The Vikings

This week we have read about English history all the way back to the first settlement in Britain and on to the Victorian Age. I decided to write something about the Vikings, and now I want to post this on my blog!

The first Viking raiders in Britain landed near Weymouth in the year 789. At that time, the Vikings didn’t do a lot of damage. Therefore it was not before year 973, when the Vikings attacked the monasteries at Lindisfarne, we usually say that the Viking-history in Britain began. During the Viking raid to Lindisfarne monks were killed, treasures from the churches were stolen and slaves were captured. The Vikings came from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. They came to Britain in their Viking longships that each carried about eighty men. These Viking raids continued to happen almost every year after the attack at Lindisfarne. In the year 851 over three hundred Viking ships came to Britain, and that year was the first time raiders spent a winter in Britain.

The Vikings began to settle in the British Isles. A couple of years after their first attack, the Vikings formed a “Great Army” to conquer Britain. Still a couple of years later, only the kingdom of Wessex remained free from Vikings. One of the places the Vikings occupied was the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria. They made this the Viking capital and named it Jorvik (York). Jorvik became an important center for the Vikings, and the Viking settlers lived there by farming, fishing and trading.

Alfred became King of Wessex in the year 871. He gathered an army and defeated the Viking king Guthrum. After that the Vikings had to live in an area called Danelaw, and Alfred’s army should prevent any Viking attacks from happening again.

(Picture 1: Viking boats, picture 2: A statue of Alfred that was put in Winchester in 1901)

Sources: "The saxons and the Normans", A History Of Britain and "Access to English: Social Studies".