There are two distinct phases to the Vikings in England.
First you have the period from 793 to 865 where the Vikings did sporadic raids
on the coast. They used the raids to capture booty and slaves but did not put
down any roots. Then in 865 the great
heathen army under the command of the sons of Ragnar the Hairy Breeches landed
in East Anglia and stayed. While Ivar
consolidated his power in East Anglia and Mercia, Halfdan went north, taking
advantage of a Northumbrian civil war. At the time, the capital of Northumbria
was York. He captured York with ease on
1 November 866 as all the nobles were at church for All Saints Day and the
rival kings were off fighting each other. The Vikings being pagans were no respectors of Christain holy days!
However the two rival kings Osbert and Aella quickly
realised what was going on and besieged York in March 867. Halfdan thoroughly routed
the Saxons. Aella who is reputed to have foully murdered Halfdan’s father by
throwing him in a pit filled with poisonous snakes was put to death by being
turned into a blood eagle. Halfdan then turned his attention elsewhere, but in
876 there was a rebellion which Halfdan put down. At this point, according to
the Anglo Saxon Chronicle he shared out the lands between his warriors and
established the Kingdom of York. He died in Dublin in 877. York continued as a
kingdom for a hundred years. He renamed the kingdom Jorik rather than Anglo
Saxon Eoforwic. The Vikings were in England to stay.
The Viking influence remains in York and Yorkshire. Much of
the layout of the current city of York was done by the Vikings. Any street
ending in –gate is a Viking street. Underneath Coppersgate (literally the street where cups are made lay
the remains of Jorvik and it is where today you can find the Jorvik centre.
That dig did much to change the perception of the Vikings in York as it emerged
that York had been a prosperous trading city with links all over Europe
and Byzantium under Viking rule. There
were also a large proportion of traders and craftsmen.
The Vikings were responsible for dividing Yorkshire up into
Ridings as a means of administering their territory. You can also find Viking place
names all over Yorkshire. Suffix – by such as Whitby simply means village or
the village of Whit. –thrope means out lying farm, -tun means village, -wick
means bay and –ford (fjord).
It is during this time period such Scandinavian words as
knife, cup, egg, ill and die entered the English language. Also highly useful
grammar of their, them and they come from Old Norse into the English language
during this period. In all there are over 600 loan words from the Scandinavian
language which shows that there was a huge amount of Viking settlement during
this period. The Vikings did not evoke terror but settled and became part of
the landscape before that great Viking invasion by the Normans.
