Changes

'''Viking''' is the name used for the warrior/trader people of [[Scandinavia]] ([[Norway]], [[Sweden]], and [[Denmark]]) from about 750 A.D. to 1050 A.D. In their own culture, the word "viking" referred only to their pillaging raids on other people, usually carried out by sea in distinctive boats that were advanced for their time. These raids were famously devastating, and had a major impact on the history of [[Britain]] and [[France]]. The spread of [[Christianity]] through the [[British Isles]] had led to the building of many large and wealthy [[Monastery|monasteries]] which were attractive and easy targets for Viking raids. The contemporary [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]] describes the first Viking raid on the coast of Britain, at the monastery at [[Lindisfarne Abbey]] in 793 A.D., and gives a clear impression of how the local inhabitants were caught unawares and did not know how at first to respond to the approaching [[longship]]s:

'''Viking''' is the name used for the warrior/trader people of [[Scandinavia]] ([[Norway]], [[Sweden]], and [[Denmark]]) from about 750 A.D. to 1050 A.D. In their own culture, the word "viking" referred only to their pillaging raids on other people, usually carried out by sea in distinctive boats that were advanced for their time. These raids were famously devastating, and had a major impact on the history of [[Britain]] and [[France]]. The spread of [[Christianity]] through the [[British Isles]] had led to the building of many large and wealthy [[Monastery|monasteries]] which were attractive and easy targets for Viking raids. The contemporary [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]] describes the first Viking raid on the coast of Britain, at the monastery at [[Lindisfarne Abbey]] in 793 A.D., and gives a clear impression of how the local inhabitants were caught unawares and did not know how at first to respond to the approaching [[longship]]s:

''"...there came for the first time three ships; and then the [[reeve]] rode there and wanted to compel [the Vikings] to go to the king's town, because he did not know what they were; and they killed him. Those were the first ships of the Danish men which sought out the land of the English race."''  

''"...there came for the first time three [[ship]]s; and then the [[reeve]] rode there and wanted to compel [the Vikings] to go to the king's town, because he did not know what they were; and they killed him. Those were the first ships of the Danish men which sought out the land of the English race."''  

The chronicle goes on to describe the ferocity of the raid, which was greeted with shock throughout the Christian world:

The chronicle goes on to describe the ferocity of the raid, which was greeted with shock throughout the Christian world: