Semester
Spring
Date of Graduation
2002
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
History
Committee Chair
Stephen McCluskey.
Committee Co-Chair
Patrick Conner
Committee Member
Matthew Vester
Abstract
Current scholarship regarding Scandinavia has neglected to give all but a cursory glance at the factors involved in Viking expansion. This thesis studies and explains employment opportunities, political motives, and societal norms as separate, individual motives that perpetuated Scandinavian migration, conquest, and adventure from the eighth through the eleventh centuries AD. Afterwards, these investigations are used to describe the various and sometimes conflicting forces of expansion that led to the formation of the Danelaw in England circa AD 870. Over time, the eventual adoption of Christianity and feudal relationships within Scandinavia would bring expansion as well as the Viking Age to a close.
Recommended Citation
Cox, Darrin M., "Explaining Viking expansion" (2002). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 819.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/819