Page 65 - September 2022 Magazine - Bumper Edition

The Flickering Cauldron® Magazine - The Vikings | 65
However, by the 8th Century, stories of the churches and monasteries having a great wealth (unguarded) of gold and silver filtered back to the Norsemen, and the possibility of so much wealth was irresistible.
And so the soon-to-become feared raiding parties of the Norsemen began.
It most likely wasn’t the first, but the most infamous, of course, was the ransacking of the Abbey of Lindisfarne in 793 AD.
So whilst Hollywood and now, more importantly, Netflix and Amazon portray the Norsemen as axe-wielding murderous rapist pirates, they were actually peaceful people who wanted to trade, or settlers seeking a better life, and also, axe-wielding murderous rapist pirates.
Gold and silver were the main attraction, and the location had no boundaries for the Vikings. In fact, sacred places such as monasteries and yes also nunneries (convents) were prime targets as they were known to have religious artefacts such as plates, bowls, chalices, and of course crucifixes made of precious metals.
Settlements would have been attacked with equal ferocity, for a totally different yet also valuable commodity - slaves.
Over time, the raiders would have been forced to stay by the weather. An early onset of winter would have meant they would need to set up camps to await the Spring and better sailing conditions. Inevitably, this led to permanent settlements in the East and North of the British Isles.
Beyond the boundaries of Anglo-Saxon-held lands, the Norsemen occupied the Faroes, and Orkney, and settled in what we now refer to as Iceland.
Orkney became a central hub of power and influence. From there the Norse warlords ruled the majority of what we now call Scotland.
However, the great seafarers that they were did not limit themselves just to the East coast of Britain.
The Isle of Man became a Viking kingdom.
In Ireland, the Norse founded the cities of Cork, Limerick, and Dublin. (wowzer we never knew that).
On the other hand, we do know that the Vikings took control of East Anglia, Northumberland, and large swathes of Mercia. In 866 AD they occupied the Anglo-Saxon city of Eoforwic, changed its name to Jorvik, and declared it their capital. Today we call it York.
They were able to conquer and occupy pretty much wherever they wanted.
A turning point came in 886 AD with the reign of King Alfred of Wessex. The only King to burn cakes (small loaves of bread actually) and yet still go on to have ‘The Great’ added to his historic title.
We’re not saying it was easy - the Anglo-Saxons were no pushover.
The Kingdom of Wessex was the only one that the Vikings wanted and could not conquer.
If you haven’t yet watched ‘The Last Kingdom’ on Netflix, you are seriously missing out.
At this point, you think that we haven’t really clarificated the difference between your average run-of-the-mill Norseman, and a deadly axe-wielding Viking.
And you’d be right. So we will.
‘Destiny is all’. That pretty much sums up Norse culture. They had a total belief that their death was predetermined. So whatever they did really didn’t
Viking House In the Viking village at Vestrahorn in Iceland