Vikings were scared of Scots

A man takes a photograph as the Swedish ship ‘Gotheborg’, a replica of the 18th century trading ship, arrives at Nanshan Harbour in Guangzhou of Guangdong Province, China. Photo / Getty Images/China Photos

The Viking reputation as bloodthirsty conquerors has endured for more than a millennium but new research shows that some Norsemen approached the British islands with more than a little trepidation.

Uppermost in the minds of the Icelandic merchants weighing anchor off Scotland in the Middle Ages were the ferocious reception they expected from hostile locals, dangerous landings, the incomprehensible language and the terrible weather (very foggy).

Advice handed down to Norse travellers in the 13th century warns those making the journey to Scotland that they did so at their own peril. A new analysis of the classic Icelandic Sagas (Islendingasagur) has unearthed the following counsel: "Icelanders who want to practise robbery are advised to go there ... but it may cost them their life."

The chronicles set down on yellowed calf vellum eight centuries ago have been reinterpreted by Gisli Sigurdsson, a historian at Reykjavik University.

The part-fact, part-fiction accounts based on the travels of the leading Icelandic families pertain to a period 200 years earlier.

At the height of their power the Scandinavian seafarers claimed Orkney, Shetland, Iceland and Greenland as their own. They had also established powerful colonies in mainland Scotland, England, Ireland, France, North America and Russia.

At this time the Scots were fighting off the Norman kings of England as well as coping with the bitter struggles of their own clans.

But the Norse became more interested in trading than fighting.

They were not always met with open arms, says Sigurdsson.

"The only places the Norse expected a safe reception was Orkney and Shetland, where the people were basically like them and where they would be greeted as kin," he said.

Orkney historian Tom Muir said the raiders typically preyed on easy targets such as monasteries.

"The truth is there were raids both ways and the Norse had every reason to fear Celtic neighbours."

- INDEPENDENT