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Y302: The Viking Age c.790–1066

Depth study: Raids on England in the late eighth and ninth centuries — motives, success and impact of the raids

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the debate over the early raids, Sawyer and Brooks, army size, the timing of the raids, England’s political condition, Alcuin on Lindisfarne, and the impact on English politics, government, economy and Church.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Evaluation

How does the political condition of England help explain the raids' success?

Key term

What was the economic impact of the raids?

Key term

Give three explanations historians have offered for the timing of the raids.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is the central historiographical debate about the early raids on England?

    Model answer

    Whether the Viking attacks were a catastrophic and unprecedented assault, as the clerical sources present them, or a smaller-scale extension of existing North Sea contact whose destructiveness was exaggerated by the churchmen who recorded it.

  2. 2

    Summarise Peter Sawyer's reinterpretation of the raids.

    Model answer

    He argued that the fleets and armies were far smaller than the sources claim, perhaps only hundreds of men rather than thousands, that Viking violence was no worse than that of Christian rulers, and that the horror in the record reflects the fact that churches were both the victims and the writers.

  3. 3

    How have historians such as Nicholas Brooks answered that argument?

    Model answer

    They pointed to the great army's sustained ability to defeat three kingdoms in succession, to over-winter and to force repeated tribute, arguing that such achievements require large, well-organised and formidable forces.

  4. 4

    What archaeological evidence has shifted the debate on army size?

    Model answer

    Excavation of the winter camp at Repton and metal-detected finds from the huge camp at Torksey have revealed occupation over many hectares with large populations, trading and craft activity, which supports the larger estimates rather than the minimalist ones.

  5. 5

    Give three explanations historians have offered for the timing of the raids.

    Model answer

    The development of the sailed longship made distant raiding practical, hunger for silver drew Scandinavians towards western wealth as eastern supplies fluctuated, and consolidation of royal power at home displaced ambitious men who needed plunder and followers.

  6. 6

    How does the political condition of England help explain the raids' success?

    Model answer

    The English kingdoms were divided and frequently at war with one another, coastal monasteries were undefended, no standing forces or fortified refuges existed, and each kingdom preferred to buy off an attacker rather than combine against it.

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