1. Introduction: the Vikings

The Viking Age is the name of the period between 793 and 1066 in Scandinavia and Britain, following the Germanic Iron Age (and the Vendel Age in Sweden). During this period, the Vikings (the word probably means either "pirates" or "the people of the sea inlets"), Scandinavian warriors and traders, raided and explored most parts of Europe, south-western Asia, northern Africa and north-eastern North America. Apart from exploring Europe by way of its oceans and rivers with the aid of their advanced navigational skills and extending their trading routes across vast parts of the continent, they also engaged in warfare and looted and enslaved numerous Christian communities of Medieval Europe for centuries, contributing to the development of feudal systems in Europe, which included castles and barons (which were a defense against Viking raids).

Viking society was based on agriculture and trade with other peoples and placed great emphasis on the concept of honour both in combat and in the criminal justice system.

In general the Viking material culture was rather similar to the Anglo-Saxon one.

The clinker-built longships used by the Scandinavians were uniquely suited to both deep and shallow waters, and thus extended the reach of Norse raiders, traders and settlers not only along coastlines, but also along the major river valleys of north-western Europe.

2. The Viking Invasion

Towards the end of the 8th century Vikings were tempted by Britain's wealth. They came from Norway and Denmark. Like the Anglo-Saxons they only raided at first. They burnt churches and monasteries along the east, north and west coasts of Britain and Ireland.

In 793 the Vikings raided the monastery at Lindisfarne. The scholar Alcuin described one of the raids in a letter. He wrote "The church of St Cuthbert is splattered with blood of the priests of God, stripped of all its furnishings, exposed to the plundering of pagans – a place more sacred than any in Britain". Lindisfarne was just the first recorded one of many attacks on Britain and especially on the wealthy monasteries. London was itself raided in 842.

In 865 the Vikings invaded Britain once it was clear that the quarrelling Anglo-Saxon kingdoms could not keep them out. This time they came to conquer and to settle.

The arrival of the Vikings, in particular their Great Heathen Army, was to seriously upset the political and social geography of Britain and Ireland. The army was exceptionally large for the period, probably containing several thousand fighters. It consisted of various smaller groups which would rarely fight together, and sometimes targeted each other. Having gained experience across Europe, the army arrived in Britain in late 865, landing in East Anglia. In late 866, it conquered the Kingdom of Northumbria, followed in 870 by the Kingdom of East Anglia. In 870, the Great Summer Army, led by Bagsecg, arrived from Scandinavia. This reinforced the Great Heathen Army, enabling it in 874 to conquer Mercia. The same year, a considerable section settled in the conquered territories, followed by a further section in 877. Halfdan moved north to attack the Picts, while Guthrum emerged as the war leader in the south, and in 876 they were joined by further forces and won the Battle of Wareham.

This time period saw the rise of the Kingdom of Wessex. In 868 king Ethelred unsuccessfully attempted to keep the invading Danes out of the adjoining kingdom of Mercia. For nearly two years, Wessex itself was spared attacks as the Vikings were paid. However, at the end of 870, the Danes arrived in Wessex. It’s not Ethelred who became an important figure of the period but his brother who was fighting by the king’s side and later was named King Alfred the Great.

In April 871, King Ethelred died, Alfred succeeded to the throne of Wessex and the burden of its defense. This year has been called "Alfred's year of battles". Nine martial engagements were fought with varying fortunes.

Following this, peace was made and, for the next five years, the Danes occupied other parts of England.

In 876, under their new leader, Guthrum, the Vikings slipped past the English army and attacked Wareham in Dorset. From there, early in 877, and under the pretext of talks, they moved westwards and took Exeter in Devon. There, Alfred blockaded them and with a relief fleet having been scattered by a storm, the Danes were forced to submit. They withdrew to Mercia, but, in January 878, made a sudden attack on Chippenham, a royal stronghold in which Alfred had been staying over Christmas, "and most of the people they reduced, except the King Alfred, and he with a little band made his way by wood and swamp, and after Easter he made a fort at Athelney, and from that fort kept fighting against the foe" (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).

A popular legend tells how, when he first fled to the Somerset Levels, Alfred was given shelter by a peasant woman who, unaware of his identity, left him to watch some cakes she had left cooking on the fire. Preoccupied with the problems of his kingdom, Alfred accidentally let the cakes burn and was taken to task by the woman upon her return. Upon realizing the king's identity, the woman apologised profusely, but Alfred insisted that he was the one who needed to apologise.

Another story relates how Alfred disguised himself as a minstrel in order to gain entry to Guthrum's camp and discover his plans. This supposedly led to the Battle of Edington, near Westbury in Wiltshire in 878. The result was a decisive victory for Alfred. The Danes submitted and, according to Asser, Guthrum, and twenty-nine of his chief men, received baptism when they signed the Treaty of Wedmore.

By the following year (879), not only Wessex, but also Mercia, west of Watling Street, was cleared of the invaders. As a result, England became split in two: the south-western half kept by the Saxons and the north-eastern half including London, thence known as the Danelaw, – by the Vikings. The tide had turned. Northumbria devolved into Bernicia and a Viking kingdom, Mercia was split down the middle, and East Anglia ceased to exist as an Anglo-Saxon polity.