The History Book

94

The ravages of heathen

men miserably destroyed

God’s church on

Lindisfarne with

plunder and slaughter.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

NEVER BEFORE

HAS SUCH A TERROR

APPEARED IN BRITAIN

THE VIKING RAID ON LINDISFARNE ( 793 )

O

n a calm June day in 793,

a party of men landed on

the shore of the holy island

of Lindisfarne in northern England,

and mounted a ferocious attack

on its monastery. The invaders

murdered some of the monks,

dragged others away into slavery,

and plundered the church’s

treasures before slipping away.

This unexpected assault was

the first recorded raid by Vikings—

pagan seafaring warriors from

Denmark, Norway, and Sweden—

and news of it sent waves of horror

and fear across Christian Europe.

Over the next 200 years, Vikings

would ravage and loot settlements

across large parts of the continent.

But they were also colonists and

traders with a sophisticated artistic

culture who left a lasting imprint on

the places they invaded and settled.

An unstoppable force

Within six years of the Lindisfarne

raid, bands of Vikings—or “Danes”

as they were known in Anglo-Saxon

England—were targeting the wealth

of other Christian sites in England,

Scotland, Ireland, and France. Key

to the success of these missions

was the Viking longship, a slender

vessel with a shallow bottom that

enabled its crew to sail far up

waterways and alight stealthily on

shores. Each ship could carry up to

80 warriors, recruited by a warlord

whose authority depended on his

military prowess and his success

in capturing booty for his followers.

No single motive drove the

Vikings to venture across the sea.

In parts of Scandinavia, population

growth may have forced young men

into a piratical lifestyle; in others,

perhaps the increasing strength of

local clan leaders sparked power

struggles that pushed the losers

into exile. And the newly rich

trading towns in northern Europe

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Viking raiders

BEFORE

550–750 In Sweden, the

Vendel period is a time of

increased prosperity.

737 Construction of Danevirke

fortifications in Denmark

shows growing royal authority.

AFTER

841 Vikings establish a

permanent settlement in

Ireland, which will grow

into the city of Dublin.

845 Viking raiders advance

along the Seine and sack Paris.

867 Danish Vikings take

control of Northumbria in

northeast England.

911 Vikings found Duchy of

Normandy in northern France.

10th century Swedish “Rus”

Vikings are dominant in Kiev

and Novgorod in Russia.

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95

See also: The Sack of Rome 68–69 ■ Belisarius retakes Rome 76–77 ■ The crowning of Charlemagne 82–83 ■

Alfred rules Wessex 132 ■ Christopher Columbus reaches America 142–47

were irresistible targets for a warrior

society in which a reputation for

valiant deeds was a great asset.

Conquest and settlement

As the Vikings’ raiding parties

grew in size, many of the men

started to settle in the territories

they invaded, including those in

Britain and France. In the late 9th

century, England was divided into

a number of kingdoms that offered

no coherent resistance to the

Viking challenge, while France

was consumed by civil war.

This disunited opposition helped

the Vikings to conquer northern

and central England—where they

established a kingdom that lasted

almost 100 years—and to occupy

land in northern France, where

their descendants became French-

speaking Normans. In the east,

Vikings traded and raided along

Russia’s rivers, which brought them

silver from the Islamic world and

contact with the Byzantine Empire.

By the 11th century, most of

the Scandinavian kingdoms had

adopted Christianity, and turned

Population pressure

and political instability

in Scandinavia.

Raids lead to permanent

Viking settlements.

News of rich targets

across the North Sea

attracts rootless young

men to war leaders.

Success of Lindisfarne

attack attracts more

warriors to join

new raids.

Attack on

Lindisfarne

Monastery.

from raiding and pillaging to more

organized settlement and conquest.

Cnut of Denmark created a Viking

North Sea empire that included

Denmark, Norway, and England.

Yet it did not survive his death,

and in 1066, an unsuccessful

attempt to claim the English

throne by the Norwegian King

Harald Hardrada, was the final

flourish of the Viking age that

began with the sack of Lindisfarne. ■

The Vikings used their knowledge

of winds and currents to navigate

the seas and discover new lands.

Around 800, they colonized the

Faroe Islands, and used them as

a stepping stone to explore the

North Atlantic. By the 870s, their

ships had reached Iceland, where

settlers founded a colony that

grew politically independent.

In 982, Erik the Red, exiled

from Iceland for murder, stumbled

upon Greenland and established

a new colony there. A Norse saga

tells how, 18 years later, Erik’s

son, Leif Eriksson, was driven

off course at sea and landed in

a region teeming with hardwood

forests and wild grapes that he

called Vinland (Land of Wine).

Subsequent expeditions to

this area, which is located in

what is now Newfoundland in

eastern Canada, led to a tiny

Viking colony, but this was

abandoned after attacks by

hostile indigenous people.

Nevertheless, Leif and his crew

had been the first Europeans to

set foot on North American soil.

The Vikings were among the most

skilled shipbuilders, sailors, and

navigators in the Western world

of the early Middle Ages.

Viking expansion in the North Atlantic

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD

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