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793 | Viking raids

In January 793, a band of warriors attacked the Christian monastery on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumbria. They arrived from the sea in ships with dragon heads carved into the bows, heavily armed with metal helmets, armour and two-handed axes. The warriors broke into the monastery, drowning the older monks in the sea and taking the younger monks as slaves. They then stole Lindisfarne’s treasures, and sailed away.

For the next three centuries, Anglo-Saxon England was subject to repeated waves of attacks from these warriors. Known as Vikings, they sailed to Britain from Scandinavia in longboats – huge ships that used both oars and sails to travel great distances along rivers and across the seas. At first, Vikings were content with hit-and-run raids on English coastal towns and monasteries. However, in 865, the Vikings assembled a force to settle in England, known as the ‘Great Heathen Army’. The Great Heathen Army captured the city of York in 867, and used it as a base to spread their power throughout northern England. Known as ‘Jorvik’ to the Vikings, York became a thriving centre of overseas trade under Viking rule, and home to perhaps 15,000 people.