Like a biblical plague the Vikings descended upon an unsuspecting Christendom with an eye for easy picking. Despite the savagery of the raids the Viking’s activities lasted only for a little more than 200 years ending by 1016. Fueled by landless warriors seeking slaves and riches, many were more than happy with surplus land to call home. Most rulers were only too happy to delude themselves into believing that land would make the Vikings settle down. In 911 one such band, led by a fierce warrior named Rollo, was granted the land around the river Seine, called Normandy. At first they settled the land and dealt with the problems of ruling it but soon became bored. As the rest of the Viking world turned to quieter pursuits, these Normans took over as the foremost destabilizing force in Europe. Feuding with neighbors, fighting wars for control of more territory, and raiding other land for conquest became their favorite past times. Like a plague they attacked England then Sicily before getting into the Crusade movement on the ground floor and carrying war to the Holy Land, North Africa, Egypt, Constantinople and southern France. The land that was supposed to calm them became a base of operations giving them better supplies, training, and equipment. Their success in gaining control of the Kingdom of Normandy also convinced them to settle for nothing less elsewhere, turning the Viking’s raids into wars and continuing widespread depravations for another 200 years. The Europe these people decended upon was Charlemagne’s Europe and in many ways it was an extension of the Roman Empire. It was a land of important cities surrounded by large estates in the form of monasteries and lordly estates protected by an army. During the 9th and 10th century Viking, Magyar, and Saracen raiders refused to give battle, avoided the defended cities and grew rich on the country estates, undefended villages, and monasteries. Faced with this threat, Europeans settled down to defend themselves by fortifying strongpoints where people and livestock could hold out against the raiders. These motte and bailey castles were simply a well built building surrounded by a wall and ditch. The problem was some one had to be the lord of this castle. These lords grew rich and independent of other authorities. They dispensed justice in their land and raised families of lords in their castles. These families fought for more territory, raided their neighbors, built new castles, and waged private wars. As the violence of the raiders subsided it was replaced by castle violence no less damaging or dangerous than the Vikings. To try to curb this violence all major sections of medieval society tried to provide answers. The Church knew there would be pagan violence in its society, but claims of Christian superiority were a bit threatened when Christian violence replaced, and exceeded, pagan violence. Whether from adventurous Normans or castle lords this was Christians acting in a very unchristian ways. So the Church outlawed violence against Christians, but this did not work very well. So they made some days off limits for, but this did not work very well either. Then Pope Gregory VII received a request from the Byzantine Empire for soldiers to fight the Turks, and this sounded like such a good idea he keeled over dead. But this was an idea too good to die, so at Clermont in 1095 Urban II resurrected it. Calling for a crusade to liberate the holy land Urban started a movement which was to drain Europe of warmongering lord for the next 200 years. The Crusades became the church’s answer to knightly violence. It provided an outlet for youthful aggression, gave younger sons a profession, provided a new source of land for the landless knights, and looked good on paper. Although crusades were generally seen as large enterprises the impulse created a continuous avenue for the adventurous. It was also very costly in manpower and purged Europe of excessive lordly classes and provided a outward expression of piety for those who liked to hit others over the head. The Crusades worked fairly well but did not completely wipe out violence in Europe. Many warriors stayed home and even the crusaders often returned home to get in a bit of head bashing. Many of the great lords who had originally started the problem by building castles and installing knights in them wanted another way to stop the violence without depopulating the land which would reestablish their authority. In order to do this, they began to hold gatherings of warriors for mock combats with rules and prizes called tournaments. These tournaments were informal affairs used by great nobles to awe others though shows of magnificence. The warriors loved the prizes and rapidly these started to attract mechanist and artisans. In most cases these differed from war only in their ferocity. The weapons were blunted, safe areas established, and boundaries set but often that was all. The warriors ranged over great areas, set fire to buildings, and captured opponents for ransom just like war, although sometimes ransom was fixed in advance. This provided an excellent opportunity for the knights to earn a living though ransom, advertise their skill, and network. Thus they grew in importance as warriors frequently traveled from one to another squandering the campaigning season and leaving little time left for war. While tournaments and crusades had some success curtailing violence they were not completely successful although lots of fun. To stop violence there had to be a universal authority able to smack down those disturbing the peace. This became apparent in the late 12th century where all the tournaments and crusades would not prevent rebellion, assassination, and robbery in Flanders. This left only one possible choice for peace and that was the King. Upon returning from Crusade in 1149 King Louis VII found his country in disarray. The church ridiculed his failures on crusade, his Wife Eleanor of Aquitaine couldn’t stand to see him any more, and his most powerful vassal, Henry II of England, was in revolt. Despite a life of failures Louis rose to the occasion and made himself a vassal of the monastery of St. Denis. This put the whole of France under church law, which still included those odd little laws against warfare. Louis set out to enforce these with the help of the church. The church started preaching the laws against violence, and Louis used his considerable resources to keep an army handy to enforce the law. He rode through out France removing bad lords and arbitrating conflicts. By the end of his life in 1180, France was in the middle of its second decade of peace. This made quite an impact upon Louis peers who decided to copy his style and end private war within their lands.