In her article "The Vikings," Arne Emil Christensen outlines the period spanning two hundred and fifty years during which the Vikings terrorized, as well as colonized Europe and left their mark on culture and society which is still being romanticized in the twenty first century. The Scandinavian Vikings spent the period from 800 to 1050 AD terrorizing the shores of Europe. Their tactics and the highly organized manner in which they carry out their raids shocks nations and results in the spread of the Nordic people. As the Vikings spread throughout Europe their organizational skills allow them not only to win battles, but to found kingdoms and eventually towns, some of which still survive today. The famed Viking ships, while paramount in their worldly existence also play a major role in the afterworld journey of the Vikings, often accompanying Viking's to their graves. During the two hundred and fifty year reign of Viking terror, the Nordics unknowingly establish themselves in history.
Scandinavia, the only home to the Vikings for a diminutive amount of time with the first recorded raid being that of a monastery on England's east coast in 793, is where the Viking legacy and spread of the Nordic people was just commencing. The propagating of the Vikings starts with the raids; "[t]hey often came in on the morning sea mists, their vessels creeping quietly through the reeds of the river mouths or sliding silently up sandy beaches" (Siddorn 3). The next two hundred years bring about sagas of the Vikings voyage across Europe leaving parts of history along the way. The stalwart Europeans were not prepared for the Viking revolution, "[t]hey storm forth, terrorizing well established societies accustomed to war, but not to the startling tactics of the Vikings" (Christensen 1). Nordic's being quite intelligent people, initially search for silver, gold and slaves among monasteries and churches.
