"Barbarians...thrusting their swords through everything, taking pity on nothing. The destruction is universal... Like a whirlwind or a typhoon or a torrent or I know now what to say"; "... inhumanity"; "...barbarous tribe"; "...harshness of its manners and the savagery of its character"; "...not respecting female weakness, not pitying tender infants".
Above are a few of the terms used by the Constantinople patriarch Photius to describe Vikings and their actions; but similarly horrific descriptions of the Vikings are to be found in numerous sources, Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh and the writings of Alcuin of Lindisfarne to name just two. To a large extent this image remains, even today, the stereotypical image of Scandinavians during the "Viking Age". However this is a very one-sided view, and ignores the full picture. …
