Mid-13th Century – 1348
The Third Viking Age
With the coming of the 13th century, many changes began to arise in Vinland. One of the major ones is the rising of power of local lords. Many of them grew to have a spirit of independence and the desire for freedom, feeling tied down to some of the local areas they were tied down to by the king across the sea. With Jannik the Black’s recent military build-up in the New World, some lords saw that trying to openly rebel would prove disastrous—especially since many of them had tried and failed, after all—and tried to find more influence and wealth elsewhere through a different method. Many of them left their homes and returned to their ancestral ties as raiders of the sea.
Remembering their Viking heritage, many of the more Norse wished to find a sense of adventure and seek trade and influence by taking a risk in exploring the southern part of the continent. King Jannik had initially saw it with unease, but later allowed it, seeing a possible other outlet for wealth and trade and Vinland and turned a blind eye to it. He also looked at the Iroquois and their own growing power warily and wanted to establish other ways to keep up in case relations turned sour. There was also another reason he allowed the expeditions to take place.
While they were eager to live up their past as Norsemen, these lords were still Christian, and allowed monks to come on the journeys. Many of these monks hoped to replicate the success of Christianizing the Baltic peoples across the sea back in Europe, and felt like trying to base their sermons in more Earthly-based belief would help convert the natives quicker. In addition, the monks would help to insure that some restriction would be held by the lords and their men so as to not cause too much terror among the natives, as it would cause trouble in convincing the natives to convert.
The first ships to depart came from Ánnðarland, with crews mostly consisting of Norset-mixed peoples or with fellow red band native allies, ruled over by the Vinlandic lords. The ships from Vinland, however, consisted mostly of Vinlanders and small groups of Norset people who descended from the Inuit peoples up north.
The expeditions typically consisted of two types of adventures: ones of both light pillaging and skirmishes, or ones where trade would be enacted. Both of these were often met with mixed results, as many of the Algonquian peoples dotting the coasts were generally well-equipped to handle the assaults. However, trading ports still sprung up in different parts of the land, generally in the more Algonquian-speaking parts among tribes such as the Nanticoke and the Lenape, with some gaining river access from the Lenape to travel further down south. However, conversion had proved to be difficult, and in some regions force had to be used. In addition, some of the more inland expeditions would be cut down by Siouan-speaking peoples who would kill the explorers and steal their trade goods to use for themselves.
Despite this, trading ports had been established, and would prove effective for increasing trade revenue for the North Sea Empire and Vinland. Plus, it opened up many of the other tribes living on the coast to opportunities for weapons and tools from the Vinlandic Northerners, and also introduced new warriors and types of warfare to tribes willing to trade for them. Some of the later expeditions would reach all the way down to the land of the Aztecs in the 14th century, though the stimulation from trade here would end just as quickly as it would come when the Black Death came to the continent in 1348 and brought an end to the Third Viking Age.
1266 – 1286
The Scots Migration
Another great movement of peoples was the migration of the Scots people to Vinland. For centuries, Vinland had been a curiosity to the Scots, especially as they heard tales of it from the Norse-Gaels in the Scottish Isles – who had mostly consisted of Danes that were allowed to travel to Vinland. No true Scot had been able to travel until the union of England and Scotland that brought Scotland into the North Sea Empire.
Many of the mainland Scots traveled out to Vinland, and helped to fill in some of the void left by the migrating lords and their company down south. The Scots found relative ease settling into the different communities there, as they were fluid in both language in culture: the Scots of the Orkney and Shetland Isles could speak Danish well enough to pass by with the Vinlanders, those that lived near the border of England could speak the Anglo-Saxon tongue and fit in with the Anglo-Saxon administrators there, and then having already a similar language to the Irish, they found their niche most especially with the monks there.
Many Scots found different fields of work, though many favored physical labor and assisting their Irish brothers in erecting monasteries and abbeys, along with construction of crude fortress for protection. In addition, the gallowglass warriors who migrated there as well were used as both a strong militia and an effective policing force to ensure peace among the different villages and to ensure the law and protection of the land. The migrations to Vinland stopped when a depopulation crisis almost hit Scotland in 1286 – near the end of King Jannik’s rule.
The Third Viking Age
With the coming of the 13th century, many changes began to arise in Vinland. One of the major ones is the rising of power of local lords. Many of them grew to have a spirit of independence and the desire for freedom, feeling tied down to some of the local areas they were tied down to by the king across the sea. With Jannik the Black’s recent military build-up in the New World, some lords saw that trying to openly rebel would prove disastrous—especially since many of them had tried and failed, after all—and tried to find more influence and wealth elsewhere through a different method. Many of them left their homes and returned to their ancestral ties as raiders of the sea.
Remembering their Viking heritage, many of the more Norse wished to find a sense of adventure and seek trade and influence by taking a risk in exploring the southern part of the continent. King Jannik had initially saw it with unease, but later allowed it, seeing a possible other outlet for wealth and trade and Vinland and turned a blind eye to it. He also looked at the Iroquois and their own growing power warily and wanted to establish other ways to keep up in case relations turned sour. There was also another reason he allowed the expeditions to take place.
While they were eager to live up their past as Norsemen, these lords were still Christian, and allowed monks to come on the journeys. Many of these monks hoped to replicate the success of Christianizing the Baltic peoples across the sea back in Europe, and felt like trying to base their sermons in more Earthly-based belief would help convert the natives quicker. In addition, the monks would help to insure that some restriction would be held by the lords and their men so as to not cause too much terror among the natives, as it would cause trouble in convincing the natives to convert.
The first ships to depart came from Ánnðarland, with crews mostly consisting of Norset-mixed peoples or with fellow red band native allies, ruled over by the Vinlandic lords. The ships from Vinland, however, consisted mostly of Vinlanders and small groups of Norset people who descended from the Inuit peoples up north.
The expeditions typically consisted of two types of adventures: ones of both light pillaging and skirmishes, or ones where trade would be enacted. Both of these were often met with mixed results, as many of the Algonquian peoples dotting the coasts were generally well-equipped to handle the assaults. However, trading ports still sprung up in different parts of the land, generally in the more Algonquian-speaking parts among tribes such as the Nanticoke and the Lenape, with some gaining river access from the Lenape to travel further down south. However, conversion had proved to be difficult, and in some regions force had to be used. In addition, some of the more inland expeditions would be cut down by Siouan-speaking peoples who would kill the explorers and steal their trade goods to use for themselves.
Despite this, trading ports had been established, and would prove effective for increasing trade revenue for the North Sea Empire and Vinland. Plus, it opened up many of the other tribes living on the coast to opportunities for weapons and tools from the Vinlandic Northerners, and also introduced new warriors and types of warfare to tribes willing to trade for them. Some of the later expeditions would reach all the way down to the land of the Aztecs in the 14th century, though the stimulation from trade here would end just as quickly as it would come when the Black Death came to the continent in 1348 and brought an end to the Third Viking Age.
1266 – 1286
The Scots Migration
Another great movement of peoples was the migration of the Scots people to Vinland. For centuries, Vinland had been a curiosity to the Scots, especially as they heard tales of it from the Norse-Gaels in the Scottish Isles – who had mostly consisted of Danes that were allowed to travel to Vinland. No true Scot had been able to travel until the union of England and Scotland that brought Scotland into the North Sea Empire.
Many of the mainland Scots traveled out to Vinland, and helped to fill in some of the void left by the migrating lords and their company down south. The Scots found relative ease settling into the different communities there, as they were fluid in both language in culture: the Scots of the Orkney and Shetland Isles could speak Danish well enough to pass by with the Vinlanders, those that lived near the border of England could speak the Anglo-Saxon tongue and fit in with the Anglo-Saxon administrators there, and then having already a similar language to the Irish, they found their niche most especially with the monks there.
Many Scots found different fields of work, though many favored physical labor and assisting their Irish brothers in erecting monasteries and abbeys, along with construction of crude fortress for protection. In addition, the gallowglass warriors who migrated there as well were used as both a strong militia and an effective policing force to ensure peace among the different villages and to ensure the law and protection of the land. The migrations to Vinland stopped when a depopulation crisis almost hit Scotland in 1286 – near the end of King Jannik’s rule.