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30-10-2015
-s. imparaThe Viking Age

Viking- the term applies to the Danes and Norwegians (Norway was already under the
control of Denmark) and means warrior (in the old language of Scandinavia Old Norse)
- They were very good sailors; the Danes were a population of warriors and sailors.
The Vikings were organized in tribes; they werent christian. They liked to cultivate
the land, to hunt, to fish etc. The invasions of the Vikings caused an involution in England, it
returned to the 5th-6th century.
- They were pagan they believed in Germanic gods; this made them appreciate
the values of North mythology.
The invasion of the Vikings resembles the invasion of Anglo-Saxons.
The Danes had the pleasure to invade, to conquer, to kill, to burn they were violent
and powerful.
They believed in heroic deaths; they had to be very firm, convincing on the battlefield
so that they could go to Valhalla.
There were two periods in which the Vikings invaded England:
The first wave : 865-954
The second wave: 1016-1035 a more political conquest

The first wave

- It was the heroic, military stage; it implied battles and conquest.
The main cause was the fact that the Danes came from a country that was too small
for their needs (they suffered from hunger, the soil was infertile, it was cold)-the lack of life
conditions pushed them to move from Scandinavia and come to England. They didnt come
to a country that was unknown to them. They had already come to the British shore and
created small kingdoms in Ireland (e.g.: Dublin- an important harbour from which they
started expeditions across the Atlantic Ocean, a place which was in contact with
Scandinavia).
They knew where they could attack. They were very successful on the sea because
Scandinavia was a peninsula-it was pretty much surrounded by sea. The sea was part of their
daily lives: it provided them with food, possibility to go to other countries etc. It was part of
their mentality.
They had very good ships and were famous in the world for their famous type of ships
which were meant to both transport them and inspire fear to their enemies. They had long
boats, called drakkars, which were military boats. Other types of boats were funeral ships:
they didnt go on expeditions, but were built for the aristocrats, the kings were buried there:
they were left to float on the sea or were set on fire.
Drakkars had a dragon head in the front, which had 2 connotations:
they made the enemy afraid
they were protected by a dragon(which were very powerful creatures) the mythological connotation.
Drakkars transported people, horses, weapons and provisions. They were very
efficient means of transport; they were made of wood, very light; they could cover about 150
km/day; used the wind or the people were rowing.

The Danes had many achievements. In the 9th century, they are thought to be the first
Europeans who arrived in America, in Canada, Newfoundland. The expedition started from
Iceland, which was a part of the Danish kingdom. Eric the Red started the expedition
(because of the pleasure to explore) in a place called Vineland (the first colony in America).
This was the first European attempt to discover America.
Also, they arrived in Russia, Ukraine and built the city of Kiev. They arrived in
Normandy (in France) and tried to conquer Paris. They were called Norman which meant
Man of the North.
They conquered parts of Italy-Sicily. They arrived in Lebanon and Morocco (second
European population arriving in Africa-after the Romans).
The invasion of England took place in the first wave. In 801, the Great Attack of the
Monastery of Iona (an island in North Scotia). The Great Abbey of Iona was there. They had
important books (e.g. The Book of Kells aka The Book of the Four Gospels). The attack was
so powerful the abbey was turned to ruins. Wherever the Danes went, nothing remained.
Beowulf was written by the monks of Iona. When the Vikings attacked, the books were
literally put in a bag by the monks who then ran away.
The English had lived in a country that was organised in states- there was peace,
stability, organization. The people had forgotten how it was to live at war.
The power of the Viking attack (armies from Scandinavia and from Ireland) was
devastating. The attack was from North to South. First Northumbria in 865, which fell very
quickly. Then they advanced towards Mercia. London fell. Kent was also occupied. In less
than 50 years almost all England was a Danish territory.
Their strategy was very efficient. When the Danish attacked, they made sure that they
occupied the place. Then they left a representative of theirs and a garrison made of welltrained soldiers. Then they moved on and conquered another place. If they moved from place
to place, they didnt give time to the enemy to regroup.
They were not always victorious. Sometimes, they retreated to a nearby place then
asked the English for a sum of money to be given to them so that they wont attack again
(ransom money) they had an economic strategy as well. This way, the enemy was kept
under control. Money was rare.
Another reason the Vikings were powerful was the fact that the English didnt fight in
winter. Oral tradition said that fights, wars, battels didnt take place in winter. All the wars
were organised according to the agricultural year. Agriculture was more important than wars.
The English were taken by surprise and surrendered. The Danes fought in winter because
Scandinavia was a very cold region. They were used to the cold. The English had to gather an
army, fight in snow and on ice so they were defeated.
In less than 50 years, the Danes conquered almost all the Heptarchy. All the effort the
English had made disappeared. The Vikings imposed their own mentality.
The only state of the Heptarchy that wasnt conquered yet was Wessex. The king of
Wessex was Alfred the Great. Without his intelligence, England would have fallen under the
Vikings control. Wessex, with a small army faced the huge army of the Danes and defeated
it, against all odds.
The invasion of Wessex
All the other states had been conquered and couldnt help Wessex. Wessex was a state
which didnt differ from the other six states in any way. It was governed by a king and the

army was made of a fyrd which became a shirefyrd a group of warriors, they werent well
organised. They would listen to local commanders. From a military point of view, Wessex
wasnt much organised. Wessex was attacked by two great armies:
The Great Heathen Army (they were pagan) which landed in England in
~860-865.
The Great Summer Army which landed in Kent and prepared to attack Wessex.
They joined forces to destroy Wessex.
King Alfred became king of Wessex in 871 after the death of his 3 brothers. He was
last in line. Before he was king, he participated in battles against the Danes and realised their
strong points and weaknesses. He noticed their major weakness: when attacking, the Vikings
were powerful because they attacked on horses. The Danes were powerful when they
attacked in a compact group (listening to just one commander). If the group could be
dislocated, there was a chance the English could win.
Alfred needed time to reorganise the shirefyrd. So he paid the ransom money and
obtained time to reorganise the army.
He adopted a very new strategy. He retreated to an area of Wessex made of swamps
where the Vikings could not follow. Then he started a guerrilla war he attacked then he
retreated. It was very efficient for the English and very distressing for the Vikings. It showed
that Wessex wasnt easy to be conquered. Those short attacks lasted for seven years. Alfred
had time to reorganise the army. He asked for help from the other 6 states. He transformed the
shirefyrd into a professional army which listened to a strategy and a commander.
The Danes fell into the trap. They didnt see the new strategy. The two Danish armies
and the English army met in a final battle in 878 in a place called Ethandun (near a place
called Edington SW of England). The fate of England was decided.
The Danish army were under the leadership of a great lord: Guthrum the greatest
leader the Danish ever had.
The final armies were around the same number in 878: ~30.000 people on each side.
Ethandun is a great English victory- somehow of a miracle. The English won in only
one day. At the end of the day, Guthrum asked for peace. The casualties were so great, that
the Danes needed peace. The English agreed and Guthrum surrendered to Alfred and after
Ethandun a treaty was needed to recognize the English victory. The Danes returned to their
territories and Alfred returned to Winchester (the capital of Wessex). After that, Alfred went
to a place called Wedmore.
The treaty of peace between Guthrum and Alfred stipulated:
English supremacy over all England( the battle was between Wessex and Danish
England); that way, Wessex reconquered the whole England and Alfred became king of all
England the first time in England where there was one king in one country. Officially,
England united in 900.
The Danes couldnt live where they wanted; they had to surrender their properties
to England; they were restricted to an area in the centre of England which was called
Danelaw they were brought to this enclave. They werent allowed to get out the Danelaw
which was inhabited by free people.
After the battle, Guthrum sent a messenger to Alfred to ask him personally to
Christianise the Danes. Guthrum was christianised by Alfred. From that moment on, The
Danes in England were christian.
After this pacification, Alfred was king over all England. From 900 on, we talk about
English people. Alfred was able to reorganize the other states economically, politically.

Culture, literature returned. Alfred translated philosophy, geography books etc. The capital of
England was Winchester the very first capital of England.
The first stage of the Viking Age ended peacefully.

The second wave

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In 1016 started the second stage of the Viking Age

It was more of a political invasion; a diplomate conquest.

The Danish revenge over Ethandun: a Danish great king who was able to bring back
Danish power and turned England into an empire Knut the Great (ruled England from
1016 to 1035). The army which Knut led was a christian, professional army that conquered in
a more modern way.
The conquest benefited from the help of the people in Danelaw. England wasnt able
to face the national revolts and fell. Knut was an intellectual and conquered England by
diplomatic connections and battles.
Knut did not take revenge on the English for what they had done in Ethandun. He
lived like an Englishman. He didnt force the English to become Danes. Thats why the
English accepted him as a king. (e.g.: he asked to be crowned in Winchester- he respected the
English traditions. He said that if he didnt respect the oath he took, a sword would cut his
throat.
He moved the capital from Winchester to London. Winchester stayed the traditional
capital, but London was the official capital because it was located in a more strategical area
for commerce, expeditions etc.
Another important fact: when Knut attacked and conquered England, he didnt forget
he came from the North: he joined Denmark and England( and later Norway) they became
parts of the Anglo-Scandinavian Empire with the capital in London- the first time England
was part of an empire. This way, it became one of the important powers in Europe. Knut was
invited to Rome to assist the coronation of the Roman-German Empire.
He married Emma of Normandy- the Normand influence. After Knut died the throne
of England: to Edward the First Emmas son from her first marriage.