Ships were an important part of Viking society, not only as a means of transportation but also for the prestige that it conferred on her owner and skipper.
A Knarr was a vessel used for cargo storage - it was a cargo ship that had a wide hull and was deeper and shorter than the standard longship. The reason for this was for it to store more cargo and for much smaller crews to operate it.
In the Medieval period, every kingdom was at war, everyone was fighting against everyone and it was just a mess.
As technology developed a lot of things changed.
