Battlepuppy

My expertise as far of this subject goes it what I learned in High school over 20 years ago- so not much.

How much of the travels outside Scandinavia to the British isle were about colonization, and how much of it was a protection racket?

What were the social differences between the folks who stayed at home and herded goats, and the sailors who took off on long voyages and then returned home?

Were the voyages pretty much for the young folks, (then they came home and farmed) or was it one of those life-time career things were you keep going until you dropped (or someone dropped you.)

Did medieval Scandinavians get sick of everyone being named "son of" , "Daughter of" like the modern folks Reference or did the fact that they lived in a more agrarian community help? (identity tied to the farm they lived at)

When doing genealogy (Norway) in the 1800s, my relatives took their names from the farm they lived at.

firstname, son of, farmname.

How far back in the past was this practice used?

EDIT: How far back in the past was the practice of taking military last names go? My assumption that there were WAAAY too may Olesons in one spot, and everyone got confused.

Ah, right. Normandy...North-men.

Gotcha

Thanks for answering!

The Viking Answer Lady

Cool. Will do.

So the reasons for venturing out really depended upon who was backing them. Various political objectives and drives from different parts of Viking society.

Colonization started when they saw the raids worked well. Sort of: Well, that worked before, lets just stay there next time?