The Great Heathen Army Invades, Viking Invasions

 

In the winter of 865, 3000 Norsemen disembarked their longships somewhere on the coast of East Anglia with a simple goal: avenge Lodbrok’s death, conquer the Saxon lands, and build a Norse kingdom in Britain. According to the Norse sagas, this army was led by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok: Ubba, Sigurd, and the terrifying, ruthless Ivar the Boneless.

Where they actually landed is still up for debate. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is vague on this matter, saying only that they made landfall somewhere in East Anglia. What is clear is that they disembarked on an undefended coast in a politically fragmented land. Here, they threatened the local king, Edmund, into giving them weapons and horses in return for peace. This was the Danegeld, a common practice that developed among the Saxons of attempting to pay the Vikings to go away.

In Northumbria, the despotic King Aella, Ragnar Lodbrok’s killer, was locked in a grim civil war with the deposed king Oshbert, dethroned by Aella some years previously. Bearing East Anglian steel and seated upon swift new horses, Ivar, Ubba, and Sigurd marched north. They aimed for Eorwic, a rich trading settlement that functioned as the royal centre of the Northumbrian kingdom, and in November, they captured it without a fight.

Realising the situation, Aella and Oshbert quickly came to terms, banding together to face the heathen threat. That March, they attacked Eorwic. The Northumbrians breached the stout walls of the town, but the Vikings sallied forth and pushed them back. Aella and Osbert died in battle together, and Ivar and his brothers became the undisputed masters of Northumbria and Eorwic, which they renamed Jorvik. We know this city today as York.

If we follow the sagas, perhaps this should have been the end of it all - Ragnar Lodbrok’s killers have paid their blood debt, and Ivar can think of his vengeance satisfied. Yet the Vikings march on. In winter, they cross into the kingdom of Mercia, ruled by King Burgred.

But Mercia is not Northumbria. It is a large, rich country occupying the middle portion of modern-day England. It’s stable and peaceful, with great reserves of manpower. What’s more, it has friends. Burgred calls on his brothers-in-law, Aethelred and Alfred of Wessex, for aid. The Saxons encircled Nottingham, and… the Vikings simply refused to come out. Without a way to breach the walls, both sides were stuck. Finally, a peace agreement was made and Aethelred and Alfred returned to Wessex. In the winter of 869, the Vikings returned to Jorvik and remained there until spring.

In a sense, this is where the story of the Viking invasions begins. From here on in, the Vikings would no longer simply raid and return home. Instead, they were here to stay. Taking advantage of a fragmented and fratricidal land, the Norse quickly established themselves as part of the political makeup of the British Isles. East Anglia, Northumbria, Dublin, and the Scottish Isles all became Norse territories, and Britain’s other inhabitants would have to get used to their new Viking neighbours.

This was the first of many Viking invasions that would disrupt life in Britain throughout the early medieval period (from around 865 to the final Viking invasion in 1066). Each year, the invaders wintered in a fortified position, received settlers and reinforcements from Scandinavia, and then marched out as the air warmed, attacking and capturing Saxon lands. From now on, warfare would become part of the seasonal rhythm, arriving with the daffodils each spring.