Barbarians - The Vikings (History Channel Documentary)

From the eighth to the eleventh centuries, the Vikings set out from northern Europe and left a lasting imprint on European trade, exploration, and social geography. Barbarians: The Vikings explores their impact as warriors, explorers, traders, and settlers. It highlights the careers of Viking leaders such as Leif Eriksson and Harald Hardrada and describes Vikings' establishment of the first European settlement in the North America. This Video is part of the Barbarians mini-series from The History Channel which tells the story of the most barbaric tribes of the early and late Middle Ages. Two series have currently been produced, each consisting of four episodes. This program tells about what the groups did, who they conquered, and how they fell.
Barbarians - The Vikings (History Channel Documentary)

[waves crashing]

Narrator speaking: Twelve hundred years ago, the Vikings explode out of the cold North Sea, like beasts unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.

They come from a land of deep water fjords, hard scrabble farms, and bitter clan rivalries.

Today, it is called Scandinavia.

They leave behind legends of their violence and courage, sagas of exploration conquests,

and something even more remarkable, buried beneath the earth of their Scandinavian homeland.

The year is 1880. The place is Norway.

Norwegian archeologists make an extraordinary discovery, opening a window to the past and revealing for the first time how the Vikings truly lived and died.

William Fitzhugh speaking: It was amazing. It transformed Vikings from a marauding culture of the North with supposedly horned helmets and swords descending on Europe

into a people who had a civilization as complex and artistic as any in Europe at the time.

Narrator speaking: One object unearthed at a number of burial sites across Scandanavia reveals more about the Viking Norse people than any other find.

It's a ship, a grave ship, buried as a tomb and filled with the goods its owner would need in his voyage to the afterlife.

Cecelia Holland speaking: The only way to get from place to place was by boat, and they developed wonderful boats. When they first started excavating,

they didn't believe that they actually sailed in these wonderful ships. They were wonderfully seaworthy, very handle-able,

and could, of course, they only drilled about three inches or something, and could go up rivers.

James Reston speaking: One of the wonderful things that the Vikings did often times with their great personages was to bury them in their ships with all the implements

because they felt that they were then going into death, on a journey.

All the implements that one might need for life into eternity was put on a ship and then buried. And so it's all very well preserved.

[music]

Narrator speaking: Who were these mysterious barbarians with their elaborate burials? What drove them to become the bane of the Dark Ages?

It is the late 700s in the uplands of Norway.

DeVries speaking: We do have some indications of what life was like before the Vikings took to the sea and began their raids.

They tend to be a sedentary, agriculturally-oriented people, uhh, who were pretty much organized around villages or their clans of some sort.

Probably family-oriented - although we are not exactly sure about that - but they tended to have chiefs, who ruled these little groups and sometimes had war in between them.

But the Viking life was very much one of survival. The climate was colder than what would have been in the rest of Europe. The weather could be brutal at times.

It was probably difficult to stay alive, and that's the important point to make.

Narrator speaking: At the dawn of the Viking age, the family farm is the basic economic unit of Norse life.

As farmers and herdsmen, they plant grains and vegetables during the short growing seasons, and they rely heavily on livestock.

Peace in the northland is coming to an end. The expanding Viking population is increasing the demand for fertile farmland. Tensions boil over.

Inevitably, violence flares between the Viking clans, as the stronger attack the weak. The raiders fall on the farmers with axes and swords and brutal violence.

A land feud erupts with utter lawlessness.

[screaming]

Holland speaking: Basically, a king was a man who had a big farm, and he had his launders, his farmers and his slaves.

And whenever he felt like going and attacking somebody else, he just got all his guys together and went off and attacked them.

The Vikings would run into the village, grab everything they could, and take off again. It's not terribly sophisticated but very effective.

Narrator speaking: With land and wealth in short supply in the northland, some Vikings set aside their differences and prepared to seek their fortunes elsewhere.

The hands and tools that once shaped the crossbeams of barns are now put to another task. Along the shores of the northern inlets, something is taking shape,

something that will change the lives of these people: a Viking longship.

These extraordinary vessels, revolutionary in design, steer history on a new course, and launch an onslaught that will dominate Europe and beyond for the next three centuries.

[music and tool sounds]

In the longhsip, Vikings draw on ages of boat-building techniques and seafaring skills.

DeVries speaking: There would have been no Vikings without the Viking ship. It is the evolution of that technology that allowed them to make such a mark on history.

In time, they learned boats that were seaworthy enough to travel the north Atlantic. This is what really gave the Viking their long reach.

You could put one of these boats together in maybe a month or six weeks, and the design was always the exactly the same.

They would make the boat as either broad as they needed for calm waters or as deep as they needed it for open oceans.

And if they wanted a boat to go up the rivers of Russia or in Europe, a raiding boat that might go into the heart of the continent,

they could make the same style or same construction technique but just a small version.

They were light enough to be carried up portages and they could be sailed, and that one of the important features because

the boats were swift like lightning, and there wasn't anything that could catch them.

It's no longer a coastal vessel, like many of the Mediterranean ones were. They would make the jump from Norway to Scotland, and from the Farro Islands, to Iceland, and from Iceland to Greenland.

over open waters that were far too dangerous for coastal vessels to ever take on, and the Vikings weren't frightened by this, and they had the technology to make it happen.

Narrator speaking: The result, a boat with low draft and high adaptability, a technological marvel for its day.

[tools clanging]

No single king or central government guides these people.

[flume blowing]

Each Norse village acts independently, each declares its own king. The Vikings band together on this bold mission, leaving women and children behind and taking to the seas.

They're after plunder, so they arm themselves accordingly.

Among the first victims of their raiding are the monks of Lindisfarne, along the coast of England in June 793, home to Saint Cuthbert's monastery.

Lindisfarne is one of the holiest places in the British Isles, rich with piety and with more tangible treasures.

Holland speaking: These monks, their bells are ringing and they are going to mass, and up out of the sea come these dragons.

And the Vikings came on them, just like a storm, and cut them and carried off everything, and uhm, burned the place.

[voices]

DeVries speaking: The monks were met by hell.

And they described it often as if the devils of hell were being unleashed on them.

The Vikings were warriors, there's no doubt, but they lived by intimidation, of fear and terrorism. They were raiders; they weren't soldiers.

Reston speaking: I think that they were extremely fierce and extremely greedy, and extremely skillful. I mean, we think of these people as being barbarians,

but in fact, I think the order of battle, the way in which they moved on a target in a very disciplined, military way.

DeVries speaking: The Viking warrior was a very simple war machine. It was a big, brawny Scandinavian, often dressed in a leather hide armor.

Each person was equipped with very simple tools: a knife, a sword, and a battle ax, and reportedly, it was the battle ax that was the fiercest of these weapons

because the Vikings had tremendous skill in throwing these axes to lop off people's heads or incapacitate them.

Narrator speaking: The monasteries among the coast particularly appeal to the Vikings because of their great accumulation of wealth and the passivity of the monks.

The Anglo-Saxon chronicle, begun in the late 800s, is the primary source of the history of England, from the 5th to 11th century.

It records the terror wrought by the Viking invaders. It reads, "The ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God's church on Lindisfarne with plunder and slaughter."

History marks this blasphemous attack on these monks and their treasures in 793 as a milestone, the first major Viking sea raid.

But Lindisfarne, and the other vulnerable monasteries along the coast of the British Isles are the only beginning.

As the 8th century draws to a close, the Viking raiders set their sights on larger prizes. The major cities of Europe are about to feel the power and the fury of these Norsemen and the deep bite of their steel.

Narrator speaking: The Vikings leave Scandinavia on a mission of plunder.

The 793 A.D. attack on Lindisfarne in Northern England sparks an inferno of Viking barbarism that threatens to consume all of Europe.

It's now the middle of the 9th century, only 50 years or so since Lindisfarne. Word of Europe's removable wealth has spread.

Norse families, villages, and whole communities band together to build longships. They plan to improve their station, at the expense of the unwitting people across the sea.

Reston speaking: All the Spaniards later when they came to America, they were looking for gold, but the Vikings were looking for silver.

And silver was a great thing to them, and a lot of the religious implements, crosses, the various things that one finds in a monastery, were made out of silver.

Narrator speaking: The Viking factions head out across the sea with no single ruler to unite them.

Their fleet swells sometimes to scores of ships.

Each fleet still acts independently, making the onslaught all the more difficult to stop.

As reputations of individual Viking leaders begin to grow, so too do their ambitions. Europe is theirs for the taking.

Kelly DeVries speaking: Europe is an odd continent, in that it is cris-crossed by rivers that are all navigatable.

Unlike North America or Africa or some of the others which only have a few very large rivers, Europe has many.

So almost any large body of water that the Vikings could take their vessels down - remember they're narrow and they're long and they don't take a lot of water.

Narrator speaking: One of the first major river attacks comes in 845 A.D. at the hands of a notorious Viking leader named Ragnar Adayne.

With a fleet of 120 ships, he seizes upon the legacy of Lindisfarne with a vengeance.

His highway to battle, the Seine.

His target: Paris.

Before they even get to the city, Ragnar's Vikings decimate the French advance forces on the banks of the Seine, marching their French captives to a hideous end.

Cecilia Holland speaking: They are basically terrorists, and they relied on the terror to ease the way quite a lot.

You know, they didn't want to do any more work than they had to, so to be as awful as possible.

There was a famous Viking, who was known as the Child Lover, because he would not throw babies into the air and spit them on his sword as they came down. These were not nice guys.

Narrator speaking: It is said that Ragnar's Vikings hanged 111 captured soldiers that day.

A local monk named Earmon Tarias describes the Viking onslaught and devastation that continues for decades, along the Seine and war rivers and beyond.

"The number of ships grows," he writes. "The endless stream of Vikings never ceases to increase."

"Everywhere, the Christians are the victims of massacres, burnings, plunderings. The Vikings conquer all in their path and nothing resists them."

When the large Viking fleet sails down the Seine River and proceeds on to Paris, this huge town that is well defended,

the King, the King of France, who is residing in Paris, chooses instead of facing them, and the possible destruction that could come from facing the Vikings,

actually decides to buy them off.

Narrator speaking: The King of France, Charles the Bald, pays Ragnar nearly six tons of silver and gold boullion, so the Raiders would leave and never come back.

It has the opposite effect.

As word spreads that such loot and tribute could be had, that land and goods are everywhere,

the pillaging of northern Europe and the continent continues with fervor.

Between 790 and 1100 A.D, Vikings follow every major river and water route into the heart of the continent.

For the Vikings, a new world awaits.

Norwegians write perhaps the most colorful chapter in Viking history, as fearless explorers, as they colonize Iceland, Greenland, and beyond.

With the colonization of Greenland comes the story of two legendary Norwegian Vikings, Erik the Red and his son, Leif Eiriksson.

In the late 900s, Erik leads an expedition here and becomes the first to settle this unforgiving land.

A fiery character, Erik is soon banished for three years from Iceland as well. He sails west and settles on the east coast of Greenland.

DeVries speaking: And so, he begins to advertise this land, and he can't very well say,

"By the way, we only have a little bit of coastline that is at all habitable." So he goes over and says,

"We've got Greenland. It's covered in green."

Some of them undoubtably come, see what it is really like, and go home, but a lot very strong and stalward and hardy Vikings stay, and they have a life that is very harsh.

The ground wasn't very tillable, but fishing was available, and other meat was available, but it was a harsh land.

Narrator speaking: During Erik the Red's leadership, a Norse agrarian society scratches a living in this distant land.

For government, the villagers convened on all things, a kind of public assembly or court of law, transplanted from their home lands.

Here, free men have the right to speak in their defense and on issues of community concern.

From this community of free men comes Erik the Red's son, Leif Eiriksson. Like his father, he yearns to explore.

In the year 1000, he sets sail.

DeVries speaking: Leif Eiriksson follows a rumor; another Viking before him has left an account that he was traveling to the west by, to go to the other colony in Greenland and gets blown off course.

And by the time that he has found his direction, he is off the coast of a very green and luscious land. Well, Greenland was not green nor was it luscious.

Narrator speaking: By following the rumors of an unknown land to the west, Leif Eiriksson discovers a new world.

Reston speaking: This is a fascinating thing and still a very controversial thing in a way. I personally believe that American was discovered by the Vikings in or about the year 1000.

Leif Eiriksson's village in Newfoundland has been carbon-dated, for example, precisely to the year 1000 A.D.

So we know that at least the Viking were in Newfoundland and probably farther to the south than that.

Narrator speaking: The Greenlanders' attempt to settle here fail. It is estimated that Newfoundland colony lasts only a decade, and yet,

500 years before Columbus would make his epic journey, Vikings link the Eastern and Western Hemisphere.

After wintering in Newfoundland, Leif Eiriksson returns to Greenland. He introduces something new to the island settlers.

With the same tools that built the longships, they build the rugged crosses of a new religion.

DeVries speaking: They decided that they would convert. Leif Eiriksson went to Norway, where the King asked him specifically to take Christianity to Greenland,

and Christianize Greenland colonies, which he dutifully did.

Narrator speaking: As Viking influence spreads, the wider world shapes the Vikings. Their leaders seek Christianity as a means to unite the Vikings.

And ultimately, to wield more control over them.

At the dawn of the 11th century, 200 years after the attack of Lindisfarne, the Norse people still have no single king and little sense of solidarity.

So it is Christianity that presents a reason to unite, but the Christian Vikings sometimes find resistance from their pagan tribesmen,

a resistance to give up their ancient gods.

Holland speaking: The kings began to go for Christianity because it helped them. It helped them consolidate power,

and they began to impose it on these people, and there was a lot of struggle. The people didn't like it.

They didn't want to give up their old ways. They were afraid of giving up their old ways.

DeVries speaking: There were some Christian missionaries that came on the island and went around and converted a few. There were a lot of skeptics,

and on one certain occasion, they decided that they were going to go into a test against the pagan deities and representative pagan deities,

which was known as a berserker, a man who was a little crazy, to put it nicely.

And so these Christian missionaries challenged them. "So we'll build a fire, and you pagans build a fire."

"If the berserker passes through your fire but can't pass through ours, then we know that Christianity has won."

"If he can't pass through yours, then we know that paganism has won." It's almost like an Old Testament duel.

Well, the story says, that the Viking berserker came in, passed easily over the fire that was made by the pagans, but could not penetrate the fire that was made by the Christians.

And thus everyone around saw that Christianity was the right religion and must join.

Narrator speaking: Back in Norway, the great catalyst for Viking unity will emerge in the destiny in one young Viking boy.

Harold Hardrada is the half brother of Norway's King Olaf and his heir apparent.

He is just 15 years old, fighting on the losing side of a Viking civil war.

But Harald will return. He will have his revenge, and he will write his own history in the blood of his enemies.

Narrator continues: The Vikings spread like a murderous plague across the face of Europe.

The first to fall are unarmed monasteries, but soon the invaders bring terror even deeper into the continent. Eventually, the Vikings turn upon themselves.

Norway is locked in civil war. In the year 1030, the Battle of Stiklestad pits forces loyal to current Danish ruler, Knute the Great, against Norwegian King Olaf.

From the ashes of the in-fighting that bloody Norway's soil and soul, a young warrior has risen:

Harald Hardrada, King Olaf's half brother and heir.

In the middle of the 11th century, as Harald grows to manhood, he will develop the ambition to led and unite Norway,

but first he must gain the power to do so.

Kelly DeVries speaking: Harald was an interesting character. He begins his Viking regime, if you will, when he was a young man.

At 16, he is wounded in battle that will eventually take his royal brother's life, and he forced to flee.

Narrator speaking: Harald Hardrada faces exile in the far away northern lands. He heads to Sweden, then eventually to Kiev, a thriving trading city in what is now the Ukraine.

In 1031, he follows the route of the Swedish Vikings, who establish trading centers during the previous two centuries to access exotic eastern goods.

The Swedes came as violent raiders, but stayed to become cosmopolitan traders.

Through trade, Kiev connects the Norse world with the wider world of the East, a point that is not lost on Harald.

Cecilia Holland speaking: When they find coin hordes of this period, the coins are from all over the world.

And they found, like, little statutes of Buddha in the ruins of Hedeby. These were the connections of these people.

They were far more important because of this than because of the bash and smash 'em stuff.

Narrator speaking: It is at this intersection of culture and trade, Harald realizes that, without a market for his plunder, his power is limited. It is a lesson he'll soon put to use.

Ceceiia Holland speaking: The Vikings had lived on trade for hundreds of years.

When you go out there and you trash a monastery and you grab a bunch of cups and some manuscripts, you are not going to take them home. What use are they to you?

You have to go someplace and swap them for what you really want.

Narrator speaking: But material goods make up only part of the trading. The Vikings are also dealers in human flesh.

As slave masters, they trade the men and women captured by their raiding parties.

Cecelia Holland speaking: Women died in those days at an appalling rate in childbirth, so you had to constant resupply with women, and they would seize the girls and carry them off,

and undoubtedly rape them, and then take them to slave pens and then sell them off.

Narrator speaking: But despite Kiev's economic lessons, Harald has not come this far only to seek his fortune in the marketplace.

The heart of a Viking beats strongly in him. He must also assume the mantle of a warrior and learn the skills that will make him a king.

By the year 1038, Harald has grown confident and hungry for plunder. He is now leader of an elite force of Viking mercenaries.

He battles insurrection on behalf of foreign rulers across the East, garnering wealth and power as he prepares to return to Norway and seize the crown.

In Sicily, Harald demonstrates his legendary resourcefulness.

Cecilia Holland: Harald's generalship is characterized not necessarily by great courage but by great slyness, and this is a major Viking virtue,

is rather than go and just bash people over the head; if you can be sneaky, you know, then they prefer that.

One of his tactics was: they came to a city, and they besieged the city, and he had his men capture the little birds that were flying in and out of the city,

and with pitch and string, they attached little burning twigs to the backs of the birds and let them go.

The birds flew back in to the city, to their nests in the thatch, and immediately started the city on fire, so they took the city.

Narrator speaking: In King Harald's saga, 13th Century Icelandic historian, Snorri Sturluson, writes of the plan's effectiveness in conquering Sicily.

"At that, all the people came out of the town, begging for mercy," he writes. "The very same people who had been shouting defiant insults at the army and its leader

for days on end. Harald spared all the lives all those who begged for quarter and took control of the town."

Narrator speaking: After nearly 15 years, the cunning Harald amasses the reputation and wealth he needs to at last lay rightful claim to his fractured native land.

[music playing]

Narrator speaking: In 1046, he heads back to Scandinavia, a famous mercenary with the riches and ambition of a king, but without the title.

As next in line for the throne of Norway, he is now ready to stake his bid.

Kelly DeVries speaking: Problem is, is his nephew's on the throne now, and so, in order to reclaim it, he has to do a little dealing. All right, what do we do?

He is a pretty politically astute individual, and so, of course, he makes a deal with his nephew that they can co-rule the throne.

That works. Nephew dies in a year. We don't have anything to suggest that Harald puts him to death, although there are certainly accusations that are thrown in his direction.

Harald doesn't deny them, and ultimately, Harald is now back in charge of Norway.

Narrator speaking: With Harald's claim to the throne complete, he moves to assure his power goes unchallenged.

In 1047, he sets out to obliterate his adversaries. In a brutal mixture of tactics and vengeance, Harald unleashes an unholy fury against all who oppose him.

[music playing]

In 1047 AD, after years gaining power, Harald Hardrada becomes King of Norway.

He rules the Vikings through sheer force. Harald's men are merciless as they lay waste to the farms and villages of those who oppose him.

Their message is simple: submit or die.

Across the country, Harald's enemies pay the ultimate price for their disloyalty.

In King Harald's saga, the king celebrates his insatiable cruelty in his own words.

"I kill without compunction and remember all my killings. Treason must be scotched by fair means or foul, before it overwhelms me."

"The oak trees of insurrection grow from the acorns of treachery."

Narrator speaking: With the insurrection crushed, a celebration is in order. King Harald's faithful supporters fill his longhouse for a lavish celebration.

Ceclia Holland speaking: If you had a lot of money, if you had lots of gold, you are a very big HE in the Vikings because you gave it away to people. This is how they accumulated their armies.

Well, you got feed these guys, and also you gotta lay gold on them because that is what they want. You have to be able to hand them a gold ring when they do something wonderful

or give a scald, a gold cup or something, so you have to have to huge amount of treasure, and if you have a huge amount of treasure,

then you become an important guy, which is the whole point of Harald and going through these palace plunders, which was where you accumulated a lot of gold.

The Viking Lord was a man who attracted men to him by power of personality, and he had to have a reputation for uhm, for victory,

for getting out there, taking you someplace, getting you a big victory, and not getting you killed. So, men accumulated at these halls, and they would have huge feasts,

and everybody got lots of gold, and everybody drank lots of mead, and then every once in a while, they'd all get together and take their swords and go off and kill somebody.

But for the most part, it was this Great Viking Hall-thing that was kind of the center of Viking life.

Narrator speaking: In the Great Hall, Viking political deals are cut, payoffs are handled, allegiances are forged, and power is wielded.

William Fitzhugh speaking: It was a very fluid system that allowed Vikings to take advantage of, you know, whatever the situation was and to move and reformulate.

And it could flip over in an instant; if a leader fell or was killed in battle or humiliated or something happened,

and somebody else would rise up immediately, often from a totally different direction.

Narrator speaking: With Kiev as his model, King Harald sets out to create a major trading center at a strategic seaside market town, where goods from all over the world will be available.

The town is Oslo, destined to be one of the region's great ports.

King Harald knows that is trade that will unite the Viking people and bring them the wealth and stability they desire.

The markets of Oslo brim with the trade goods of the Viking farms: wheat and vegetables, furs and fabrics.

VIking longboats bring back goods from all over the known world: spices, gold, textiles, precious stones, and slaves.

Pottery and glass from Germany are traded, silver jewelery from France, and coins from the faraway Arab lands.

The Viking people become shrewd merchants as Oslo grows and prospers. The ordinary life of this trading community is revealed in the goods interred with them,

golden grave weapons, jewelry, the ordinary wooden goods of the Vikings themselves.

But the development of a major trade center only whets Harald's appetite for greater riches and control.

DeVries speaking: Harald decides a bigger target is in order, and that target is England.

And he gets on a boat, a number of boats of course. He is joined by the rebellious brother of the King of England, and off Harald Harthrathy goes.

Narrator speaking: As he looks toward England and the future, Harald surely imagines his own empire, stretching as far as his longboats can take him.

The one-time refugee has gained astonishing power and political clout among his belligerent people.

He has already conquered the toughest of his own Viking enemies. His actions are met with little resistance.

England and all its wealth seem to be within easy reach of his iron grasp.

But awaiting Harald and his men is a tough and disciplined army and a struggle greater than any he has ever faced,

[Battle sounds]

a struggle that threatens to undo all that he has won.

[Battle sounds and music continue]

Narrator speaking: It is late September 1066 AD. A rider bears dark, urgent news for the city of York.

The Viking King, Harald Hardrada, is approaching. The English know well his reputation for brutality. Only swift action and great courage will stop him.

Harald's begun his conquest on the coast, and after winning a quick succession of violent conflicts, his victory here looks all but assured.

York seems prepared to surrender. Harald and a contingent of his troops head for Stamford Bridge, some seven miles from the city.

He's expecting York's leaders to pay homage and to present hostages as tribute.

In fact, Harald is so convinced that the north of England is already his, he has less than the full complement of his men with him, and they left behind their armor.

But the English are not so casual. Their king, Harold Godwinson, marches his soldiers in double time through the forests to cut off the Viking army.

The swordsmen wear mail, the archers are well armed. They are determined to stop the Viking invasion and save their city.

DeVries speaking: When the English army shows up, at least the sagas tell us, they are completely surprised,

as they see the armor shining in the sun of the mid-day, coming closer and closer to them. They don't know who it is. But as it gets closer and closer, they recognize who it is.

Narrator speaking: According to King Harald's saga, to the Vikings, it looked like a sheet of ice when the weapons glistened.

A fateful decision seizes Harald.

Rather than retreat and wait for the rest of his troops to arrive from the ships, he wants to fight.

[battle screaming]

Now.

[battle fighting]

At one point, the English pull back. Harald senses victory, and his forces break formation.

Holland speaking: There's a story: one warrior stood on a bridge and held off all the English.

These were tiny, tiny armies, but that's not unheard of in the Middle Ages, where battles with large armies are not that common.

Narrator speaking: According to King Harald's saga, Harald rallies his men with these words:

"Carry your head always high in battle, where swords seek to shatter the skulls of doomed warriors."

Holland speaking: The guy on the bridge held them off, but then once he was jabbed, they were able to get to Harald.

Narrator speaking: With the bridge open, the English soldiers poured down on the lightly armored Viking forces, cutting through them like a scythe through wheat.

The battle is savage. The Vikings use all their skill and courage against an army fighting to protect its homeland.

One after another, the Vikings fall, their blood soaking into the English soil in an appalling slaughter.

The Vikings sagas recount the struggle: "The fight sharp leader's heart wavered not. The strong King showed all the greatest courage in the thunder of the fight."

"His bloody sword wounded the enemy to death."

In the midst of the battle, an arrow, well-aimed or guided by fate, lodges in the throat of Harald Hardrada.

Harald's reinforcements arrive late in the day, but too late. Outnumbered and outmaneuvered, the Vikings face an almost total rout.

By nightfall, the Viking defeat is absolute.

Harald Hardrada arrived in English in September 1066 with thousands of soldiers and the grandest ambition, but found only ruin and death.

DeVries speaking: Harald Harthrathy had 270 ships to bring over his army from Norway, and only 30 returned.

Narrator speaking: In the decades following, the Vikings continue their sporadic attacks, but none will reach as far or come so close to empire,

as Harald and his last stand. In a manner of weeks, a new era of European history will take hold.

By the time of Harald's death in 1066, Viking influence had spread deep roots throughout world culture, trade, and history, and it sowed the seeds for the Viking downfall.

Assimilation: Their absorption into the lands they colonized, and the spreading, unifying force of Christianity brought about their end as much as any single defeat in battle.

DeVries speaking: Essentially, Europe's history changes. Russia is now Rusia, land of the Vikings (the Rus were Vikings). Normandy is now land of the Normans (the Normans were Vikings).

Ahh, ultimately, the Normans would conquer England, and so their legacy is extensive in the history of Europe.

Narrator speaking: As warriors, as settlers, as explorers and traders, Vikings were agents of extraordinary social and political change,

spurring global economic growth and the fortification of Europe, the development of national identities, advances in shipbuilding, navigation, and more.

Their brutal raids gave Vikings an enduring reputation as barbarians, but in their quest for opportunity, for riches and control,

the Vikings didn't destroy a western civilization, they enriched it, perhaps for all time.

[ending music]