In that same year on July 17th, 924 AD, King Edward the Elder died while leading an army against a Welsh-Mercian rebellion at Farndon-Upon-Dee and was suceeded by his son Æthelstan (Athelstan). King Æthelstan was King of the Anglo-Saxons from the time of his father's death to 927 AD when he conquered the remaining Viking hold in York, making him King of all of England.
In Normandy, Rollo began dividing the lands between the Epte and Risle Rivers among his chieftains and himself, settled in its capital city Rouen. In 927 AD, Rollo passed the fief of Normandy to William Longsword, his son. It's uncertain when Rollo died, but he probably lived for a few years after that, but historians are certain that died before the year 933 AD. It is recorded by the historian Adhemar, that as Rollo's had gone mad towards the end and ot one point, had 100 Christian prisoners beheaded in front of him to honor the pagan gods whom he'd worshiped and then later distributed 100 pounds of gold around to the churches in honor of the Christian God he'd been baptized in the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. Even though Rollo had converted and been baptized as a Christian, as was typical of many converted Norse, he retained the religious roots of Norse beliefs and simply added the Christian god with the rest of his gods, as many polytheists do when converted.
Normandy began to form from a Frankish land conquered and settled by Norsemen to a land of Norman identity, the Normans.
In England during 939 AD, the English King Æthelstan died and was succeeded by his son Edmund I. Soon after King Edmund's coronation, he faced military threats from King Olaf Guthfrithson (Olaf III of the Norse-Gael dynasty and King of Dublin) whom still laid claim to York which ...
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... the Vikings decided to stay in England and entered into King Æthelred II's service as mercenaries, based on the Isle of Wight.
On his way to Norway, King Olav stopped on the Northern Isles to Christianize them by summoning Jarl Sigurd and ordered him and all his subjects to be baptized as Christians. Stating that if he refused, he'd have him killed on the spot and would ravage every island with fire and steel. Not surprisingly, Jarl Sigurd agreed to King Olaf's demand and the islands became Christian in 995 AD.
This was not the end of Viking expansionism. Earlier, Eric the Red was expelled from Norway for manslaughter and resettled in Iceland with his family as many Norse refugees from Norway had before him. In 982 AD, the Icelanders had also expelled him at a “thing”(assembly) from Iceland for three years for some killings over a dispute he had committed there.
Kapelle, W.E. ‘The Norman conquest of the North:The region and its transformation 1000-1135’ (Croom Helm 1979)
We remember William of Normandy as a conquering hero. Truly one of the great warrior's of all time. But its is his patronage that still can be viewed in the twentieth century. The churches of St. Etienne and La Trinite as well as the tower of London, are medieval architectural models. All three buildings have a wealth of documentation surrounding them.
TheVikings have been sailing for thousands of years (Steel 1). The Vikings traveled for 2 years this was called a Vikings trial (Steel 1). They would go out in search for land and new wonders in life. They would build their own boats out of wood and hides of animals. They were known as the best sailors of their time.
Leif Erikson’s grandfather, Thorvald Asvaldsson slaughtered a man in Jæren, Norway in 960 CE. This was the age of the Vikings, but Thorvald was still banished from the land (Mandia, n.d.). So he brought his ten year old son Erik, later to be named as Erik the Red because of his scarlet hair, to Drangar in northwestern Iceland on a farm with rather appalling soil (Where is Vinland?, n.d.).
The blood-thirsty Vikings had such a strong influence and impact on Western Europe that their impact of Viking contact spread throughout the world and lives on today. Three significant ways they affected the world was by the Vikings amazing technology skills of ship building and navigation as well as their polytheism religion.
In winter of 1066 the king of England, Edward III died without any heirs to the throne. This sparked a bitter rivalry between Harold Godwin son, William Duke of Normandy and Herald Harridan, all of whom had claims to the throne. Eventually, Harold II was elected into power despite William’s claim to the throne. The Norman leader felt cheated because he had to have a blood tie to the throne, despite him being Norman and Edward III being Anglo-Saxon. In spring of 1066 the Normans sent a mission to Rome to seek Papal support for an invasion of England, the rivalry for the throne had escalated into a full-fledged conflict that would alter the course of history.
Due to the fact that Harold Godwinson overlooked the dead king's wishes. Edward the Confessor, sworn his loyalty to William of Normandy when he died not to Harold. Harold Godwinson promptly had himself proclaimed king. It was only a matter of months before William, Duke of the large and powerful duchy of Normandy in France, paid Harold a visit to bring to his remembrance his own claim to the throne. William raised an army of Normans by promising them land and wealth when he came into his rightful kingship.
Vikings were a Norse-speaking, seafaring people who lived from the 8th to 11th centuries, mainly in Scandinavia. They were expert sailors who, starting in late 700s, looted and burned civilizations along rivers and coasts of Europe and Asia. They traded, sailed and explored across the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, opening trade routes that connected Europe to the Mediterranean lands. During this time, some of the population settled in the kingdoms that they were exploring; namely England, Ireland, northern France and Russia. One of the main influences that the surrounding cultures had on them was through religion. As the Vikings came in contact with Christianity through their raids, it began to form a unique fusion of Christian influence, while still holding on to many aspects of their pagan lifestyle. Not many primary sources remain from pre-Christian Viking society as much of their culture was destroyed during the Christianization process. The extremely strong oral tradition and the artifacts that remain are what the knowledge of the culture is based on. The pagan culture interests me, as I can still examine influences of it on my Scandinavian family today.
King Alfred was born in Wantage, Berkshire in 848. Alfred was the son of the king of the West Saxons, Aethulwulf. When Alfred was a young child, his father made a mutual agreement with him and his four older brothers that if Aethulwulf were to die then the older brothers would take his place. This was because Aethulwulf did not want a young child to be the ruler of the West Saxons while Viking raids from Denmark threatened the country. Alfred grew up in a time when England was divided in to small individual states. Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia were states that were under the control of the Angles. The kingdom of the Jutes ruled Kent and the Saxons, Alfred's people, ruled Essex, Sussex, and Wessex ("Alfred, The Great", n.d.).
Because of this, converting the Norse was a task that took Christendom a relatively long time to achieve and was done by any and all means possible, including converting Norse beliefs, practices, and culture into Christian ideology in order to allow the Norse to relate and understand it and then eventually accept Christianity. So conversion of the Norse was done by relating Christian concepts as closely to Norse practices as closely as possible. Conversion attempts were also usually done by means of mass communities rather than taken in by individual conversion. This was done by methods of demanding conversions through subjugation. The Monarch would convert and as an opportunity to solidify their power, force their subjects to convert as well. So instead of trying to convert individuals to become Christians, the community would be ordered to convert. Entire regions would become converted by order of the King. Missionaries, priests, and monks would then come in to finish the process. Once converted, the old gods and practices would be outlawed as entire communities would be baptized and swear oaths to forsake the old gods and take in Christ as their only god. Further subjugation would take place thro...
King Alfred The Great in many ways was considered to be one of the greatest rulers of England. He was best known for establishing peace with the Vikings and building the kingdom of England. Alfred was the only english leader to be called “ The Great”. He founded the britsih army and navy in 890 AD. In his defeat of the Danes at Ashdown and Rochester and The battle of Edington which made him
The Norse religion is the religion of the Norse people prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia. It may seem as though the religion’s influence has died out, but it still affects our culture today. The general mythology is well known, but the details, such as how the lore was passed down from generation to generation, is obscure.
The Middle Ages encompass one of the most turbulent periods in English History. Starting with the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest. When Duke William of Normandy, better known as William the Conqueror effectively took all of the lands from the Saxon English and gave them to French nobles. there were some points that took my attention the
King Alfred was now in charge of stopping the Danes from occupying Wessex. Alfred was already an experienced military leader, as he had participated in several campaigns against the invading Danes (Bruce 3). The West Saxons had now made an alliance with Mercia. Yet in 868, the Danes met both Mercians and West Saxons; the two nations had formed an alliance, which had been strengthened that year by the marriage of Alfred and Ealhswith, daughter of a Mercian ealdorman (Bruce 4). Alfred and his elder brother King Æthelred personally led the Wessex contingent, yet not even the combined forces of the Mercians and the West Saxons could handle the strength of the Danes.
King Edward the Confessor died in January of 1066 AD, without an obvious successor and this caused much controversy as both King Harald of Norway and Duke William of Normandy believed they were the rightful heirs to the throne of England. However, Harald Hardrada (Harald Sigurdsson) whom also had a claim himself as the rightful heir to the throne of England, landed with a Viking army in hopes of taking control of York and thus the English crown, but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. This event is often cited as the end of the Viking era as the last Viking invasion.