Hey, Jonah, the Vikings were part-originators of two of the most important institutions of liberty–the thing, a Parliament or assembly along our lines rather than classical, and the jury. I dimly recall one Saga where a homesteader got a zombie out of his living room by eschewing the battleaxe and instead serving a court order on it. They could behave like Huns, but after that brief period (monastery burning went out of fashion quite quickly) they helped fashion the Anglo-American institutions we enjoy today.