The British Isles - Vikings 793 AD Mac OS
NorthumberlandThe 8th of June 793 AD
The British Isles - Vikings 793 Ad Mac Os Sierra
– The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 793 AD. Like the Saxons, the Vikings – Norsemen from what is now modern Sweden, Norway and Denmark – initially came as raiders. But, also like the Saxons, recognising what a jolly fine place Britain was, many of them wanted to settle down and grow pigs and so forth. Massacre at the Lindisfarne Monastry. In the year 793 AD, on a January early morning, the wealthy monastic negotiation of Lindis-farne (or Holy Island), off the Northumbrian coastline, was suddenly assaulted by a pow-erful fleet of Danish Vikings. Viking Raids in Europe c. Map Code: Ax01878. 780–814 the British Isles were beset by raids, targeted by bands of Vikings, who radiated out from Denmark and Norway. Their raids began with coastal settlements in Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and the Gaelic Irish kingdoms. According to Anglo-Saxon histories, the first ‘Northmen’ landed at Portland, Wessex, c. RULERS OF THE BRITISH ISLES: Bernicia Deira Northumbria East Anglia Bretwaldas North Rheged Ynys Manau Elmet Lindisware Mercia Post-Roman Britain Kingdom of Northern Britain Pictland Scandinavian Kingdom of York. EXTERNAL LINKS: Heavenfield (dead link) Mote of Mark 'Lost kingdom' linked to Galloway. Edwin of Deira is baptised. Ecgfrith (670-685).
The Norse raid on the holy island of Lindisfarne on June 8th 793 shocked a people, and gave warning of future clashes with the warrior-bandits from across the North Sea.
The portents were there for some time before June 8th: terrible storms, immense sheets of lightning, fiery dragons even according to the Anglo- Saxon Chronicles. In more practical terms, it is highly probable that real preparations had been made before this epoch making event.
It is likely that the Vikings had island hopped – from their homeland to the Shetlands , on to the Orkneys , and then to mainland Scotland or even another island base off the Scottish coast. And it is unthinkable that the raiders just happened to begin their predations on one of the richest and most vulnerable targets they could have happened upon. The Viking method through much of their history is firstly trading with areas new to them – furs, jewels, amber – then armed with local knowledge raiding them.
At Lindisfarne the Viking fleet had rich and easy pickings: silver plate, gold crosses, jewelled chests holding relics of the saints, and some of the monks themselves, taken into slavery by the Norsemen. Those opposing them were largely cut to pieces. Others it is said were dragged into the sea and drowned. Some were left to tell the tale.
And it was a terrible tale, all the more shocking because of the holy nature of the victims. These were violent times, but in much of Europe the religious orders were havens, the churches and monasteries not fortified because they had no need of defence. After Lindisfarne, though, this was no longer the case.
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