First Facts About The Vikings (first Facts: Everyday Character Education)

FIRST FACTS about the VIKINGS • Edllor: PENNY CU\RKE ""'".,,re3t farnlly !lOlls. grew !lOme oats or rye to gtve them flour for bread . CHIIJ)I!EN helped to care for the fannyard poultJy and the pigs. Facts about Vtklng Olsrovedeg" Many Viking ralders were also seeking somewhere to setUe. Settlers reached I~land In about 860. but Ihey soon discovered Ihere was nol enough farmland there for everyone. Th,s NORWEGIAN farming family gets much of Its needs from the sea: food. sealskins and walrus IVory to sell and whale oil for lamp5. FACT: VIK INGS WERE lAW-ABIDING CITIZENS wo sorts of law governed the way Vikings behaved. The first formed the basis of the Vikings' code of honor: they Justified revenge, even If Il Involved wha t we would call arson or manslaughter. There were also laws staUng the rules fo r inheriting property and describing various crimes and their punishments. Anyone who kJUed a man accidentally paid his relatives w hat he was worth. which depended on his status. The worst Climes we re punished by banishment. Blood feuds could be ended by a grtm type of accou nting - one death cancelled ou t another of equal value.. A group of powerful local men acted as Judges at an assembly of local freemen was ca1led the Thing. The laws were no"n1'·~"lJl, 1 down. 'Lawmen' knew them by heart and taught the next generation. T LocAL noNCS debated the affairs or a distrlct. but important matters were settled at large n:gIOnaI ones. A Thing could last ror several days. People who lived II good distance away brought their ramllles and camped a t the meeting place. THINGS w~re beld at set Urnes each ~ar, bullna crtsts a special one could be