The Viking Longship
793 Vikings sack Lindisfarne Monastery.
865, the Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar the Boneless, invaded Eastern England, capturing York in 867. It became the centre of Viking rule in England.
878 King Alfred of Wessex won the Battle of Edington which halted the Viking advance into Wessex. The defeated Viking leader Guthrum was obliged to be baptised Christian.
Danelaw (878 - 954)
1016 to 1035, Cnut the Great ruled over a unified English kingdom (1016–1035). He was also king of Denmark and Norway. King Cnut and the tide.
King Cnut's kingdoms
Viking trading routes
The Rus base was in Staraya Ladoga. They would trade for furs and also silver with merchants from the Abbasid Caliphate, including Constantinople and Baghdad.
The Vikings (Rus) could travel down the Dnieper and Volga rivers.
Different ethnic groups
Around 860, the Rus reached Constantinople and attacked it ruthlessly
Hagia Sophia. Built in 537.
Collaboration developed between the Rus and the Byzantine emperors. Many Rus joined the Varangian Guard. One of them was Harald Hardrada, who went on to become King of Norway.
799. The first Viking attack on the Frankish Empire.
810 A Viking fleet attacked Frisia. Charlemagne tried to create defences.
834 Vikings invade up the river Rhine to attack Dorestad, several times.
The Frankish Kingdom was divided into three when Louis the Pious (Charlemagne's son) died. This triggered a series of civil wars, which made it easier for the Vikings to attack.
Siege of Paris (885–886) The leader of the Vikings was called Ragnar. King Charles the Fat capitulated, much to the disgust of the Parisians and the people of Burgundy.
911, the Viking leader Rollo clashed with Charles the Simple near Chartres. Following negotiations, King Charles the Simple and Rollo concluded an agreement, known as the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte which granted Rollo and his followers land around the lower Seine, centered on Rouen, in return for conversion to Christianity, homage to the king, and an obligation to defend the coast against further Viking attacks.
The descendants of Rollo and his men assimilated with the Frankish culture and became known as the Normans, lending their name to the region of Normandy.
One of Rollo's descendants, William, invaded England in 1066 and defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings, thereby becoming William the Conqueror of England.
The Battle of Hastings occured
868, a Viking Norwegian called Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson sailed to Iceland.
Settlers followed, from Norway, Ireland and Britain; Iceland developed a progressive politics, different to the harsh monarchy in Norway. Participatory gatherings called 'things' were used to debate decisions. Many of the women were Gaelic slaves.
The Icelandic sagas were written around 1100-1200. The Book of Settlements (Landnámabók) describes many details of life.
1000 The Poetic Edda.
Erik the Red was a troublemaker in Iceland who was exiled in about 982. He explored and settled Greenland in about 988.
Approximately 1000, Erik's son Leif Erikson discovered the North American continent.
The settlement in what the sagas call Vinland has recently been dated to 1021.
963 he accepted Christianity for himself and his kingdom.
Bluetooth's son Sweyne Forkbeard invaded England, but promptly died. He was followed by Cnut (aka Canute) who ruled England, Denmark and Norway.
King Cnut’s kingdoms 1016 to 1035
Harold Hardrada had been a bodyguard of the Byzantine emperor, and returned for the East with a lot of wealth to become King of Norway.
Harald Hardrada
Edward the Confessor was the aging King of England, who had no heir. He promised his throne to Harald Hardrada, Harold Godwinson, and also William of Normandy. What could possibly go wrong?
1066, Hardrada invaded from Norway and fought the Battle of Stamford Bridge against Harold Godwinson. Hardrada was killed. This is seen as the last Viking attack.
Three weeks later came the Battle of Hastings, with Harold Godwinson fighting William of Normandy, which the latter won. He thus became William the Conqueror, William 1st of England.
