archaeology.org 51A
t first glance, the historic county
of Yorkshire in northern England
seems as English as can be. It gives its
name to Yorkshire pudding, a staple
of English cuisine dating back to the
eighteenth century. Earlier still, it was
home to the royal House of York, whose line included
King Richard III. But a closer look reveals a more
complicated history. Take Ormesby: Today a suburb of
Middlesbrough, its name derives from the Old Norse
for “Ormr’s farm.” Or the many streets in the city
of York that end in “gate,” from the Old Norse gata,
meaning “road” or “way.” Even the city’s name comes
from the Old Norse Jorvik.
The source of these Scandinavian-influenced place
names and the many more that can be found to this day
in northern England dates back more than a thousand
years. Starting in the late ninth century, tens of thou-
sands of Vikings arrived in Anglo-Saxon England, first
as part of an invading force known as the Viking Great
Army, and later as part of a massive wave of settlers.
Examining the landscape, history, and archaeology of
the region tells us much about what happens when
cultures clash but ultimately come to coexist. And it
helps explain Anglo-Saxon and Viking interactions.
The Viking Great Army’s arrival in 865 was
recounted in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: “A great
heathen force came into English land, and they took
winter-quarters in East Anglia; there they were horsed,
and they made peace.” According to the Chronicle, the
Vikings spent years campaigning through the territory
of the four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms—East Anglia,
Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex. They proved tobe masters at keeping the Anglo-Saxons off balance,
making peace with a kingdom one year, only to strike
a mortal blow the next. By 880 , all the kingdoms had
fallen to the Vikings except Wessex, with which they
made peace. “The Vikings were very quick and they
got quite far inland on their boats,” says Jane Kershaw
of the University of Oxford. “They had an element of
surprise that the Anglo-Saxons weren’t quite able to
anticipate and respond to.”
Viking raiders had been targeting wealthy enclaves
on England’s coasts with summertime
hit-and-run raids since at least 793 ,
when they launched the infamous,
terrifying attack on a monastery on
the Holy Island of Lindisfarne off
the Northumbrian coast of northeast
England. Attacks on other monasteries
and settlements on England’s east and
west coasts followed. Beginning in 850 ,
Viking forces at times spent the winter
at coastal sites, allowing them to start
their raids earlier in the year. With the
arrival of the Viking Great Army, at last,
they were able to penetrate deep into England, mak-
ing their way along rivers and ancient Roman roads,
setting up overwintering camps, and wreaking havoc
on the Anglo-Saxons. “It seems that the Vikings are
after something a little bit different at this stage,”
says Kershaw. “They’re still after portable wealth, but
they start to have an eye toward acquiring land as well.
They start to see England as somewhere they might
be able to settle and reestablish themselves as lords
with their own families.”A tale of conflict and adaptation played out in northern England
by Daniel Weiss
Tens of thousands of
Vikings flowed into
northern England
beginning in the
late 9th century,
first as an invading
army and then as a
wave of migrants.
A 10th-century
illustration (opposite)
depicts a Viking
force disembarking in
England.