Why did the age of Viking expansion/ era come to an end?

by WithaClue2010

The period 800-1100 roughly was relatively short for Vikings to be well doing Vikingy things I am curious as to why the era came to an end and anything that might have happened to cause such. I do understand that our info is limited due to sources being after said time frame, and the accuracy of the likes of the Vinland sagas is partially confirmed in places at best, either way though any insight would be helpful.

Steelcan909

So there are a few things to get at with your question. Unfortunately this isn't as simple an answer as you might initially expect! Many books conveniently end the "Viking Age" in 1066, a nice neat number for several reasons, not least of which is that other big battle that happened in 1066 that usually gets to wrap up "Anglo-Saxon England" as well!

However the traditional date implies that "viking" activity ceased following the defeat of Harald, and this is not the case. Only a few years after this failed attack the Danes also launched a campaign against England, though the eventual outcome is unclear as our sources do not agree, one claims that William bought them off but scattered by a storm, another that the raids were defeated and scattered and the survivors either made home or were killed. Just because this action was unsuccessful does that mean it does not count as part of the "Viking Age?" How do we also categorized later Scandinavian raids and conquests in the Baltic, can we draw a neat line and say that these people were in the "Viking Age" for one raid directed at England, but not another, and certainly not for the wars, crusades, and raids that were happening in the Baltic? I also do not think that it is extremely helpful to categorize all of the "Viking Age" within one framework, the nature of Scandinavian raids in the 800's was very different to the organized and systematic conquest of England by Danish kings in the early 12th century.

In the Anglophone world we say that the "Viking Age" ended after the Norwegian army was defeated, but this is both retroactive, the Danes would continue to raid England and the Scandinavians more broadly continued overseas conquests just in a different sea, and only applies to the English speaking world. Scandinavian involvement in Eastern Europe continued for centuries afterwards, but does not capture the imagination of the Anglophone world, probably because it didn't really involve western Europe to a large degree.

So I would say to you that the "Viking Age" did not really end in the 12th century or after the defeat of Harald Hardrade, Scandinavian overseas adventures simply changed focus and target following this time period and Scandinavian involvement in the Baltic would extend for centuries more. There is no one definitive moment that you can point to that definitively ended the "Viking Age", in 1067 no one sat up and realized the era was over (nor did they realize it had started to be fair). For Anglophones it is conveniently said to have ended following the defeat of Harald and the failure of Danish raids a few years later as Scandinavia was no longer the main focus of English attention. Following the Conquest, England became wrapped up in matters in France and the Low Countries far more than it was involved with Scandinavia. The reasons for this are rather obvious with the Norman Conquest following the disintegration of the North Sea realm ruled briefly by a Danish dynasty more or less breaking England's ties to Scandinavia and instead wrapping it up with France.