Category: The Dark Ages

Learn about the rise of England, Scotland, and Wales in episodes of the British History Podcast that cover the so-called Dark Ages.

218 – The Kingdom of Jorvik

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Today we begin in Orkney.

The history of Orkney is rather obscure, and that fact is reflected in the show… with it appearing only occasionally in the Scotcasts and Celtcasts. However, in the last 80 years, things have been changing rapidly for the inhabitants of this misty land, and the people of Orkney started to play a key role in the Nordic invasion of Britain and actually provide a window into what’s coming for Northumbria.

Early in the Viking Age, the Norse discovered that only about a couple days voyage to the south lay an archipelago of about 170 islands that spanned the northern portion of Britain. It was ideal for their needs. The voyage to the British isles were perilous. It required the longships to travel out of the sight of land and that meant that, rather than beaching their ships at night and resting, they would instead have to sail adrift in undecked open ships over black night time waters.

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217 – Halfdan’s Ravaging of the North

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We begin our story in Alt Clut.

Alt Clut was an ancient British Kingdom and it could trace itself back to Roman Britannia – and possibly even further. At the center of this kingdom was an old fortress on a River, the River Clyde. The Kingdom’s name derived from the Brythonic name for the rock featured by this fortress. Alt Clut: Rock of the Clyde.

This rock feature on the river Clyde probably defined the area for many of its people, and over time it likely came to define the people themselves.

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216 – The Great Heathen Army: Always Be Prepared

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Click here to go the Summary of Zee’s PhD that I talked about.

We are coming to a major turning point in the story of Britain.The Anglo Saxon kingdoms never had a chance of turning the Great Heathen Army back, and now it looks like they’re here to stay. There’s no denying it anymore. But that’s as much a problem to solve for the Danes as it is for the Anglo Saxons. What happens when you’re no longer invaders, but rulers? History as we know it is littered with empires that fail right at this point, when they switch from the the activity of conquering to the business of governance.

This is also a major new problem for one of the last independent Anglo Saxon kings.

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215 – King Burgred and the end of the Danish Sausage Fest

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It’s 873 and so far Halfdan has extracted THREE Danegelds from King Burgred in exchange for promising to not occupy Mercia. And, of course, he’s gone on to occupy Mercia… most recently in a town called Torksey. He also put down a rebellion in Jorvik and reclaimed the city. He pushed King Ricsige of Northumbria beyond the Tyne, effectively demoting him to King Ricsige of Bernicia. And now, he was marching (or potentially rowing) towards Repton, which was also in Mercia.

Burgred couldn’t catch a break with this guy.

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214 – National Lampoon’s Viking Vacation

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It’s 872 and Halfdan’s year has been a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, he had received a major Danegeld from Mercia, to add to the one he received from Wessex in the previous year. And now he was residing within London. But on the other hand, he had just gotten word that his northern kingdom had exploded into rebellion and now some guy named Ricsige had claimed the title of King… and Halfdan’s handpicked puppets, King Ecgberht and Archbishop Wulfred, were running south. Probably, in search of Halfdan’s protection.

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213 – Danegelds, Peace, and Shame

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Last time we left off, Alfred… who we have been following since his earliest days, and whom we now know the most intimate details of, including the state of his butt (which was swollen) and the state of his libido (which apparently was also swollen)… well, by mid 871 his brother was dead and he was the last surviving son of old King AEthelwulf son of Egbert.

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212 – Alfred the Last AEtheling

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It’s mid April of 871. For four long months, the House of Wessex has been battling against an invasion army of Danes who are holding the Royal Tun of Reading. Battle after battle had resulted in bruising defeats at the hands of these pagans. They had won against the Danes in Ashdown, true, but what had they really accomplished? They killed some Danish nobles, and pushed the army back to Reading. But the danes were still in Reading. The problem wasn’t going away.

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The AEthelflaed theme was Raise Hell by Dorothy (who is amazing, you should totally listen to her stuff).

211 – The Battles of Basing and Meretun

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It’s January of 871, still…

A tremendous amount has happened in the last fortnight, and the year had barely even begun. People tend to compress the past… especially periods they are unfamiliar with… into short blurbs. It’s why many people are completely willing to accept minute by minute accounts of World War II, but balk at the idea of spending more than an episode per decade during the Anglo Saxon era.

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210 – The Battle of Ashdown

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“God, in his goodness and justice so much offended by our sins, had thus worn down the lands and kingdoms of the Christians.”

That’s a quote from Prudentius of Troyes, who was struggling to explain why the Franks met abysmal failure every time they fought the Scandinavians. While that quote came from from across the channel, and was written years before the disaster at the Battle of Reading, it gives us the lens that the Christians of Western Europe used to view these events. It’s surprising how many writers from this period, when looking at these events, look to the Bible for an explanation and see things in terms of divine retribution or divine intervention. That Biblical perspective is something I want you to keep in mind when you hear the story I’m going to tell you today.

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