A Chronological History of Britain
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When we left off last time we discussed the viking raids of Paris and Hamburg… though they were far more than the raids we’d seen in the last 40-50 years. Now we’re looking at fleets that number in the hundreds and we’re seeing the nobility on the continent, especially the Frankish nobility, hiring many of these men as mercenaries to fight against their local rivals.
Western Europe is unravelling.
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This is a big event for Medieval Western Europe, and it doesn’t come out of nowhere. The surge of Northmen, and in particular the Danish attacks against Frankia, had a starting point. This wasn’t a simple matter of pagans picking a random point on the map and charging… the Vikingrs may have been motivated largely by money, but the Danish political structure had something else going on that was leading them to Frankish towns.
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Ok, when we left off, a fleet of 120 ships set sail from Scandinavia. And at their head, according to legend, was Ragnar Lodbrok. Ragnar Hairy Breeches.
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When we left off last week, the Vikingrs had established fortified bases in Ireland… Not only that, but after building the bases they decided to hang out there for the winter, choosing to stay in the relatively warmer climes of the British isles rather than return home to freeze in the long northern nights.
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It’s 838. Only two years earlier the West Saxons were defeated by a fleet of Vikingrs, and they responded to this loss the way you would expect them to… by completely ignoring the loss and, instead, focusing on dynastic politics and making endowments to the church at Canterbury.
And now another fleet of Vikingrs was sailing south, towards their allies in Cornwall.
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The Music of Erich Zann
By H. P. Lovecraft
You can read a copy of the story at hplovecraft.com.
Happy Halloween!
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When we left off last week, 35 ships launched from Denmark and set their course for England. As we have been learning, the Anglo Saxon kingdoms were now seriously in danger of Vikingr attacks for the first time, having lost the protection of the Frankish coast guard. Not only that, but over the last approximately 40 years, the Vikingrs and the kingdoms that supported them had been growing quite wealthy and powerful from plundering their neighbors and absolutely hammering Scotland and Ireland.
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When we last left off we were talking about what a big deal King Egbert of Wessex was. And for good reason. In 829, King Egbert of Wessex held virtually all of the south and even demanded the submission of Northumbria after a battle at the River Dore, an event that earned King Egbert the incredibly rare title of Bretwalda… Britain ruler. This is how rare it was… there were only nine recorded Bretwaldas in all of British history. Just /nine/ times. His conquests also gained him a tremendous amount of money because, he had seized the mint of London and began issuing coins in his own name as the King of Mercia. King Egbert’s dramatic rise in power from 825 to 829 was meteoric and he absolutely earned his title of Britain ruler. At least from 825 to 829
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Last episode I gave you a forest view of where we are going and, roughly, who these Viking raiders were as well as the scale of the impact that they will have upon Europe. And it really is something to behold. The Viking Age isn’t very long, but Europe hadn’t seen this level of rapid cultural, economic, and political change since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Not even Charlemagne had the kind of far reaching impact as the Northern kingdoms and raiders.
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“Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea.” Jeremiah 50: 41-42
This passage of the Bible, and others like it, were on the minds of the literate men of the church in the 9th century And you can see why, can’t you? The Christian nations of the west, even their monasteries and other religious houses, were being attacked by pagans. By the enemies of god himself. The vikings seemed to be the fulfillment of a dark prophecy.