The Vikings

In 793 the Lindisfarne Monastery was raided by the Vikings. The Longships from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, driven by the lack of good farmland to seek new land to settle. Norwegians chiefly targeted Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Cornwall, while the Danes headed for north and east England where, unresisted, they founded settlements based on farming, fishing and trading. The Vikings soon turned their attentions to Northumbria with its rich monasteries, and pillaged Iona in 795. That same year Vikings attacked Ireland, where they founded settlements at Dublin, Wexford and Waterford. Trade goods often included slaves, many of them Picts captured in raids along the coasts of Scotland. Norwegian Vikings settled the Orkney and Shetland Islands in the 9^th century. They also set up a kingdom on the Isle of Man, which remained Norwegian until 1266.

Erik Bloodaxe (d. 954) was the last independent king of York (947-948 and 952-954); the byname "Bloodaxe" survives only in Norse tales. A Norwegian prince, Erik became king of the Northumbrians in 947. Eadred, to whom the northerners had already sworn allegiance, invaded in 948 and resumed control. When Erik returned in 952, Eadred retaliated by imprisoning Archbishop Wulfstan of York. In 954 the Northumbrians finally concluded that their interests lay with the southern English, not the Scandinavians: Erik was driven out and killed. Two types of silver penny for Erik survive, perhaps corresponding with his two reigns.

Viking York (Jorvik) remained a base for Vikings kings and Viking Trade. York retained its own Vikings kings until 954. Among its leaders was Olaf Guthfrithsson, ruler of Jorvik 939 – 941. After the Norwegian Eric Bloodaxe was killed in954, the English Kings appointed jarls (Earls) to rule Jorvik, which maintained a distinct identity, on their behalf. Viking commerce extended far beyond the British Isles, as archaeological finds at Jorvik of Chinese silk and Arab coins attest. The last major Viking battle took place at Stamford Bridge near York in September 1066 with the slaying of Harold Hardrada the King of Norway, by King Harold of Wessex. A few weeks later, King Harold was then slayed by William of Normandy at the Battle of Hasting, 14^th October 1066.

During the many Viking voyages between Norway and Iceland it was inevitable that the mariners occasionally got blown off course by storms in the North Atlantic. On one such occasion the sagas tell of Gunnbjorn who survived a violent gale to find himself approaching a stage forbidding coast filled with rocky skerries, When he finally reached Iceland his story was told far and wide, eventually reaching the ears of an ill-tempered Norseman named Erik the Red. On several occasions the quarrelsome Erik had used his sword to settle disputes, killing a number of his opponents.

In the spring of AD 982 he was tried at the local district Thing (Parliamentary Assembly) and banished from Iceland for three years. Erik and his friends had little doubt about the outcome of the trail and were well prepared. His ships were loaded with livestock and food, tools and hunting gear, family and field hands, everything he needed to survive in the land he planned to investigate, that Gunnbjorn had seen.

For three years Erik the Red explored the south-west coast of the new land. Impressed with what he saw as he sailed along the shores of the immense fiords bordered by cascading streams and rich pastures he named it Greenland.

Erik the Red returned to Iceland, where he spoke in glowing terms abut his discoveries that many chieftains decided to join him on his return to Greenland the following years. In the spring of 986 AD a large fleet of 25 vessels set sail, each vessel brimming with cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, dogs, tools and food. Most the vessels were overloaded and only 14 completed the voyage.

Erik the Red’s son Leif was the first to explore the land to the west. He sailed along the immense, sand shores of Markland (Labrador) and established a settlement at the northernmost promontory of Newfoundland, a place now called L’Anse aux Meadows, within the territory the Norsemen called Vineland. Later explorers to the new World included Leif’s brother Thorval, who was killed in battle with the Indians. Leif’s sister Freydis also sailed to Vineland, a voyage fraught with internal bickering and murder.

One of the more impressive Norse explorers was the wealthy merchant Thorfinn Karlsefni who, with a contingent of more that 160 people, spent several years in Vineland. There his wife Gudrid gave birth to Snorre, the first European child born in the New World.

Official recognition of Vikings discovering North America was given by the US President in 1995 proclaiming the 9^th October Leif Eriksson Day.

Time keeping in the Dark Ages