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First of all, because the majority of scribes that left us tales about that era were monks. Churches and monasteries were a very popular target for Norman raids. To borrow a quote from US bank robber Willie Sutton: "Because that's where the money was". The clerical historians of the day may be excused to have taken a dim view of their Viking visitors, and they made no secret of it, describing Viking atrocities at length and in the shrillest of terms.

Viking raids were of course a part of Norman activities, but their impact on Europe went much farther than that: they settled large parts of today's Britain and Ireland, Normandy, France owes its name and population to them; William the Conqueror and his Norman nobles conquered Britain and established England as it in many ways still is today; the Vikings discovered and settled Iceland, Greenland and even - for a time - North America. They were responsible for booming trade all through Russia and the Byzantine Empire and ruled Sicily for a considerable time. The Vikings (or Normans) have left their mark on medieval Europe and its development like no other people.

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7y ago

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