When England Battled The Vikings

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for AD 789 reports a Viking raid in Britain. An official serving the king, Beaduheard (means "battle-hard") became the first known person killed by a Viking raid in England.

Four years later in 793, a Viking raid on the monastery of Lindisfarne in the kingdom of Northumberland killed many, took others as slaves and pillaged valuable artifacts. This began a period of conquest and expansion by the Vikings in England.

In 835 A.D, Vikings in longboats entered the Thames estuary and raided the Isle of Sheppey on the Kent coast.

The first known naval battle in English history, the Battle of Sandwich in 851, was a Saxon victory against the Danish Viking fleet.

In 865, a Viking force of an estimated 3,000 men landed on the Isle of Thanet in Kent, intending to seize England. The Vikings made threats and the English used danegeld to appease the Vikings. This was a payment of such things as gold but usually silver.

In 871, at the Battle of Edington, King Alfred of Wessex battled the Viking army led by Guthrum.

Danish Vikings occupied parts of Britain, controlling large areas, known as the Danelaw, for more than 100 years.

The Old Norse language of the Vikings had a deep influence on the English language, as intermarriage and assimilation between the two cultures, brought about an adaptation between the two languages. English, today has almost no inflections, no case and gender for nouns, and almost no verb conjugation.

Other large influences on the language occurred when the Romans invaded Britain in the 1st Century AD bringing their alphabet. Then, the Angles and Saxons in the 7th Century took over, with their language. Then came the Vikings in the 8th Century. When the Normans, Norsemen, who settled in northern France conquered England in 1066, they brought French to the mix.

Experience Viking culture at the Jorvik Viking Centre, a museum and visitor attraction in York, England.