During the reign of Æthelred the Unready, England was at the mercy of renewed Viking aggression. This time, however, there was no King Alfred to save the day. The Viking leader Sveinn Forkbeard conquered England in 1013, but died shortly after. Svein’s power quickly dissolves, but eventually a Viking named Knútr regains power over England,…

Despite King Alfred’s best attempts, he did not rid England of the Vikings permanently. Although he gave them a fight, pushing their ‘Great Army’ away from England, there were still many Danes who settled northeast England, primarily in the kingdom of Northumbria. The story after King Alfred then unfolds as king after king addresses this problem,…

THE ARRIVAL of the ‘Great Army’ in England marked a turning point, “transitioning from seasonal raiding to a more permanent Viking presence in England.” ‘Great Army’ is a term that has been translated from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which uses the term micel here. The leaders of this Danish army were the legendary sons of Ragnarr Loðbrók: Ívarr hinn Beinlausi (the Boneless) and Halfdán Ragnarsson. CONTENTS:I.…

Beginning as early as the 780s, England was among the first places to be hit by Viking raids. The earliest of these attacks lasted up until around 822, followed by a period of settlement in the 840s and the arrival of the “Great Army” in 865. Unlike with Francia, the Vikings would end up being…