The Scandinavian Settlement

I. Origins and course

The Scandinavian attacks on the British Isles in the 9th century and the large settlements
which resulted from them were only one phase of an expansion which carried these peoples
to Newfoundland and Greenland in the west and to the Mediterranean and the Caspian in the
south and east, a spread of fully six thousand miles. They exerted an influence out of all
proportion to their numbers and became a principal driving force in Europe during the early
Middle Ages.
The impact of this expansion was great in the maritimelands of North-western Europe and
depended in the first instance on their capacity to travel far and safely over the open sea.
New developments in shipbuilding and sailing techniques which became effective at the end
of the 8th century were vital here; no comparable movements would have been possible in
700. The Gokstad ship is the best-preserved example of the larger vessel of this period. Its
construction can be dated about 850 and it shows a remarkable degree of technical
perfection. This type of sailing craft had been developing for the past three hundred years
from early rowing craft like the Nydam and Sutton Hoo boats through the more primitive
Askekarr and Kvalsund sailing ships to the langskip represented by Gokstad. The result was
a thoroughly reliable rowing and sailing ship which could keep the open sea and sail both
across and near, as well as before, the wind. Essentially a fighting and raiding vessel, its
seaworthiness received modern proof when in 1892 a replica was sailed to America from
Norway under stormy conditions in 28 days. But while the langskip could boldly cross the
open sea and attack foreign coasts there was also a fully sea-going cargo ship, the hafskip,
later called knarr; shorter, broader and fitted with a much higher freeboard. This probably
owed much of its earlier development to the Frisian traders and was the vessel for trade and
exploration which plied back and forth between Norway and the Iceland and Greenland
settlements, undoubtedly playing its part during the settlement phase in Britain and
afterwards.
Viking objectives were various. Booty, new lands in which to settle and fresh opportunities
for trade were mingled together, and the merchant’s scales as well as the warrior’s weapons
are often found in their graves. Contemporary accounts of their activity, predominantly
recorded by churchmen who had suffered at their hands, naturally lay much emphasis on
their ruthless plundering and devastation. Even without them this was a violent age, but it
was the unexpectedness, speed and efficiency of their attacks which impressed their victims,
who particularly resented the plundering of churches and monasteries. But once they were
fairly settled the Vikings merged with local populations, became Christians and soon
adjusted themselves to the local conditions which they found.
The increasing power of kings in Norway, Sweden and Denmark has been alleged as a prime
cause of the Viking raids and the settlements made overseas to escape from their authority,
but the growing pressure of population, particularly in Norway, goes a long way to account
for them. It is perhaps significant that the Norwegians were the first to raid westwards in the
later 8th century, and that, while they plundered, they were also concerned with taking new
lands in the Orkneys, Shetlands, the Western Islands, Man and Ireland, It is possible that
there was some connection between this population pressure and the stimulation of rapid
improvements in shipping and navigation.
Raids from Denmark did not become frequent till the middle of the 9th century when the
power of the Carolingian empire which had advanced its frontiers to the Elbe was in rapid
decline, and the coastal lands of the Low Countries and France were attacked with deep
penetration up the major rivers. In the British Isles they appeared when the only relatively
strong power in England was Wessex, and Scotland, Ireland and Wales were warring tribal
societies. But even where the central authority was weak it is significant that well-led and
determined local groups could bring them to terms, and their attacks on Spain, though
sometimes successful in the north of the country, were soon repelled by heavy defeats at the
hands of the ascendant Moors in the south and centre.
The Scandinavian attacks in the 9th century depended largely for their success on the
mobility of the raiders and the political weakness of most of the localities which they
assaulted. Command of the sea gave them the element of surprise and their frequent use of
horses, either brought with them or seized upon landing, made for swift movement on land.
The Anglo-Saxon word here (army) is normally used to describe their war bands, but, while
some of these forces were larger or smaller by the standards of the time, they were more like
modern commando groups than anything implied by the word army today. They were led by
tried and highly professional warriors, often claiming to be god-descended, whose
experience had been gained in many parts of Europe and who were equally at home on sea
or land. Their earlier forays were seasonal, but they soon took to staying over winter in
fortified bases either on the coast or at strategic points on the river system, resuming their
ravages in the spring. As yet there is no certain knowledge of the details of any one of these
bases in England, but they did not have the precisely planned and heavily fortified form of
the contemporary military centres now recognised in Denmark at Trelleborg, Aggersborg
and Fyrkat which reflect the Danish kingdom’s high degree of organisation for war in the
10th and 11th centuries. Unfortunately the most certainly located of the 9th and 10th century
bases in England at places like Reading, Shoebury and Benfleet have all been damaged by
modern development. The sites of those in the isles of Sheppey and Thanet are not known.
There are other places like Tempsford in Bedfordshire, Ghippenham in Wiltshire, Buttington
in Montgomeryshire and Milton Regis and Appledore in Kent where there were shortlived
fortifications, and probably none of them can have been more than stockaded earthworks
with provision for the defence of beached boats where necessary.
In England there were two main phases of settlement, the first between 866 and 880 when,
in spite of the successful local resistance of Wessex under Alfred, the Danes seized and
settled the eastern part of Mercia, all East Anglia and all but the northernmost part of
Northurnbria; the second when a body chiefly composed of Norwegians with some Irish
began the occupation of the country on the west side of the Pennines from the Wirral
peninsula to the Solway in the early years of the 10th century. Alfred was able to hold his
own and place a limit on the Danish-held area by treaty with Guthrum in 886. This gave
formal recognition to the Danelaw. Early in the 10th century the joint campaign of Edward
the Elder and his sister Ethelfleda, the Lady of the Mercians, began the reduction of the
Danelaw by military victory and progressive conquest. In due course the whole of the
country as far north as the Mersey and the Humber came under the Wessex kings. Several
attempts to create an independent Norse kingdom of York failed and the process of
absorption of the Danelaw was eased by the statesmanship of the Wessex kings and the
desire of the more civilised Danish areas to avoid Norse domination. The success of the
Wessex dynasty was generally unbroken until after the death of Edgar in 975.
At the end of the century a new situation arose through the incompetence of Ethelred II and
the rise of powerful kings in Denmark who were ready to conquer England by force and to
use the growing discontent of the Danish element in the population to this end. Sweyn beat
down Etheired in a series of campaigns and for a time after 1014 his son Canute was able to
add the country to his wide northern realm.
Another Scandinavian settlement outside England must now be mentioned because of its
crucial importance at this time. In 911 a band of Northmen under Rollo secured recognition
of their conquest of the lower Seine area from the French king and set up the Duchy of
Normandy. By the end of the century it was in alliance with England and this was further
cemented in 1002 by the marriage of Ethelred II to the Norman princess Emma. It was
Edward the Confessor, the Normanised son of this marriage, who was restored to the
English throne after the collapse of Canute’s successors. This connection and Edward’s lack
of an heir set in train Duke William’s claim to the English throne in 1066 which he made
good at Hastings.

2. Archaeological evidence

When we consider the number and extent of their settlements and the widespread harryings
which preceded and accompanied their creation the amount of archaeological material
directly attributable to the Scandinavians is less than might be expected. Almost all the
settlement sites which have been recognised and excavated belong to Scotland and are
mentioned below (p. 14). The absence of obvious surviving remains of these settlements
depends much on the continuity of occupation of their sites down to modern times with the
consequent destruction of their early phase. In the area of the Danelaw the settlement
involved both the taking over of older communities and the establishment of many new ones
by intercolonisation. There is no way of distinguishing them except by excavation and this is
usually impracticable because of the continued occupation of the sites today. The various
excavations in deserted medieval village sites have not yet been successful in showing a
clearly Scandinavian phase in any site examined. The

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