The Complete Guide to Viking Battles and Raids Part Two: Raids in Britain and Beyond
Viking raids could range in seriousness, from small incursions aimed at gathering resources, riches and slaves, to full-scale invasions.
While some Viking raids only affected small coastal areas, other campaigns led to the Vikings claiming significant swathes of territory, both in Britain and around the world.
In this part of our Complete Guide to Viking Battles and Raids series, we’ll take a look at how, where and why the Vikings launched raids in Britain and across the wider world.
Viking Raids and Battles in Britain
The two most famous Viking raids and invasions in British history are the sacking of Lindisfarne monastery in 793 AD and the full-scale Viking invasion of Britain in 866 AD under the command of Ivar the Boneless.
Before we get into the details, it’s worth remembering that the accuracy of the reports of both incidents is often called into question. The Christian accounts and translations of Viking sagas and stories vary significantly in some areas, particularly in the case of the invasion of Britain. Now, let’s dig in…
Lindisfarne
The Viking raid on Lindisfarne is by far the simpler of the two affairs, possibly because it was better planned. The Vikings had recently developed the technology to create the longship, a flat-bottomed and manoeuvrable vessel perfect for coastal raiding. Its shallow bottom meant it could run upriver and would have a far smaller chance of grounding on underwater rocks close to shore. It also meant that the vessel could be broader, allowing it to carry more troops.
This new invention, combined with years of experience and knowledge of the Northeastern coast from trading, gifted the Vikings a literal golden opportunity in the form of coastal monasteries. The church was phenomenally wealthy and monasteries were often built in remote locations to guard their wealth.
Lindisfarne was situated on its own island, completely cut off from help and unprepared for a seafaring attack. As a result, the Vikings planned their assault meticulously and swooped in on their new longboats to find the monks totally unprepared. The resultant conflict went about as well as could be expected when one side is a group of mostly elderly gentlemen with no military training and the other contains battle-hardened veterans of the seas. The Vikings made off with quite a large amount of treasure, including the ample stocks of mead stored at the monastery, and probably had the night of their lives to celebrate.
This was only the first in a campaign of raids that directly targeted the isolated monasteries of the British coastline. The Viking kingdoms grew stronger, wealthier and bolder, until eventually they gained enough strength to invade Britain itself.
The Invasion of Britain
The incursion in 866 AD led to the creation of the Danelaw, the Viking kingdom that stretched from Northumbria into the Midlands and lasted for 200 years.
The excuse the Vikings gave for this invasion was that Aella, King of Northumbria, had invited the great Viking King Ragnar Lothbrok to negotiate a reduction in his raids under a flag of truce. He had then murdered Ragnar in cold blood. There are different versions of the method of execution, some including him being cast into a pit of wolves or venomous snakes. Whatever the method, the result was the same: Ragnar’s sons wanted vengeance and crossed the sea from Norway to get it.
Aella ruled from the city of Eoforwick, known to the Vikings as Jorvik and to us as York. Upon hearing of the Viking approach and encampment along the River Ouse, he decided the safest thing to do would be to retreat within the walls of his city and wait them out. The English winter was about to hit and food and shelter would be scarce. He planned to emerge in the spring, gather his allies and attack the weak and starving Vikings before they could properly recover.
Unfortunately for Aella, though British winters were bitterly cold in the 9th century, far colder than they are today, they were still not even close to a match for Northern European winters, where the sun completely disappears from the sky for 3 days at midwinter due to the earth’s axial tilt. The army he met was not a group of starving, desperate men, but a force of well-rested Viking warriors.
Aella was quickly forced to flee and was eventually captured and executed through a practice known as the blood eagle. According to the sagas, this involved pulling out his lungs and setting them on his shoulders to form ‘wings’, although this is potentially hyperbolic on the part of the Vikings to make the story sound better.
Whatever the details, the raid had given the Vikings a foothold in Britain that they would turn into a prosperous and thriving kingdom. Raids like that at Lindisfarne were only the beginning. Settlement and expansion were the real goals.
What Other Countries did the Vikings Raid?
The Vikings were incredible explorers and seafarers. The expansion of their trade network to a nearly worldwide degree greatly opened the scope of their raiding targets. No area under their influence was safe.
North of Europe
The most numerous raids conducted by the Vikings were on the kingdoms closest to the North of Europe. They were a particular trouble for France with the invasion of France under the Viking King Rollo, ending with him besieging Paris for nearly a year and forcing King Charles the Simple to sign the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 911 AD. Part of that treaty involved giving the Vikings the land that would become known as Normandy.
The Mediterranean
Further south, the 9th century saw Viking raids striking down through the Mediterranean with figures like Bjorn Ironside and Hastein raiding south towards the highly lucrative trade routes that had once supplied the Roman Empire.
With the Empire now long gone, and Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne the Great dead, the individual kingdoms and city states that made up what we now think of as Italy were more vulnerable to attack, and the Vikings took advantage of the power vacuum.
The Vikings attacked Seville, Rome, the Roussillon region of France and even made their way far enough south to raid cities on the North African coastline. Viking longboats have flat and shallow hulls that allowed them to travel up estuaries and into rivers, making raids on cities away from the coast a possibility for them. They mainly took wealth and valuables from the European cities, and the Abbasid Caliphate in Northern Africa offered them the opportunity to take slaves.
The Americas
Their influence far from stopped there though. Under the command of Leif Erikson, a group of Vikings managed to make the journey all the way over to Newfoundland in North America, meaning they beat Christopher Columbus to arrive on the North American continent by more than five centuries. It is unknown exactly what they got up to when they reached their new home, but some raiding of the local Native American tribes is a reasonable assumption.
The Baltics and Beyond
In the opposite direction, we know that the Varangian Rus reached out along river routes to get from the Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas. They attacked Eastern European countries along the river routes for wealth, before establishing their own expansion in that direction. They made it as far as Constantinople and were repelled but their reputation as fierce warriors led to the creation of the Varangian Guard, the personal guard of the Byzantine emperor, formed of hired Viking mercenaries. This reputation allowed Viking kings like Oleg the Wise to force favourable trade negotiations. There are even reports that they travelled far enough east to raid Islamic towns.
Most of the Vikings that started raiding the Eastern European states eventually settled and assimilated into the general population as the Kievan Rus. The Norse Chieftain Rurik helped this along by conquering several of the Slavic tribes to form the Rurikid dynasty.
Viking raids were very nearly a worldwide phenomenon with their trade network stretching even wider. There is even some archaeological evidence in the form of beads and jewellery that suggests it may have reached as far as China!
From Lindisfarne to Latin America and even out towards China in the east, the Vikings were able to capture huge swathes of territory through their raids, battles and invasions. In the next part of our Complete Guides to Viking Battles and Raids series, we’ll look at how Viking culture spread, including what Vikings wore and ate, as well as how they lived their everyday lives away from the battlefield.
