ABSTRACT

Contacts between England and Scandinavia are well attested throughout the Viking Age. The evidence attesting to the existence of Anglo-Scandinavian connection in the early medieval period, however, is disparate, fragmentary, and scanty. Despite the relative silence of the historical record, it is nevertheless possible to identify individuals and groups of people moving between England and Scandinavia throughout this period. While some contacts may be seen as an extension and continuation of the networks forged during the Viking Age and the North Sea Empire under Cnut the Great, others were the result of new opportunities, disruptions, and developments in England as well as in Scandinavia. These connections were actively created, maintained, and utilized by groups and individuals engaged in processes of political, economic, and cultural exchange.