Gone Medieval What Caused the Viking Age?
Jan 27, 2026
C.J. Adrien, historian and co-host of Vikingology, and Terri Barnes, historian and author, discuss why Scandinavians took to the seas. They probe ship technology, regional and political variation, trade and silver, marriage pressures and social prestige. They sketch climate, migration and economic motives as overlapping drivers that reshaped medieval Europe.
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Episode notes
Lindisfarne Visit Illustrates Targeting
- Terri Barnes recounts visiting Lindisfarne and discovering the island's causeway limited access.
- She uses the experience to illustrate how early targets like Holy Island and Noirmoutier were deliberate, not random.
Raiding Preceded The Viking Label
- Raiding by sea predates the 8th century and Scandinavians participated in earlier maritime predation.
- Terri Barnes highlights continuity: boat-borne theft is an age-old human activity, not a sudden Viking invention.
Climate Is Insufficient As Sole Cause
- The medieval climate hypothesis lacks tight chronological fit with Viking outbreaks.
- Terri Barnes and James Barrett note climate change probably mattered but cannot alone explain the Viking surge.
