Many people today see Vikings with the mythical romanticism shared by knights, samurai and ‘swashbuckling pirates’ of the 17th century. DNA tests to find out if you have Viking DNA are increasingly popular.
Although I include myself among those who’d find it cool to have some viking ancestry, the Anglo Saxons, Normans (Norsemen who settled in Northern France), Scandinavian and North Germanic peoples had very similar lineage and in terms of their genetic makeup, were not as distinguishable as you might imagine.
When the likes of Ancestry UK and 23 and Me give customers that data, it’s based on having genetic markers shared with people living in Scandinavia today – and most Scandinavians from history were farmers and fishermen, not formidable warriors.
A recent study however did find the modern English population has approximately 6% Danish Viking ancestry, with Scottish and Irish populations having up to 16%. Additionally, populations from all areas of Britain and Ireland were found to have 3–4% Norwegian Viking ancestry.
Genetically Viking?
It’s important to note that no particular ancestry is better than any other, despite it being interesting to know. This post aims to show the opposite, in fact. Danish Viking men were on average 175cm tall – only slightly taller than the European average, and smaller than today’s average. They weren’t some genetically superior specimen of humans, despite the Nazi regime’s claim in attempting to radicalise Norway during the Second World War. In addition to this, many more Danes and Norwegians had dark hair in the Viking age than they do today.
Their height and stature has actually been attributed to their diet and lifestyle rather than genetics – which were almost identical to other north European people’s. As mentioned above – most Norse were farmers and fishermen. Right from childhood, the Vikings enjoyed a good nutritional diet, teeming with proteins and nutrients.
Their diet, abundant in fish, meat and dairy, was a nature-made height-boosting formula. Yet it wasn’t just what was on their plates that mattered.
The brisk Nordic climate, while challenging, indirectly supported their stature. The cold pushed them to consume more calories, helping them to bulk up.
Plus, the Viking era experienced some favourable environmental shifts.
Warm spells meant more abundant crops, leading to better nutrition. So, when you think about why the Vikings stood tall, remember it was a mix of hearty meals, a demanding climate and a dash of environmental luck.
What has also been found recently in the same study mentioned earlier (by studying over 400 Viking skeletons):
• Skeletons from famous Viking burial sites in Scotland were actually local people who could have taken on Viking identities and were buried as Vikings.
• Viking identity was not limited to people with Scandinavian genetic ancestry. The study shows the genetic history of Scandinavia was influenced by foreign genes from Asia and Southern Europe before the Viking Age!
A Shared Cultural Heritage
The Anglo Saxons were formed from tribes originating in Denmark, North Germany and the Netherlands and colonised the majority of England and parts of the British isles after the fall of the Roman Empire in Britain. Scandinavians, at least in Denmark and Norway are likely to have came from the same regions of Germany and Northern Europe albeit a few centuries earlier and for this reason give modern archaeologists a great deal of difficulty in telling the people apart from DNA alone.
The Anglo Saxons, speaking a form of Old English and the Vikings, speaking Old Norse, still had enough similarities in their language to understand one another, at a stretch.
Old English and Old Norse both diverged from Proto-Germanic and share the most commonalities from those divergent languages. They had the highest chance of being understood by speakers of both languages in comparison to other European languages of the time.
Despite the shared ancestry and commonalities of language, of course this didn’t stop hostilities between the Vikings and the Anglo Saxons. Some of this concerns religion.
The Anglo-Saxons and the Norse shared the same Gods initially, sharing the same cultural heritage. The Æsir were the èse and Odin, Thor and Tyr may have been called Woden, Thunor and Tiw but they were the same.
However, The Anglo Saxons adopted Christianity in the 7th century. The Vikings didn’t become fully Christian until the middle of the 11th century, creating a further divide. The Pagan Vikings had no qualms about looting and pillaging the Christian monasteries littering the coastlines or putting the followers of the ‘white christ’ to the sword. Equally, the Anglo Saxons saw it as God’s mission to purge the heathens from their lands.
A Short and easy to follow History of The Anglo Saxons and the Vikings
• In AD793 some Vikings attacked and destroyed the monastery of Lindisfarne, killing the monks and taking precious ornaments. It sent shockwaves through Anglo Saxon society.
This marked the start of a long struggle between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings for control of Britain.
• In the 9th century (AD801 – 900), King Alfred of Wessex stopped the Vikings taking over England.
He agreed to peace with them and some Vikings settled in their own area of eastern England, called the Danelaw.
• After Alfred, Anglo-Saxon kings took the Danelaw territories back from the Vikings. Alfred’s grandson, Athelstan, pushed English power north as far as Scotland and was the first king to claim to be ‘King of all England’.
• In AD954, the Anglo-Saxons drove out Eric Bloodaxe, the last Viking king of Jorvik. Later, when Eric was killed in battle, the Vikings agreed to be ruled by England’s king.
The most powerful Anglo-Saxon king was Edgar. Welsh and Scottish rulers obeyed him as well as the English, and his court at Winchester was one of the most splendid in Europe.
Anglo-Saxon England reached its peak during Edgar’s reign.
• King Ethelred gave the Vikings gold and land to stop them invading. This money was called Danegeld. But it didn’t work – the Vikings took the gold and attacked anyway.
Ethelred’s soldiers killed many Viking families in the Danelaw. This made King Sweyn of Denmark angry. He invaded England and Ethelred fled to France.
• Sweyn’s son Cnut (also known as Canute, which is the less risky spelling!) became king of England. Cnut was a strong ruler and England became part of his Viking empire, later along with Denmark and Norway.
• In 1042 there was a new king of England called Edward, also known as Edward ‘the Confessor.’
He had no children so it was unclear who would become king next.
After Edward died, the English Witan (council of Anglo-Saxon kings) chose Earl Harold of Wessex as the next king.
Duke William of Normandy and Harald Hardrada, the King of Norway, were not happy that Harold became king. They both believed they had a claim to the throne.
• In 1066, England was invaded twice.
First, a Norwegian army led by Harald Hardrada landed in the north.
King Harold killed Harald Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
Three days later William’s Norman army landed in the south of England.
William and Harold’s armies fought at the Battle of Hastings.
The Normans won, King Harold was killed, and William became king.
This brought an end to Anglo-Saxon and Viking rule. A new age of Norman rule in England had started.
Spells and Spaceships 