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Y302: The Viking Age c.790–1066

Warfare and raids: Athelstan, the second Viking age and expansion abroad

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on Athelstan and the north, peace after 955, the second Viking age and Danegeld, Danish rule in England and its fall, and Viking expansion to Normandy, the east, Iceland, Greenland, Wales and Man.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

Why did Scandinavian rule in England decline and fall?

Evaluation

What triggered the second Viking age?

Key term

Why is the period after 955 described as one of relative peace?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did Athelstan deal with the Scandinavian north?

    Model answer

    He took direct control of the Viking kingdom of York in 927 and received the submission of the northern rulers, then in 937 destroyed a coalition of Dublin Norse, Scots and Strathclyde Britons at Brunanburh.

  2. 2

    Why is the period after 955 described as one of relative peace?

    Model answer

    The Scandinavian kingdoms were absorbed in their own consolidation and conversion, Northumbria had been absorbed into England, and no large fleet attacked England for a generation, allowing Edgar's reign to pass almost without raiding.

  3. 3

    What triggered the second Viking age?

    Model answer

    Renewed royal ambitions in Denmark and Norway and knowledge of England's wealth brought large, well-led fleets back from the 980s, and the English defeat at Maldon in 991 showed that resistance was faltering.

  4. 4

    Define Danegeld and give its scale.

    Model answer

    It was tribute in silver raised by taxation and paid to Viking fleets to buy them off, beginning with ten thousand pounds in 991 and rising to forty-eight thousand pounds by 1012.

  5. 5

    Explain why paying Danegeld proved counter-productive.

    Model answer

    It advertised England's wealth and its rulers' weakness, so each payment attracted further and larger fleets, while the taxation needed to raise it exhausted the country and discredited the king.

  6. 6

    How did England pass under Danish rule?

    Model answer

    Sweyn Forkbeard's campaigns drove Aethelred into exile and won him recognition in 1013, and after Sweyn's death his son Cnut defeated Edmund Ironside at Assandun in 1016 and became king of the whole kingdom.

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