When the Vikings came

     In 868, Vikings, or more precisely North or Norsemen (Danes and mercenaries who described themselves as liđsmenn ‘army men’ or skiparar ‘crewmen’), occupied Nottingham in East Mercia. A siege of the fortified town by King Burgred of Mercia, 852–874, helped by West Saxon forces failed in some way.[1] The Danes took over Lincoln around this time and then overwintered at Thetford, Norfolk. In 869, they destroyed the abbey at Bardney, Lincolnshire and in the following year the monastery at Icanhoh (Iken), Suffolk. Between 870 and 871, several battles were fought in the Thames valley are near Reading, with the West Saxons led by Alfred of Wessex and his brother.[2]

Medeshamstede monastery, Peterborough, was destroyed in 870 by the Great Heathen Army led by Ivar the Boneless. 84 monks, including Hedda its abbot, were killed, though some think the massacre was overstated since they left few physical traces of their time in Peterborough.[3] Some historians believe the killing of priests has been exaggerated. Offa had adorned this monastery with gold, silver and gems as a shrine to Oswiu, so it must have been a target.

 

Hedda or Monk’s stone purported to show 12 monks, 6 each side, killed by the Vikings. It has been dated to late 8th or early 9th-century. The date of 870 has been incised on the left end, which suggests someone wanted to mark the slaughter.

 

Crowland abbey was attacked in 870 and burned down; the abbot with 70 members of the community were killed. In 874, Evesham abbey had its shrine stripped by the Danes.

The Great Heathen Army was now reinforced by the Great Summer Army in 871. In 871–2 they occupied London, a large source of revenue for the Mercians.[4] By 872, they established control of a disunited Northumbria and then moved south into Mercian Lindsey again. In 872–3 they overwintered at Torksey, west Lincolnshire near the east bank of the river Trent, and the Mercians made ‘peace’ with them (what this entailed is unclear). Recent excavation has shown the huge camp occupied 55 hectares. Curiously, it did not have defensive ditches, though it was surrounded by water, indicating a very large force of several thousand possibly unafraid of being attacked. Stray finds suggest trading, metalworking and ship repair occurred at the camp.[5] The Vikings were now established and perhaps even trading with the Anglo-Saxons (now known as Englisc or Early Medieval people)  in neighbouring areas.

In 873, the Vikings sailed 60 miles (96 km) along the Trent from Torksey to Repton, Derbyshire, and wrecked the settlement. Its church was seriously damaged, a separate chapel was reused for burial, part of the cemetery was dug up to make a ditched enclosure, a library disappeared and the monastic order terminated. A fortified area of around 1.5 hectares (3.6 acres) with the church being its gate tower, was constructed with a ‘V’ shaped ditch about 4 metres deep and over 4 metres wide. This D-shaped camp extended between the church and the river protecting a harbour where up to 6 longships could possibly anchor. They took winter settle in 873 to 874.[6] The Danes were now secure and defended in East Mercia. A calculation estimated a camp of 4 to 500 warriors. Recently more evidence for buildings and metalworking has been found and suggests this was a well-organised preparation for the next phase. Unfortunately, what happened next is unclear.

Reconstruction of the Repton Camp. The presence of Viking boats at Repton is an inference, records only state an army camped.

 

Viking ship scratched on the chancel pillar at Stow on the Wold Minster Church, Lincolnshire, thought to be 10th or 11th century. Clearly, it was in the mind of the graffiti artist.

 

Perhaps, there was a battle with the Mercian King Burgred which could explain the cremated remains of Vikings at Heath Wood, Ingleby, 2.2 miles south-east of Repton.[7] Similarly, it would explain a mass grave at Repton with the remains of 2 to 300 warriors, with some bones recently carbon dated to around 875. The men, predominantly aged 18–45 had died from violent injury. Around 20% of the remains were women. Many weapons were recovered. Some have speculated that Ivarr the Boneless[8] was a fatality; a special grave mound was uncovered by the church.[9] 

Reconstruction of a Viking warrior. They fought with well-made swords (750–800 mm long), axes, short spears, long javelins, bows with iron-tipped arrows and stones. They were defended by brightly-coloured, round shields, round helmets and perhaps chain-mail.

 

The Vikings stayed for a year in the Repton area and maybe they had to consolidate, or recover their position after a battle. It is known the Great Army split up around 874–875, though why is unclear. One faction attacked Breedon-on-the-Hill Priory and Monastery, Leicestershire, followed by destroying Modwenna’s abbey at Burton[10]. By following the river Trent, they reached and supposedly destroyed Tamworth in 874.[11] At some point in this advance, it led to the Mercian King Burgred and his family leaving England for Rome, where he died soon after. It is unknown if this departure was a running away from a hopeless situation, or losing an unrecorded battle, or even turning away from violence. Whatever the reason he is portrayed as a loser.

Coin in the British Museum showing King Burgred. Wikimedia Public Domain. Has Burgred been maligned in history?

Whatever happened beforehand, it is supposed Lichfield and its cathedral suffered either despoliation or desecration in early 875. This is solely based on the widespread marauding of the Vikings, their preference for attacking churches, especially those with valuables to pillage, and the absence of a defending King of Mercia. Linkage with raids on Burton and Tamworth can only be conjecture. There was a suggestion Bishop Eadberht was martyred. Burgheard is another name connected to the cathedral at this time; he could be related to Burgred. In 1992, during an excavation in the south choir aisle, a burial was found with a charred stick placed on top of the remains. This is reminiscent of burial with a wand of hazel or poplar seen almost entirely in Scandinavia and points to a Viking corpse.[12] No other bishop was linked with the cathedral until Wulfred 8 years later. The cathedral had 5 altars in the 850s being looked after by a bishop with around 20 prebendaries, half priests and half deacons, which with brethren would have meant a sizeable workforce under threat. If Offa’s treasure was still at the cathedral at this time, it would have been a prize for the plundering Vikings. The breakup of Chad’s shrine chest (Lichfield Angel) and its burial, together with finding burnt stone near the shrine and a possible Scandinavian burial are the only features supporting pillage early in 875. The removal of St Chad’s Gospels to mid-Wales around this time might be circumstantial evidence. The author thinks the Staffordshire Hoard, most likely archived in the cathedral complex, was also removed before the arrival of the marauders, and later buried; see the post ‘It has to be the Lichfield Hoard’. A cigar shaped silver containing ingot 70 mm long, and another half this length, have been found in Lichfield, 2013, and given a broad date of 800–1000. It was most likely cast in a sand or stone mould and would have been typical of Viking activity.

 

The absence of a king has supported the accounts of the Vikings choosing the next Mercian king, Coelwulf II, and making him a puppet and being described as a foolish king’s thegn.[13] This does not accord with charters made by Coelwulf II, witnessed by Burgred’s thegns, and with no reference to Viking overlordship. In 2015 at Watlington, Oxfordshire, a Viking hoard of silver was found including 13 coins depicting both Coelwulf and Alfred, including one showing the two kings sitting together.[14] Interpreting history from coin design is questionable, but it now seems likely the Mercian king remained dominant in his reduced kingdom helped by a treaty or understanding with Alfred and Wessex. In 877, the Danes returned and made a treaty with Coelwulf in which greater Mercia was split (along Watling Street has been frequently quoted without evidence) into an eastern Danish region and a western Mercian region. Perhaps, Coelwulf had no alternative than to accede eastern territory, but he appeared to be in power in West Mercia and could negotiate this territorial division without interference from Wessex. In the Autumn of 877 he received part of the harvest gathered by Alfred’s farmers. Coelwulf died or was killed, sometime between 879 and 881, possibly fighting the Welsh. If Coelwulf II was a strategist, it suggests Lichfield, together with the East Midlands, was abandoned for a short time (8 years?) being too difficult to defend once a fortified Viking base at Repton had been established. Then in 874–5 the Vikings left Repton (all kinds of reasons have been given with dispute between Viking leaders often quoted) and later Alfred and Wessex began to assert dominance.

The narrative that the Vikings decimated the Mercian Kingdom is wrong. The Vikings settled in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire and this is very evident from Danish words used for placenames.[15] Mercia, however. was still a sizable kingdom consisting of Cheshire, part of Lancashire, part of North Wales, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Berkshire and the port of London were also accessible to the Mercians through an association with Wessex. The reality is Mercia was such a large kingdom before the Vikings arrived it was never wholly defendable; it depended on trust-arrangements with subkingdoms. East Mercia had to put their trust in the Vikings and allowed or accepted settlement, though later the people reversed this.  

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[1] T. Williams, Viking Britain, (London: 2017), 119, claimed the Vikings would not give battle. The assumption being siege warfare at this time was rudimentary. John of Worcester said ‘the Christians were not able to breach the wall’, see John of Worcester, Chronicon ex Chronicis, 868. G. N. Garmonsway, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, (London: 1972), 71, The Laud Chronicle E has there was no serious engagement, and the Mercians made peace with the host..

[2] See G. N. Garmonsway (1972), 70, The Parker Chronicle A.

[3] Ibid, 71. The Laud Chronicle E claimed the monastery was reduced to nothing. It had once been a rich foundation.

[4] Ibid, 72, The Parker Chronicle A stated the Vikings used London for their Winter quarters and the Mercians made peace with them. Roger of Wendover thought the truce was purchased with money.

[5] D. M Hadley and J. D. Richards. ‘The winter camp of the Viking Great Army, A.D. 872–3, Torksey, Lincolnshire.’ The Antiquaries Journal, (2016), 96: 23–67.

[6] G. N. Garmonsway (1972), 72–3. At the time of over-wintering at Repton the Vikings drove the Mercian King Burgred overseas and conquered the whole (?) kingdom.

[7] M. Posnansky, ‘The pagan Danish barrow cemetery at Heath Wood, Ingleby: 1955 excavations’ Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, (1956), 76, 40–56. Also J. D. Richards, ‘Excavations at the Viking barrow cemetery at Heath Wood, Ingleby, Derbyshire’, The Antiquaries Journal, (2004), 84, 23–116.

[8] J. Richards, Blood of the Vikings, (London: 2001), 154, considers Ivar the Boneless is a semi-legendary character in 12th and 13th-century stories based on several Viking leaders.

[9] C. L. Jarman, M. Biddle, T. Higham and C. B. Ramsey, ‘The Viking Great Army in England: new dates from the Repton charnel’, Antiquity , (2018), 92, 361, 183–199.

[10] N. J. Tringham, 'Burton-upon-Trent: General history', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 9, Burton-Upon-Trent, (London, 2003), 5-20 stated in 874 it seems likely that Burton fell under Viking control.  

[11] There is no reliable record of a Viking (Danish) attack on Tamworth. The general view is that of C. F. R. Palmer, The History of the Town and Castle of Tamworth. In the Counties of Stafford & Warwick. (London: 1845), 36, who stated Tamworth became the victim of Viking atrocities; was completely razed to the ground and lay a mass of blackened ruins for nearly forty years. S. Zaluckj, Mercia. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Central England, (Logaston: 2001), 220, wrote that what happened to the Royal Palace at Tamworth is a mystery and suggests the Vikings would not want to leave any trace of the Palace. She mentions two street names which are partly Danish that imply occupation.

[12] W. Rodwell, ‘Revealing the history of the Cathedral’. Unpub. report in Cathedral Library, (1992), 32.

[13] Both The Parker Chronicle A and The Laud Chronicle E describe Ceolwulf II has a foolish thane ready to serve the Vikings in any way, See G. N. Garmonsway (1972), 72–3.

[14] A. Whitehead, Mercia. The rise and fall of a kingdom. (Stroud: 2020), 129. See the coin at ‘Anglo-Saxon Archaeology,’ anglosaxon.archeurope.info/index.php?page=king-alfred-and-king-ceolwulf-ii. See also B. Weisberg,’The Relationship between King Alfred the Great and Ceolwulf II of Mercia (874-c.879)’. (University of Pennsylvania: 2020), 26, 2 at https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=phr

[15] See note 8, J. Richards (2001), chapter 7.