'Here terrible portents came about over the land of Northumbria, and miserably frightened the people: these were immense flashes of lightning and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. A great famine immediately followed these signs, and a little after that in the same year on 8 January the raiding of the heathen men miserably devastated God's church in Lindisfarne island by looting and slaughtering'
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 793 AD
The above passage taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle demonstrates the utter fear that these foreign raiders brought out in the people of Anglo-Saxon England. The attack on the island of Lindisfarne was the first of a series recorded around the coasts of the North Sea (Henty, 34).
The Anglo-Saxons had first arrived in Britain after being invited over by the ruling classes to help subdue raids by the Picts, Scots and Vikings who were taking advantage of the lack of organization after the departure of the Romans (Matthew, 57). The deal had been that if the Anglo-Saxons could push back the enemy then they and their families were welcome to settle on land in Britain. As we have already read the settlement of the Anglo-Saxons was to alter British rule altogether. However, once the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had been established they were still under constant threat of further Viking raids (Alan 43).
The Vikings were sea-faring men who came from Scandinavia, the places we know of as Norway, Denmark and Sweden. They were farmers, traders and fishermen who, like the Anglo-Saxons before them were finding it hard to make a living from their mountainous lands. They recognized the great wealth that England had to offer and were ready to take advantage of a land that was absorbed in squabbles and in-fighting.
The first Vikings to land in Britain were the Danes.....
