46 John said he would avenge Mary’s wronged family.
(A) John said he would bravely defend Mary’s family at any cost.
(B) John said he would take revenge for the wrong thing that Mary’s family had done.
(C) John said he would fight back against the wrongdoing of Mary’s family.
(D) John said he would inflict pain on anyone who had wronged Mary’s family.At the end of the 8th century Scandinavia had hardly more than two million inhabitants. But from the beginning ofthe 9th century its population began to increase significantly. There were several reasons for this: on the one hand theclimate was getting better; it became warmer and thus harvests were becoming more abundant, the people better fed andstronger. The mortality rate of the old and infants during winter had also decreased. As the years went by, unoccupiedScandinavian territory became harder and harder to find.To these demographic factors certain features of Viking life must be added: such as polygamy, which produced alarge number of children, the obligation for young men to seek their fortune elsewhere, and Viking laws, which used exileas a punishment for criminals. There were, therefore, many reasons to take to the sea and chance one’s arm beyond one’snative shores.The Vikings were a bold people, who welcomed risks and who had a passion for voyaging abroad. In the 11thcentury, not far from their coasts, a great trade route was opening up, passing through the ports of Frisia (now Holland)and the Rhine valley. This route became the crossroads of all commercial exchange in northern Europe.The Vikings, attracted by all the goods which were beginning to pass so close to them, took more and more interestin the trade. Eventually this interest led to piracy and plunder.