Viking Legacy. It might be said that the Viking raids did not stop when the Scandinavians stopped taking part in them. If it is recognized that the Normans were the descendants of the Vikings, in military characteristics and goals as well as genealogy, then one might recognize their military endeavors against England, France, Sicily, and southern Italy as continuing Viking raids.

Birth of the Normans. It seems quite clear that when Charles the Simple gave the Viking chieftain Rollo the territory surrounding the lower Seine River in 911 there were no pretenses that either he or his followers would become "French." Yet, shortly thereafter that is precisely the direction that they took. They adopted the French language and religion, and they began to intermarry with the local peasantry and nobility. Soon the new dukes of Normandy, as Rollo and his descendants...