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These raids continued for the entirety of the Viking Age and Vikings would target monasteries along the coast, raid the towns for their booty, and were known to set fires in their wake. While there is evidence that Viking arson attacks did occur, more recent scholarship has cast doubt on quite how severe the physical damages (rather than their ...
As a result, the Vikings set all the buildings of the monastery on fire. The abbey burned down to the ground, "since there was no one left alive to fight the fire" . [ 14 ] Among the monastery's greatest treasures was one of the most precious relics of Western Christianity , the Sandals of Christ , which were carried to safety before the Viking ...
Viking activity in the British Isles occurred during the Early Middle Ages, the 8th to the 11th centuries CE, when Scandinavians travelled to the British Isles to raid, conquer, settle and trade. They are generally referred to as Vikings , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] but some scholars debate whether the term Viking [ a ] represented all Scandinavian settlers ...
The Viking world was as much populated by missionary kings, bishops and saints as it was by raiders, gods and giants.
The Great Heathen Army, [a] also known as the Viking Great Army, [1] was a coalition of Scandinavian warriors who invaded England in 865 AD.Since the late 8th century, the Vikings [b] had been engaging in raids on centres of wealth, such as monasteries.
Medieval monasteries and abbeys were frequently the target of Viking raids because they were wealthy landowners, [3] and stored vast amounts of gold and other precious materials. Vikings plundered abbeys, like Iona Abbey, for riches, food, and even their holy texts—which were, at the time, often inscribed with gold leaf.
The first monastery to be raided was in 793 at Lindisfarne, off the northeast coast, and the first recorded raid being at Portland, Dorset in 789; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle described the Vikings as heathen men. [13] Monasteries and minster churches were popular targets as they were wealthy and had valuable objects that were portable. [14]
Rathlin Island. In the year 795 Vikings (probably of Norwegian origin) raided islands off the coast of Ireland for the first time. [1] This was the beginning of a new phase of Irish history, which saw many native communities – particularly ecclesiastical ones – relocate themselves on the continent, or further afield in places like Iceland and the Faroe Islands, to escape the pagan marauders.