Loot and Land
By Dr Anna Ritchie
The Vikings attacked Britain's holy places, slaughtered its monks and carried away countless
treasures. Well designed boats and convenient winds helped the Vikings come and go as they
pleased. Britain was devastated, as the raiders divided the land amongst themselves.
Terror from the sea
In 789, three Viking ships arrived on the Wessex shore. The local reeve had been sent to greet
them but he was killed on the spot. This event was recorded in a short entry in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle. But worse was to come. Four years later, Lindisfarne, one of Britain's most sacred sites,
was sacked. Word of the Viking threat spread throughout Europe.
'Lo, it is nearly 350 years that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never
before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race, nor was it
thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made. Behold the church of St Cuthbert
spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments; a place more
venerable than all in Britain is given as a prey to pagan peoples...'. Letter from Alcuin to Ethelred,
king of Northumbria
The first Viking raids were hit-and-run affairs. There was no co-ordination and no long-term plan
behind them. Raids were not even a new hazard in a society well-used to warfare on any scale
from local skirmishes to great battles. The Vikings' sin was to attack and pillage the holy
monasteries, the sacred places of the Christian world. And the leaders of that world were quick to
condemn them. One of those leaders whose words have come down to us was Alcuin of York.
Terror from the sea
In 789, three Viking ships arrived on the Wessex shore. The local reeve had been sent to greet
them but he was killed on the spot. This event was recorded in a short entry in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle. But worse was to come. Four years later, Lindisfarne, one of Britain's most sacred sites,
was sacked. Word of the Viking threat spread throughout Europe.
'Lo, it is nearly 350 years that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never
before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race, nor was it
thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made. Behold the church of St Cuthbert
spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments; a place more
venerable than all in Britain is given as a prey to pagan peoples...'. Letter from Alcuin to Ethelred,
king of Northumbria
The first Viking raids were hit-and-run affairs. There was no co-ordination and no long-term plan
behind them. Raids were not even a new hazard in a society well-used to warfare on any scale
from local skirmishes to great battles. The Vikings' sin was to attack and pillage the holy
monasteries, the sacred places of the Christian world. And the leaders of that world were quick to
condemn them. One of those leaders whose words have come down to us was Alcuin of York.
Lindisfarne sacked
Alcuin was a scholar and monk living in Germany, who heard the news of a devastating Viking
raid on the monastery of Lindisfarne in Northumbria on 8 June, 793. He wrote long letters to the
Northumbrian king and to the Bishop of Lindisfarne, commiserating with their plight and blaming
it on the sinful lives of their people.
'Consider carefully, brothers, and examine diligently, lest perchance this unaccustomed and
unheard-of evil was merited by some unheard-of evil practice... Consider the dress, the way of
wearing the hair, the luxurious habits of the princes and people.' Letter from Alcuin to Ethelred,
King of Northumbria.
'It was unthinkable that such a holy place should suffer attack from foreign heathens.'
The raid of 793 was the first recorded Viking raid on Britain. Alcuin's words express the horror of
his Christian world at the ferocity of pagan raiders, whose attack was sudden, unexpected and
devastating. Lindisfarne (Holy Island) lies just off the coast of Northumberland and its monastery
was revered for its link with St Cuthbert more than a century earlier. It was unthinkable that such a
holy place should suffer attack from foreign heathens, that its monks should be slaughtered and its
treasures taken. Yet this was to happen again and again to other monasteries throughout England,
Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Alcuin's letters are just one piece of historical evidence for Viking
attacks. Other raids were recorded in the annals kept in monasteries at Iona and in Ireland:
'devastation of all the islands of Britain' reads an entry for 794 in the Annals of Ulster. Columba's
famous monastery on the Scottish island of Iona was pillaged the following year, and again in 802,
in 806 and in 825. Nowhere was safe from the Vikings.
Who were the Vikings?
We tend to think of the Vikings as a single phenomenal race of Scandinavian warriors, but the
reality is more complex. Raids on the British Isles and the coasts of France and Spain were the
work of Vikings from Norway and Denmark (Swedish Vikings set out across the Baltic Sea into
Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia). The word Viking means one who lurks in a 'vik' or bay, in
effect, a pirate.
The word 'Viking' has come to describe a whole new age in Europe between about 800 and 1150.
This is despite the fact that Vikings were not just pirates and warriors but also traders and colonists.
But at the start of the Viking Age in the last decade of the eighth century, loot and adventure were
the main goals of the Norwegians who raided in Scotland and Ireland and of the Danes who
attacked England. Gold and silver treasures accumulated by the great monasteries could be
converted into personal wealth, and thus power, and captives could be sold as slaves. What better
way for the young sons of good families to earn their way and see the world?
''The work of angels' were looted and taken home by Vikings.'
The monks who recorded Viking activities could not know the origins of their tormentors, but
discoveries of precious metalwork from Britain in Norway and Denmark are clues to their
homelands. Decorative mounts from church plate such as the Ardagh Chalice could be removed
and made into brooches, the rest of the chalice could also be melted down and the silver re-used.
Such pieces have been found in pagan graves of around 800 in Scandinavia. The Ardagh Chalice
escaped this fate, but many other beautiful examples of what has been called 'the work of angels'
were looted and taken home by Vikings. One exquisite reliquary box, made in the eighth century
to hold a saint's relic, became a Norwegian lady's jewellery casket in the tenth century, when an
inscription in runes was carved on its base: 'Ranvaik owns this casket'.
Ships and navigation
Successful raiding and adventures overseas required good fast ships, and that is exactly what the
development of boat technology had provided by the eighth century. The use of a sturdy keel
meant that a mast could be properly supported and that boats could be sailed as well as rowed.
Long sea voyages were possible even if navigation was still a matter of watching the movement of
the sun and of observing landmarks and seabirds.
'Vikings preferred not to spend the night at sea if they could avoid it...'
We know what their ships looked like because many Vikings were buried with their worldly goods,
and sometimes this included their boat. The Gokstad ship, from a burial south of Oslo, is the sort
of warship to which the Viking raiders aspired - an elegant 23 metres of curving oak planks that
would skim the waves. Tree-ring dating has shown that this particular ship was built towards the
end of the ninth century, but its efficient design was developed earlier - fast, flexible and, with its
shallow draught, easy to beach. Few warlords could afford to send such a magnificent vessel to the
grave, and no Viking boat of the size of Gokstad has been found in Britain. Smaller rowing boats
could be spared for funerary use, and the most recent discovery of a boat-burial at Scar in Orkney
contained a vessel some 7 metres long. But the existence of large warships in British waters can be
inferred from the historical evidence - Vikings preferred not to spend the night at sea if they could
avoid it and would rather camp in tents on shore.
A fair wind for raiding
Alongside the efforts of boat builders was a gradual improvement in climate and overall weather
patterns. This led to calmer seas and fewer storms in summer. There are many clues that point to
this change in climate. If you slice a tree trunk horizontally, you can see the rings that represent
annual growth: thick rings in good years and thin rings in bad years. If you dig down into a peat
bog, you will find that there are horizontal layers, caused by variations in climate: in dry summers
the surface of the bog will dry out and compact, whereas high rainfall will encourage the peat to
grow. Plants can also provide evidence. They have different needs in terms of temperature and
moisture, and the presence or absence of the pollen of certain plants on an archaeological site can
indicate what the climate was like when people were living there. A cool and wet climate, for
instance, will encourage the growth of ferns.
So we know that the summers were getting warmer but that was not the whole story. For
Norwegians intent on reaching Scotland and the honeyed seaway to Ireland, the wind was on their
side too. The prevailing winds helpfully blew westwards into their sails in springtime to take them
to the Scottish islands, and eastwards in the autumn to bring them home.
The need for land
Raids and loot were not the whole story. Land to farm was also a desirable commodity, especially
for the families along the western seaboard of Norway, where fertile land was in short supply.
Younger sons, political exiles, mercenary warriors and traders all had the option of becoming
colonists in the lands now familiar from the tales of returning raiders. Once based in the northern
and western islands of Scotland, they could farm and trade and still turn their hand to raiding
whenever convenient. And we know from the 12th-century Icelandic Sagas that this is exactly
what they did. Svein Asleifarson lived on the island of Gairsay in Orkney in the 12th century, and
his lifestyle was recorded in one of these sagas.
'This was how Svein used to live. Winter he would spend at home on Gairsay, where he
entertained some 80 men at his own expense. His drinking hall was so big, there was nothing in
Orkney to compare with it. In the spring he had more than enough to occupy him, with a great
deal of seed to sow, which he saw to carefully himself. Then when that job was done, he would go
off plundering in the Hebrides and in Ireland on what he called his 'spring-trip', then back home
just after mid-summer, where he stayed till the cornfields had been reaped and the grain was safely
in. After that he would go off raiding again, and never came back till the first month of winter was
ended. This he used to call his 'autumn-trip'.' Orkneyinga Saga, chapter 105
'Protection money had been extorted from the English.'
The pattern of Danish colonisation in England was more organised, as had been Danish raids after
about 850. In that year a Viking army had spent the winter encamped on the Isle of Thanet at the
mouth of the River Thames, and protection money had been extorted from the English. Large
forces of warriors, winter camps and payments in silver or food became the norm, even deep
inland - a Viking camp of 873 has been excavated at Repton in Derbyshire. In 876 a Viking leader
shared out the farmlands of Northumbria among his warriors. The Danish colonisation of England
had begun.
Find out more
Books
Chronicles of the Vikings: records, memorials and myths by RI Page (British Museum Press,
1995)
Cultural Atlas of the Viking World by James Graham-Campbell, Colleen Batey, Helen Clarke, RI
Page and Neil S Price (Andromeda, 1994)
Viking Scotland by Anna Ritchie (Batsford, 1993)
Viking Age England by Julian D Richards (Batsford, 1991)
The Viking Dig: The Excavations at York by Richard Hall (Bodley Head, 1984)
Scar: A Viking Boat Burial on Sanday, Orkney by Olwyn Owen and Magnar Dalland (Tuckwell
Press/East Linton, 1999)
The Age of Charlemagne by Donald Bullough (Paul Elek, 1965)
Orkneyinga Saga translated by Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards (Hogarth Press, 1978)
A History of the English Language by NF Blake (Macmillan, 1996). An accessible and modern
discussion of the growth of English.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names by E Eckwall (Oxford University Press, 1960).
Still the most useful book on place names.
The Origins and Development of the English Language by Thomas Pyles and John Algeo
(Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1993). A comprehensive guide to the evolution of English, well
organised into sections.
The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England edited by Michael Lapidge, John Blair,
Simon Keynes and DG Scragg (Blackwell, 1999). A thorough guide by leading scholars into all
aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture, including entries on the Vikings, Old Norse, place-names, and
numerous individuals, texts and places.
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Viking edited by P Sawyer (Oxford University Press, 1997).
A colourful, full discussion of the activities of the Vikings.
Places to visit
The most obvious place to visit to learn more about the Vikings is the Jorwik Centre in York. York
itself was the seat of Viking kings, and the Centre recreates the sights, sounds and smells of the
10th-century city.
Other cities with excellent museums that include finds from Viking settlements are Leicester
(Jewry Wall Museum) and Nottingham (Castle Museum). Most cities also have dedicated
museums, including Lincoln, Derby, Peterborough and Norwich. In these, information about the
history of the regions and archaeological discoveries bring the Viking and early medieval periods
to life.
Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. Viking artefacts from across Scotland and a reconstructed grave
from the Westness cemetery, Orkney.
Heritage Trails. Most cities now offer heritage trails, available from Tourist Information centres,
which allow you to retrace the footsteps of medieval ancestors, and investigate the surviving
architecture from earlier centuries.
Or visit the islands themselves - Brough of Birsay, Orkney. On this spectacular tidal island are the
remains of Viking houses and a 12th-century church.
Jarlshof, Shetland. A stunning site that spans five and a half millennia, including four centuries of
a Viking farmstead.
Libraries and local history. Local libraries will provide a wealth of interesting material for the
medieval period and the Viking settlements. Look especially for local history books and pamplets,
which will provide a guide to places of interest in your locality. Local history and archaeology
groups often have public lectures on aspects of early England. These should be advertised in your
local library or look up special interest groups in the telephone directory.
Sign-spotting. Travelling around the old Danelaw counties investigating place names is a fun and
rewarding activity. You can also do this with a map from your armchair! Try to find as many
places as possible with Old English origins (ending in -tun, -burh, -feld, for example), and with
Scandinavian origins (-by, -thorpe, -toft, -thwaite) to work out where the Viking settlers chose to
make their homes, how close they were to their English neighbours, and the kinds of activities in
which they might have engaged.
Living history. There are numerous re-enactment groups who stage annual events where villages
and battles are recreated. These are advertised by English Heritage, local newspapers and Tourist
Information centres. The Vikings, a living history group, puts on a whole range of activities.
To see how the Anglo-Saxons lived and worked, visit West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village in Suffolk.
St Edmund himself, martyred by the Vikings in the 9th century, was interred at the abbey of
nearby Bury St Edmunds.
Bede's World in Jarrow, Northumberland is a wonderful site recreating many aspects of early
Anglo-Saxon England. The nearby church of Jarrow was where Bede himself lived and worked,
and it still retains the original foundation stone for all to see.
In 991, the East Anglian Anglo-Saxons, led by Earl Byrthnorth, were totally defeated by the
Vikings at the Battle of Maldon. The site of this battle, commemorated in the famous Old English
poem, The Battle of Maldon, can still be visited today, near the River Pante in Essex.
Additional links
Viking Ship Museum. Images and descriptions of finds from the great ship burials at Oseberg,
Gokstad and Tune, as well as finds from the chieftain grave at Borre in Norway.
Anglo-Saxon England (Minnesota State University). The Anglo-Saxon England Ring contains
some interesting material on King Canute.
The Vikings. The National Association of Re-enactment Societies offers the chance to watch or
take part in re-created moments from the past.
Regia Anglorum. A living history club recreating English life 1000 years ago.
The World of the Vikings. An ever-changing mix of Viking related material.
History of the English Language. Interesting material on the development of English.
Word Detective. A humorous look at the development of language.
About the author
Dr Anna Ritchie is an archaeologist and a Viking specialist. She has excavated numerous sites,
notably Buckquoy, in Orkney. She is author of Viking Scotland, as well as many other books on
Scottish archaeology.