[rmc]

The "real" Europe at the time had [to a large part] gone on beyond that stage [of clan societies].

What was the real Europe in (say) 850? The (Eastern) Roman Empire (aka Byzantine Empire), with it's head quarters in modern day Turkey?

[BugBrother]

I was talking about the destinations "visited" in West Europe by vikings at the time. That was what the quote marks indicated. (It is a bit simplified, Ireland still had partly a tribal society of course.) Sorry I was unclear.

If I should say anything else on the subject, it is that the frustration about all this, like most history, is all the things we will never know.

I read ~ 10 years ago a fascinating theory about berserkers using self suggestion and being influenced by Roman warrior cults (the Roman empire had camps quite close to Denmark a few centuries before the viking age.) It was so frustrating that we almost certainly never will know.