Could the Norse have settled N. Germany?

I'm curious if there were any specific reasons why there was not a greater Norse presence in Northern Germany. Its right next door, and maps of Viking settlement do show ag least some settlement in the region. Was it simply that the HRE was potent enough to prevent the area from falling into the Scandinavian orbit?
 
I'm curious if there were any specific reasons why there was not a greater Norse presence in Northern Germany. Its right next door, and maps of Viking settlement do show ag least some settlement in the region. Was it simply that the HRE was potent enough to prevent the area from falling into the Scandinavian orbit?

But there were quite many ! It just happened earlier than in western Europe.

What are german and germanic people and languages else but a mix of scandinavian immigrants and native celts (they of course mixed with the slavs too, but only later, in the second millenium of christian era, when they began the very slow process of settling territories on the right bank of the Elbe river) ? The first migrations list have happened in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Then they went southward and westward in the 2nd century and clashed with the romans and the gauls in the late 2nd century and under Caesar.

The Norsemen invasions as we refer too are just a later (from the late 8th century to the 11th century) more distant and more pervasive second wage of Scandinavian invasion/conquest/migration.
 
And before Charlemagne`s conquests, the region was inhabited by the Saxons, themselves not un-warlike ;-) Also, the farther back we go, the less sense does the distinction between Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Norse etc. make.
 
Certainly valid points about the earlier eras. But what of after the time when we recognize a difference between the Germans and Scandinavians?
 
Certainly valid points about the earlier eras. But what of after the time when we recognize a difference between the Germans and Scandinavians?

You first start to see linguistic differences between the Continental Germanic tribes and the proto-Norse by the 2nd century AD, and complete separation by the Vendel Period (5th to 8th centuries).
 

Skallagrim

Banned
Well, peoples in North Germany retained relatively close ties (intermarriage of the ruling class, common cultural elements etc.) with Scandinavia until Charlemagne came along and defeated the Saxons. Earlier Christianisation of more southern areas in Germany (for instance, the Frankish lands) had in fact driven the Saxons to orient themselves towards Denmark etc. The last Saxon duke, who led the Saxons in their war against Charlemagne, was a friend of the Danish king (and I think married into his house), and fled to Denmark twice during the conflict.

If Charlemagne dies during the Saxon Wars, and the Franks fail to conquer the Saxon lands, you'd end up with a northern area that continues to resist conversion (for the moment) and is clearly separate from the Christianised areas further south. This doesn't exactly imply Scandinavian settlement in northern Germany, but if these lands continue to be closely allied (driven into each other's arms by the threat from the south), I can easily see a Canute-like figure turning it into a single northern realm during or after a major struggle against the Franks (or their successors in the role of Christianising force).

That way, you'd end up with a northern Germany that's culturally Scandinavian, more or less.
 
They could have, but they would have gone heavily native, like what happened to the Vikings that settled in Normandy.
 
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