Vikings In England 793 - 1066 Ben Burnham
Early Medieval Europe
Dr. Russo
INTRODUCTION There are not many era's in history that have an exact date for the rise to power and the collapse. A range of dates or gradual shift defines most. The Viking Age is the exception to the rule. The Viking age of the late first and early second millenniums A.D. begins in the year 793 and ends in 1066. Coincidentally it both begins and ends in England. The existence of the Viking culture extends well beyond both dates, however their "Golden Age" is defined by those boundaries. But what effect did the Vikings have on their neighboring cultures? They had a profound effect on all adjacent regions, especially of England. I plan to explain what was the impact on the English? Why did they have such contact with the inhabitants of England? And how exactly did they leave their mark? I also intend to prove that it's still there to this day.

HISTORY I can imagine being a monk on the tiny isle of Lindisfarne of the coast of Northumbria. The raid on June 8th, 793 came by complete surprise. It was the Viking's first act of aggression on foreign soil. The monastery of Lindisfarne was completely destroyed and many of the monks were killed. However Lindisfarne was only the beginning.
The next few years saw increasing raids ·Wearmouth and Jarrow - 794 ·Iona (coast of Northern Scotland) - 795 ·Rathlin Island (off coast Ireland) - 795 ·Various islands off Aquitaine coast - from 799 ·Iona - 802 ·Iona - 806 Not all of these are in England, but the point is the Vikings became a force to be reckoned with. They established a sense of fear in Northwestern Europe.
But these attacks were no more than sporadic "smash-and-grab" raids. Targeting areas that had the most wealth; the churches and monasteries. In fact the Vikings were used as a tool of the clergy. They were cited as a manifestation of divine wrath. The Northumbrian scholar Alcuin said in a letter from the court of Charlemagne (where he was considered to be the most knowledgeable scholar in the world) to England that the Vikings came because of the sins committed by the clergy.
These various raids went on for more than fifty years. When, in the year 850, a new behavior began that increased the potency of the Vikings. The Vikings did not return to their home (in this case, Denmark) for the winter. This raiding party over wintered on the Isle of Thanet in the mouth of the Thames River. This was monumental. Pillaging and plundering was no longer a means of acquiring wealth, but a way of life.
This event was then thought of as the start of the Viking age. A text written in 892, translated into the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded the history of early England. However they left out the attack on Lindisfarne because it was in Northumbria. The British Isle at the time was split into several ever-feuding kingdoms. So Northumbria gets left out. The text deals mainly with Wessex, East Anglia, and Mercia.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the first instance of tributes to the Vikings in 865. This was called the Danegeld (Dane's Pay) because the Anglo-Saxons generically referred to Vikings as Danes.
Another, even more threatening development occurred in 865, a change in Viking modality. The Vikings invaded with the goal of conquest, not profit. The Vikings landed in East Anglia and wintered there. They received horses from the East Anglians in exchange for peace.
From, there a Viking army numbering only in the hundred was formed and led by three "formidable Viking brothers"(M.Magnusson: 127), Halfdan of the Wide Embrace, Ubbi, and Ivar the Boneless. The army marched north into the Northumbrian capitol of Eoforwic(York) on November 1st 866. Amazingly, the Northumbrians didn't even notice, they were in the heat of another civil war. The Vikings marched in and repaired the dilapidated Roman forts and wintered there, in wait of a counter attack that they expected. The feuding Kings of Northumbria, Osbert and Ælla, reconciled and jointly attacked the fort on March 21st, 867. All who managed to break through the defenses were slaughtered and Osbert and Ælla were both killed. One of the major English kingdoms was now in the hands of the Vikings.
They then marched back to East Anglia and conquered that kingdom as well. This event is not recorded so well in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. They continued on with the full intent of owning the entire British Isle. "Two down (Northumbria and East Anglia0 and two to go (Mercia and Wessex)." (M.Magnusson: 130)
At this time Ivar the Boneless left the group and sailed to Ireland to rule there until his death. A new ruler and his army replaced him; he was the Danish King Guthorm. The Viking forces invaded the kingdom of Wessex. However, Wessex was far stronger than its already conquered counterparts. The two forces battled for a year into a stalemate and Danegeld in 871. The Vikings withdrew to London. This bought time to rejuvenate for Wessex and its young King Alfred.
Here, the Viking army was distracted. The Northumbrians put up a revolt. The army reacted and hammered them (Charles Martel style). They then invaded the kingdom of Mercia. Mercia had been paying a Danegeld for sometime, hoping to stave off an inevitable invasion. In 874, the Viking army marched into Repton. They easily defeated the Mercian forces and exiled King Burgred overseas. They put Ceolwulf in as a puppet king of Mercia.
At this point they agreed to split the isle amongst them. Ubbi was not mentioned. The Island was split at the Humber, Halfdan of the Wide Embrace ruled north of the Humber in Northumbria. Guthorm ruled the south centered in Cambridge in East Anglia.
At that point Halfdan received the news that his brother, Ivar the Boneless had died and marched to reclaim Ivar's land (Ireland and Scotland). He raided all of Scotland, as far up as Dunbarton, but there his army was tired and weary from ten years fighting. They could not fulfill their goal of retaking Dublin. They were ready to become sedentary-

"876… And in this year Halfdan shared out the lands of Northumbria, "and they started to plough and to make a living for themselves."

                                Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (M.Magnusson: 132)

The Vikings took a firm cultural grasp in Northumbria, especially in Jorvic (York). They hade turned their swords into plowshares. That is all, except for Halfdan, a true Viking to the very end. He tried once more to reclaim Ireland. His army was very little, since most had rooted in Northumbria. He was killed in a minor sea-battle in the year 877.
Meanwhile, Guthorm was moving on Wessex again. He invaded in a very non-Viking manner. There was no frontal assault, it was a series of "lightning rides", slipping through the defenses and taking up fort in Wareham on the coast of the English Channel. King Alfred followed and put up a Danegeld. Guthorm then sneaked into Exeter, receiving another Danegeld that he actually honored and returned to Mercia for the winter of 877-878.
In early January 878 Guthorm moved in on Alfred in Chippenham and took Wessex. But Alfred and a small army escaped. Guthorm now controlled Wessex, but he knew that if the charismatic Alfred was still around, there was always a chance of uprisal. His strength was his ability to rally people around him. Wessex was not defeated yet.
Alfred's band roamed the wilds of Wessex, avoiding the Vikings and employing guerilla tactics. An attempt at cornering him was made by the absent Ubbi. Ubbi descended on him with twenty-tree ships from South-Wales. However, local pro-Alfred militia surprisingly routed Ubbi's forces.
Alfred survived a harsh winter and mounted troops in the following spring. Oppositely, Guthorm's troops were depleted because they too began to settle down. Alfred marched to Guthorm's headquarters in Chippenham. Guthorm's army met him just south of there at Edington. Alfred promptly beat back the Viking army. However he did not really defeat them. They more or less agreed to recognize each other. They created a boundary along the Thames and Lea Rivers, a boundary between Viking England and English England. The Viking land would be known as the Danelaw.
Alfred was determined to keep at least some of England English. He had a system of burhs (precursor to boroughs), bunker-like strongholds, built. In times of war, all villages within thirty kilometers had to contribute one adult male able to fight for each family unit. Each of these men was given just over a meter of wall of the burh to defend. King Alfred also created a great English navy, capable of disabling an incoming enemy navy. Even a Viking one!
Alfred ruled for eleven more years until his death in October of 899. During the last years of his life, he was attempting to win back the lands of the Danelaw very gradually. Small advances and even smaller battles won him back village after village. A trend continued after his death by his son King Edward the Elder of Wessex and his daughter Æthelflaed and her husband Æthelred, ealdorman of Mercia. By the year of Æthelfled's death in 918, the whole of the British Isle was under English control, according to the English. Viking England, though now just Northumbria, was still very much a threat.
Edward's successor was Æthelstan and he got the job done. In 927, after the death of the Viking leader, Sigtrygg, Æthelstan moved in and expelled the new leaders, Olaf Sigtryggsson (Sigtrygg's son) and his Uncle Guthfrith, Norse King of Dublin.
Later, in 934, Olaf Guthfrithsson (son of the expelled Guthfrith) became King of Dublin and promptly invaded England with support of King Constantine of the Scots and King Owen of the Britons of Strathclyde. Æthelstan raised his armies to meet them at the Battle of Brunanburh. Æthelstan emerged victorious from one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil. Olaf Guthfrithsson limped back to Dublin.
Despite this defeat, the Northumbrian Vikings were still in existence and after Æthelstan's death in 939; they rose to power again in York (their Northumbrian capitol). They immediately appointed famed Viking king from Norway, Eirik Blood-Axe as their king.
But Eirik Blood-Axe did not rule for long. Æthelstan's brother, King Eadred, expelled him in 948 and again when he returned in 954. He was killed on his journey home at Stainmore in Yorkshire after an amazing defense from an ambush. With his death, the line of Norse Kings of York came to end. However the Vikings did not leave England yet.
England at the moment was as single united entity under the powerful King Edgar, Æthelstan's nephew, from 959 to 975. There was an age of relative peace in England. But all good things come to an end.
When Edgar died in 975 his ten-year-old son, Æthelred II the Unready, assumed the throne. Since a ten year old could not comprehend kingship, his older half-brother Edward wore the crown. However in March 978, Edward met a brutal, convenient death, most likely at the hands of Æthelred the Unready's mother, Queen Ælfthryth. The whole of Æthelred the Unready's forty-year reign would be marred by this scandal.
As his name suggests, Æthelred the Unready was not the greatest king, in fact the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers to him as disastrous. He wasn't that bad, he just had a greater dilemma than his predecessors. The Vikings from Northumbria were no longer "would-be settlers who would become vulnerable to counter-attack once they settled anywhere"(M.Magnusson: 266). The smash-and-grab raids of old were reinstituted. Southampton, the Isle of Thanet and Cheshire were all plundered.
But, these were again just local raids, affecting only the town raided, England, as a whole remained unscathed. Until 991, when the Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvason invade with ninety-three ships. He battled his way through Sandwich and Ipswich until he met the forces of the ealdorman of Essex, Byrhtnoth.
Byrhtnoth rejected the offer of truce for a Danegeld, being a man of virtue. The Vikings attempted to cross the bridge to meet Byrhtnoth's forces, but three of his warriors held the narrow bridge easily. Then Olaf appealed to Byrhnoth's chivalry. He requested to let all his men over to fight fair and square. This plan worked. Byrhnoth realized he was vastly outnumbered too late. Despite a gallant defense he was defeated and killed. As Olaf plowed on, Æthelred accepted the Danegeld the Byrhnoth refused and the Vikings left, but to return.
After three years, in 994, Olaf was returned to England with reinforcements. By his side was King Svein Fork-Beard, son of the famed King Harald Blue-Tooth Gormsson. From the mouth of the Thames with ninety-four ships, they invaded London. Here they were stalemated. So the Viking host backed off but took any of the weaker interior they wanted. They rode the countryside with certain impunity. Æthelred again gave them Danegeld and winter quarters.
The Vikings weakened over that winter. One of their military leaders flip-flopped. Olaf Tryggvason had converted to Christianity, sponsored by Æthelred himself. Olaf subsequently left England, leaving its conquest to Svein Fork-Beard.
Svein Fork-Beard was a brilliant military leader. He had refined raiding to a science. His army was now a legion of professional warriors. He even built huge barracks known as the four Danish Trelleborgs, back in Denmark.
As they raids became more fierce the Danegelds became steeper. So high that in 1002, King Æthelred paid £24,000 in English silver. However, the host would not give up. Then, the same year, he resorted to political tactics. King Æthelred married Emma, daughter of the Duke of Normandy. Not only did this maneuver not work as leverage, it seriously complicated the dynastic problems later in England. He had other alliances with the host. He hired Viking mercenaries to fight the host in England. This group includes the famed Thorkel the Tall and even Svein's brother-in-law, Pallig. (P.H. Sawyer 1982:146)
By now Æthelred was on his last nerve. He resulted to the ultimate last resort; genocide. He ordered, on St. Brice's Day in November 1002, that all people of Danish descent be exterminated. Curiously, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle omits this event, but thirteenth century chronicler John of Wallingford, did not;

"This day was the Saturday, on which the Danes are in the habit of "bathing; and accordingly, at the set time they were destroyed most "ruthlessly, from the least to the greatest. They spared neither age "nor sex, destroying together with them those women of their own nation "who had consented to intermix with the Danes, and the children who "had sprung from that foul adultery. Some women had their breasts cut "off; others were buried alive in the ground; while the children were "dashed to pieces against posts and stones."

                                               (M.Magnusson: 271-272)

This tactic was a futile effort at an unattainable goal.
Many Danes were killed, many Danes escaped with the news back to Denmark. It served as justification for future attacks by King Svein Fork-Beard. It has been rumored that King Svein Fork-Beard's own sister was killed in the inquisition, fueling his raids.
The following decade was littered with violent assaults against the English. Danegelds rose to a staggering £36,000. "It seemed as if everyone in Scandinavia who could carry weapons was jumping on the band-wagon" (M.Magnusson: 272) One such raid in 1010 was by future king of Norway and future saint, Olaf "the Stout" Haraldsson. He attacked London, but could not breakthrough its defenses. So he got the good idea to chain his boats to the pillars of the London Bridge. Which promptly came down by the sheer brute strength of his oarsmen.
The year 1013 saw a new character on the Viking stage. King Svein Fork-Beard believed that England was on the edge of conquest. He left Denmark with an enormous militia and his eighteen-year-old son, Knut. He landed in Northumbria whose people succumbed readily. He attempted to take London, but its defenses remained stalwart. Svein proceeded to take the whole of the rest of England. King Æthelred fled, of course, to Normandy with Emma and his children. However, before King Svein could pronounce himself King of England as well he died, on February 3rd, 1014.
The English rebounded and Knut was forced to return his father's army to Denmark where Harald, his older brother had assumed the throne. Knut swore vengeance and in 1015 he sailed to England with at least two hundred ships and a reinforced military.
April of the following year, Knut besieged London. When he got to London he learned that Æthelred had died and London surrendered. For the remainder of the summer, he fought a series of battles against Edmund Ironsides, Æthelred's son. In the beginning of the fall, they reached an accord. Edmund would get Wessex and Knut would get Mercia in addition to the old Danelaw. However by the close of November, Edmund was dead and Knut took Wessex. By December of 1016, Knut Sveinsson was the King of England.
King Knut (or Canute to the English) Sveinsson reigned as the first and only king of the Scandinavian Empire. He ruled until his death in 1035. He surprisingly chose to be buried in England. Here, Edward the Confessor, son of Æthelred, returned from Normandy to assume the throne. The host made no effort to stop him and merely retreated to the Danelaw.
Here the host stayed for twenty years. Peacefully living out their days as farmers and artisans. Many things were happening outside of England. Political and military turmoil was occurring in both Normandy and Scandinavia. These things are beyond the realm of my topic. That is until 1066.
In the first month of 1066, King Edward the Confessor died. The Vikings have always had an unerring sense of vulnerability and their new King; Harald "Hardradi (the ruthless)" Sigurdsson could sense it too. He realized a crown was up for grabs. But, who was the rightful heir?
Claims were made by three very important players; the aforementioned King Harald, King Harold Godwinsson, a former Earl of Wessex, and Duke William of Normandy. All had legitimate claims, but Harold Godwinsson seized the crown first.
King Harold Godwinsson was not dumb. He expected the Vikings and Duke William's army to attack; he positioned his vast army on the south shore of England awaiting their arrivals.
Yet, no invasion occurred. At the end of the summer, King Harold Godwinsson withdrew his forces to London. Then, to King Harold Godwinsson surprise, the Viking attack came from North and with reinforcements. King Harald Hardradi had the support of the Scots and of Earl Tostig, King Harold Godwinsson's brother. The Viking army was made up of 300 ships and 9000 soldiers.
The Viking forces quickly took York in the Battle of Gate Fulford and moved on to Stamford Bridge, 12 miles east of York. He was also 19 miles from where his fleet was anchored at Riccall, fatally too far.
Once King Harold of England heard of Gate Fulford, he immediately summoned up his army and practically sprinted to Stamford Bridge in only five days. The Viking forces were caught completely off-guard. King Harald Hardradi was literally napping. They had little time to gather themselves. However, a courageous and enormous Viking granted them more time. As the English attempted to cross the bridge over the Derwent they were slaughtered. The huge Viking used the narrow bridge to his advantage and killed every Englishman who tried to cross with his battle-axe. He killed "countless assailants" before an English soldier was bright enough to thrust upward with a spear from under the bridge and killed the Viking.
The opposing kings were both quoted on what they though of the other:

"What a big and formidable-looking man he is - let us hope his luck has run out"

                                    King Harold Godwinsson of King Harald Hardradi

"What a little man he is - but he stood proudly in his stirrups"

                                    King Harald Hardradi of King Harold Godwinsson

The tide of battle wavered from one side to the other. At one point, King Harald Hardradi became so engulfed in battle-fury that he ran ahead of his troops, a brave and fatal move.

"…hewing with both hands. Neither helmet nor armour could withstand him, "and everyone in his path gave way before him. It looked as if the English were "on the point of being routed… But now King Harald Sigurdsson was struck "in the throat by an arrow, and that was his death wound."

                                                         King Harald's Saga
                              (The Viking Index: http://viking.no/e/eindex.htm)

Here the Vikings refused an offer for peace and battle resumed again, led by reinforcements from Riccall, led by Eystein Orri (known as Orri's storm). These soldier were so tired from their sprint from Riccall that some dropped from exhaustion alone. They were easily defeated. King Harold Godwinsson gave them quarter and the returned to Denmark in twenty-four of the original 300 ships.
Thus ended Viking control of England. The Vikings of course raided it again, they are Vikings! But they would never control any portion of England again or have any political influence there.

IMPACT: PAST AND PRESENT No matter where they go, the Vikings leave their mark. Whether by monument or culture, the impact is there. Throughout Northern and Eastern Europe, one can find innumerable rune-stone bearing the saga or plight of its author. However the impact left on England was much more permanent.
In England the Vikings left culture and language. For example there are many words in the English language that were taken from Old Norse. These include; knife, take, window, egg, ill, and die. Even beyond these loaned words were the countless Anglo-Norse dialects that were created.
However the most profound and visible effect the Vikings had on England was their contribution to place names. The majority of these exist within the boundaries of what was the Danelaw.
Most of these names are made up of two parts, called the prefix and the suffix. The prefix was most commonly the name of the person who held that settlement when it was named. The suffix was usually a description of the type of settlement. These names can be either completely Norse or Anglo-Norse hybrids.
Many of these towns still exist and can be recognized by the following suffixes:

-BY: By far the most common of the Norse suffixes. These settlements are concentrated in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. The most famous -BY town is Grimsby. -BY originally meant farmstead.

-THORPE: This suffix can be seen in other forms such as -THORP, -THROP, or -TROP. This suffix meant secondary village. An overflow settlement attached to a larger town.

-TOFT(S): This suffix means single farmstead. Only one has ascended to town status, Lowestoft. The generally refer to settlements that are still minor.

-HOLME: This is from the Norse suffix -HOLM, which means island. SO it was applied to a farmstead reclaimed from the surrounding marsh, quite similar.

-KIR(K): This is the Norse corruption of the English word "church." Used as a prefix (Kirkwall) or as a suffix (Dunkirk)

-THWAIT(E): This is a Norwegian Viking word, rather than Danish and refers to a secondary farmstead allotted to a larger one.

-WICK or -WICH: You have to be careful with this one. Some are definitely Norse, from -VIK (creek or bay) and some are from the Anglo-Saxon word fro port.

-BOROUGH: These suffixes are from Alfred's fortifications after the Treaty of Wedmore. The suffix means fortified place. Other versions include -BURGH, -BROUGH, or -BURY.

-NESS: The final suffix means a promontory or headland. This was a direct result from the Norse expert skill as seafarers.

However, you must remember that not all places with such a suffix were necessarily a Viking settlement. Many were English settlements. The lords of these English-controlled Norse-named settlements received such nomenclature as a matter of style. Lords of either ethnicity adopted such names, mainly by public opinion. Also many of these towns were named after the Viking presence had left.
Some place names were simply a corruption of the prior English place name. This can be applied to how church became kirk. It also happened to entire settlements. For example, Shipton became scandinavianized into Skipton.

CONCLUSION In 793 A.D. England was generally a peaceful isle. Farmers, monks, nuns, and lords inhabited England. This idea of life was shattered by the onslaught of Northern invaders. We will never know if the Vikings were instruments of divine wrath. But we do know that for very briefly, an empire existed that relied on fear and brute strength to rule, rather than politics like it former and latter counterparts. Even though the Vikings were present in England for only 273 years, there influence will live forever.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Viking Index
http://viking.no/e/eindex.htm"

Magnusson, Magnus
Vikings!
New York, E.P. Dutton 1980

Roesdahl, Else and David M. Wilson,
From Viking to Crusader: Scandinavia and Europe 800-1200
New York, Rizzoli 1992

Sawyer, P.H.
Age of Vikings, The
London, Edward Arnold 1962

Sawyer, P.H.
Kings and Vikings
New York, Methuen 1982

Smyth, Alfred P.
Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80-1000
Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press 1989

Toyne, S.M.
Scandinavians in History, The
New York, Kennikat Press 1970