Vikings: Russia Wessex was followed by the renewed attacks against Francia Occasionally uniting Viking forces raided the Continent and concentrated on the nonfortified area of the Rhine Building fortifications was a successful defense strategy and prevented Vikings from invading Rochester and Paris Although these measures did not hinder invaders from raiding farther inland, numerous captives and huge quantities of plunder and tribute were taken After the defeat of 891 near Louvain, Vikings attempted to conquer West Saxony again without success This lesson was learned in the British Isles as well In 896 the Vikings failed to conquer the areas of England not already under their control because more and more fortifications were constructed In the 10th century possibilities were limited for Vikings in the British Isles Wessex was still on the defense in the beginning of the ninth century, but later on, the Vikings experienced defeat after defeat At that time York was the center of the Scandinavians, but by the 940s the English were severely attacking the lands of the newcomers and took over York in 954 In Ireland five high kingdoms and several subkingdoms were competing at the beginning of the ninth century By the 830s raids became much more frequent and a decade later Vikings turned into a permanent presence One of the most important new centers was Dublin, a fortified enclosure that became a prosperous merchant and manufacturing town by the 10th century When Norwegians and Danes settled, they became more vulnerable to counterattack; therefore after the major attacks of 847, many moved to Francia After a 40-year resting period Viking activity renewed and soon reached its peak However Vikings settlements did not live long in Ireland under the constant pressure of the kings of Munster and kings of Meath and the Norse population started to decline by the late 10th century RETURN TO ENGLAND, AND CHRISTIANIZATION By the end of the 10th century Scandinavian raids renewed on western Europe, especially in England Under the king Ethelred, the English were able to pay large sums to the Vikings, because the country had a significant quantity of high quality silver coins In 1013 Sweyn decided to conquer England and finished the campaign by the end of the year, probably to prevent the challenge of Thorkell He was acknowledged as a king but died a few weeks later The English recalled Ethelred, but Sweyn’s son, Canute, returned in 1015 and was the king of English, Danes, and Norwegians until his death in 1035 After the successors of Canute died in 1042 Ethelred’s son Edward became the king He died childless in 1066 419 and his successor, Harold Godwinson, was challenged by the Norwegian king, Harald Hardrada After the fights of the following decades for the Crown, England never again suffered serious Viking attacks Some Scandinavian raids did continue; however, pirates became more often the victims of such attacks The Danes especially suffered from serious Slavic raids by the 11th century Christianity became more and more important in Scandinavia Paganism remained strong in Sweden, but by the end of the 12th century all Scandinavian nations were Christianized Nordic merchants and pirates were amazed by the wealth of the British Isles and Francia First conversions were often temporary, but by the 10th century most Norsemen who had settled in Europe were Christians At the same time missions became more and more frequent to Scandinavia and all these changes led to the acceptance of Christianity in Nordic societies By the help of religion Scandinavians integrated to Christian Europe and new political organizations were established, based on written law and royal diplomas Therefore the Viking raids ended and Scandinavian kings gained more and more power by the 11th century See also Ericson, Lief; Frankish tribe; Vikings: Iceland, Icelandic sagas; vikings: North America; vikings: Russia Further reading: Campbell, James Graham, ed Cultural Atlas of the Viking World New York: Facts On File, 1994; Clarke, Helen, and Björn Ambrosiani Towns in the Viking Age New York: St Martin’s Press, 1991; Fitzhugh, W W., and E I Ward, eds Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2000; Foote, P., and D M Wilson The Viking Achievement London: Sidgwick & Jackson 1970; Helle, Knut, ed The Cambridge History of Scandinavia Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003; Jesch, Judith Women in the Viking Age Rochester, NY: The Boydell Press, 1991; Logan, F Donald The Vikings in History New York: Routledge, 1991 Viktor Pal Vikings: Russia Vikings (Rus in the Arabic and Varangians in the Greek sources), primarily from central Sweden and the Isle of Gotland, first entered northwestern Russia by way of the Gulf of Finland, the Neva River, and Lake Ladoga, in small exploratory groups in the mid-eighth century By c 850 the Vikings had established a complex commercial network stretching from Lake Ladoga to the Islamic