The Vikings were not a single people but a recognizable cultural group. Indeed, Viking is a blanket term used to refer to many related Norwegian, Swedish and Danish clans who all engaged in raiding, conquering and settling in Britain and Europe. Scandinavian people had traded in Britain and Europe prior to the 8th century A. D., and their move into violent plunder and conquest is not well understood. Early raids may have been caused by trade disputes, and perhaps partly as a response to population pressures in their homeland, so they wanted new lands to settle, not merely easy plunder. The “Viking Age” began with the attack on Lind-isfarne in A. D. 793 and ended with the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066. The complex history and culture of the Vikings served as an important part of the formation of the European continent, and had a tremendous impact on the history of Great Britain.
The Vikings were in fact superior to the forces brought against them, alike in tactics, in armament, in training and in mobility. They made good use of fortified settlements as bases to expand, and their use of helmets, shields, chain mail, and particularly the long-handled battle axe meant they were often better armed than most of their foes. Ships used by Viking Scandinavian warriors and traders from the 5th to 12th centuries were long (up to 150 feet), and were powered by both oar and sail. This allowed them to ride on the vicious North Sea and North Atlantic waves, and to go up inland waterways.
Evidence of Viking raids and settlements has been found throughout the British Isles, all along the coastline of the English Channel, the North Sea and even the Baltic Sea as far west as Russia. Some evidence of Viking visitation has even been found in Greenland and possibly in North America in Newfoundland (Canada).
In the 9th century, the Viking challenge grew to serious proportions. At the last moment the Saxons were saved by the courage and determination of King Alfred of Wessex (born 849, reigned 871-901). Alfred, popularly nicknamed “the Great,” strengthened and reorganized Wessex defenses and armed forces, established friendly diplomatic relations with other English kingdoms and the Welsh, issued laws limiting the practice of blood feuds, promoted learning and literature, invited scholars from neighboring nations and Europe to his court, encouraged his subjects to learn to read English, learned Latin and translated some important works into English himself, fostered an atmosphere of literary endeavor, and may have been responsible for the creation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (a list of significant events in British history from the year a. d. 1 to 891 compiled by unknown chroniclers). Alfred was not only a promoter of learning and an administrator of talent, he was also a skillful military leader who is popularly credited as being the founder of the British Royal Navy. He did build a fleet of improved ships manned by Frisians and on several occasions successfully challenged the Danes at sea. On land Alfred resisted and defeated the Danes in a series of battles. In 878, he re-captured London, brought intermittent peace, and forced the Danes to accept the Christian faith, but as they had gained a solid foothold in England, he could not prevent them from settling in what became known as Danelaw (eastern, northern and central England, comprising the Kingdom of Northumbria and Kingdom of East Anglia, and the lands of the Five Boroughs of Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Stamford and Lincoln, roughly the area to the north of a line drawn between London and Chester). The Danes did not settle the whole of this wide area intensively, but their powerful military aristocracy dominated for a sufficient period to leave its imprint on local custom. The unification of England, and the strong defenses and organized army prevented the Danes from capturing more English lands. Gradually the English took back control of the Danelaw lands. By 954, when Edward the Elder and his son Eadred defeated and forced the king of Norway, Eric Bloodaxe, out of Northumbria, Danelaw was no more.
Near the end of the 10th century, however, there was renewed Scandinavian interest in England, with the conquests of Sweyn of Denmark and his son Cnut (955-1035), and a Danish dynasty ruled over England until 1042. At first Cnut used harsh measures: he had some prominent English rulers outlawed or killed, and he engineered the death of rivals. But within a few years he evolved a more even-handed policy, and allowed more Englishmen into positions of power. His reign proved stable, peaceful and prosperous, and the power base he developed in England helped him pursue claims in Denmark and Norway. However, after his death in November of 1035, the empire he had built rapidly disintegrated into its various components. Cnut’s direct heirs ruled for only a handful of years before the lands he had conquered reverted to the old royal lines. Besides, the union of Saxon Britain and Scandinavian Denmark and Norway was artificial. Cnut’s empire was so large that he was compelled to delegate authority to the increasingly powerful local Saxon earls who ruled their own regions without much royal interference — an early version of feudalism. Cnut’s successors lacked their father’s authority and in 1042 the independence of England and the House of Wessex were restored in the person of one of Ethelred’s sons, Edward (c. 1000-1066). However, the day of Saxon England were numbered. Indeed, by 1066 there were three lords with claims to the English throne, resulting in two invasions and the battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings, the results of which established French Norman rule in England.
World History
