Erik Lang

The year was 793, and Father Declan looked at his progress in copying the New Testament Scripture of Galatians and decided he had earned a break.  It was just nearing nine o’ clock in the morning, and he had already copied well over half of the document.  The morning was cool and sunny, yet slightly overcast, a perfect day for a walk.  He shuffled out into the courtyard, passing Brother James and exchanged pleasantries.  He continued outside past the gate and stopped briefly, gazing at the surf pounding the black cruel rocks that surrounded the island of Lindisfarne.  He took a deep breath and praised God silently for days like these.  As he continued his circuit, something caught his eye on the horizon over the ocean.  It appeared to be four ships with square sails approaching the island.  Stranger yet, their direction seemed to come from the North.  They must be passing by, thought Declan, we have nothing to trade.  The ships didn’t alter course and came straight for the Holy Island.  Father Declan ambled toward the beachhead to greet the travelers and offer lodging.  By now the other monks had noticed the visitors and watched from the monastery walls to see what would unfold.  Father Declan was preparing his welcome speech when flashes of light from the ships caught his eye.  The men were wearing shirts of mail and had steel helmets, many holding bare weapons.  Suppressing pangs of fear he held his ground, confident that no men of God would ever attack a sacred monastery.  The ships grounded on the beach, and the men poured over the sides and sprinted toward the monastery cutting down the Holy Father.  Chaos erupted.  Monks offered themselves to the marauders hoping to be spared, while others ran for their lives or tried to save as many holy relics as they could.  All was to no avail.  The Norsemen slaughtered all, burned all, and stole all.  This was the first Viking raid upon England.

The image of pagan Vikings laughing as they killed is an image set in motion by the English, specifically the Roman Catholic Church.  The Vikings targeted monasteries for the wealth they possessed.  The clergy of Medieval England were exorbitant in their holy taxes upon the people and amassed quite a treasure trove of gold and silver.  The precious metals were either put in their treasuries or used to cover sacred relics or inlay into reliefs, etc.  Before the Vikings started raiding, they were traders and had frequent contact with the English including monasteries.  The Vikings could see the riches that lay in the monasteries and decided they could simply take them.  Thus, the reason for the Vikings receiving the name of godless barbarians who butcher without mercy is partially true, yet also fabricated by the early Catholic Church in order to instill a “divine mission” in the men of England to kill all Vikings whenever they came to the shores of England.

The Vikings weren’t savages.  They were an organized people who had specific military agendas revolving around the acquiring of wealth, but more importantly, the acquiring of honor and a renowned name.  It was common before raids for Norsemen to shout the location of their home village in Scandinavia, as well as their own name and their father’s.  The purpose was to spread their fame.  Fame and honor were just as important as riches, if not more so.  With fame came respect and a larger gathering of men to lead.  In short, Vikings wanted to be like and admired by their countrymen.  A common practice among chiefs was to award arm rings to their men.  Arm rings were symbols of valor in battle and had to be earned.  A chief who provided numerous arm rings to his men was a good chief, and they would spread his fame.

One of the biggest impacts the Vikings had on England was spiritual doubt.  Constant violent raids on settlements and monasteries instilled fear in the populace of England causing doubt in the faith of Christianity.  Many even reverted back to the worship of ancient pagan deities, like the Norse themselves.  They thought if their God wasn’t powerful enough to fight off the Vikings and their gods, then it was time to switch to a hopefully more powerful alternative.  The raid on the monastery of Lindisfarne didn’t help either.  Immediately, the Vikings demoralized the English by desecrating a holy site of worship and looting it.  The attacks only escalated after Lindisfarne.  To the English, they thought that God wasn’t powerful, or that He had abandoned them completely.

Much of Medieval history was lost during the years of the Viking invasions, which has always frustrated historians and literary historians.  Vikings had no use for manuscripts and didn’t understand or care about them at all.  Often times, they burned them or just left them untouched.  The Irish are credited by the entire United Kingdom for being the saviors of literature during that time.  The Irish monks managed to stow away whatever literature they could at the time on the Emerald Isle in the deep recesses of their monasteries.

One thing the Vikings did happen to do in England, if ever so briefly, was to unite England under one king after years of Saxon struggles for rights to the throne.  England was divided into different parts during the years of the Vikings: Northumbria, Wessex, Sussex, and Essex.  Each division would have one or more prominent chiefs who would make their own laws for their lands.  The Vikings preyed upon these divisions one at a time, knowing other chiefs wouldn’t come to their aid.  The Vikings systematically killed each chief and took ownership of the lands he owned.  The Vikings would then incorporate the resources of each kingdom and use them in their invasion of the next one.  The Saxon lords were at a loss but still didn’t want to band together under one ruler, unless they were that king.  The invasions continued until one king remained: Alfred the Great.  Alfred used his title and endorsement by the Catholic Church to bind the remaining Saxons to himself and form an army as well as the first English navy to fight against the Viking fleets.  Under his direction, much of England was reclaimed by the Saxons.  The Vikings were influential in the construction of the first true English monarchy by killing all of the other contenders to the throne.  Yes, this is a good thing.

Some tamer contributions of the Vikings are the addition of names to the modern English language.  Names that end in –thorpe, -by, -strand, or –town are very notable Viking endings for names.  Downtown London is filled with streets with these sorts of names.  The Vikings also introduced the weekly bath to the Saxons, who before bathed usually only twice a year.  Thursdays in the Viking language meant “wash day.”  The Norse were actually thought to be vain of their appearance by the Saxons, because they insisted on being well groomed at all times.

The entire Saxon (Englishmen before Norman invasion) culture was impacted and assimilated into the Norman one after the Battle of Hastings when Harold Godwinson, king of the Saxons, was defeated and killed by the Norman Duke William the Conqueror.  From that point on, royalty was Norman and the serfdom was Saxon.  Over time, the societies began to blend producing the modern day English culture.  This entire process would not have happened had it not been for the Vikings.  The Vikings raided and pillaged all over Europe including France.  Paris was sacked three times by the Vikings driving the French to despair.  In an effort to dissuade further Viking invasions, the French king of the time offered the land of Normandy on the West coast of France to the Vikings.  The terms were acceptable, and the Norwegian Vikings began a new civilization of Normans.  The Normans spoke an odd mixture of French and Norwegian but didn’t lose their taste for battle.  When William the Conqueror invaded England, all of Normandy emptied into England to claim the island as their own.  Without the Vikings, the entire modern British people or Empire would never have come into existence.