When Did the Viking Age REALLY Begin?

Go to nordvpn.com/hilbert or use code hilbert to get a 2-year plan plus 4 additional months with a huge discount.
Thanks to NordVPN for sponsoring this video.
When it comes to the Viking Age and what started it all off, the Raid on Lindisfarne and the year 793 loom large in people's minds. But was this REALLY the beginning of it all? Find out more in this video about the beginning of the Viking Age in England, The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway.
Check out Mr Z's Video on the North Sea Empire:
• What If Canute's North...
Raid the Merch Market:
teespring.com/en-GB/stores/hi...
Go Fund My Windmills (Patreon):
/ historywithhilbert
Join in the Banter on Twitter:
/ historywhilbert
Enter the Fray on Facebook:
/ historywhilbert
Indulge in some Instagram..?(the alliteration needs to stop):
/ historywithhilbert
Music Used:
Loopster - Kevin MacLeod
Rites - Kevin MacLeod
Lost Frontier - Kevin MacLeod
Angevin B - Kevin MacLeod
Crossing the Chasm - Kevin MacLeod
Achaidh Cheide - Kevin MacLeod
Division - Kevin MacLeod
Expeditionary - Kevin MacLeod
Himalayan Atmosphere - Kevin MacLeod
Ether Vox - Kevin MacLeod
Sunday Dub - Kevin MacLeod
Send me an email if you'd be interested in doing a collaboration! [e-mail]
#Vikings #Danmark #History

[@historywithhilbert146]

Go to nordvpn.com/hilbert or use code hilbert to get a 2-year plan plus 4 additional months with a huge discount. Thanks for watching everyone! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and leave me a like if you enjoyed!

[@dgmembernr]

viking are cool :)

[@Uncle_T]

WOW at 13:00 my speakers almost blew up! MR Z VERY LOUD! :) Great video though.

[@Excommunicated-ei1ep]

The Pagan Anglo-Saxon’s were going “Viking” for Hundreds of years before the actual “Vikings” did . . . just saying . . .

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

Hilbert, I know you present the facts, did you get vax yet?

[@Baraodojaguary]

@@Uncle_T same here also i dont like that mister z fella he is clearly far right

[@OCinneide]

13:00 , well thanks for nearly blowing out my ear drums mate.

[@jonbojsenkvrndrup8180]

Yeah, that was really rough...

[@heretohear1847]

tbf i think we all raise our volume for hilbert cuz his audio is so soft so when someone else with a proper mic comes on it blows our ears out.

[@caseyjones6677]

@@heretohear1847 it's not the mic that's to blame here, reformatting to EBU or any other standard is like one button click.

[@jeppe5942]

I almost fell out of my chair.

[@hamsh-il4ei]

8:04 'Aethelred net-connection not ready', Subtle Hilbert, subtle

[@dingusdean1905]

Honestly I don't really think there was a definitive viking age start and end because the vikings changed over time a lot, going from large chevauchee type raids lead by kings, then as the practice became entrenched many smaller bands of sea raiders sprang up as it became easier to sail and attack the decentralized and feuding post-Carolingian realms who were too busy fighting each other to respond to raids. After everyone realized just how lucrative and poorly defended these lands were, the Vikings stopped being plunderers or pirate-traders and shifted to colonizing conquerors, establishing the danelaw, settlements in ireland and the kingdom of the isles.

[@nataliekennedy4646]

And the normans were there descendants that lived in France

[@muhammadadeel8639]

I guess we can say that vikings eventually evolved into British and Russian empires. British especially developed sophisticated piracy (Privateers, East India company etc.) and colonization (Americas, Australia, India etc.)

[@MonsieurDean]

This cross-over was a long time coming!

[@elemperadordemexico]

Hello

[@MonsieurDean]

@@elemperadordemexico Hola Emperador Maximiliano.

[@elemperadordemexico]

@@MonsieurDean I like your videos, real great works

[@ecurewitz]

Thank you!!!!!

[@PakBallandSami]

agree

[@loke6664]

I can't give you an exact date but I can tell you where it started somewhere in 670-700: In Ösel, Estonia. They have found 2 viking ships and 42 skeletons who were buried there after a raid or battle. They were buried like vikings so the vikings would have won but with rather large losses. That is the earliest known evidence for a viking raid, it was however in the East by Swedish vikings and since we don't have any written records of it it is often being glossed over. It was likely not the first raid so the true range would be around 650-700. The sail technology was known in Vendel around the year 550 (they are mainly known for making cool helmets including the Suttton Ho helmet) so that is the theoretical earliest possible time but unless some new evidence show up I wouldn't go that early myself. The Salme ships in Ösel was found in 2008 so new finds are popping up changing our views when the viking age started. I could see the English argument for 793 though, it was the first time the vikings really made an impact on England even if they raided a bit earlier. Lindisfarne made both the Saxon nobles and regular people notice them. In fact, you should research the Ösel ships and made a vid about them, they are really interesting.

[@Artur_M.]

It's certainly interesting... that the Vikings had such problems with the Wi-Fi connection. After all weren't they quite technically advanced, one guy named Harald inventig Bluetooth or something? 😏

[@superlitin1]

An even earlier possible start for the Viking age might be between 700-750 AD. Two clinker-built Scandinavian ships were found near the village of Salme in Saaremaa, an island off the coast of Estonia. These boats were dated to around 700-750 AD, and contained more than 40 Scandinavian warriors, as well as artefacts and weapons. This only takes into account a raid, and not the other factors mentioned in this video, like trading links etc., but if we go by the term víkingr meaning someone who raids as an occupation, or someone who comes to/from the "Vik" (fjord, inlet, cove/might possibly refer to the area around Oslo, called Víkin in the viking age) to raid, then it is by definition the start of the viking age. It's worth checking out, here's the source: ------------------------------------------------------------ Curry, Andrew (10 June 2013). "The First Vikings - Archaeology Magazine"

[@jeppesodemann6206]

In Denmark we just found Odin, and some runes engraved in a stone which is from about 463

[@superlitin1]

@@jeppesodemann6206 Yeah, Norse religion is thought to predate the Viking age, at least many of its aspects. It is most likely a conglomeration of neolithic shamanic animism, as seen in their divinatory practices, like oneiromancy; Indo-European bronze age ideas and its roster of gods, with its own unique Germanic twist; hero cults that deify certain historical or legendary figures, like Atilla; and a whole mish-mash of more specific gods with similar traits, yet distinct differentiation, scattered across a geographical area, which are then later incorporated into one god as cultural transmission and higher forms of societal unification becomes more present.

[@Kramplarv]

I like to think of the Hall culture as the most important part of viking era. The great halls of the nobles, the gods and so on are more important I believe for the cultural development of viking era than ships or warfare. The latter are important results of the hall culture. So I like to think of the viking age from around 300ad to 1300ad when the first (that we know of) and the last great halls are constructed and later abandoned. I got this very speculative idea from reading Ekeros book about Gamla Uppsala

[@superlitin1]

@@Kramplarv Interesting take. Though, in the end it all comes down to how you define the word viking.

[@Kramplarv]

@@superlitin1 Yes, I agree 100%. I try to personally avoid using viking as much as possible. When I do I mostly use it as a job activity so to speak. Because there are some sources talking about "vikings" from the eastern coasts of the baltics raiding parts of "sweden" I feel that it is safe to say so. :)

[@Jobe-13]

I heard that the Russian vikings turned down Islam because of it’s prohibition of drinking alcohol.

[@OldieBugger]

That sounds like a good reason to reject a religion.

[@moritamikamikara3879]

By the time this occured, it'd be a bit of a stretch to call the people involved vikings (in any measure) But yeaaup, that did indeed happen.

[@nataliekennedy4646]

You mean the kiven rus

[@dvergr]

The later ruler of Rus' region Vladimir I who was a grandson of prince Igor (Ingvar) according to a very nice legend from Primary Chronicle indeed turned down Islam as he didn't want to give up drinking.

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

They did, however, but when someone said something, about a cleric and since that no more alcohol I don't know the whole story but it has something to do with a party

[@robertohlen4980]

And before the Viking Era there were the Vendel Era, and before that the Roman Iron Age and before that the Nordic Bronze Age. All one long common tradition.

[@Luredreier]

13:07 Holy cow was that volume difference huge...

[@R8V10]

Would love to see you do a video on Ibn Fadlan and the Vikings.

[@meginna8354]

Ibn Fadlan meet Rus didn't meet qny vikings he met Rus who propably didn't speak any Old Norse and in most respects resembleled Eastern Europeans and even Scythians than any norseman in Scandinavia.

[@R8V10]

@@meginna8354Norse in original but still had the same customs. kzbin.info/www/bejne/al6aZaGQj9B0l7s

[@Melle06aa]

@@meginna8354 the rus where Scandinavian tho

[@meginna8354]

@@Melle06aa No they weren't. The first generation was. Then they became way more Slavic in every respect over time.

[@Melle06aa]

@@meginna8354 they where Viking until 988

[@particular101]

As a Dutch woman, with frysian ancestors, as a great great great great granddaughter of king Rêdbâd (and probably Ragnar Lothbrok), and as a woman with a huge passion for everything related to Scandinavia and the Viking area... I sincerely enjoy your videos. 💙

[@historywithhilbert146]

Tige tank! Moai en hear it!

[@RubberToeYT]

Absolutely love your videos, this topic is so good too!

[@andyreginald6272]

Keep up the good work!

[@obsc3n3skull]

Heads up for SUPER LOUD voice at 13:01

[@daviddickey9182]

You mentioned Charlemagne and the Saxons, perhaps it’s time for the Saxon wars to get their own video!

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

It began when Raid Shadow Legends dropped in the app stores.

[@anthonyhayes1267]

I just wanted to say, I love the shield designs you showed in the illustrations

[@Uncle_T]

The Vikings did not use WiFi, they used ViFi. And of course Bluetooth ;)

[@axelschroeder6657]

Thanks for this interesting video. I grew up near the town of Slesvig and the site of Hedeby (Haitabu) the Viking trading city in Southern Jutland. So I consider myself as a descendant of the Vikings. It is always great to understand more of your own history.

[@aarondemiri486]

I've got so many viking sagas to read I can't wait

[@jorgebahia7009]

Excellent video !! A hug from Brazil 🇧🇷

[@alfredthegreatkingofwessex6838]

I appreciate your research, Hilbert. But I’m pretty sure the Vikings age started January 28th 1960. In Minneapolis MN

[@Jobe-13]

Lol

[@Uncle_T]

FACT! ;)

[@Ragatokk]

This was about the viking age, not the vikings! What I don't get is how the viking age ended before the vikings were founded.

[@edwardblair4096]

Richard the Lionheart had a comment about this in his Epic Rap Battle. : -) Go to 1 :59 here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZitfpSGadKmitU

[@lennutrajektoor]

750 AD, in Salme, Estonia. It's easy! Even an exhibition of the Salme ship burial is open in Kuressarre castle museum.

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

WElsh Viking would say this was FAKE

[@lennutrajektoor]

@@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647 Estonians, at least on Saaremaa based on per current knowledge, were regarded by Vikings as their own kind. Also Vikings never were able to establish any outposts or settlement in Estonia unlike in Latvia. There might have been mutual trading but Estonians were so brutal to Vikings that they rather respected than tried to conquer, and they truly tried. The Salme ship burial is one of those testimonies.

[@hakanpersson6524]

I am really looking forward to watch your video about the Vikings in the east. Here in Sweden there is a discussion if the Viking era began as early as when the Vendel era began 550 ad. The boat graves from Vendel indicates that they were doing trading and had connections very far away. The usage of a boat was a must if you wanted to travel in Scandinavia at that time and had been so since the bronze age. The big forests mountains and fjords made it very difficult to travel by foot or horse. The waterways was at that time the highways that made it much easier to take you from one place to another.

[@perfectpixels6531]

a remake of a classic, and im wearing my history with hilbert merch tonight

[@KimHojbergJensen]

Nice video - also the add!

[@shanebattles6132]

Great show man big fan

[@joda7129]

This is what I subscribed for

[@ladyliberty417]

The age began with the amazing ships that were built- this is what I was taught- But I enjoy all the speculation and ideas that are out there so much❗️thanks Hilbert ❗️

[@user-cg2qs4vs4c]

I think it's goal is repeating the date without losing interest. Even if he hadn't this in mind, it is a feature important for me, because usually I can remember only some facts and chronology is completely out of my comprehension.

[@ladyliberty417]

@@user-cg2qs4vs4c Chronology is hard!😊

[@konradvonschnitzeldorf6506]

Good one

[@HS-su3cf]

Actually, in some areas in western Norway, you can farm the land on both sides.

[@owengar3117]

Æthrlred's server being not ready is the best part of this video 😂

[@farisamarneh9032]

A cool topic would be investigating the Viking age in the Baltics where the Norse began developing a cross sea raiding culture

[@flawlessbinary7449]

Looks like Hilbert returns to tradition.

[@MonsieurDean]

A welcome return to roots!

[@bobmcbob9856]

Entirely unrelated to this video, but I’ve recently gotten into translating Germanic dithematic names into Slavic ones and Hilbert which as I’m 90% sure you’ve explained in a video means bright battle is slavicized to the best of my ability as Sviatibor, the sviat part in most Slavic languages today means sacred or holy but derives from words for light and may have been used as one or the other in naming, the nor suffix, though I’m sure some Serbocroatian speakers at least might think it derives from pine actually derives from fight or battle, hence luminous (or bright) battle

[@Luredreier]

16:49 There's trade lanes going to Denmark, Southern Sweden and Southern Norway already during the bronze age.

[@ecurewitz]

0:06 Vikings? plz YES, Hilbert!!!

[@TTillahFK]

13:00 HELLO SOUND

[@foreskinh8ter]

haha i love watching videos before going to work and stuff yeah

[@srenclausen8534]

September 5.th they found a treasure near Jelling, denmark of about 1 kg gold. It was buried there around year 500. One of the gold items had runic inscriptions on it, and a picture of Odin, his horse and raven. The archeologists thinks that this can be evidence, that the norse mythology, and way of life of the later viking age, was more widespread than earlier thought already in year 500. The treasure is called vindelev skatten.

[@cracker_jacked_jlu]

funny thing is the people of Scandinavia and England traded indirectly if not directly earlier then 700. the "Vikings" first ventured South and East to Germany, Poland, Gotland, and as far east as Klaipėda in Lithuania, Riga in Latvia and the area around Helsinki in Finland as early as the late 590's and early 600's so to set a date as to when it started would be very ethnocentric bases on who was doing the writing. Culturally we see solid evidence as far back as the early 600's in Scandinavia but have little physical evidence elsewhere until the 650's or so in Poland and the Baltic states. Even this early physical evidence dose not show war like raids but only prove they were there.

[@JohnWilliams-wl2cf]

It started at six o clock yesterday

[@cameroff]

13:00 rip eardrums

[@dirgniflesuoh7950]

Yeah, I have a fascination for the Vendel Time right now, and the finds from Vendel and Valsgärde, and Sandbyborg ... and the theory that people went "viking" and trading around the Baltic, and to England and down in Europe, hired as mercenaries long before 793, the culture was there already. Just in smaller, less seaworthy boats. Btw that map! It has "Skåne" written straight over Västergötland and Östergötland, more or less making all Götaland into Skåne ... ?

[@haeleth7218]

After watching this I am not sure exactly when the Viking era began in England. One thing I do know is that I am glad I was not around in 865AD (The Great Heathen Army).

[@kallebirgersson710]

I'm not danish but that sounded a lot like real danish to me

[@chrisblyth7354]

Pls do a video about the Shetland bus (basically during ww2 fishermen from the Shetland isles would cross the North sea in small modified fishing boats rescuing Norwegian people when Germany invaded Norway) just think it would make a good vid :)

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello Hilbert. I always thought that the Viking age started earlier as you could look at the Jutes in Kent as like a previous generation. I always wondered whether the lack of Pictish history could have hidden Norse influence further north in Britain, long before the raid on Lindisfarne. With your linguistic hat on, do you think Yorick in Hamlet is a name or a version of Jorvik? Like you I checked Wikipedia, but it said both, or happen as we say in Yorkshire, where this age is said to have ended in 1066.

[@TheStickCollector]

Neat

[@ronaldderooij1774]

In history, an age or period rarely starts or ends at a fixed date. I have seen the same kind of questions raised in videos about the demise of the West Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.

[@_OZZIE_RASCAL]

I always heard that vikings,although pretty wild and fearsome. They were also smart and methodic. I look at modern day scandinavians, I don't the Ruthless but I do still see the smart and methodic 🇩🇰🇮🇸🇸🇯🇸🇪

[@micahistory]

I've wondered this as well, glad i'm not the only one

[@saniaamirbaaz8850]

Can you do a video on what Myanmar did in the Vietnam war.Thx

[@ReaperCH90]

What if vikings actually only were in search of better wifi?

[@erlinggaratun6726]

Great video. But I am surprised, considering your significant Frisian bias, that you do not mention the herulian pirate raids on the coast of Frisia in the late third century (280, ca) as reported by the romans. It has been speculated that the 'heruli' are also known as 'charudes', who were placed in Hordaland at the start of the current era...

[@kohZeei]

how do you not mention the vendel era? i would argue that the vendel era ended around the time that the viking era began, essentially giving birth to it.

[@specialnewb9821]

793 is still a good date with the obvious understanding that it's fuzzy.

[@TumpsBudGuy]

If you are going to switch people you have to remix the audio! You just blew out my ear drums. Your speaking voice and his are compleeeeetleyy different!!

[@Must_Do_Better]

I was really hoping you'd talk about about Friesland. I have 28.7% Scandinavian blood! Thanks!!

[@Woeschhuesli]

Do we need a date? We could say 8th-11th century… Having said that, I agree that a much earlier date could also be used, though perhaps that difficult definition of Viking might trip us up. What is the difference between Viking and Norse? Why do we not hear more about the fact that so many peoples originated on the Danish/German peninsula - they moved north (Vikings), west (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), south (Franks), eadt - and from there via Normandy to Sicily, Italy and so on, not to mention the Rus… Go back far enough and there do seem to be a lot of common origins!

[@smpk9667]

Did the video skip a part in 7:00-7:02 or is it just a editing error? Edit: Also that is not a reindeer at 16:19

[@Sigismund74]

I often think that the term "viking age" is arbitrary at best. If you look at the history of raids on, in this case specifically England, one can see a large amount of similarity between raids by Saxons, Angles and Jutes in late roman Brittain and the later , what we call, viking raids. Those three tribes, come from a very similar geographical location as the later Danes. In this light, given the arbitrary nature of terms like "viking age" or "age of migrations", how do you see the viking raids in comparison to the activities of the Saxons, Jutes and Angles?

[@ZarlanTheGreen]

That Danish Wikipedia article doesn't say "700". It says "the 700's". That is VEEEEERY different.

[@svenlaurens]

Hey, reindeer have been farmed by Sami in Rogaland and Agder in the 50s or so(my dad found an antler while on a hike, I have it in my shed in NL). So it could be possible that they were this far south at the time of the vikingr.

[@svenlaurens]

Also, large parts of Rogaland (Jæren) are relatively flat (not relative to NL of course). Also Østfold has hills and not so much the fjords. But perhaps Kattegat formed a hinder getting west from there by boat.

[@nathanaelsallhageriksson1719]

In sweden we're taught the viking age was between c. 800 and c. 1100 ad.

[@thhseeking]

Mister Z was a bit sudden and loud! I was going to do the laundry anyway XD

[@michael3088]

i wonder if the tariff had anything to do with why the raids started

[@borisselbstadler3209]

In some way was it not just a continuation of the raids and migrations of the anglo saxons? There was a norwegian princess found in a cemetery in northumberland from the 6th century.

[@gabrielflecha9719]

I mean you could argue that a more significant time northern germanic/Scandinavian tribes made an impact with expeditions and conquest being with the massive migration of the Saxons, Angles and Jutes (2 of which being from or around what is now Denmark 🇩🇰) into the sourhern British isles as the western Roman empire was collapsing. Although I guess that would depend on your view of identity since they weren't exactly called vikings despite sharing the similar religion, political structure, military tactics, and language.

[@johnfenn3188]

Surely the Viking age in Britain will be different to the Viking age in Denmark or in France, won’t it?

[@buidseach]

There is a record of Danish raiders that sailed up the River Tay in Scotland and built a Fort on Drummond Hill and stayed for 3 seasons and raided the local communities around Loch Tay in 644 AD.

[@Uncle_T]

I'm pretty sure we were taught the Viking age as just a part of the Iron age in Sweden as well when I attended school in the 70's and 80's.

[@runningbastards6715]

One question I've had a hard time finding answers for is that since the Angles, Saxons and Jutes originally migrated from Jutland (northern Germany / peninsula Denmark), why did the Great Heathen Army and subsequent Danish invasion seem so foreign to the Anglo Saxon kingdoms? The Anglos themselves, especially the Jutes, just left the continent from that region just a couple of hundred years prior. Did the language and culture change that much in that time? Did they not keep in touch with cousins on the mainland? I know it was the Dark Ages, but the distance doesn't seem that far away.

[@MrMitchay]

Ive wondered this myself, would love to see something explaining

[@wijse]

Christianity. That erased their kinship.

[@wijse]

@Vincent Liang You know celts and germanic people descend from the same corded ware people right? Both descend from the proto-indo-europeans who moved into Europe.

[@hans7856]

Nice video but please adjust the sound of Mr Z. It is quite annoying when suddenly the sound becomes really extremely loud when you're for instance just ironing and watching this video on the TV.

[@Wildschwein_Jaeger]

Ahhh the Vikings...

[@bendthebow]

I can see why the Danes only talk in terns of the Scandinavian iron age

[@jamiecorrigan3241]

For Anyone Interested In Viking Age Swords They Should See 'The Viking Sword What It Was And Was Not' By Peter Johnsson Here On You Tube. But Read The Newest Comments First.

[@Yora21]

"Marshy No-Man's Land." You just insulted my entire people. But yes.

[@RM-qn3ro]

793 in Crusader Kings 2

[@dansoderberg4753]

why not do a vid about the eastern viking age so much deals with the western

[@Captain_Copenhagen]

Angel-saxon are also danish…

[@dannymactavish7993]

It never truly began it always was there.

[@interabang]

We know when it ended, in 1066 at Stamford bridge. The largest viking army ever assembled under the most feared leader, Harald Hardrada. They met an English army under King Harold and were wiped out. An entire generation gone.

[@lonerangerv1224]

when you get someone else on to a video actually sound balance it so the new person is not several times louder and not blowing out my ears

[@unitedstatesofamericaallha8475]

949 ad

[@jeffgraham9208]

Super duper!

[@fifa4lifeunknow795]

When Ragnar sailed west

[@garethbrandt9163]

Yes, earlier... Vendel age, early vikings a couple of centuries earlier

[@kimmogensen4888]

The mostly peaceful Viking raids, was started early then 793. But smart people don’t right down, when there they make a mostly peaceful raid 👑💍💰😀

[@imlaughinq7445]

A better questions is when it ends, people don’t talk about Ensteins raid on northern England

[@Engehaugen82]

A vik is a small fjord in Norvegian.

[@whiskeytangosierra6]

When I lived in Norway they told me Viking meant vacationing. You know, get away from the boring old farm, see new things, meet new people, tear it all down.

[@danielimmortuos666]

Harald Baldur approves of this video

[@scottanderson8167]

Probably around 15

[@samuel_boivin]

Bro you've been doing youtube for years... how come you didnt equalize voiceover levels? 🤯

[@owenmccord5078]

[@MrMaxBoivin]

The real question is when will the biking age begin again?

[@thotarajaamogh6112]

Yay

[@DanCooper404]

Summer