| Show rr ITHE THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE i S by dodd mead company the rae norsemen norseman Nor semen ft arf p ROM BOM the fury of the norsemen norseman Nor semen 1 good lord deliver val this line from the ancient church litany sums up in one sentence the terror inspired all over the civilized earth by the scandinavian sea gea roberg of 0 the ninth and tenth centuries A D on the sterile coasts ot of norway sweden and denmark lived a hardy race known to the world at large as danes or Nor North men their own rocky countries could not support them the love of wandering and of battle was hot within them they wore were almost amphibious in their devotion to the sea thus just as europe wits was beginning to settle into some sort of international pence peace and stability of government aher after the turmoil of the dark ages down swooped hordes of these wild North men upon nearly every rich and fertile country they could find burning murdering looting conquering it was the northern peril the people of that day dreaded for no ile coast dweller of england france germany Geri nany or italy could tey on what morning he might awake to ste see the horizon dotted by the serpent proved long oared hung galleys of the invaders or find his city in the iner merciless elless grip of half balf naked yellow haired barbarians it was before the day of telegraphs cables or any of rapid communication muni cation catlon hence there was no forewarning of the swift terrible raids no opportunity to mass a sufficient force to repel them much poetical luster has since been cast upon the North men As a matter of fact they were simply pirates sea robbers cutthroats cut throats they had no stable government no modern laws each community was ruled by the admiral of some particular pirate fleet lie he was known as a sea king or viking the victims had bad no way of retaliating talia ting by the time an army of resistance 1 ace si I could be raised the vikings were at sea again and had vanished into the mysterious north they were men of iron their climate and poverty having accustomed them to bear cold hunger and every other privation without injury they had no settled home no patriotic ambition no pleasures save war and feasting yet tet they left their mark on the world and on its history under a viking named rollo a party or of north men ravaged france in A D plundering paris and putting the french king at their mercy to appease them thi king rave gave rollo a vast tract of french land and made him a duke on this athla land the raiders settled the name North men changing to norman aud and their new dukedom taking the title of normandy it was a direct find and near descendant of rollo who was destined later to conquer england and change the english language law and government for two centuries great britain was devastated by the North men alfred the great being the only klug king who scored any permanent success in clear lug ing the land of them but on alfreds death they returned in fresh numbers and soon conquered all england for many triana years they ruled the country little by little as large colonies of North men invaded and conquered other lands settling down in their rte arte new possessions they became merged in the former populations of those countries lending tresh fresh vigor energy and hardihood to the conquered races but losing losano their own norse Idi entity there thus developed a trace of sea rover blood in neatly every european race leading nations to aggressive conquest to exploration to marine trade and to personal prowess pr owesa in time scandinavia lost so many men by those wholesale emigrations emig rations that there were no longer enough left to terrorize other countries eric the red a ruddy haired ruddy faced scandinavian pirate discovered greenland late in the hie tenth century and settled there then in the year IM 1000 according to many authorities erics son leif sailed on a foraging and exploring expedition with a crew of thirty five men they lost their bearings and sailed westward before I 1 a gale arriving at last at a wonderful country ry such as they had bad never before seen or heard of it was north america they had bad bilin blundered upon from the masses of wild 9 grapes ipes at the various spots where they landed they named the new country VIDe hind aid and sailed back to report their discovery seven years later a colow coloni of sixty greenlanders Green landers came to america Arn erlea and laDd landing Ilig it la is said on the shores of rhode island formed what was planned to he be a per permanent anent settlement this settlement settle ment for a time nourished flourished hut but soon all trace of it ends its people were probably massacred by indians dl a for years longer america was destined to lie undiscovered yet tet to the North men this country owes a vast debt for it was due largely to rumors and traditions of delfs voy ages that columbus first conceived the idea that there was a continent to the westward stward Ae it was due also to tile the lovo lova of ct the sen sea and the tendency to explore I 1 in europeans heart by a norse ancestry that columbus voyages were rendered possible so america as aa well as the older countr countries ILS of the earth has cause to think kindly of 0 the murderous ye yellow how haired norse giants whose name mime wall wa I 1 I 1 once a terror to the whole civilized world |
