Northmen were so called because they came into Middle Europe from
the north. Sometimes they were called Vikings (Vi'-kings), or
pirates, because they were adventurous sea-robbers who plundered
all countries which they could reach by sea.

Their ships were long and swift. In the center was placed a single
mast, which carried one large sail. For the most part, however,
the Norsemen depended on rowing, not on the wind, and sometimes
there were twenty rowers in one vessel.

The Vikings were a terror to all their neighbors; but the two
regions that suffered most from their attacks were the Island of
Britain and that part of Charlemagne's empire in which the Franks
were settled.

Nearly fifty times in two hundred years the lands of the Franks
were invaded. The Vikings sailed up the large rivers into the heart
of the region which we now call France and captured and pillaged
cities and towns. Some years after Charlemagne's death they went
as far as his capital, Aix (aks), took the place, and stabled their
horses in the cathedral which the great emperor had built.

In the year 860 they discovered Iceland and made a settlement upon
its shores. A few years later they sailed as far as Greenland,
and there established settlements which existed for about a century.

These Vikings were the first discoverers of the continent on which
we live. Ancient books found in Iceland tell the story of the
discovery. It is related that a Viking ship was driven during a
storm to a strange coast, which is thought to have been that part