Viking_Influence_On_Irish_Society

Viking Influence On Irish Society The Viking people, commonly referred to as the Norse, were the inhabitants of what is now known as Scandinavia. These people terrified Europe from the late 700's to about 1100 AD. During this time the Vikings settled abroad due to a great increase in population and a necessity for land. The Viking raids began in Ireland in about 795 and continued to thrive there until they were defeated by “Brian Boru in 1014 at Clontarf” (Bottigheimer, 51). After Clontarf, the Viking people of Ireland were slowly immersed by the Irish People. The Vikings introduced many things in Ireland, and had an undeviating impact on the people of that era. Upon careful examination of the past, it seems as if the Viking warfare was not duplicated by the Irish. The Irish were an aggressive race, frequently combating minor wars between the smaller kings. The Vikings were drawn into these wars after settling, as they were slowly engrossed into the Irish culture. At the time the Vikings first arrived in Ireland, the land was nominally ruled over by the Ard Ri or the High King of the Irish, but was in truth a “…warring collection of petty kingdoms which gave lip irish, ireland, vikings, viking, trade, people, first, dublin, brian, within, norse, rule, raids, however, great, foster, during, culture, boru, between, ard, after, ad, wealth, towns, ri, petty, kings, king, introduced, clontarf, church, came, began