It
was an army of Vikings with the objective to avenge and conquer England.
Because of their known ruthlessness and savagery the English chroniclers
labelled them as the Great Heathen Army. But others labelled it as the Great
Danish Army for most of its warriors came from Denmark. Explore what was the Great
Heathen Army? Why was it formed and invaded England? How did it prevailed? And
how did it created an impact on history?
Formation of the Great Heathen Army
Death of Ragnar Lodbrok
Legends
said that the Great Heathen Army’s formation came as a result of the leadership
of five siblings – Ubbi, Bjorn Ironside, Halfdan, Sigurd Snake-Eye, and Ivar
the Boneless. And their intentions were revenge for the death of their father –
Ragnar Lodbrok.
Ragnar
Lodbrok, the legendary Viking leader, distinguished himself for his audacity to
attack Paris in 845. He soundly defeated the Franks in a battle and hanged hundreds
of his captive Frankish warriors. His act intimidated King Charles the Bald,
who paid him with silver and gold to spare the capital – a payment or ransom
called as danegeld.
After
his Frankish adventure, he turned his eyes to another prize – England. His
raiding party, however, met stronger resistance from the English than the
Franks. Worst, he was captured by Ælla or Ella of Northumbria and sentenced to
death. He was thrown to a snake pit, but before he passed away, he uttered a
prophecy, “That the piglets will grunt when they hear how the old boar died.”
Indeed,
Ragnar’s “piglets” rampaged over their father’s death. These “piglets” were
Ragnar’s five sons – Ubbi, Bjorn Ironside, Halfdan, Sigurd Snake-eye, and
finally Ivar the Boneless. As they raged, they desire none other than vengeance
for their father.
Ivar
the Boneless, in particular, designed the invasion of England to accomplish
their quest to avenge their father. Ivar had experienced in fighting in Ireland
and earned a reputation as a great warrior and military leader. His other
brothers also shared reputations as great warriors, and together they mustered
a large Viking force like no other before for their quest of vendetta.
The Assembly
Vikings
traditionally preferred raiding tactics – meaning hit, grab and run tactics. They
disliked siege because its time consuming and they lacked the machinery necessary
to succeed. And they liked to operate into small units, usually not more than
100 men, to launch raids in Europe and the British Isles. These small raiding
parties led by a chief or an jarl or earl belonged to the same villages or clans, thus using kinship as
base for a cohesive raiding party. These parties or groupings later served as the basic unit of the Great Heathen Army
Ivar
and his brothers, however, had in their hands the prestige of their father and
their respective booties from their own raids. Not to mention, they could also promised
lands for settle for their men, for many of them wanted to leave their harsh
lives in Scandinavia. With an epic reputation and promise of wealth and land,
they convinced numerous earls and Viking parties from Norway and mostly from Denmark to
create the Great Heathen Army or what others called as the Great Danish Army.
Invasion of the Great
Heathen Army
In
865, the Great Heathen Army landed in the British Isles. Their main objective
was to capture York, the capital of the Kingdom of Northumbria, the kingdom
that defeated and killed Ragnar Lodbrok. But what was the situation of England
by 865?
Situation in England
England
had been familiar with Viking raids. After the earliest incident in Lindisfarne
in 793, more Viking raids followed, but not just limited to England, but to the
whole of Great Britain and the Ireland. Ireland succumbed to Viking invasion
and led to the establishment of Viking Kingdoms, like one in Dublin.
England,
on the other hand, fared differently than Ireland. Ireland lacked strong
political units to coordinate defenses against invasions. England, although divided
too, still managed to consolidate into different Kingdoms that offered
leadership against the Vikings. The Saxons, in particular, established the major kingdoms of Northumbria in the north,
Mercia in the center, East Anglia in the west, and Wessex in southwest. A highly organized yet still divided Saxon
England was the opponent that the Great Heathen Army had to face.
Landing
The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entered in year 865 the landing of the Great Heathen Army,
numbering from 500 to 1,000 men, in the Isle of Thanet in Kent. The leaders of
Kent feared the Viking Army and paid danegeld
in exchange for peace. Nevertheless, the Heathen Army still rampaged almost half of Kent.
In
866, the Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia and settled for the rest of
winter. They deviated from their traditional raiding and showed they aimed
conquest. They setup fortified camps from, which they based their operations.
They lived off of the land, taking horses from nearby towns and villages to
create cavalry units, while the locals submitted to their will in exchange for
peace.
Fall of Northumbria
In
867, the Great Heathen Army began their conquest by moving from East Anglia to
Northumbria, with York as their objective. The invasion went well, as they marched
into a kingdom plunged into a civil war. A conflict
between the rightful King Osbert and an outsider usurper, Ælla, the same Ælla who
threw Ragnar Lobrok to the snake pits divided the country. The internal conflict resulted to the quick advance of the Great Heathen Army to York.
However,
when the Great Heathen Army arrived in York, they faced a combined force of King
Ælla and King Osbert, who agreed to a truce to fight against a common enemy. A
battle ensued and in the end, the Heathen Army killed Osberht and according to
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, also King Ælla. However, a legend suggested that Ivar and his brothers captured King Ælla. To avenge their father’s death,
they offered Ælla to warrior god Odin and tortured the Northumbrian King with the blood eagle.
The of Northumbria to the hands of the Great Heathen Army did not result to their retreat from the island. Rather, they continued their conquest of other Saxon Kingdoms
See also:
Bibliography:
Books:
Churchill, Winston. A History of the
English-Speaking Peoples v. 1. New York, New York: Bantam Books, 1963.
Jones, Gwyn. A History of the Vikings. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.
Peterson, Gary Dean. Vikings and Goths: A History of
Ancient and Medieval Sweden. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland &
Company, Inc., Publishers, 2016.
Websites:
“The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Ninth Century.” In The Avalon Project. Accessed on January 23, 2017. URL: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/ang09.asp#b36
“The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Ninth Century.” In The Avalon Project. Accessed on January 23, 2017. URL: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/ang09.asp#b36
“The Annals of Ulster.” In CELT: The Corpus
of Electronic Texts. Accessed on January 24, 2017. URL: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/T100001A/
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