The

The Vikings

Vikings

British History
Lecture 4

The Vikings



the Norse (Scandinavian) explorers,

warriors, merchants, and pirates



raided and colonized wide areas of

Europe (the late eighth to the early

eleventh century)



used longships to travel as far east as

Constantinople and the Volga River in

Russia, and as far west as Iceland,

Greenland, and Newfoundland

The Vikings

The Vikings

Viking

Viking expansion

expansion

Not only violence and

destruction



Vikings – interested in acquiring territory,

establishing peaceful permanent

settlements



Viking peoples went to extraordinary

lengths to set up new settlements:

◦

Harald Hardrada ventured as far as Russia

and Byzantium

◦

Colonies in Ireland

◦

Raids in France – Normandy the price the

western Franks paid for peace

◦

Leif Ericson explored America c. 1000



Vikings – interested in acquiring territory,

establishing peaceful permanent

settlements



Viking peoples went to extraordinary

lengths to set up new settlements:

◦

Harald Hardrada ventured as far as Russia

and Byzantium

◦

Colonies in Ireland

◦

Raids in France – Normandy the price the

western Franks paid for peace

◦

Leif Ericson explored America c. 1000





787

787 - first Viking raid on Britain





793

793--795

795 - the Vikings sack

monasteries in Iona, Lindisfarne and Jarrow



Paths of Viking invasions:

◦

Norwegians

- north, Scotland, Man (the

base) and Ireland

◦

Danes

- East Anglia - westward

the 9

th

century - the raids intensify, the

Vikings settled north of the Thames in East

Anglia and Mercia - the struggle against the

Vikings begins



Egbert

defeated a large Viking force in 838

that had combined with the Britons of

Cornwall



Aethelwulf

won a great victory in 851 over

a Viking army that had stormed

Canterbury and London and put the

Mercian king to flight



865 - a large Danish army came to East

Anglia



by 871 Danish army captured York and took

possession of East Anglia



871 - according to the Anglo-Saxon chronicle

9 big battles were fought (a Danish defeat at

Ashdown

)



878

- King Alfred’s victory over Danes at

Ethandun

(Edington)

England divided into two:



the northern and eastern part, known as the

Danelaw

(controlled by the Vikings)



the rest of England (controlled by King

Alfred)

The Danelaw

871-899 Reign of Alfred the

Great

(king of Wessex)

King Alfred



created a series of fortifications to surround

his kingdom and provide needed security

from invasion



constructed a fleet of ships to augment his

other defences – he became known as the

Father of the English Navy



reorganised his finances and the services due

from thegns



scrutinised carefully the exercise of justice

The Doom Book



issued an important code of laws - The

Doom Book, Code of Alfred or Legal Code

of Alfred the Great



The code was compiled from three prior

Saxon codes, to which he prefixed the Ten

Commandments and incorporated rules of

life from the Mosaic Code and the Christian

code of ethics

Doom very evenly! Do not doom one doom to

the rich; another to the poor! Nor doom one

doom to your friend; another to your foe!

King Alfred



saw the Viking invasions as a punishment

from God (neglect of learning)



deplored the decay of Latin



wished all young freemen of adequate

means to learn to read English



aimed at supplying men with "the books

most necessary for all men to know," in

their own language



Alfred decided to make English the

language of education and literature



translated Latin books into Old English

with help of scholars from Mercia, the

Continent, and Wales



Made available works of

◦

Bede and Orosius

◦

Gregory and Augustine

◦

Boethius (De consolatione philosophiae)

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

891 -

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

starts (891-1154)

- a collection of annals in Old English

chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons


a diary of events, written by monks in

different parts of the country

The first book of its kind in western Europe

Peterborough Chronicle

Reforms of King Alfred

Reforms of King Alfred



improvement of

fyrd

– division into parts:

one fights, one works on farms



establishment of oral and customary law

with no Roman influences



establishment of

burghs

- fortified towns

Ethelred the Unready

(978-1016)

numerous Danish raids renewed

by the end of the 10

th

century

Disastrous rule leads to:

◦

ruling without counsel

◦

Danegeld

- money paid by the English to

Danes to buy peace

Later on the Danegeld became a kind of a

war tax

Canute the Great (c.994-1035)

king of Denmark, England,

Norway and parts of Sweden

Canute the Great (c.994-1035)

king of Denmark, England,

Norway and parts of Sweden

Canute

Canute the

the Great

Great

(c.994

(c.994--1035)

1035)



Canute was of Danish and Polish descent



His father was Sweyn Forkbeard, King of

Denmark



Canute’s mother was the daughter of

Mieszko I, Gunhilda (Świętosława?)



Canute invaded England – beginning of

Danish dynasty in England (1016-42)



ENGLAND, NORWAY and DENMARK

under one rule - the North Sea Empire



Canute - a wise and peaceful ruler;

introduces legal and military reforms



The country divided into four

EARLDOMS

:



Northumbria



East Anglia



Mercia



Wessex

The rule of Canute’s sons

The rule of Canute’s sons



Harold I, Harefoot

(1035-1040)



Harthacnut

(1040-42)



The empire (which depended on Canute’s

personal abilities) went to pieces



England’s ties with Scandinavia broken

1042



Witan chose Edward the Confessor to be

king



son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of

Normandy, one of the last Anglo-Saxon

kings of England



usually regarded as the last king of the

House of Wessex



Edward spent a quarter of a century in

exile, probably mainly in Normandy



the new pius king more interested in

Church than in kingship



he started a new church fit for a king at

Westminster

The troubles came from:

the excessive power concentrated in the

hands of the rival houses of



Leofric

of Mercia



Godwine

( Godwinson) of Wessex

resentment caused by the king's introduction

of Norman friends

1066



Edward died in January



Harold Godwinson chosen to be the next

king (6 January – 14 October)



William’s of Normandy claims to the

English throne:

-

King Edward had promised it to him

-

Harold (visited William in 1064 or 1065)

promised William not to take the throne

for himself

Legacy of the Vikings



place names with -

by

(farm, town) e.g.

Whitby, Derby



Place names ending in –

thorp(e),

‘small

village’,

-toft

, piece of land’; e.g.

Scunthorpe and Blacktoft



Scandinavian borrowings in English -

through similarity -

she

,

they