Northern Invaders. With the invasions of the Vikings, which began in Scotland at the end of the eighth century and followed into Ireland and the continent in the early ninth century, Western Europeans recognized how small their own world was. Here, as had been the case with the third-century and fourth-century barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire, were foreigners who seemed to travel from incredibly long distances simply to make the rather conventional lives of western Europeans extremely difficult. However, it would be wrong to consider the Viking invasions only in their "raid-and-return-to-Scandinavia" context. While it is true that the majority of early Viking raids were just that, before even the ninth century was over several groups of these Northerners had begun to settle on some of their conquered lands and trade with their neighbors. Especially active in this were those...