Reply #83: I just read an interesting book

[Gaedel]

I don't have the author and title handy right at this moment, but the author has an interesting slant on the advent of the Vikings.

Charlemagne had just completed doing a military number on the Saxons and converted them to Christianity at the point of a sword. He also destroyed the Irminsul, one of the great shrines of Germanic paganism.

The author posits that the Norse attacks on England, France, and later Spain represent Germanic paganism's response to a "holy war" begun by the Christian emperor, Charlemagne. As the Norse were converted to Christianity, the raiding pretty much came to an end. As an example, the Swedish vikings moving through Russia to Constantinople were primarily interested in trading both with the Byznatines and the Arabs. One Swedish viking carved runic graffitti in St Sophia basilica/Hagia Sophia mosque in Constantinople/Istanbul which can be seen to this day.