The Raid on Lindisfarne and Bookending the “Viking Invasions” of England
From the mid-fifth century and for the two centuries that followed, the Anglo-Saxon “invasion” of England took place. The characterization as an “invasion” is rather questionable; typically “invaders” do not bring their families and children on the “invasion” with the intention of becoming permanent residents. Regardless, the “invasion” or the “migration” certainly took place, and the evidence thereof is retained in various place names throughout England. For example, Sussex was the land of the South Saxons just as Wessex was the land of the West Saxons. Over time, the culture of much of England became a melding of that of the original inhabitants, the Romans who occupied Britain for centuries and the Germanic roots of the Anglo-Saxons (and let’s not forget that as well the Jutes).
Today marks the anniversary of the Viking raid on the Abbey of Lindisfarne in 793 in Northumbria, signaling the beginning of the Scandinavian/Viking invasions (and ultimate domination) of England. Lindisfarne was an important ecclesiastical site founded in the 630s. While this was not the first time the “Vikings” had raided England, the destruction suffered by the Abbey is used as the beginning date of the Viking Age. The Abbey would survive the raid, but by the time of the Dane Law was abandoned, the monks had moved to Durham. The monastery was reestablished in 1093 and flourished until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. Over the next hundred years after the Lindisfarne Raid England would be invaded, from various directions and at various points, from the territories we today refer to as Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
A word on “Vikings” is in order. It is not a reference to a people. The Vikings would originate from what are today Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Like almost all people of the era, they were farmers, hunters and fishermen. They lived under a variety of petty kings and lords tied together by any number of different allegiances even as they engaged in raiding and warring against one another. From the late 8th Century, utilizing newly developed ship technology, these peoples began to raid outward. Hence the raids upon England and later into Northern Europe. The “Vikings” were the men (whether women participated as “shield maidens” remains in dispute) who went on the raids. Hence, Viking is a job description.
Ultimately, most of England would come to be in various ways ruled by various Scandinavian kingdoms, culminating with Canute the Great (a/k/a Cnut, Knut) who would rule at an empire around the North Sea comprised of England, Denmark, Norway and portions of what is today Sweden. Again, the process that led to Canute’s kingship of England can be traced to that first Viking raid on Lindisfarne.
The second bookend happened this day in 1042 when Harthacnut, grandson of Canute the Great (a/k/a Cnut) and the King of England, died after a bout of drinking (there is an alternative theory that he was poisoned). With him ended the reign of the kings who are more closely associated with the Scandinavian kingdoms than the traditional Anglo-Saxon population. Harthacnut would be succeeded by Edward the Confessor, who while distantly related to Canute was clearly Anglo-Saxon. Edward’s death in 1066 would lead to turmoil over the succession, leading ultimately to the victory of William the Bastard at the Battle of Hastings (whereupon he became William the Conqueror).
Hence, so it began, and so it ended, on June 8.
