"At first sight it seems that there is very little to recommend the Viking people: their civilisation was based on war, looting, aggression, rape and other crimes that make the average modern human being blench. The truth was though, that these crimes made most of the members of the Viking culture blench, too. They were content that the warriors should travel far afield to terrorise distant lands -- after all, if innocents are going to be massacred, your priorities are that you shouldn't be one of them and that the persecution should be happening as far away as possible, so that you have no direct experience of it."

An Introduction to Viking Mythology by John Grant (Published by Eagle)

Editor's note: We learn from history...etc.