It's nice to be norse

Our erstwhile Scandic invaders have had their reputation cleared.

The image of Vikings which painted them as a band of marauding sex criminals has been somewhat dispelled, thanks to a new study of Britain's genetic make-up.

While Vikings may well have done their fair share of pillaging, the genes they have left behind suggest there was little sex involved.

Analysis of thousands of DNA samples from the UK, continental Europe and Scandinavia show a surprising lack of Viking genes in England, despite the Norsemen once occupying much of the country.

Even in Orkney, which was a part of Norway from 875 to 1472, the Vikings contributed only about 25 per cent of the current gene pool.

The Vikings, from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, carried out extensive raids and occupations across wide areas of northern and central Europe between the eighth and late 11th centuries.

The researchers, led by scientists from Oxford University and the Wellcome Trust, wrote in the journal Nature: "While many of the historical migration events leave signals in our data, they have had a smaller effect on the genetic composition of UK populations than has sometimes been argued."

So, Vikings were really nice guys, then, who just indulged in a bit of pillaging.

It's been a bad week for ... Vikings

The findings support previous research from the University of Oslo suggesting that Viking men were family-orientated and not that interested in the British women they conquered.

Rather than Viking raiding parties consisting wholly of macho men, researchers found that significant numbers of women, and possibly whole families, travelled on the longboats.

This explains much. It wasn't that Erik the Red and his mates were chaste gentlemen when it came to a pillaging session, it's just that their better halves had them under the thumb.