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793
start of the viking age
The Lindisfarne raid is often seen as the beginning of the Viking age. This raid took place on the island of Northumbria (modern day Northumberland). Northumbria had a population of around 4000 people who were mostly monks. This island was a sacred place for religion containing a monastery with many artifacts and treasured items especially valued by the Vikings. This violent and intense battle shocked and sent tremors all throughout English Christendom. -
Period: 793 to 1066
viking age timeline
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995
Olaf Trygvason
Olaf Tryggvason was the son of Tryggve Olafsson who was the king of Viken (Vingulmark, and Rånrike) as well as being the great grandson of the first king of Norway. He took the role of king like his ancestors in 995.Olaf was quite important in Viking history as he made one of the first conversions from Norse to Christianity. Other than some main facts little is known about the Norway king Olaf. -
1000
Battle of Svolder
The battle of svolder was the largest naval battle of the Viking age. This battle was between king Olaf of Norway and his enemy's Sweden and Denmark which had an alliance with each other. It is believed that king Olaf was on his way to/home from an expedition in Wendland (Pomerania) when he was ambushed by the king of Sweden and the king of Denmark. The Olaf Tryggvason saga states that he had 71 ships that were all taken one by one. Once the last ship was taken Olaf threw himself into the sea. -
1066
The end of the vikings
1066 is often seen as the end of the Viking age due to the bloody battle of Stamford bridge. In this battle Norwegian king Haraldr harðráði attempted to reclaim a portion of England but failed in the process eventually loosing his life in battle. After this battle raiding wasn’t as profitable and they actually stopped. Without raiding the Vikings eventually turned to the rest of Europe and become swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Greenlanders, icelanders, Faroese and etc.