sand and let it be lying there for a couple of weeks
14:06you just eat it slowly just be let it be in your mouth for a long time enjoy that the taste okay it's a formidable scent
14:17that is amazing whoa it's like it's like a blue cheese but a hundred times more
14:35wow give him snuffs fortunately there was something on hand to take the taste away
14:42that is black death black death and rotten shark right can't remember the last time I had those two together
14:48that's amazing I like that
15:03natural maritime resources led to successful coastal settlements
15:08but as the population grew on Iceland new settlers had to forge lives elsewhere building farmsteads inland
15:22I'm standing inside the ruins of a buyer for keeping livestock these upright stones marked the individual stalls
15:30there'd maybe be seven or eight animals on this side and the same again on the other so maybe 14 16 head of cattle
15:37and maybe sheep in other parts of the island they would have had pigs and goats
15:43they would have brought up seaweed from the coast to feed the animals and the animals would also have grazed
15:49or whatever naturally occurring grasses were all around
15:56the introduction of domestic animals to Iceland brought a whole new diet
16:01but not necessarily a better one
16:04that is what they put in the air and let it be just
16:10they put it in the air where the wind was blowing the rain was coming in
16:14so it's not been cooked?
16:15not been cooked at all
16:16it smells awful but it is okay to eat
16:19if you eat this then
16:21is this a challenge?
16:22then I think that you were born in Iceland
16:24and have been a viking in the past
16:27there's something almost there's something almost like the erm
16:34well to be honest flowers or fruit that has turned
16:38yeah
16:39and gone bad
16:41to survive the winter the vikings preserved every single body part
16:46nothing went to waste
16:48these would be the first testicles I've ever had in my mouth
16:52really?
16:53as far as I remember
16:54okay
16:55that's a challenging flavour
17:00that is a taste sensation
17:06blood pudding
17:09sheep's brain
17:11even the head were all consumed
17:14that is my favourite
17:16let's try that
17:18but that is the tongue
17:21and that is the best muscle of the whole lamb
17:25that comes from the meat
17:27what they try in the wind
17:28you like it?
17:31that's lovely yeah
17:32yeah
17:33it's very soft
17:34yeah
17:35yeah
17:36I'm always saying to my kids that you've got to try things
17:43er
17:44and that don't
17:45don't tell me you don't like it till you've tried it
17:48so I felt on that basis I had to really give these things a go
17:52I could easily understand why someone like Johannes who's actually got a connection to this stuff
17:59why you become addicted to it and every now and again you would want to remind yourself about the past
18:07and you get it from something as strong
18:10you know the past is strong here
18:12you can smell it and you can taste it
18:14I get that
18:16if unreliable summers and freezing winters weren't bad enough
18:22the Viking settlers had to contend with another even deadlier threat
18:29not from the skies
18:33but from deep beneath the earth
18:39Iceland is a volcanic island and that carries its own risks
18:43scattered all across here is this material which is pumice, volcanic rock
18:49now that has come originally from Mount Hekla
18:52you can see the white summit just nosing above the horizon
18:56Hekla erupted famously in 1104
18:59it was a catastrophic event
19:01it scattered ash and debris over half the island
19:05this farm and many others like it had to be abandoned
19:14Viking farmers were tough folk though
19:16and undaunted by the occasional volcanic eruption
19:19the early Icelandic communities thrived
19:27and amazingly they decided that even this very challenging land
19:31wasn't an end to their endeavours
19:35not when there was still a whole lot more ocean to be explored
19:39and in 1000 AD
19:43the unforgettably named Eric the Red
19:45led a fleet of 25 ships out into the North Atlantic
19:48in hopes of founding a new colony
19:53they had reliable ships
19:54they were renowned sailors
19:56but even so
19:57there are references to countless people washed overboard
20:00ships driven onto rocks
20:02plain old lost at sea
20:04Erich the Red's expedition colonised what we now know as Greenland
20:11but the Viking explorers still weren't done
20:17evidence of Viking camps has been found as far west as Newfoundland
20:23and it's thought they even sailed down the eastern seaboard of America
20:29the distance
20:34from Norway to Newfoundland
20:36is 4,500 miles
20:38and we're talking about a time
20:40when that land mass
20:42was beyond the knowledge
20:43far less the reach
20:44of any other Europeans
20:46what those Vikings did
20:48then
20:49was simply staggering
20:51no permanent colonies were ever established in North America
20:57and eventually
20:58the harsh extremes of Greenland
21:00also proved too much
21:09but on Iceland
21:10despite all the hazards
21:12the Vikings went on to build a whole new society
21:15and without a king in charge
21:20they had to find a whole new way to govern
21:24the first settlement of the island was essentially lawless
21:29but after two generations
21:31thirty-six of the leading farmers came together
21:34and formed an assembly to govern Iceland
21:36it was called the Althingi
21:38it was founded in 930 AD
21:41and it met once a year for two weeks
21:43to make laws
21:45to judge disputes
21:46and to appoint a law speaker
21:48whose responsibility it was to remember
21:50and recite the law
21:52but this being Iceland
21:58a special location was chosen for the assembly
22:02and it's here
22:04where two of planet Earth's tectonic plates divide
22:07so the Althingi straddled
22:10straddled the old world of Europe in the east
22:13and the new world of the west
22:15and it seems strangely apt
22:17that those first Icelanders
22:19chose this place
22:21to form a new kind of government
22:26that government met on this site
22:28for the next 800 years
22:30well into the modern era
22:32but what's incredible to me
22:39is that the thirty-six men who met here
22:41over a thousand years ago
22:43unknowingly gave birth
22:45to the oldest extant democracy
22:47in the whole world
22:48leaving Iceland and its proto-republicans behind
23:00and returning south to Scandinavia
23:03and a Viking site close to Denmark's capital
23:07because while the Norwegians were busy
23:12creating colonies in the North Atlantic
23:14back in the old world
23:17things were also changing
23:23in the middle of the 10th century
23:25the Danes were being ruled by a new dynasty
23:28that was forging the beginnings of a nation-state
23:31the new royal house was the Yelling dynasty
23:38and theirs is the most visible legacy of the Viking Age
23:41because towards the end of the 10th century
23:43they built an enormous amount of infrastructure
23:46towns were fortified
23:48a huge earthen rampart was built
23:50across the neck of the Jutland Peninsula
23:52to protect against invaders from Germany
23:55they also built numerous bridges and roads
23:58as well as these huge fortresses
24:10this fortress is at Trelleborg
24:12around 60 miles west of Copenhagen
24:15it's an impressive symbol of royal power
24:20all of the fortresses are built on the same ground plan
24:26perfectly circular earthen bank
24:29each top with a timber palisade
24:32adding an additional eight meters in height
24:35there are four entrances
24:37and then the interior
24:39there were 16 buildings in there
24:41four in each of the quadrants
24:43and in each case laid out in a square
24:45but you don't have to try too hard to imagine
24:47what those buildings looked like
24:48because there's a perfectly good reconstruction
24:50just over there
24:51it's thought each of these fortresses housed around 500 trained warriors and their families
25:04this was centralized power
25:07and it represented a watershed in Viking history
25:10these fortresses were much more than just defensive positions
25:15they were very visible statements of wealth and power and centralized control
25:24the power was Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark
25:28and he exercised total control over the people, the land and its resources
25:33and his legacy was much more than constructions like this
25:37he changed his country forever
25:39and he did that by converting his people to the modern religion called Christianity
25:50since the end of the Roman Empire
25:53Christianity had dominated religious life right across mainland Europe
26:00Scandinavia was the last outpost of the old pagan ways
26:04but not for long
26:09at one of Denmark's oldest towns, Ribe
26:12archaeologists are making some startling discoveries
26:18graves of some of Scandinavia's very first Christians
26:24I spent most of my years digging on prehistoric sites
26:28it's genuinely remarkable for me to see such obvious remains in the ground
26:36you can see the clear outlines of the graves
26:39you can even see the remains of the coffins
26:42what is it about the skeletons that says these are Christians?
26:47they are all east-west burials
26:52with the skull in the west end facing east
26:57as the Christian doctrine says
27:00you should face the up-going sun on the judgment day
27:05so when the trumpet sounds and Jesus comes back
27:08and you rise from the grave
27:10they should be facing east
27:11in the directions coming from
27:14the oldest ones are carbon dated to around 850
27:18that is actually some of the oldest Christian graves in Scandinavia
27:23so right early on in the Viking Age
27:26you've got Christian Viking burials here
27:30so in terms of official Danish history that children learn at school
27:36these finds here change that quite significantly
27:40we actually now have a
27:43we have a prolonged christening period
27:46much longer than the first thought
27:48meaning that pagans and Christians lived alongside each other
27:53maybe for 200 years until Christianity completed took over
28:04the Vikings here were some of the very first to adopt the new religion
28:07but it appears that these first Viking Christians still hung on to the traditional maritime burial rites
28:17and then we have all these rivets set alongside the coffin edges
28:24they're big as well, they're big pieces of metal
28:26yeah, we hope to find out if this is a part of a boat
28:30so you might have within a Christian burial the suggestion of a boat burial
28:34or being buried with part of a boat
28:37yes, of course, being Christian in these early stages didn't mean that you should abandon all your old practices
28:45so they would maybe still be paying homage to thaw and Oding
28:54but when it suited they would just pray to Jesus
28:58it's just amazing to think that these people weren't just Vikings
29:02and the product of the Viking tradition
29:04but they were Christian at the same time
29:06excavating these graves is like turning a bright light onto a few pages of history
29:18they illuminate the moment when the Vikings are no longer just part of their own private Scandinavian world
29:26they're becoming part of a much bigger picture
29:29they're joining something more modern, more European
29:32and the catalyst for that is Christianity
29:36all over Scandinavia
29:39Vikings began to turn to the new God
29:42and their conversion would signal the beginning of the end of the Viking Age
29:47this religious revolution was endorsed around 970
30:00when Denmark's king Harald Bluetoo
30:03made Christianity his country's official religion
30:09from here on in
30:11all Danes were expected to worship Christ
30:13and to celebrate the moment
30:17Harald Bluetooth installed a huge stone monument
30:20today it's one of Denmark's most precious national treasures
30:27because all the tourists have gone
30:32have been allowed inside for some privileged access
30:34the stone once upon a time was brightly painted red white and blue as it happens
30:45but a thousand years of weathering and winter have faded it
30:51so that it's very indistinct now
30:53now I'll grant you it's almost impossible to make it out
30:57but what you are in fact looking at
30:58is this image here
31:01it's Jesus Christ
31:03emerging from within a thorn bush
31:06and it's interpreted as a representation of Christianity itself
31:11disentangling itself
31:14from amongst the thorns of the old pagan beliefs
31:18this is actually the first page of a modern Danish passport
31:22so that this image is alive and relevant for Danes even today
31:27the story goes that before his conversion King Harald witnessed a divine miracle
31:39a moment commemorated in some early Christian art
31:45here on these gilded plates set into the altar
31:51in this one
31:53you can see a priest performing a miracle
31:56he can extend his hand into the fire
31:59and then withdraw it
32:01apparently unhurt
32:03although he does seem to be wearing a giant oven glove
32:06then in this one
32:08we have Harald himself
32:10a fine figure of a man
32:11being baptised
32:13while standing up to his waist
32:15in a barrel
32:17this is all very nice
32:19but you can see it
32:21as PR spin
32:23stories to please the masses
32:25because Harald's conversion to Christianity
32:27more than anything else
32:29was a calculated political move
32:35Christianity wasn't just a belief
32:37it was a social and political institution
32:39that dominated every other kingdom in Europe
32:43and Harald Bluetooth knew that joining the club
32:46would give him protection from aggressive neighbours
32:52because no other Christian ruler could now claim a legitimate right to attack him
32:59The land to the south of Denmark was ruled by Otto the Great, Duke of Saxony
33:00King of Germany and Italy and Holy Roman Emperor
33:11and he wanted to add Denmark to his list of territorial acquisitions
33:17but Harald's conversion made that impossible
33:20because now the Danes, like everyone else, were protected by the one true God
33:24and that wasn't all
33:27Christianity also helped Harald to rule as a king
33:31and all because of this
33:33the Bible
33:35Christianity gave kings a divine right to rule under a single God
33:42the days when a brave warrior might rise to fight alongside the old gods
33:46through epic earthly adventures
33:49was over
33:51for those being ruled
33:54Christianity would change their lives forever
33:57because conversion to the one true God
34:00struck at the very heart of all that it had meant to be a Viking
34:03Seeing the benefits of Harald's conversion
34:09other Viking rulers started to follow suit
34:13within just a hundred years
34:16most of Scandinavia was officially Christian
34:21and as their ancient pagan roots were left behind
34:25the modern nation states of Denmark, Norway and Sweden
34:30were being born
34:31Christianity was central to that modern world
34:37the king was Christian
34:39the trading partners all across Europe were Christian
34:42Christianity also dictated that the old pagan beliefs were to be stamped out
34:47not just in Denmark but all across the Viking world
34:50in Norway edicts were issued
34:53banning the performance of spells to awaken trolls
34:57strict no-no
34:58the old pagan gods
34:59the old pagan gods had been like friends
35:01provided you made your sacrifices then you felt entitled to help
35:02from Odin and Tor
35:03but the new Christian god wasn't like that
35:05there was also a raft of new laws
35:07meat could only be eaten on certain days
35:10rules for married life even dictated when you could
35:14and couldn't have sex
35:15the old pagan gods had been like friends
35:16provided you made your sacrifices then you felt entitled to help from Odin and Tor
35:30but the new Christian god wasn't like that
35:33he was more of a judge
35:35if you misbehaved he was the injured party
35:37and you'd be made to suffer in the next life
35:40so instead of the promise of Valhalla
35:43now Vikings learned to live in fear of eternal damnation
35:47the whole focus of Viking life was shifting
35:51away from the here and now
35:53the adventure the heroic deed
35:56the reputation
35:58instead it became about hoping for life after death
36:01and there's something about that
36:03that feels a little bit sad
36:07the wild north
36:10that had been the backdrop for the entire Viking world
36:13was leaving its mysterious and ancient past behind
36:17and emerging into a much more European age
36:21it was all very well
36:26becoming Christian
36:27and exercising royal power
36:30but to effectively run a state
36:33you also needed an efficient administration
36:36and effective taxis as well
36:42and the masters of that
36:44operated just across the North Sea
36:47the Anglo-Saxons
36:52now I'm heading for England
36:54because for the 9th century Danes
36:58this country was more important than ever
37:01as an easy source of cash
37:09England had been Christian for centuries
37:12and she was also streets ahead of her Viking counterparts
37:15when it came to commerce
37:17Hiya!
37:19Hi, how are you doing?
37:20Not bad, can I have four of these?
37:21Brabant please
37:22Well done sir, thank you
37:26Manufacturers and farmers
37:28ensured a steady flow of goods
37:31and currency
37:35Thank you sir, 132
37:37Thank you
37:39Relatively speaking, this was a rich trading nation
37:42there was also a huge army of bureaucrats
37:45administrators
37:47to look after the land
37:49to dispense the justice
37:51and to collect the tax
37:53Thanks sir, that's £5
37:55Lovely, thank you
37:57OK
37:59to put it mildly, she was rich
38:01and well organised
38:02for nearly a hundred years
38:10between 866 and 954 AD
38:13Denmark had had a piece of the action
38:16controlling the Kingdom of York
38:18from the Danish city of Jorvik
38:23Now though, York was back under Anglo-Saxon control
38:27so Harald Bluetooth's descendants
38:29had to resort to some very old-fashioned Viking tactics
38:37Not that that just meant more raiding
38:39for slaves or monastic treasure
38:41by the late 10th century
38:44the Vikings had a new scheme
38:46to issue threats
38:48and demand tribute payments
38:50in cold, hard cash
38:52England had the most well organised and efficient currency anywhere in Western Europe at this time
39:04they had up to 70 mints active at any one time
39:09from York down to Exeter and Canterbury
39:11and each of them would be making silver pennies
39:14much like this one
39:16So they're all solid silver, that's this unifying feature of them
39:19they've all got the same worth
39:21Precisely, yes
39:24England had a sophisticated coinage system
39:27and well organised tax collection
39:30Denmark had neither
39:32But King Harald's son and successor, Svein Forkbeer
39:37didn't see the need for improvement
39:39Not when you had neighbours who did it so well for you
39:44Svein might have been baptised, but his veins ran with Viking blood
39:58and when he came to the throne
40:00he crewed up the Danish longships once more
40:03and set sail for England
40:04So it's from around the 980s that the Vikings begin to go and attack and extract money from England again
40:14and we see the English coins begin to flow into Scandinavia in massive quantity
40:19How much money are the Vikings taking out of the country?
40:23A very great deal, we know from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
40:26that more than £200,000 was paid to them overall between 991 and 1018
40:30Are the English producing coins precisely because they know the Vikings are coming and will want paying?
40:40Well the most vivid example we have of this is this coin here
40:44With all of these other types you have the bust of the King and a cross
40:48but in this case you don't
40:50You have the Lamb of God and you have the Holy Dove
40:52This coinage is all about an invocation to God trying to get him to send the Vikings away and bring the English to safety
41:01But invoking God on their coins didn't help
41:06The more they paid the Vikings off, like any blackmailer, the more they came back with new demands
41:12Realising that England was being bled dry, the English King decided to hit back
41:25Now, the English King, Ethelred
41:28We generally know him as Ethelred the Unready
41:31And he was given that nickname, Unready, for a very good reason
41:34In Old English, Unready means ill-advised
41:38And the policy of continually buying off the Vikings was a pretty poor plan
41:43In 1002, he made a ruthless decision
41:46And ordered that all Danish men in England were to be killed
41:51What happened next is known as the St Bryce's Day Massacre
41:55By the 11th century, England was home to thousands of born and bred ethnic Danes
42:07Whose families had lived in England for generations
42:12But they dressed differently and they stood out in society
42:20Now, every one of them was a target for revenge
42:26These are the skeletons of three men
42:29They were excavated in Oxford
42:32During work in advance of a building project
42:35There's three here on display
42:37But 38 skeletons were found together
42:41And there's far too many to display here and now
42:44So the rest are in their carefully numbered and catalogued cardboard boxes
42:48All men, all, as far as we can tell
42:52Aged between 16 and 25, certainly none of them older than 40
42:58But what is particularly amazing about them
43:02Is that they're all the victims of violent death
43:05I almost don't know where to start
43:07This individual here, you can tell that he's a big robust character
43:10But all that, he's been felled initially by a blow to the back of the legs
43:17Like a sword swung at him from behind
43:20And it's cut through the muscles, the flesh, the tendons
43:23And finally through the bones themselves
43:24So he's been felled like a big tree
43:27But that's not the end of it for this guy
43:29On this side of the pelvis, do you see that hole?
43:33That puncture wound
43:35That's where the point of whatever it was, spear or sword went in
43:40And out the other side
43:42Huge damage to the skull
43:44Something like a sword or something sharp and heavy
43:46Has caused this massive slicing blow
43:48It's opened his head up like an egg
43:51There are cut marks on the ribs
43:55Too much has been done here
43:57Any one of these wounds would kill the person
43:59This is crazy violence
44:01These are not the kinds of injuries that are inflicted upon people
44:05Who are standing up and fighting
44:07All of these men, the three here
44:10And the rest in the boxes
44:12Were killed, butchered
44:14While they were running away
44:18A particularly grim piece of evidence
44:23Suggests that all these men were victims of Ethelred's massacre in 1002
44:31If you look at this one
44:33You see this burning on the forehead, on the front of the skull
44:36And then there's more burning here
44:38On the right hand
44:40He's been in a fire somewhere
44:43After death
44:45And some of the other bodies show evidence of burning as well
44:48An account of the killings from Oxford
44:53Where these skeletons were found
44:55Records that a group of Danes sought sanctuary in a church
44:59To no avail
45:01The local Anglo-Saxons simply burnt it to the ground
45:06With everyone inside
45:09So it's possible, just possible
45:12That this and they were some of those
45:14Who sought refuge in a church
45:17A thousand years ago
45:19For all the good it did them
45:23King Ethelred's desperate action though, was a failure
45:26The Viking raids continued unabated
45:29And soon, England was on its knees
45:33For the Danish king, it was the chance of a lifetime
45:37In 1013, Svein Forkbeard launched a full scale invasion of England
45:46And it worked
45:48The English king, Ethelred the Unready
45:50Simply ran away, abandoning the English crown to the Dane
45:53But it turned out to be a very short reign
45:55Five weeks later, Forkbeard was dead
45:59But by his side was his young son, called Canute
46:04Now there's a name we're all familiar with
46:07Canute was grandson of Harald Bluetooth and son of Forkbeard
46:10A continuation of the Yelling Royal dynasty
46:13Canute was grandson of Harald Bluetooth and son of Forkbeard
46:18A continuation of the Yelling Royal dynasty
46:22Canute returned to Denmark
46:27But he kept his eye firmly on the English crown
46:31Just two years later he was back
46:36With 200 ships and 10,000 men
46:38And after some bloody fighting
46:42He became king
46:44Of all England
46:50Everyone knows the story about King Canute and the sea
46:53How he ordered that his throne be taken down onto the beach
46:56And then he sat there and as the tide came in
46:58He told the waves to turn back
47:01And of course they didn't
47:03And his feet got wet and he ended up looking a bit foolish
47:05A bit arrogant
47:06But that wasn't what he intended at all
47:10What happened that day was a pure PR stunt
47:14His subjects, his followers, were supposed to see
47:17That he was just a man
47:19And that only God had the power to control the sun and the moon
47:23And the tides
47:25In conquering England with an axe
47:27Canute had shown his Viking roots
47:30But he was also determined to prove he was a devout Christian king
47:34Combining both powerful traditions
47:37Combining both powerful traditions
47:39He would go on to become ruler of an empire
47:41A member of the European royal elite
47:45And when he died his tomb was no Viking longship beneath a grassy mound
47:55Instead it was a cathedral
47:56So that nowadays we hardly think of him as a Viking at all
48:02Originally founded by the Anglo-Saxons over a thousand years ago
48:08Winchester Cathedral houses tombs of the great and the good
48:10Centuries of England's most worthy
48:14In medieval England a more celebrated, a more Christian location for your mortal remains
48:17Could hardly be wished for
48:18So for a king who was born Viking, whose heritage was pagan and who was viewed as a brutal conqueror of England
48:25You might think this is an unlikely final resting place
48:29But the truth is, by Canute's death in 1035
48:32He was known as Canute the Great
48:46Canute's invasion of England could be viewed as the ultimate Viking expedition
48:50A rite of passage for a true hero of the sagas
49:05Though tradition had it that after your adventures, you were meant to return home
49:12For most Vikings, that meant farming a plot of land at the end of a fjord
49:20But Canute was king
49:22And his bones are inside that box up there
49:26Or possibly that one
49:29Or that one
49:31Any of these
49:33The truth is, we don't actually know where his mortal remains really are
49:37Because during the English Civil War, around 600 years after his death
49:42Parliamentarian round-head soldiers used the bones inside these reliquaries
49:47To smash out what they regarded as the frankly idolatrous stained glass window above the cathedral entrance
49:54A bunch of killjoys
50:02Soon after, the good people of Winchester collected up the glass and rebuilt the window
50:08Although the colourful patchwork ended up more modernist than medieval
50:17The bones used to smash the windows were collected up too
50:21And returned to the reliquaries
50:23But like the window, in a slightly random way
50:28So although we don't know where his bones actually are, we hope and suspect he's up there somewhere
50:34Or somewhere
50:44Canute's ambition had extended beyond ruling England
50:47He was soon king of the Scottish Islands, Denmark, Norway and parts of Sweden too
50:54He'd created a Viking Empire
50:58From England, I'd come south to Austria, right in the heart of Europe
51:12Because Canute wasn't just a northern ruler, but an early European statesman
51:17Canute was smart, he knew that more trade across Europe meant more taxes to fill his coffers
51:28So he set about standardising the whole European economy
51:33Now, you might think of the Euro as a modern concept, but it's not really
51:42And in the 11th century, it was neither France nor Germany that was the centre for monetary union
51:48It was England
51:49First of all, Canute standardised Scandinavian and English coins so that there was a common currency
51:59And then it appears that right across his empire, the ounce, the weight that was used for measuring gold and silver
52:07Was altered to match up with the ounce of Byzantium, of the Byzantine Empire
52:11And that was at a time when Constantinople was not only the largest but also the wealthiest city on earth
52:19Canute was carefully integrating his empire into a medieval single European market
52:30Canute the Great was a player on the world stage
52:34And here in Vienna, there's an incredible object that shows us how influential he was
52:39And how far he had come from his Viking roots
52:46A decade after becoming king, Canute attended the coronation of the man who ruled most of Central Europe
52:52The Holy Roman Emperor
52:59And this glorious object is what he was crowned with
53:03It's called the Reichskrona
53:05The Imperial Crown
53:06And back in 1027
53:09Watching this being placed on the Emperor's head was the hot ticket of the season
53:25It's decorated with 144 emeralds, sapphires and amethysts
53:31Back then
53:34The technique of cutting facets into precious stones was unknown
53:38Instead they were polished into these smooth shapes
53:44They look a bit like boiled sweets to be honest
53:47Although a lot more expensive
53:49And they're then mounted
53:50To let light shine through them
53:53The final touch are the four picture plates
53:57Which depict messages from the Old Testament
54:00And most important, most tellingly for our story
54:01Is this one on the corner
54:03It shows Jesus Christ enthroned as the Lord of Hosts
54:06And above his head, in red enamel
54:07Are the words in Latin
54:08Per mi regis regnant
54:11By me kings rule
54:13And this idea
54:14And this idea
54:16This concept of divinely ordained
54:19Kingship
54:20Was something canute
54:21Was very influential
54:22And this idea
54:23This concept of divinely ordained kingship
54:25Was something canute
54:26Was very enthusiastic about
54:29When the Holy Romanism
54:31And the Holy Romanism
54:32Was around the world
54:33Of Jesus Christ
54:34Which is the Lord of Hosts
54:35And that's what he called
54:36And this idea
54:37And this idea
54:38This concept of divinely ordained kingship
54:40Was something canute
54:42Was very enthusiastic about
54:44The concept of divinely ordained kingship was something Canute was very enthusiastic about.
54:54When the Holy Roman Emperor was crowned,
54:57Canute the Great walked as part of the imperial procession.
55:04And afterwards, the Emperor even arranged for his own son to marry Canute's daughter
55:09to cement a powerful political alliance.
55:14Canute's attendance at that coronation showed that he was a major European player.
55:20He had arrived and he clearly believed that he was the equal of the Holy Roman Emperor
55:26because when he got home, he had one of these made for himself.
55:36Canute's reign lasted less than two decades,
55:39but in that time he had utterly changed his Scandinavian world.
55:45He had been born a Viking, but he died a European.
55:53Canute himself had left four children and his empire was divided.
55:59Norway, Denmark and Sweden soon found their own new rulers.
56:03It was the end for the Great Yelling dynasty.
56:20And with it, the entire Viking Age.
56:22But by then, Scandinavia was no longer a remote, pagan backwater.
56:31The violent, plundering men from the north had become colonisers,
56:36Christians, nation and empire builders.
56:39It had been an incendiary time in European history, but it had burnt itself out.
56:51Nonetheless, the impact of the Vikings on modern Europe is inescapable.
56:56The politics, the economics, the national and religious identities were forged, at least in part, by their exploits.
57:06The Vikings had raided and pillaged coastlines across northern Europe.
57:16But set out on journeys beyond the knowledge of any other Europeans.
57:20Colonised uninhabited lands.
57:25And traded goods from the distant empires of the Far East.
57:31In little more than two centuries, the Vikings had expanded the Western world.
57:37Voyaging from Newfoundland in the west to Constantinople in the east.
57:46A world far, far bigger than even they could have imagined possible.
57:53And they're still with us today in our towns and cities.
57:58In our culture, in our language and in our blood.
58:01And in the very existence of the modern nation states of Northern Europe.
58:08But that's not what we remember, or why.
58:12The truth is, the myth and the legend of them.
58:16The excitement and the adventure is all there in the sound of one word.
58:21Vikings.
58:23A struggle to survive for different reasons this Thursday on BBC HD.
58:30We're back on the wartime farm at eight.
58:33Tonight, though, a new series from Jules Holland and his many starry friends.
58:37Stay with us.
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