ept waters of the north, at
least in historic times, were the Teutonic tribes along the North
Sea and the Baltic. On land the Teutons held the Rhine and the
Danube against the legions of Rome, spread later southward and
westward, and founded modern European states out of the wreckage
of the Roman Empire. On the sea, Angles, Saxons, and Jutes in the
5th century began plundering the coasts of what is now England,
and, after driving the Celts into mountain fastnesses, established
themselves in permanent control.

_The Vikings_

These Teutonic voyagers were followed toward the close of the 8th
century by their Scandinavian kindred to the northward, the
Vikings--superb fighting men and daring sea-rovers who harried
the coasts of western Europe for the next 200 years. There were no
navies to stop them. "These sea dragons," exclaimed Charlemagne,
"will tear my kingdom asunder!" In England no king before Alfred
had a navy; and Alfred was compelled to organize a strong sea force
to bring the invaders to terms.

Elsewhere the Vikings met little opposition. Wherever they found
lands that attracted them, they conquered and settled dawn. Thus
Normandy came into being. They swept up the rivers, burning and
looting where they pleased, from the Elbe to the Rhone. They carried
their raids as far south as Sicily and the Mediterranean coast of
Africa, and as far north and west as Iceland, Greenland, and the
American continent. In the east, by establishing a Viking colony
at Nishni Novgorod, they laid the foundations of the Russian empire,
and their leader, Rus, gave it his name. Following river courses,
others penetrated inland as far as Constantinople, where, being
bought off by the emperor, they took service as imperial guards.

Their extraordinary voyages were made in boats that resemble so
closely Greek and Roman models--even Phoenician, for that matter--as
to suggest that the Vikings learned their ship-building from
Mediterranean traders who forced their way into the Baltic in very
early times. For example, the Viking method of making a rib in
three parts is identical with the method of the Greeks and Romans.
The chief points of difference are that Viking ships were sharp
at both ends--like a canoe, were round-bottomed instead of flat,
and had one steering oar instead of two. The typical Viking ship
was only about 75 feet in length; but a royal vessel--the _Dragon_
of the chief--sometimes attained a length of 300 feet, with six