The battle of York, however, is evidence to the contrary. The Vikings are often portrayed as fearsome and brutal in war, but rarely as intelligent tacticians. Tearing down the flimsy palisade, they charged into the narrow streets after Ivar’s retreating army. The Northumbrian army quickly followed, finding the ancient wall crumbling and the defences in disrepair. Those Vikings arrayed before the city were routed and sent fleeing back behind York’s Roman walls.
It wasn’t until the following spring that the feuding Saxon claimants to the throne of Northumbria, Osberht and Ælla (the man who had killed Ragnar), joined forces to evict the Vikings from their country. Ivar’s unconventional tactic worked and York’s defence was washed away with relative ease.ĭan Snow and Cat Jarman travel across Britain in search of the traces of the Great Heathen Army.
They had taken the defenders by surprise as it was customary for no battles to be fought in the winter, and Northumbria was in the midst of a civil war at that time. On 1 November, the Vikings routed Anglo-Saxon forces in York, which was the capital of Northumbria at that point. Once they arrived in the late autumn of 866, Ivar marched his forces north. The Vikings acquiesced: they were awaiting reinforcements. They provided the Vikings with treasure, shelter, food and horses – on the provision that they did not lay waste the kingdom. Ivar’s army landed first in East Anglia in 865 and the local East Anglians quickly sued for peace. His sons, Ivar, Ubba and Halfdan were those who lead the ‘Great Heathen Army’ (as it was known in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles) across the sea to take revenge upon Northumbria and, in time, the whole of England.
The Viking Sagas tell how their full invasion of England was because Aella, King of Northumbria had killed the famous Danish king, Ragnar Lodbrok. They slaughtered him and his retinue – a symbol of things to come. A relatively small contingent was seen disembarking on the south west coast and the local shire reeve went to greet them, thinking they were merchants. 793 saw the arrival of the Scandinavian Vikings to English shores.
0 kommentar(er)
