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The Vikings: Historic Overview

Please find below the main events of the age of the Vikings in chronological order from the late 8th century up to the beginning of the 12th century.

Year Event
from 790Start of the viking crusade in Western Europe.
793Viking attack on the monastery of Lindisfarne in Northumberland, England.
799The first attacks on the Franks start at the monastery of St. Philibert Noirmoutier.
800Coronation of Charles the Great. He established a coastal defense north of the Seine estuary.
810The King Godfred of Denmark is murdered.
810A Danish fleet takes Friesland and collects toll fees.
814Death of Charlemagne and succession by his son Louis the Pious I.
819Harald's recognition as king beside the two sons of Gotfreds in Denmark.
823Mission by Archbishop Ebbo in Denmark.
825Danish coinage begins in Haithabu, an important trading settlement in the south of the Danish Jutland peninsula (now north Germany)
827Harald's expulsion from Denmark.
829-837Ansgar first mission trips to Birka in Norway
830Increasing Viking attacks on England and the Franks.
832Ansgar gets consecrated for bishop of Hamburg.
836Defeat of the West Saxons against the Vikings. Expansion of the attacks on Ireland.
841Viking Longphort established in Dublin
844Assault on Toulouse and the first raids on Spain
845Looting of Hamburg and Paris
848Vikings conquer Bordeaux
848/849Additionaly to Hamburg, Ansgar receives bishopric of Bremen.
ca. 850First overwintering of the Vikings in the British Isles.
850-860Numerous attacks on the British Isles and the Franks
860Permanent settlement on the Faroe Islands.
863Death of Ansgar. Rimbert becomes new Archbishop.
866Viking raid on Spain.
867Danish Vikings conquered York. Edmund King of Ostanglien killed.
870Harald Fair hair becomes King of Norway
874Permanent settlement of Iceland. The land-take continues up to approximately 930.
878Battle of Edington in England and the Treaty of Wedmore.
880King Harald Fair-haired tries to unify Norway.
885-886Siege of Paris by the vikings.
893-896The Vikings failed in their attempt to extend thier reign in England.
902Expulsion of the Vikings from Dublin.
911Foundation of Normandy by Rollo.
914Conquest of Brittany
917Recapture of Dublin by Sigtryggre
921Vikings get the permission to settle in the region of Nantes.
930 Establishment of the parliament "Althing" at Thingvellir in Iceland. Expulsion of the Vikings in Brittany.
931King Harald Fair hair dies.
944Looting of Dublin by the Irish.
954King Eric Bloodaxe, the king of York, gets killed.
958Harald Blue tooth becomes King of Denmark.
960King Harald Blue tooth being baptized by Poppo the monk.
961Increased raids on Wales. They last until the 11th century.
962Iceland divided into four quarters.
980Renewed Danish attacks on England.
ab 980Start of the christianization in Russia.
982Erik the Red is banished from Iceland for three years and settles in Greenland.
985Beginning of the colonization of Greenland.
995Norway gets unified by Olaf Tryggvason
1000Christianization of Iceland. First expedition to Vinland in North America. Construction of the church Thjodhilds in Brattahlið in South Greenland.
1002Æhtelred orders the murder of all Danes in England.
1012Thorkil's army takes Canterbury. Archbishop Ælfeth is murdered.
1013Sven fork Bart invades England.
1016Knut the Great becomes King of England.
1027The first stone church in Roskilde in Denmark built.
1030Battle of Stiklestad and death of King Olaf Haraldsson. He was canonized later.
1042-1046King Magnus united Norway and Denmark.
1050A diocese gets established on the Orkney Islands.
1056First bishopric in Skálholt in South Iceland.
1066Invasion of England. Haithabus destruction by the Slavs.
1070A Danish fleet fails on the conquest of England. Construction of the Urnes Stave Church in Norway.
1086Assassination of King Canute of Denmark in Odense.
1091Conquest of Sicily by the Normans.
1098First expedition of the Norwegian king Magnus Barefoot on the Orkney Islands, the Hebrides and to Anglesey. He is the ruler of the islands.
1104The bishop's see of Lund in Norway becomes archbishopric.
1106Hólar in Nord Iceland becomes the second bishop's see of the country.

Many events and deeds of the Vikings were written down in the Icelandic sagas around 100 years later. In this way, for example, the saga of the Norwegian kings, the Greenland and Vinland saga and many others were created. They also report on numerous Viking journeys, such as the settlements in Greenland and America, as well as the life of the Vikings to Iceland.



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