Belinda Vlasbaard’s Reviews > Vikings: A Concise History of the Vikings > Status Update

Ultimately though Hardrada’s death would be somewhat avenged in the form of another Viking descendant, William of Normandy. Coming from the Viking colony of Normandy, William faced down Godwinson at the infamous “Battle of Hastings”. It was after this battle that William of Normandy rose victorious and the Norman conquest of England began just as the age of the Vikings drew to a close.

Instead of seeing wide open plains and the mountainous glaciers of Greenland, Bjarni claimed that he saw a vast wooded terrain. Fifteen years after this encounter, Leif Erikson (The son of Erik the Red) met up with Bjarni and was intrigued by his account of this undiscovered land.

For much of history the motives behind the Viking raids of Christian Europe have been greatly obscured and misunderstood. The sudden assaults on Christian monasteries in 793 are often just shrugged off as a crime of opportunity or a random act of wanton brutality, but when you take a look at what else was going on in 793, the story starts to get a bit more complicated than that.