Primary History

Vikings: Viking raiders

  • A raid on England

    In 793, 'Northmen' (as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle calls them) attacked the Christian monastery at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, in north-east England. Northumbria was an English kingdom, and its monasteries were famous for books, art and treasures. On a January day, the longships arrived and the Vikings attacked. They burned buildings, stole treasures, murdered monks, and terrified everyone. Some Christian Church leaders said the Vikings were sent by God, to punish people in England for doing wrong.

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  • How Vikings attacked

    The Vikings did not send many ships on their first raids. They made surprise attacks on lonely places, like Lindisfarne. They knew they would not have to fight a big English army. English kings were too busy fighting one another to join forces against the Vikings. There was no English navy to guard the coasts, so it was easy for Vikings to land on a beach or sail up a river. After raiding a monastery, the ships sailed home loaded with treasures and captives.

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  • Viking weapons

    The Vikings fought using long swords and axes. A good sword was handed down from father to son, but Vikings also buried weapons with their owner when he died. Wood rots and metal rusts away after a thousand years or more in the ground, but some remains show what the weapons were like.Vikings did not wear much armour, though some chieftains wore mail coats. Most relied on a round wooden shield for protection. On their heads, they wore helmets made of leather or iron. A Viking saying was, 'Never leave your weapons behind when you go to work in the fields - you may need them'.

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  • Viking armies

    In AD 865, a 'Great Army' of Vikings invaded England. The army stayed in England for 14 years, fighting the English kings. In AD 866 Vikings captured York. They captured King Edmund of East Anglia and shot him dead with arrows.

    In AD 892, 300 Viking ships invaded to fight King Alfred of Wessex. No one knows how big the Viking armies were. If there were 20 men in each ship, the army of AD 892 numbered 6,000! That was a huge army for the time. Most Viking armies were probably smaller - perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 men.

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Fun Facts
  • Vikings made steel, by adding carbon (from charcoal) to iron. Steel swords were sharp and strong.

  • Vikings sometimes gave a sword a name - such as Leg-Biter.

  • Some Viking warriors 'went berserk'. Dressed in wolf-skins or bear-skins, they charged like madmen into battle. The craziness might have come from drink or drugs.

  • 'Berserkers' made fierce bodyguards. A 'berserker' just wasn't scared of dying.

  • Aelle, king of Northumbria, killed the Viking leader Ragnar Lothbrok by throwing him into a pit full of snakes.

  • Ragnar's son Ivar later captured Aelle and tortured him to death in revenge.

  • The Vikings used some very nasty tortures, if the stories are true.

  • Some Vikings had funny names - like Ivar the Boneless. His father was Ragnar Lothbrok - which means 'Ragnar Hairy-Breeches'




A to D

A strong drink made from barley.
Hardened tree sap, used to make jewellery.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
A history of England begun in the 800s.
An argument between two families that involves fighting or killings.
Ornament used to fasten clothing.
Watery liquid left over when butter is made from milk.
A design cut out of wood.
The leader of a village or small group of people.
A person who follows the religion taught by Jesus Christ.
A settlement founded in one country by people from another country.
To beat an enemy and control them using force.
The area of England ruled by the Vikings.
Another name for a longship.

E to G

Someone who travels to unfamiliar places to discover new things.
A special meal for a large group of people.
A carved wooden piece at the front of a ship.

H to L

A hidden treasure, usually buried in the soil.
A kind of black stone used to make jewellery.
People who try to take over land from other people.
To put a new ship in the water.

M to O

mail coat
Tall wooden pole from which a ship's sail is hung.
A trader, someone who buys and sells things.
The building where monks live.
norse myths

P to S

A person who believed in many gods.
A large black bird of the crow family.
The name given to the Viking alphabet.
An area where people live.
A curved knife used for cutting grain stalks at harvest time.
A worker who makes things of metal, usually iron.
Twisting and drawing out sheep wool into long thin thread.

T to Z

A roof covered in straw.
A person who sells goods.
walrus ivory
Making cloth on a machine called a loom.