The Vikings In England

June 8, 793 had the abbey on Lindisfarne destroyed. Some of the monks were drowned in the sea, others killed in the building of the abbey, still others were carried away as slaves. The Vikings had come to town.  Although there would be many more interactions with the Vikings over the coming decades, this attack stands alone as the definitive description of how England and the rest of Europe viewed them.

The Vikings were pagans from Sweden, Norway and Denmark.  Through their travels and raids settlements were spread elsewhere, including Greenland, Iceland and part of Scotland. They even spent a short time in North America.

The late 800s saw many instances of invasion and settlement in parts of England, many of which were met with little resistance.  Many of these raids took place in the winter, when the English were ill-prepared for a fight. In some cases and in some areas the English were simply overrun.  It wasn't exactly easy, though. In 871 Viking Leader Bagsecg was killed in battle along with his top Earls, which resulted in a lot of the Vikings retreating to Northern England.

The next decades saw many bloody incursions, some successful, many not. By the beginning of the second century, year 1012, the Vikings who remained in England were in service to the King as bodyguards. The last of the Viking presence in England ended in 1066, when the Norwegians lost at the Battle of Hastings.

For most of history saw the Vikings as a culture of savages, barbaric and uncivilized representatives of the Nordic countries.  They were invaders, and they were at times brutal in their treatment of those being invaded. They also left their mark virtually everywhere they went.

The Viking ship technology was second to none, and because of the Longships and other designs used, the fleets of other nations were improved over time and many of those improvements resulted from lessons learned from Viking ships.

Certain parts of the Viking Language, Norse, spread throughout the rest of Europe, even England. Many additions to the English language can be noted by looking at the names of cities and towns. For example, ‘by' is ‘town' in their language. There are many towns in the areas of Viking invasions that use this suffix, like Naseby and Whitby. There are dozens of other words now common in the English language that came directly from the Vikings.

Late in the Victorian era the Viking's historical activities were beginning to be viewed somewhat more favourably.  Prior to her reign, they were viewed as a savage society driven by bloodlust. By 1920 Viking imagery was showing up favourably in culture, as evidenced by the Viking mascot wearing a winged helmet on a car's radiator cap.

Read more fun facts about Vikings here.

This is an original news article © The Kids Window

One in a series of articles about history. 



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