Thereupon Russian colonization and political influence retreated northwards, and from that time the continuous stream of Russian history is to be sought in the land where the Vikings first settled and in the adjoining basin of the upper Volga.
In 801 we find Norwegians on the upper Shannon; in 820 the whole of Ireland was harried; and five years later we hear of Vikings in Co.
As in England, the vikings had o~d.
853 Olaf the White was over-king of Ireland, the vikings' power on the whole diminished.
Our hearts beat fast, and our hands trembled with excitement, not fear, for we had the hearts of vikings, and we knew that our skipper was master of the situation.