The True Story of the First Viking Attack on England

This is the true story of the first recorded Viking raid on English soil, at the priory of Lindisfarne in Northumbria in June 793. The devastating Viking attack on the church of St Cuthbert sent a shockwave through Christian Europe, and it marked the beginning of what is now called the Viking Age.

Join medieval historian Matt Lewis as he retraces the steps of those early Viking raiders on Holy Island and separates fact from fiction. The raid on Lindisfarne was dramatised in the hit TV series 'Vikings', but the real attack wasn't led by the semi-legendary Ragnar Lothbrok. Matt looks in detail at what the Anglo-Saxon written sources really tell us about that day.

As well as the Viking attack itself, Matt also explores how the English reacted to the event. From the letters of churchmen like Alcuin of York, some of the advice for avoiding future Viking incursions might surprise you! The arrival of the Great Heathen Army less than a century later proves that it probably didn't work.

And remember, as YouTube subscribers, you can sign up to History Hit TV today with code YOUTUBE and enjoy 50% off your first 3 months!

#historyhit #vikings #anglosaxon

[HistoryHit]

After the attack on Lindisfarne, Alcuin of York advised the English to stop getting trendy haircuts as a way to appease God, and prevent future Viking raids. Is this the worst piece of advice in history? 🤔

[localbod]

If you visit Lindisfarne, keep in mind that it is a real village on the island and it's not like Port Merrion. My folks lived there and the amount of tourists who would just wander into people's gardens and back yards was staggering. It was always a relief for them when the tide would come in and all the visiting tour coaches and cars would leave.
(edit: typo)

[runswithcows]

I bet a pound to a penny that monks wrote those predictions long after the event.

[leanie]

Re: the advice on avoiding future Viking attacks....perhaps "cut your hair" was a useless idea, but "stop hoarding so much wealth" was a GREAT plan. The Vikings wanted "stuff", and knew that the churchmen were greedy accumulators of other people's stuff. If they'd actually espoused in truth, the monasteries would have been safe(r).

[JP-sthn]

Season 1 of that show was amazing. It kind of went off the rails, but I liked the concept of telling the whole Viking age through the lives of a few characters.

[nicolaischartauandersen]

There were raids all the time, also internal raids in Scandinavia - Frisians raided the Danish West Coast, The Venti raided Aarhus in Denmark way before Viking times - vice versa. Basically, for people who lived along a coastline and could sail in ancient times, raiding was always an option. The real story of Lindisfarne is why people - even at the time - made such a fuss about it. It speaks to a clash between a solidifying Christian, medieval culture, where slavery was slowly being abolished and the Church had established a safe position, and the Scandinavian raiders, who just hadn't gotten the memo yet on the new rules.
Oh, and the 'Vikings' episode is great drama, but also reinforced the old false trope that people from these cultures didn't know each other. The Scandinavians who traded and travelled would have seen plenty of monks. And they knew where Lindisfarne were, how to get there and what to expect - why the hell else risk going over the North Atlantic? They might easily have visited before as traders and staked out the place. Or gotten word from relatives who has settled (peacefully, largely) on the British mainland nearby. The idea that these people were like aliens from space to each other is just ridiculous.

[chascoleman]

Often there are several meanings in the writings of this time and others. The previous centuries in this area have documented interactions of these same itinerant 'Norsemen' traveling from the Nordic countries and Baltic area in the summers on trading expeditions that were very regular and seasonal. These mercantile trips show the Vikings were armed, but primarily for defense of themselves and their trading stocks on board their vessels.
Traders also knew the local peninsulas and islands near the shore that were isolated enough to fortify temporarily as they beached their vessels and set up camp. Trading was done in a indirect way (due to language differences and mutual distrust) The Viking traders would set out lots of trade goods they'd brought, 'piles' of a set value, then retreat off shore to observe the locals. Then the locals would walk around the trade goods and appraise their value to them. If a purchase/trade was desired, the locals would set their own 'pile' of trade goods, often leather, pottery, woven goods, furniture or metal goods -- next to the pile of Viking goods, as an 'offer' to trade, this for that. Then the locals retreated to observe the Vikings who returned to assess the offered 'swaps', taking the goods offered, if the value was sufficient, and leaving their goods in return.
This sort of trading was commonplace in both Scotland, and along both coasts of Great Britain, especially in the Irish sea between Ireland and England. Trading ships sailed out of the Nordic lands in the summer, down between England and Ireland (to avoid stormy waters and to trade with two areas simultaneously). The Norsemen would sail down to Northern Spain and the Southern coast of France, known for its wine and other finished goods. Then, as summer waned, these Norsemen would sail back home, again trading along the way with the people of England and Ireland (as well as offering a sort of 'bus service', documented in a book I read from 500 AD, a note from a monk who recorded taking the 'returning ship' from Spain back to England).
So the Vikings were well known and traders, not often raiders as they became in time for a variety of reasons.
As for the incident the contemporary writer said incited the Vikings to attack and loot Lindisfarne, it more logically came from discontent or outright aggression during the regular trading trips each summer. Trust had built up and perhaps the local people chose a single Viking ship with a small crew to loot and maim or murder. Just as the exposed Lindisfarne monastery, located, by choice, on an isolated promontory, was 'easy pickin's' for the Vikings, so too would have a Norse trading vessel have been easy to attack and overcome by an organized mass of locals.
A proud people and outstanding sailors and raiders, a cry for revenge (and loot) would have raced through the Viking lands, turning their normal summer trade fleets into a large, angry fleet (at first), which their devastating attack on Lindisfarne demonstrated.
Something triggered this major change that became the norm, ending the peaceful trading of centuries, by the Norsemen and the people of Scotland, England and Ireland (and further out).

It is a story yet to be researched properly and told.

[Ghost-viqm]

Those Vikings that attacked Lindisfarne were without shields. That's how certain they were of meeting no resistance.

[Toldale]

Another brilliant video from History Hit. Thankyou.

[fleadoggreen]

Ragnar and vikings make me feel so lazy, just laying on the couch under blankets in January

[Trecesolotienesdos]

The Anglo Saxon chronicle for 793 AD was written in Alfred the greats time. It wasn’t contemporary at all.

[davidcreager]

Excellent video 👍 ! Thanks for sharing this ! First time hearing about cutting your hair as a defense against the Vikings ! If only it was that easy !

[Renard]

Someone had indeed deserved that: the church and its habit of amassing gold and precious stones attracted the vikings

[crookedpaths]

You don’t just sail across a vast sea on a whim. The raiders must have had prior knowledge of the treasures within. It makes me wonder if they had not visited the site before, perhaps as peaceful traders and may have been invited inside at one point either to meet Christ or to deliver their wares.

[greenjackl]

The earliest raid was actually on Portland in Dorset around 790 in the reign of Beortrhic of Wessex.

[Fisherjobi]

It seems the Christian people of Britain at that time had lived in relative peace with little strife from serious invaders, and so were holy unprepared. I would be interested to hear what the kings of Britain said after hearing of this and whether they simply doubled down on the religious sentiment.

[crookedpaths]

Alcuin of York is not entirely wrong. Ostentatious showing of great wealth without security generally leads to trouble.

[sheboyganshovel]

This interests me. I read about the raid on Lindisfarne decades ago in a fantasy novel.

[wanderer]

The courage it took to kill a bunch of defenseless monks and priests. So brave of them.

[JourneyDude]

lovely video i have been filming there :) people love that place