Viking Invasion

Viking Invasion By Daniel Goodwin
Illustrated by Amy Robinson

Introduction and Timeline

Great Britain was ruled by the Anglo-Saxons for almost 400 years,
but this all changed when the Vikings arrived!

The ruthless Vikings sailed across the North Sea in their longboats
to plunder villages across Great Britain. Read on to find out more
about how the Vikings came to invade Great Britain.

871 CE 878 CE 1066 CE

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great wins Harold II is defeated at

becomes king of Wessex. battle of Edington. the Battle of Hastings.

793 CE 874 CE 954 CE
The Vikings The Vikings rule most The last king of the
invade Lindisfarne. of the kingdoms in Vikings is forced out
Great Britain. of Jorvik (York).

The Invasion of Lindisfarne

In 793 CE, the Vikings sailed from their

homes in Scandinavia and attacked the

Christian monastery of Lindisfarne on

Holy Island. Even though they were filled

with gold and treasure, monasteries in tthhee mmoonnaasstteerryy ooff LLiinnddiissffaarrnnee
Great Britain had never been invaded

because they were sacred places. The Vikings followed a different

religion to the Anglo Saxons; they were pagans, which means

they worshipped multiple ancient gods. Some Vikings stole from

churches, burned down buildings and murdered defenceless

monks. The monastery of Lindisfarne was protected only by un-

armed monks, so it was easy for the heavily-armed Vikings to

attack the monastery and steal all of its valuable treasures.

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Peaceful Invaders

Not all Vikings were violent warriors. In fact, some Viking families
came to settle in Great Britain. Farmers came to start new lives.
They grew oats, barley and wheat, which were made into flour,
porridge and ale. They also planted vegetables and kept animals.
Skilled workers also came to make products from wood, leather
and iron. They would even craft jewellery to sell to the locals.

Fun fact
The Vikings didn’t just trade their goods at the markets in
Great Britain. They sailed the seas exchanging their goods
for items such as silver, silk and spices, which they would
take back to their homeland.

Alfred the Great

The Vikings continued to pillage Great
Britain, and by 874 CE they ruled most
of the kingdoms in the country. However,
they didn’t control the kingdom of Wessex,
which was ruled by Alfred the Great. The
Vikings attacked Wessex for almost two
years until they finally took Alfred the
Great’s castle in January, 878 CE. Alfred
the Great escaped the attack on his castle
and returned from exile in May 878 CE to KKiinnggAAllffrreeddtthheeGGrreeaatt
defeat the Vikings at the battle of Edington.
After the battle of Edington, the Vikings and King Alfred the Great
decided to split England between them into the kingdoms of
Danelaw and Wessex.

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Danelaw Danelaw

The kingdom of Danelaw was Wessex
established and ruled over by the
Vikings. The three main areas of
Danelaw were Northumbria, East
Anglia and the five boroughs
(Leicester, Nottingham, Derby,
Stanford and Lincoln). The most
important city in Danelaw was
Jorvik (an ancient name for York),
where around 10,000 people lived.

Do you live in a Viking town? The map shows the kingdoms
Places that end in -by, -thorpe of Danelaw and Wessex in the
or -ay were almost certainly 9th century.
Viking towns.

Danegeld

In 991 CE, during King Ethelred II’s
reign, the Anglo-Saxons gave the
Vikings 4,500 kg of silver to leave
Great Britain and never invade again.

The Anglo-Saxons made regular Danegeld was usually paid
payments to the Vikings. The in silver coins.
payments were funded by a tax called

danegeld. It is estimated that in total,

the Anglo-Saxons gave the Vikings around 60 million silver pennies.

When the Vikings left Great Britain, the Normans took over but
continued to collect the danegeld tax. It was collected up until
1162 CE for the purpose of national defence.

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