m85

Conical iron helmets of the spangenhelm type, hammered from one piece of metal.

V___J

morę than two centuries the Northmen served Byzantium as shock troops in the field and as the emperor’s bodyguard at home, and many a runestone in Scandinavia mourns a warrior lost in a far-off land: ‘vard daudr i Grik-kium’ (‘died among the Greeks’).

Over the decades the Vikings who had settled in Russia lost their distinctive identity and were absorbed by the local Slav population, and by the 11 th century the princes of the great city States were purely Slavic. By this datę Kiev had a population of

some 75,000 and was the largest and strongest State in all Europę.

The Danes and Norwegians generally sailed south through the North Sea to western Europę, Britain and Ireland. At first the Norwegians pillaged and settled in the Orkneys, Shetlands, Heb-rides and Isle of Man. From these bases they turned on Ireland, raiding year after year until by 845 they had established fortified harbours from Galway to Cork, and could ravage the whole of Ireland at will. No attempt was madę to subjugate the country; instead, the Norwegians built Ireland’s towns—Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, Wicklow and Wexford—all trading centres. As in Russia, the Vikings then gradually merged with the local population until in 1014 the last of tirem were defeated at the battle of Clontarf by the army of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland.

In 834 the Danish Vikings first appeared in force, raiding along the English Channel. Thereafter they appeared annually. Their effect is best described by a monk, writing at the time: ‘The Vikings overrun all that lies before them, and nonę can withstand them. They seizc Bordeaux, Perigueux, Limoges, Angouleme, Toulouse; Angers, Tours and Orleans are madę deserts. Ships past counting voyage up