Читать книгу Irish History: People, places and events that built Ireland - Neil Hegarty - Страница 27

These Vikings are popularly remembered as bloodthirsty marauders, invariably out to loot and pillage, but it is important to remember that the history of these years was written by the monks, who were not disposed to look kindly on the Norse and their activities in Ireland. And indeed, the truth is that there is a great deal more to the history of the Vikings in Ireland than bloodshed and violence. They traded as much as they raided – raided for Church booty (altar treasures and jewelled bibles); traded in jet, glass, and leather, and in slaves – and, as is the way with invaders, they gradually settled in Ireland, intermarried, and became players on the domestic economic and political scene. They established settlements at Limerick, Cork, Youghal, Wexford, Arklow, and Waterford, and these grew rapidly into thriving towns and ports with wide trading connections across Ireland and further afield. And, significantly, many monastic settlements continued to exist alongside Viking bases, thus complicating the idea that when the Norsemen arrived on the scene, the monasteries were always burned and the monks driven out. This is history underpinned by human impulses, not merely of violence, but of economic necessity, interdependence, and love.