# Is there any evidence to support the view that Viking raids were revenge attacks for the Crusades? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2017, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-to-support-the-view-that-viking-raids-were-revenge-attacks-for-the-crusades/799956 "2017-10-27T05:45:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Birish88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Birish88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birish88)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-to-support-the-view-that-viking-raids-were-revenge-attacks-for-the-crusades/799956/21 "2017-10-28T00:08:42Z")
Any time they would go back to a country was to get payment cause if they didnt they would do what they did the first time they landed there.france was one country inperticular gave them alot of gold to stay away.nothing anywhere suggest revenge.everyone was afraid of them back then and gave what they asked ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-to-support-the-view-that-viking-raids-were-revenge-attacks-for-the-crusades/799956/22 "2017-10-28T00:22:38Z")
France gave them the Duchy of Normandy to make them stay away. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-to-support-the-view-that-viking-raids-were-revenge-attacks-for-the-crusades/799956/23 "2017-10-28T00:52:48Z")
I believe this public domain poem explains it: \*\* Rudyard Kipling\*\* Dane-Geld A.D. 980-1016 It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation To call upon a neighbour and to say: – “We invaded you last night–we are quite prepared to fight, Unless you pay us cash to go away.” And that is called asking for Dane-geld, And the people who ask it explain That you’ve only to pay 'em the Dane-geld And then you’ll get rid of the Dane! It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation, To puff and look important and to say: – “Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you. We will therefore pay you cash to go away.” And that is called paying the Dane-geld; But we’ve proved it again and again, That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld You never get rid of the Dane. It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation, For fear they should succumb and go astray; So when you are requested to pay up or be molested, You will find it better policy to say: – “We never pay any-one Dane-geld, No matter how trifling the cost; For the end of that game is oppression and shame, And the nation that pays it is lost!” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-to-support-the-view-that-viking-raids-were-revenge-attacks-for-the-crusades/799956/24 "2017-10-28T07:52:57Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Why do you say that? Religion was used as the pretext to establish Christian rule over lands inhabited by non-Christians. Charlemagne even had the support of the Roman Pope. \*He \*may have, but the actual Saxon Wars themselves were not, AFAIK, sanctioned by the Church itself for the purpose of conversion. It’s that official _imprimatur_ that renders it a Crusade, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-to-support-the-view-that-viking-raids-were-revenge-attacks-for-the-crusades/799956/25 "2017-10-28T13:00:36Z")
Most wide religions were spread by the use of force at one time or another — even Buddhism occasionally. This is not so much a function ( wicked ! ) of religion, nor exactly of rivalry and expansion, but that coercion is generally needed to achieve most things. The awful results were partially the reason the British Imperialists generally eschewed missionary endeavour — at _the same time_ as offering the spread of christianity as a reason to the people back home — and if possible shut missionaries out. Plus Queen Victoria opposed converting people. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-to-support-the-view-that-viking-raids-were-revenge-attacks-for-the-crusades/799956/26 "2017-10-28T19:47:18Z")
I’ve read claims about Viking raids being a response to Christian imperialism in continental Europe. I’ve never seen evidence that make it more than a quirky hypothesis that make less sense than the conventional assumptions. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-to-support-the-view-that-viking-raids-were-revenge-attacks-for-the-crusades/799956/27 "2017-10-29T11:11:45Z")
Aren’t there theories about population growth in Viking territories and technological advances (longships) that made raiding other countries both more necessary and easier? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-to-support-the-view-that-viking-raids-were-revenge-attacks-for-the-crusades/799956/28 "2017-10-29T18:03:16Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > I believe this public domain poem explains it: > \*\* > Rudyard Kipling\*\* Gotta love Kipling, and the poem is as true today as when he wrote it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-evidence-to-support-the-view-that-viking-raids-were-revenge-attacks-for-the-crusades/799956.md?page=1)