Vikings!
The ‘Viking Age’ in Britain lasted from around 800 AD up until the Norman Conquest of 1066, and had a lasting impact on the islands’ culture and history. In this activity, you will explore Viking rule in Britain, and be introduced to Norse religion and clothing through looking at a variety of artefacts from the period.
This session can be used on its own, supported by our Vikings loan box or a taught session delivered by our team either at the Museum or your chosen venue
Session Aims:
-
To understand the motivations and chronology of Viking raids on Britain.
-
To learn about Viking religion and how this was shown in culture and dress.
-
To study Viking clothes and jewellery and learn about the materials used to make them.
Who were the Vikings?
‘Viking’ is the word used to describe the people who lived in Scandinavia from the 700s to the 1000s AD, who sailed to many other countries in Europe to live there, including Britain. Scandinavia is a group of countries in northern Europe, which include Sweden, Norway, and Denmark; the area shown by the red circle on the map
The Vikings spoke a language called Old Norse, which was used in Scandinavia up until about 1300 AD. Their alphabet had letters called ‘runes’ that look very different to the alphabet that we use today, but can you spot any similarities too between some Norse letters and English letters?