Taken from an Ad for an event at the Chesterfield Museum, Britain, on 23 Mar 2018 |
The Vikings in Britain, Part I
793 A.D. – 1066 A.D.
By 793….wait a sec, this already sounds like a history lesson….so
let’s take the macro view and call the start of the Viking era the late eighth
century, when Britain was first raided by the Vikings, also known by the names
Norse, or Northmen. Matter of fact, there’s no way to tell when the first raid
occurred, but the first recorded raid
was on the island monastery of Lindisfarne, in 793. Monks were killed outright, or tossed in the
sea to drown, or carried off as slaves.
It was a taste of things to come.
Let’s start there and get you ready for cocktail
conversation. But, hey, the Vikings were
tough, independent dudes, so you may be ready for a biker bar, too. To warn you, as I always do, my Viking Tale
of Britain is like the tales of Britain before it. I am not a scholar, so your professor may
well call me out on various points, but I’m not out to get you ready for your
PhD oral presentation, only trying to give you a few icebreakers and get
someone to buy the next round.
Economics: So much of
this societal world is based on economics and the Vikings were no different. Ponder for a moment, if you will, that
everything in human existence is tied to economics. Economics are not just charts and graphs, but
determine your choices about whom you marry and when you marry, how many kids
you choose to have, what kind of car you drive and even your choices in the
super market.
But, even before we start on the Vikings, we need to know
what happened in the almost 300 years between when the Romans pulled out of
Britain and the Vikings began raiding.
The Roman auxiliaries, mercenaries recruited from mostly Germanic tribes
decided to stay. Even before the Romans hit the trail, mercenaries rebelled
after not being paid. Yes, even loyalty
has an economic component. Eventually
other Germanic tribes migrated into Britain.
Native Britons, the Germanic Angles and Saxons fought it out. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (which has it’s doubters) describes how
various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged to form England. But, monks evidently took centuries to write
about it and also took great liberties in adding and subtracting events to suit
their purposes and no doubt under the watchful eyes of their superiors. Let’s
settle for Romans followed by Anglo-Saxons and move onto the wooly men (and
women) from the north.
As you’ve already guessed, the Vikings came from Scandinavia,
possibly all over Scandinavia, but in great part Norway and Denmark. They
raided and traded not only in Britain, but all across Europe and even as far
away as modern day Turkey, all for economic reasons.
Viking, taken from the Norse word, Vikingr, meaning pirate or
raider. Very few of the Norsemen were
raiders. Raider was a part-time job for mostly younger men. Grab some land, or bring back riches, get
yourself ready to go into farming or becoming a merchant. It took expensive boats to traipse around the
oceans and don’t forget, these raiders didn’t limit themselves to Britain. They went wherever they felt the urge,
wherever they might profit, but the folks who put up the money for these raids
surely had some say.
Very independent lads, these raiders. The story goes that when Vikings went to what
is now France, they were met by a peaceful emissary who asked them to take him
to their leader. They told him, We are
all leaders here. Great warriors. Yes. Great army? Not so much.
Good for popping off undefended monasteries and unsuspecting towns and
villages.
As, I intimated, the Viking raiders were heavily armed, but
not that well organized. “Get your ass
off the boat, charge out there and kill somebody! Hey, Johansson, don’t forget your sword! And
bring back a few slaves!” The lack of
military organization would be their downfall.
Remains of the Monastery at Lindisfare |
Raiding took place all over Britain, but especially on the
coasts and in Scotland. As in the case
of Lindisfare before it, sometimes the raids were quite bloody, such as the
raid at Iona in 802 A.D. when 68 monks were slain. Lots of pillaging and rape and the taking of
slaves.
An Irish source tells of an Irishman, Murchad, who was taken
as a slave by the Vikings and sold to a nunnery in Northumbia (Just south of
Scotland). After leading all the nuns astray, he was retaken by the Vikings and
sold to a widow in Saxony. Yep, he seduced
her too! After many more adventures, he
made his way back to his home in Ireland.
So were the raiders all nasty brutes, intent on murder and
mayhem? Yes and no. For one thing,
raiders carried their wives with them. It’s said that up to 50% of raiders were
women. And everywhere the raiders went,
they picked up customs of the locals and often settled down to establish farming
societies of their own. But, they did
have a take-no-prisoners approach to nation building. Part of this attitude was a sign of the times
and the places they raided. Monasteries
were unarmed and undefended, places of quiet reflection. The Vikings attacked a
lot of them. Bad press. Especially when the only people who could
supply a written record of what happened were monks who suddenly had big time
grudges. In this case it wasn’t the
winners who wrote the history.
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