In 844, Abd ar-Rahman repulsed an assault by Vikings who had disembarked in Cadiz, conquered Seville ( with the exception of its citadel ) and attacked Córdoba itself.

By the ninth century a sixth language, Old Norse, had arrived with the Vikings.

The Vikings had similar effects on the various kingdoms of the Scots, Picts and ( to a lesser extent ) Welsh.

Led by Rollo, some Vikings had settled in Normandy and were granted the land, first as counts and then as dukes, by King Charles the Simple, in order to protect the land from other raiders.

There were also five teams which the Texans had never beaten: the Baltimore Ravens ( 0-5 in regular season, 0-1 in playoffs ), Minnesota Vikings ( 0-2 ), New York Jets ( 0-5 ), Philadelphia Eagles ( 0-3 ) and San Diego Chargers ( 0-4 ).

A similar game called Knattleikr had been played for a thousand years or more by the Vikings as documented in the Icelandic Sagas.

Although the white jerseys of the Minnesota Vikings at the time also had a similar striping pattern and continued as such ( as well as the throwbacks the New England Patriots wore in the Thanksgiving game against the Detroit Lions in 2002, though the Patriots later wore the same throwbacks in 2009 with truncated stripes and in 2010 became their official alternate uniform ), the Colts and most college teams with this striping pattern did not make this adjustment.

Viking navigational techniques are not well understood, but historians postulate that the Vikings probably had some sort of primitive astrolabe and used the stars to plot their course.

Since the team's first season in 1961, the Vikings have had one of the highest winning percentages in the NFL.

The search for the first head coach had the team court then-Northwestern University head coach Ara Parseghian, who according to Minneapolis Star writer Jim Klobuchar — the Vikings ' first beat reporter for that newspaper — visited team management in the Twin Cities under the condition that his visit was to be kept secret from his current employer.

The losing continued throughout much of the 60s as the Vikings had a combined record of 32 wins, 59 losses, and 7 ties in their first 7 seasons with only one winning season ( 8 – 5 – 1 in 1964 ).

Three days later on March 10, the Vikings hired new head coach Bud Grant to replace Van Brocklin, who had resigned on February 11, 1967.

In, the Vikings went 12 – 2, the best record in the NFL, and had 12 straight regular-season victories, after a season-opening loss to the New York Giants, which was the longest single-season winning streak in 35 years.

Following the strike-shortened 1987 season, the 8 – 7 Vikings, who had finished 8 – 4 in regular games but 0 – 3 using strike-replacement players, pulled two upsets in the playoffs by beating the two teams with the best regular season records.

In his 10 seasons as the coach of the Vikings, Green won four NFC Central division titles, had eight playoff appearances, two NFC Championship game appearances and an all-time record of 97 – 62.

The Vikings therefore had the fifth highest winning percentage among all NFL teams during the regular season in the 1990s.

In the playoffs, the Vikings rolled past the Arizona Cardinals 41 – 21, and came into the Metrodome heavily favored for their NFC title showdown with the Atlanta Falcons, who had gone 14 – 2 in the regular season.

During the season, the Vikings had many distractions, including trading for Randy Moss and then waiving him only a month later, Brett Favre's NFL investigation for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages to Jets ' employee Jenn Sterger while he was with the team in 2008, the Metrodome's collapse and resulting venue changes, and finally head coach Brad Childress ' firing on November 22 following a 31 – 3 loss at the hands of the rival Green Bay Packers.

From 1969 through 1973, the Vikings had an alternate purple jersey without stripes for warm-weather games.

Like the Vikings, the Chiefs also had an outstanding defensive line, which was led by defensive tackles Buck Buchanan and Curley Culp, and defensive ends Jerry Mays and Aaron Brown.

The defeat was total for the Vikings, as even their " Indestructible " quarterback Joe Kapp had to be helped off the field in the fourth quarter after being sacked by Chiefs defensive lineman Aaron Brown.

( The Kansas City Chiefs had used similar tactics against the same Vikings defensive line in Super Bowl IV ).

The Vikings then had their best opportunity to score in the first half on their ensuing drive.

The Steelers ' " Steel Curtain " had led the AFC in fewest points allowed ( 189 ) and the Vikings ' " Purple People Eaters " had only given up 195.

The siege lasted four months before the fortress fell to the Vikings who returned to Ireland with many prisoners, " Angles, Britons and Picts ", in 871.

Grant came to the Vikings from the Canadian Football League as head coach for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, whom he led to four Grey Cup Championships in ten years.

There was no more playoff magic as the Rams finally defeated the Vikings, 34 – 10 in Los Angeles after having lost in their previous four playoff matchups ( in 1969, ' 74, ' 76 and ' 77 ).

In his first season, the Vikings led by the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Tommy Kramer, went 9 – 7, their first winning record in four years.

After a week four bye-week, the Vikings received star wide receiver Randy Moss in a trade with the New England Patriots.

After losing in the first round to the Vikings in 1997, the Giants needed to close out the season with four wins to finish 8 – 8 in 1998.

Then Mercury Morris ran right for four yards, Larry Csonka crashed through the middle for two, and quarterback Bob Griese completed a 13-yard pass to tight end Jim Mandich to advance the ball to the Vikings 43-yard line.

The Broncos, who posted an 11-5 regular season record, were looking to avoid tying the Minnesota Vikings with four Super Bowl losses.

Other notable residents include Carl E. Vuono, four star general and Chief of Staff of the U. S. Army ; Jim Jimirro, founder of the Disney Channel ; Fred Cox, all-time leading scorer for the Minnesota Vikings and inventor of the Nerf ball ; and Dr. Ronald V. Pellegrini, a world renowned cardiothoracic surgeon based in Pittsburgh.

While waiting for the Vikings to be delivered the airline leased four Douglas DC-3 aircraft from BOAC in December 1946.

Each student is placed in one of four Houses ( Cody Cougars, Lewis Vikings, Crawford Knights, and Althouse Alligators ); several competitive House events are held throughout the year.

This was four days before the Vikings played the Dallas Cowboys in the last regular-season game of the 1982 NFL season.

During the 1970s, the Vikings would appear in three more Super Bowls ( VIII, IX, and XI ) under Grant and lose each one, but was the first coach to lead a team to four Super Bowls.

During his tenure with the Vikings, he led the Vikings to four Super Bowls, eleven division titles, one league championship and three NFC conference championships.

During Page ’ s 15-year NFL tenure, the Vikings won an impressive four conference titles.

The Vikings team that Finks put together was powered by a dynamic defensive front four, popularly known as The " Purple People Eaters ".

During that period, Minnesota won the 1969 NFL championship and NFC titles in 1973, 1974 and 1976, and played in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX and XI where Yary was one of 10 Players to have played in all four games for the Vikings.

The film was selected as a finalist for the Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2006 in the Feature Films category with other four nominees: Asterix and the Vikings, Origin: Spirits of the Past, Wallace and Gromit, and the award winner, Renaissance.

Krause played until 1979 and appeared in four Super Bowls with the Vikings.

His success with the Vikings led to his hiring by the New York Jets, where he served as defensive coordinator under Bruce Coslet for four seasons ( 1990 – 93 ).

As the left defensive end in the Vikings front four, he was a major factor in the unit known as the " Purple People Eaters ".

The Vikings won the 1969 NFL championship and NFC crowns in 1973, 1974, and 1976 and Eller was one of 10 Vikings to play in all four of their Super Bowls, all losses.