THE NORTHMEN IN IRELAND, SCOTLAND, AND THE ISLANDS
At first the incursions of the Northmen took place only in
summer, but before long they began to winter in the lands which they visited.
Year by year their fleets became larger, and their attacks changed from mere forays
of pirates to well-organized expeditions of conquest and colonization. Early in
the ninth century we find them making permanent settlements in Ireland, and for
a time bringing a considerable part of that country under their control. The
first cities on Irish soil, including Dublin and Limerick, were founded by the
Northmen. Almost simultaneously with the attacks on Ireland came those on the
western coast of Scotland. In the course of their westward expeditions the
Northmen had already discovered the Faroe Islands, the Orkneys, the Shetlands
and the Hebrides. These barren and inhospitable islands received large numbers
of Norse immigrants and long remained under Scandinavian control.
THE NORTHMEN IN ICELAND
The Northmen soon discovered Iceland, where Irish monks
had previously settled. Colonization began in 874 A.D. [9] One of the most
valuable of the sagas—the "Book of the Land-taking"—describes the
emigration to the island and enumerates the Viking chiefs who took part in the
movement. Iceland soon became almost a second Norway in language, literature,
and customs. It remains to-day an outpost of Scandinavian civilization.
[9] The Icelanders in 1874 A.D. celebrated the thousandth
anniversary of the Scandinavian settlement of their island.
