Did the viking invade England for the same reason as the Normans?

Answer 1

no they did not the normans came to invade England and the vikings came to steal goods

On the surface it would appear that the Vikings invaded for social reasons and the Normans for political reasons. William Duke of Normandy felt he was the rightful heir to the throne of England after King Edward died, however, Harold Earl of Wessex became King and this followed the invasion of the Norman army in 1066, known as The Battle of Hastings which brought an end to Anglo-Saxon England. conversely, the Vikings invaded for land and better quality of life, their homeland was hilly, sandy and not as fertile as Britain, and it was also over populated which added pressures to the land, whereas Britain only had a small population of under 1 million.

However, this is a simplified view and looking deeper into the political, social and economic climate of this era the Vikings and Normans also invaded for similar reasons.

In 1013, before the Norman invasion, the Vikings had also invaded for political reasons. when King Svein's (Viking king of Denmark) sister was killed for being outside the Danelaw area he invaded Britain with the intent of conquest, although he took control of some areas he died in 1014. The following year Cnut, Svein's son, returned with an even greater army, and because King Edmund died Cnut became king of all England.

It is also likely that the Normans invaded for social reasons similar to the Vikings for land and better quality of life. After the conquest William established the principle that 'all land belongs to the king'. Norman archbishops, earls, bishops, abbots and nobles were given land in return for providing soldiers when the king required; these then rented their land to under tenants. Moreover, Norman Barons were often given land as a reward and Norman soldiers were also given land which they too rented out to peasants. However, it could be argued that this system was more to do with economic (wealth) reasons rather than social.

Under this system money was basically being made through the English peasants who had to pay rent for the land they lived on or pay in labour. William I and his brothers owned nearly half the land in England and also earned money from trade and justice, as William had brought in fines for different types of crime. It has been estimated that the royal income at this time would have been around £20,000. Moreover, William ordered a great survey of the whole of his Kingdom to be conducted, detailing who owned what and how much it was worth; this became known as the 'Domesday book'. When finished the survey included detailed information on 13,400 villages and hamlets, and William could see just how much his government could raise in taxes. So indeed it would seem that wealth was a real motivating factor.

Wealth was also a motivation for the Vikings too. Bearing in mind they were experienced traders and raiders and had been raiding England for years before they invaded, it is obvious that they knew that England was not well defended and had good resources. The vikings were experienced traders and built up a good trading industry after settlement in England. Therefore, although we know they needed land, due to their homeland being over-populated and infertile, they most likely chose England, as opposed to somewhere else, for economic (wealth) reasons.

One difference in their reasons for invading England is that the Normans justified their invasions on religious grounds, whereas the Vikings had no such motivations for invading England. Therefore it would appear after looking more closely at the politics, social, economic and religious climate that the vikings and Normans had more in common for invading England than it first appears.