CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

THE VIKINGS IN WALES

Mark Redknap

T

he geographical position of north Wales and its close sea-borne connections to the
Isle of Man, Dublin, the Wirral and Strathclyde, naturally led to some engagement
between its coastal population and the Scandinavian world. The extent of this engage-
ment has long been debated, but the term ‘Cambro-Norse’ has been usefully adopted for
the period c. 850 – c. 1100 (Knight 1984 ).
The annals of early Wales (Annales Cambriae), written in Latin, record raids by
‘gentiles’ (MW Cenhedloedd), ‘Black Gentiles’, ‘pagans’ (MW Paganiaid), ‘foreigners’
and ‘Black Norsemen’. The medieval ‘Chronicle of the Princes’ (Brut y Tywysogyon) and
‘The Kings of the Saxons’ (Brenhinedd y Saesson; Jones trans. 1971 ), Welsh versions of a
Latin text based on the annals, sometimes contain additional information. Apart from
the annals, no Welsh chronicler produced a coherent story for the events of the ninth and
tenth centuries.
Whether the semi-legendary Icelandic Jómsvíkinga saga refers to Wales is less clear.
Written down around 1200 , it tells of a warrior community of Vikings in the Baltic. In
the saga, which is set in the tenth century, the founder of ‘Jómsborg’ on the south
coast of the Baltic, Viking leader Pálna-Tóki (foster-father of King Svein), raided
Bretland (‘Land of British’) where he married Earl Stefni’s daughter Álöf and settled.
Here Pálna-Tóki met Björn hinn brezki in Old Norse, who was put in charge of their
interests. There is little to suggest that the person who wrote this saga down was
alluding to Wales, and Bretland here may rather represent ‘a distant land about which
little is known’ (Blake 1962 ; Moffatt 1903 : 163 – 73 ).

THE EARLY VIKING RAIDS

The first definite recorded raid on Wales was in 852 (the killing of Cyngen by Pagans
recorded in Brut y Tywysogyon: Jones 1952 ), and Anglesey (Môn) became a particular
target from 855. Sporadic probing raids in the north and south, which occurred until
about 919 , have been described as a ‘backwash’ of Viking activity, their efforts being
focused elsewhere (Loyn 1976 : 21 ; 1994 ; Davies 1990 ; Maund 1996 ). Rhodri Mawr,
ruler of Gwynedd, led initial Welsh resistance and was successful in slaying Orm
(ON Gormr), leader of the ‘New Dubliners’ (Dubh-gheinte), in 855 (recorded in the