It was not uncommon for a Viking chieftain, after his days of sea-roving had ended, to be buried in his ship, over which a grave chamber, covered with earth, would be erected. The discovery of several of these burial ships enables us to form a good idea of Viking vessels. The largest of them might reach a length of seventy feet and hold as many as one hundred and twenty men. A fleet of the Northmen, carrying several thousand warriors, mail-clad and armed with spears, swords, and battle-axes, was indeed formidable. During this period the Northmen were the masters of the sea, as far as western Europe was concerned. This fact largely explains their successful campaigns. [Illustration: A VIKING SHIP The Gokstad vessel is of oak, twenty-eight feet long and sixteen feet broad in the center. It has seats for sixteen pairs of rowers, a mast for a single sail, and a rudder on the right or starboard side. The gunwale was decorated with a series of shields, painted alternately black and gold. This ship, which probably dates from about 900 A.D., was found on the shore of Christiania Fiord. A still larger ship, of about the same date, was taken in 1904 A.D. from the grave of a Norwegian queen at Oseberg. With the queen had been buried a four-wheeled wagon, three sleighs, three beds, two chests, a chair, a large loom, and various kitchen utensils, in fact everything needed for her comfort in the other world.] THE SAGAS A very important source of information for the Viking Age consists of the writings called sagas. [5] These narratives are in prose, but they were based, in many instances, on the songs which the minstrels (_skalds_) sang to appreciative audiences assembled at the banqueting board of a Viking chieftain. It was not until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that the sagas were committed to writing. This was done chiefly in Iceland, and so it happens that we must look to that distant island for the beginnings of Scandinavian literature. SUBJECT MATTER OF THE SAGAS The sagas belong to different classes. The oldest of them relate the deeds of Viking heroes and their families. Others deal with the lives of Norwegian kings. Some of the most important sagas describe the explorations and settlements of the Northmen and hence possess considerable value as historical records. THE NORTHMEN AS SEEN IN THE SAGAS