MedievalPlus.com
Castles
The Viking Invaders
The Vikings at this time were also attacking and occupying other areas
across Europe from Russia through to Great Britain. One of these groups
successfully occupied an area in northern France and became known as
Normans, with the area they lived in known as Normandy.
The Scandinavian nations of which the Vikings were apart were still
worshipping heathen Gods, including Odin and Thor until well after the
year 1000 and in fact Christianity was not generally accepted by the
Scandinavians until the thirteenth century. The Normans, however adopted
Christianity and the French language. By the end of the tenth century
they had also adopted and in fact developed the castles which had originally
been invented to keep them out of France.
By the middle of the eleventh century the Britons were still fighting
off Viking attacks and were using the same methods as they had for centuries
although in a few isolated cases the French idea of castle building
was beginning to become adopted.
Next
Castles were a principal feature of medieval warfare and society,
as well as featuring in many historical legends and myths which emanated
from England and Europe generally. Take a look at this section to learn
the outline of how and why the idea of the castle originated and evolved.
