For three centuries, the Vikings terrified the whole of Western Europe. For three centuries they were the "scourge of God" for neighboring peoples, eventually moving from raids and robberies to full-scale conquests - at the beginning of the 11th century they conquered England and Ireland, forced France to pay tribute to them and founded the Norman kingdom on the North French lands, which was destined to play a prominent role in history. The Vikings left an equally noticeable mark in Eastern Europe, but here their habits were strikingly different from what the West was horrified by - in the "Tale of Bygone Years" there is practically no information about Varangian atrocities and robberies. It is only known that in the middle of the 9th century the Scandinavians levied tribute from the Chudi, Mary, Krivichi and Novgorod Slovenes, but in 862 they were expelled by the united Slavic and Ugro-Finnish tribes, who called for the reign of the legendary Rurik.