In every battle or conflict in history, there are “good” guys and “bad” guys. Because everyone has a different opinion, there will always be an opposition. Sometimes it is difficult to realize who the “good” guy is and who the “bad” guy is. An example of this is the Vikings. They plundered innocent people, but did they have reasonable motives?
The Vikings have always been known as some of the harshest and cruelest people to ever live. It was in Viking tradition for every man to become a berserker. It has been said that berserkers “went without shields, and were mad as dogs or wolves, and bit on their shields, and were as strong as bears or bulls; men they slew, and neither fire nor steel would deal with them” (http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/145.html). This quotation shows how feared and somewhat crazy the berserkers were portrayed to be. This is only one example of how Vikings were portrayed as fierce.
Another example is how the Vikings would kill innocent people in their plundering, and the way that they killed people. They went to Lindisfarne to steal the riches of a monastery. Monasteries have different religious items made out of precious minerals including gold and silver. When the Vikings landed at Lindisfarne, they killed all of the monks living there. None of the monks had a weapon or something to defend them. The Vikings savagely killed monks with no protection whatsoever.
A reason for why they killed so many people without thinking anything of it could be because in their culture, it is honorable for someone to die on the battlefield. They could have thought they other people would be honored for dying in battle, which is untrue in most societies.
Vikings did not see as what they were doing was wrong, even though the common belief was that they were savage, cruel people that had no feeling of wrong doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment