You will enjoy this
excellent article from Archaeology Magazine, on the Viking dig at Torksey,
Yorkshire County, UK, what it all means, and some of what has been uncovered. (Ed.)
***
A tale of conflict
and adaptation played out in northern England
By DANIEL WEISS
Monday, February
12, 2018
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(Bymuseum, Oslo, Norway/Index/Bridgeman Images)
Tens of thousands of Vikings flowed into northern England beginning in the late 9th century, first as an invading army and then as a wave of migrants. A 10th-century illustration depicts a Viking force disembarking in England.
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At first glance, the historic county of Yorkshire in northern England seems as English as can be. It gives its name to Yorkshire pudding, a staple of English cuisine dating back to the eighteenth century. Earlier still, it was home to the royal House of York, whose line included King Richard III. But a closer look reveals a more complicated history. Take Ormesby: Today a suburb of Middlesbrough, its name derives from the Old Norse for “Ormr’s farm.” Or the many streets in the city of York that end in “gate,” from the Old Norse gata, meaning “road” or “way.” Even the city’s name comes from the Old Norse Jorvik.
The source of these
Scandinavian-influenced place names and the many more that can be found to this
day in northern England dates back more than a thousand years. Starting in the
late ninth century, tens of thousands of Vikings arrived in Anglo-Saxon
England, first as part of an invading force known as the Viking Great Army, and
later as part of a massive wave of settlers. Examining the landscape, history,
and archaeology of the region tells us much about what happens when cultures
clash but ultimately come to coexist. And it helps explain Anglo-Saxon and
Viking interactions.
The Viking Great
Army’s arrival in 865 was recounted in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: “A great
heathen force came into English land, and they took winter-quarters in East
Anglia; there they were horsed, and they made peace.” According to the Chronicle,
the Vikings spent years campaigning through the territory of the four
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms—East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex. They proved
to be masters at keeping the Anglo-Saxons off balance, making peace with a
kingdom one year, only to strike a mortal blow the next. By 880, all the
kingdoms had fallen to the Vikings except Wessex, with which they made peace.
“The Vikings were very quick and they got quite far inland on their boats,”
says Jane Kershaw of the University of Oxford. “They had an element of surprise
that the Anglo-Saxons weren’t quite able to anticipate and respond to.”
Viking raiders had
been targeting wealthy enclaves on England’s coasts with summertime hit-and-run
raids since at least 793, when they launched the infamous, terrifying attack on
a monastery on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne off the Northumbrian coast of
northeast England. Attacks on other monasteries and settlements on England’s
east and west coasts followed. Beginning in 850, Viking forces at times spent
the winter at coastal sites, allowing them to start their raids earlier in the
year. With the arrival of the Viking Great Army, at last, they were able to
penetrate deep into England, making their way along rivers and ancient Roman
roads, setting up overwintering camps, and wreaking havoc on the Anglo-Saxons.
“It seems that the Vikings are after something a little bit different at this
stage,” says Kershaw. “They’re still after portable wealth, but they start to
have an eye toward acquiring land as well. They start to see England as
somewhere they might be able to settle and reestablish themselves as lords with
their own families.”
The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle describes the Viking Great Army’s exploits in outsized terms. In
a single day’s battle against Wessex, for example, it reports a death toll in
the thousands. “The implication is that it’s larger than any previous army seen
in England,” says Dawn Hadley of the University of Sheffield. But until
recently, there had been little archaeological evidence of its presence. Only
one overwintering camp mentioned in the Chronicle had ever been discovered, at
Repton, the capital of Mercia, in present-day Derbyshire, where the army spent
the winter of 873–874. Excavations conducted there between 1974 and 1993 by
Martin Biddle and his late wife, Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle, had revealed a small,
heavily defended enclosure covering just an acre or two. Although it was
unclear whether the camp extended beyond this fortified area, some experts took
these findings to suggest that the Great Army was not actually so great after
all, numbering at most in the hundreds—and that the Chronicle’s authors
had exaggerated its size to make it appear more fearsome.
Now, however, an
archaeological project at another location, Torksey, in Lincolnshire, where the
army camped from 872 to 873, has established that it was indeed very large—it
was in fact far more than a mere army. According to Hadley, codirector of the Torksey
research project along with Julian Richards of the University of York, “We are
getting the sense that the force that was at Torksey and that is referred to as
an army in the Chronicle actually comprised not just warriors, but people
engaged in trade and manufacture, and women and children as well.”
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(© The Viking Torksey Research Project)
The site near Torksey where the Viking Great Army spent the winter of 872–873 is surveyed by a member of the archaeological team. The camp covered parts of six present-day agricultural fields.
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Evidence of the
camp at Torksey has been unearthed, for the most part, by avocational metal
detectorists. Long active in the United Kingdom, they are strongly encouraged
to notify scholars of their finds. When Hadley and Richards learned that a
group of detectorists in the Torksey area had discovered ingots, weights, and a
concentration of ninth-century coins, including a number of Arabic silver
dirhams, all of which appeared to be associated with the Viking Great Army
camp, they set out to carefully document the evidence. “We got the detectorists
to record their finds more systematically,” says Richards. “We gave them
portable global positioning devices to log the coordinates of each discovery so
we could plot maps of where everything was coming from.”
The dimensions of
the camp that emerged from mapping these finds covered a vast expanse—some 136
acres stretching over six present-day agricultural fields near the east bank of
the River Trent north of the modern village of Torksey. “The scale of activity
over all those fields suggests a large force, measuring at least in the
thousands, with quite a degree of organization,” says Richards. The site is
generally dry today as a result of nineteenth-century drainage projects, but
the researchers determined that in the ninth century it was a natural island
bordered by the River Trent on the west and marshland on the other three sides,
which helps explain why the Vikings camped there.
By the time the
Viking Great Army overwintered at Torksey, it had been in England for seven
years and had already conquered both East Anglia and Northumbria.
Archaeologists knew that it could be expected to have accumulated a great deal
of treasure, and, in fact, more than 120 Arabic silver dirhams have been
unearthed. As is characteristic of the Vikings, the coins had been cut up into
pieces to be traded for the value of their metal. These coins are a strong sign
of the presence of Vikings, who are known to have traded slaves for them in
Eastern Europe. They are only rarely found in typical Anglo-Saxon contexts.
“Torksey has the largest concentration of dirhams from any site in Britain or
Ireland,” says Hadley. “So that jumps out.” In addition, at least 60 pieces of
hacksilver, which was chopped up for use in trade, along with a dozen pieces of
rare hackgold, have been found. “If they lost that much material,” asks
Richards, “how much silver and gold must there have been in circulation?”
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(© The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)
Metal gaming pieces such as this one (top, far right) suggest how Viking army members spent leisure time at Torksey.
Evidence of tremendous wealth has also been uncovered at the site, including (clockwise from above right) pieces of
hackgold, hacksilver, a gold Carolingian coin, and a silver Arabic dirham.
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The Vikings at the
camp, according to Hadley and Richards, may well have engaged in trade of a
sort with local Anglo-Saxons. Scandinavians at the time generally used raw
metal for trade rather than coins. Several hundred weights of the kind they are
known to have used to facilitate exchange have been found. However, although
the Vikings had negotiated a peace with the Mercians before setting up camp, it
is unclear, according to Kershaw, how cordial relations would have been with
those living nearby. “I don’t see what Viking camps would have had to offer
locals,” she says. “I see them as being quite parasitic on the local landscape.
They would have had to acquire a lot of provisions to sustain a large army, but
I don’t think they would have done that peacefully. There might have been
forced, coercive trade, but I don’t think these are places where you would walk
up and buy a couple of pots. The trade that was going on was probably more
among the army members themselves.”
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| © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)Several hundred weights found at the Torksey site would have been used by the Viking army during the course of trade, either among themselves or with those living nearby.
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The camp at Torksey
would have been self-sustaining in some respects. “It’s almost like a town on
the move,” says Hadley. Life within its confines is becoming clearer for
researchers. Members of the army appear to have had leisure time on their
hands, as shown by the number of lead gaming pieces that have been found at the
site. The presence of metalworkers is indicated by collections of scrap copper
and iron, apparently gathered to be melted down. Women seem to have been part
of the camp as well, as suggested by the discovery of spindle whorls and other
tools used to work textiles. It is unclear, though, whether these were
Scandinavian women who had come along with the army as part of families, or
captives taken as spoils of war. Added to all this are hints of an aspiring
kingdom attempting to establish itself. Three iron plowshares discovered
together may have been headed for the scrap heap. But, according to Richards,
“The more interesting possibility is that they were already thinking about
seizing agricultural estates and acquired the plowshares with that aim in
mind.”
The peace the
Vikings had made with the Mercians in Torksey was soon broken. The next
year, 873, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Vikings charged
into the kingdom’s capital, Repton, some 60 miles southwest along the Trent.
There, they sacked a monastery, sent the king, Burghred, fleeing to Paris, and
replaced him with a figurehead named Ceolwulf. This sort of bait and switch was
typical of how the Vikings managed to get the better of the Anglo-Saxons. “The
Anglo-Saxons did their standard thing of making an oath, exchanging hostages,
and paying the Vikings some money, and then they expected the Vikings to go
away,” says Kershaw. “But the Vikings don’t play by the same rules. They take
the money, but they come back the next year. They swear an oath, but they don’t
keep it. The Anglo-Saxons don’t quite know how to negotiate with someone who
doesn’t respect their laws of peacemaking.”
The early Biddle
excavations at the Repton overwintering camp of 873–874 were able to illustrate
how the Vikings behaved in victory. After defeating the Mercians, the Vikings
ran roughshod over some of their most sacred territory. They built a heavily fortified
D-shaped enclosure with St. Wystan’s church to the south serving as a gatehouse
and possibly an eating hall. A large defensive ditch was constructed, cutting
through Mercian cemeteries to the east and west before turning north to meet
the River Trent. Archaeologists also discovered what are believed to have been
at least 10 carved Anglo-Saxon stone crosses smashed into small pieces. Says
Biddle, who is now an emeritus professor at the University of Oxford, “They
broke the place up.”
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(Courtesy Martin Biddle)
A Viking warrior unearthed at the site in Repton where the Great Army camped over the winter of 873–874 was found to have received severe injuries to the head and left thigh.
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The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle offers no insights into the nature of the battle for Repton, but
evidence shows it was likely a bloody one. Next to a crypt where members of the
Mercian royal family were buried, the excavation unearthed a Viking warrior who
had suffered grievous injuries and had been laid to rest alongside an iron
sword, with a silver Thor’s hammer around his neck. “He died a very violent
death indeed,” says Biddle, reflecting back on the discovery. “He looks as
though someone stabbed him more or less in the eyes. But the real great wound,
which we found immediately upon excavation, was a huge cut into the inner side
of his left femur. It could only have been made by someone standing above him,
perhaps with a heavy sword or an ax.” A boar’s tusk had been placed between the
warrior’s thighs, possibly to replace genitalia damaged or severed in his final
battle.
Many more Vikings
appear to have been buried in a charnel mound outside the fortified enclosure,
in what was once an Anglo-Saxon mausoleum. There, Biddle discovered the
disarticulated remains of at least 264 people. The remains belonged
overwhelmingly to adult males. Found among them were an iron ax, two fighting
knives, and five silver pennies dating to 872–874. As part of a new
archaeological examination of the site, radiocarbon dating and analysis of the
bones have demonstrated that they date to the time when the army overwintered
at Repton and that they had been subjected to extensive violence and trauma.
Cat Jarman of the University of Bristol, codirector of the current project at
Repton, suggests that many of those whose bones were found in the deposit were
Viking warriors killed in battle elsewhere and then buried during the winter.
“We don’t actually know what happened to the thousands of people who died in battles
that we read about in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,” she says. “But there are
a lot of examples from across the Viking world of people moving bones, so it
wouldn’t be surprising if the Viking Great Army took bones from battle sites
and put them in this context.”
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(Courtesy Mark Horton)
In this aerial view of Repton, one can see St. Wystan’s church (above right), which the Vikings put to use as a gatehouse at the edge of a fortified enclosure, and part of a recent excavation (center) that established the Viking camp was larger than had been thought.
It also appears
that the overwintering camp at Repton extended beyond the heavily fortified
enclosure. Excavations near the charnel mound have turned up Viking weapons—an
arrowhead, a fragment of an ax—as well as lead gaming pieces and evidence of
metalworking. Several clinker nails typically used in ship construction have
also been found. “We know that they moved up and down the rivers, and their
ships would have needed frequent repairs,” says Jarman. “They were probably
getting ready for the next season’s attack.”
(Courtesy Anne
Leaver (top), Courtesy Cat Jarman (above))
The recent
discovery of an arrowhead (top) and ship nail (above) provides further evidence
of the Viking army’s presence in Repton.
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| (Courtesy Mark Horton)
In this aerial view of Repton, one can see St. Wystan’s church (above right), which the Vikings put to use as a gatehouse at the edge of a fortified enclosure, and part of a recent excavation (center) that established the Viking camp was larger than had been thought.
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After overwintering
at Repton from 873 to 874, the Viking Great Army split in two. One part, under
the leadership of Guthrum, headed south and was ultimately defeated in 878 by
Wessex and its king, Alfred the Great. To make peace, Guthrum was baptized
along with 30 of his warriors, and ended up reigning as an Anglo-Saxon-style
king over a swath of territory allocated to him by Alfred. The other part of
the army headed north and went on to “share out the land,” as the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle puts it, in Northumbria in 876, Mercia in 877, and East Anglia
in 880. This seems to suggest that the Vikings took over vast stretches of
England, but how did it work exactly? “We don’t really know,” says Kershaw.
“The consensus is that they do take over the Anglo-Saxon estates, but I think
you probably have Anglo-Saxon communities left in place alongside the new
Scandinavian ones.”
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(Courtesy Jane Kershaw)
Scandinavian-style jewelry discovered in East Anglia, such as a disc brooch (top) and a gilt silver pendant (above), both shown front and back, suggest Viking women migrated to England in the late 9th to early 10th centuries.
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The area of
northern and eastern England inhabited by the Vikings ultimately came to
be known as the Danelaw, after the Anglo-Saxons’ belief that most of the
invaders had come from Denmark. New evidence suggests that once the army
members settled there, large numbers of Viking women came over to join them.
Kershaw has analyzed metal-detected finds from rural parts of the Danelaw and
identified 125 women’s brooches of types that have turned up nowhere else in
England, but have been found in Scandinavia, particularly in Denmark, and date
to the Viking Age. “It’s clear that these items are coming in on the clothing
of women arriving from southern Scandinavia to settle in rural England,” she
says. “So I think there is a second wave of migration following the settlement
of the Danelaw that includes women and children.” The discovery of brooches
that mix Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian elements indicates that the two
communities intermingled to a great degree. “These styles are seen as somehow
fashionable by the locals,” says Kershaw. “There is a desire to emulate these
styles, which suggests that Scandinavians are either in political control or
they’re seen as exotic.”
The Anglo-Saxons,
united under the House of Wessex, regained rule of the Danelaw by the mid-tenth
century, but the Scandinavian influence endured. In a 1086 survey of England
called the Domesday Book, nearly half the place names in Yorkshire are
Scandinavian. “It’s not just towns and villages that have these names,” says
Kershaw. “It’s really small features of the rural landscape, such as rivers,
hedgerows, and little parks.” More than a thousand years after the Vikings
first arrived, and despite their eventual defeat, their influence remains
etched into the fabric of England to this day.
Daniel Weiss is
senior editor at ARCHAEOLOGY.
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