ABSTRACT
The passage quoted above from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 787 (Plate 3.1) is the first record of the new danger of raids on the British coast from abroad. Much like the Anglo-Saxons over 300 years before, the new raiders were also part of a Germanic people, this time from even farther north. They were Vikings from Scandinavia (link: Vikings). The push-factors for them to leave their original homes were probably similar: overpopulation of a homeland with too few natural resources. In addition, they were part of a system in which inheritance was passed on to the oldest son (primogeniture); consequently, younger sons had to search for fame and fortune elsewhere. As a result, once the Franks under Charlemagne (768-814) had destroyed the naval power of the Frisians to the north of the Franks, there was no one to hinder the Vikings, who now had no problem sailing into the North Sea. Like the Anglo-Saxons before them they first raided the coast, pillaging and burning and then returning home with their booty, which consisted of gold, silver, jewels, fine clothing, and slaves. As a result the monasteries of Lindisfarne (793), Jarrow (794), and Iona (795) were sacked and valuable manuscripts were destroyed (Plate 3.2). From the mid-ninth century on they came with large armies and eventually settled, as recounted in the next section.
