The Vikings: First Settlers

By candelariasandoval
  • 793

    Viking longships raided the monastery of Lindisfarne

  • Period: 794 to 795

    attacks on regions surrounding Lindisfarne

  • Period: 795 to 835

    England was free from attacks. Vikings establish bases in France.

  • 835

    Isle of Sheppy is attacked.

  • 836

    Wessed is attacked.

  • 838

    King Egbert faced a Viking-Cornish army at Hingston Down.

  • 840

    The trading center of Hamwic fell victim to a Viking raid.

  • 850

    A Viking army overwintered for the first time in England, on the Isle of Thanet

    350 raiding fleets were recorded to have arrived.
  • 851

    The Vikings stormed Canterbury and London, defeating King Berhtwulf of Mercia.

  • Period: 860 to 869

    Raids were intensified.

  • 865

    A new Viking host called the “Great Army” landed in East Anglia. It may have numbered in the thousands and stayed for 13 years, extinguishing the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

    They make peace with the East Anglian king. The Viking army captured York, throwing King Aelle into
    a pit filled with venomous snakes.
  • 869

    King Edmund was defeated and killed. Therefore the Vikings returned to East Anglia.

  • 871

    The Summer Army (Vikings reinforcements) arrived to Britain.

  • 874

    The Vikings put an end to Mercia’s independence. Raiders’ unity seems to have been fractured

  • 874

    The army splits into two groups

    One
    retired to Northumbria (this
    was the first recorded Viking attempt to settle in England). The second invaded Wessex in 875. But a dissenting group within the later one divided the land of Mercia among themselves.
  • 878

    A small Viking group crossed Mercia with a new leader: Guthrum, who forced king Alfred to rally his followers.

    Now, with East Anglia, Northumbria and East Mercia at Viking’s hands their position in Anglo-Saxon England was unassailable. The areas where the Vikings
    established in England became known as the Danelaw. Eventually, the Viking raids ceased, but the Danelaw continued to retain a strong identity, distinct from the south in many ways.
  • 882

    The Vikings lose a naval engagement against Alfred’s army who captured two of their ships.

  • 885

    A Viking force attacks Rochester, but is beaten off by Alfred’s army (Anglo-Saxon)

  • 886

    Alfred makes a new treaty with Guthrum, defining the limits of their respective territories and setting the borders of the Danelaw. Alfred occupies London.

  • 892

    New Viking armies land in England. One part, led by Haesten, is temporarily bought off, but the armies unite by 893.

  • 895

    The Vikings finally agree to leave England.