Northmen, The Viking Saga 793-1241 AD

Chronology

c. 1800 BC

Beginning of the Scandinavian Bronze Age.

c. 500 BC

Beginning of the Scandinavian Iron Age (to c. AD 800).

c. 320 BC

Pytheas of Massalia visits Thule.

c. AD 1 – 400

Emergence of a warrior aristocracy in southern Scandinavia.

c. 400 – 800

The first kingdoms develop in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

425 – 500

Anglo-Saxon migrations from Denmark and Germany to Britain.

c. 528

Hygelac, king of the Geats, leads a Scandinavian pirate raid on the lower Rhine.

c. 725

St Willibrord leads the first Christian mission to Scandinavia.

737

The first phase of the Danevirke rampart is completed.

c. 750

Swedes established at Staraja Ladoga in Russia.

c. 789

Norwegian Vikings sack Portland in Dorsetshire.

793

Vikings plunder the Northumbrian monastery of Lindisfarne.

795

First recorded Viking raids on Scotland and Ireland.

799

Vikings raid Aquitaine.

800

Charlemagne organises coastal defences against the Vikings.

810

Danish king Godfred ravages Frisia.

822 – 3

Archbishop Ebo of Reims undertakes a mission to Denmark.

c. 825

First Danish coins are minted at Hedeby.

c. 825

Irish monks driven out of the Faeroe Islands by Vikings.

826

Danish king Harald Klak is baptised at Mainz. St Ansgar’s first mission to Denmark.

829 – 30

St Ansgar’s first mission to the Svear at Birka.

832

Armagh in Ireland is raided by Vikings three times in one month.

834 – 7

The port of Dorestad on the Rhine is raided annually.

c. 835

The Oseberg ship burial in Norway.

c. 839

The Rus reach Constantinople.

841

Viking longphort is established at Dublin.

843

Treaty of Verdun partitions the Carolingian empire.

844

Viking army in Spain is defeated at Seville.

845

The Danes sack Hamburg and Paris.

851 – 2

St Ansgar’s second mission to Denmark and Sweden.

859 – 62

Hastein and Björn Ironside raid in the Mediterranean.

c. 860

Gardar the Swede explores the coast of Iceland.

860

The first Rus attack on Constantinople is driven off.

862

Charles the Bald, king of the West Franks orders the construction of fortified bridges against the Vikings.

c. 862

Rurik becomes ruler of Novgorod; Askold and Dyr seize Kiev.

865

Danish ‘Great Army’ invades England.

867

The Danes capture York.

870

The Danes conquer East Anglia.

c. 870 – 930

The Vikings settle Iceland.

c. 870

The Earldom of Orkney is established by Rognvald of Møre.

874 – 914

The ‘Forty Years Rest’: a lull in Viking raids against Ireland.

876-9

The beginning of Danish settlement in eastern England.

878

Alfred the Great of Wessex defeats the Danes at Edington.

c. 882

Oleg unites Novgorod and Kiev.

c. 885 – 90

Harald Fairhair wins the battle of Hafrsfjord, uniting most of Norway.

885-6

Unsuccessful Viking siege of Paris.

891

Arnulf king of the East Franks defeats the Vikings at the Dyle.

c. 900

Norwegian settlement begins in north-west England.

902

The Irish expel the Vikings from Dublin.

c. 900 – 905

The Gokstad ship burial in Norway.

907

After their attack on Constantinople is defeated the Rus agree a trade treaty with the Byzantine empire.

911

Rollo is made count of Rouen, founding Normandy.

912 – 54

Wessex conquers the Danelaw.

914 – 36

Vikings occupy Brittany.

917

Vikings under Sihtric Cáech recapture Dublin.

930

Foundation of the Icelandic Althing.

934

Henry the Fowler leads a German invasion of Denmark.

937

English defeat a Scottish-Norse alliance at Brunanburh.

948

First Scandinavian bishoprics founded at Ribe, Århus and Schleswig.

954

Erik Bloodaxe, last Viking king of York, is killed at Stainmore.

964 – 71

Svyatoslav of Kiev campaigns against the Bulgars, Khazars and Byzantines.

965

Harald Bluetooth of Denmark is converted to Christianity.

c. 965

Exhaustion of Muslim silver mines leads to the decline of Viking trade routes to the east.

974 – 81

Germans occupy Hedeby.

c. 980

Harald Bluetooth constructs the Trelleborg forts in Denmark.

c. 986

Erik the Red leads the Norse settlement of Greenland.

988

Byzantine emperor Basil II founds the Varangian Guard.

988

Vladimir the Great of Kiev converts to Orthodox Christianity.

991

Olaf Tryggvason defeats the English at Maldon.

995

Olaf Tryggvason wins control of Norway. Adopts a policy of forcible Christianisation.

995

Olof Skötkonung becomes the first king to rule both the Svear and Götar.

1000

Olaf Tryggvason is killed at the Battle of Svöld.

1000

The Icelanders accept Christianity.

c. 1000

Voyages to Vinland begin.

1002

St Brice’s Day massacre of Danes living in England.

1014

Svein Forkbeard of Denmark conquers England.

1014

Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, defeats Norse-Leinster alliance at Clontarf.

1015

Olaf Haraldsson (St Olaf) becomes king of Norway.

1016

Cnut becomes king of England.

c. 1027

First stone church built in Denmark at Roskilde.

1030

Olaf Haraldsson killed at the battle of Stiklestad.

1030 – 5

Battle of Tarbat Ness: Thorfinn the Mighty, earl of Orkney wins control of northern Scotland.

1042

End of Danish rule in England.

1043

Magnus the Good defeats the Wends at the battle of Lyrskov Heath.

1066

Harald Hardrada killed at the battle of Stamford Bridge. Battle of Hastings begins the Norman conquest of Britain.

1075

Last Danish invasion of England.

1079

Battle of Skyhill. Godred Crovan unites the Isle of Man and the Hebrides.

1086

Cnut the Holy of Denmark is murdered after abandoning a planned invasion of England.

1098

Magnus Barefoot establishes Norwegian authority in the Scottish isles.

1103 – 4

Lund becomes the first Scandinavian archbishopric.

1107 – 11

Norwegian king Sigurd Jorsalfar leads a crusade to the Holy Land.

1122 – 32

Ari Thorgilsson writes Íslendingabók (The Book of the Icelanders).

1147

The Danes join a crusade against the pagan Wends.

1156

Somerled wins the southern Hebrides from Godred II of Man.

1171

Asculf, last Norse king of Dublin, captured and executed by the Anglo-Normans.

1241

The Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson is murdered.

1261

Norse Greenland colony comes under direct rule from Norway.

1263

Iceland comes under Norwegian rule.

1263

Scots defeat Håkon IV of Norway at Largs.

1266

Norway cedes Man and the Hebrides to Scotland.

c. 1340

Inuit occupy the Western Settlement in Greenland.

1397

Union of Kalmar unites Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

c. 1450 – 1500

Extinction of the Norse Greenland colony.

1469

Denmark cedes Orkney and Shetland to Scotland.