🔍 Three Phases of Viking Expansion

Phase 1: Raiding (c.793–c.840)

Initial attacks focused on undefended coastal monasteries: Lindisfarne (793), Jarrow (794), Iona (795). These were ‘hit-and-run’ raids — arrive fast, take treasure and slaves, leave before resistance organises. Monasteries were targeted because they held concentrated wealth and relied on spiritual rather than military protection.

Phase 2: Settlement and trade (c.840–c.900)

Vikings stopped leaving after raids and began to winter abroad, then settle permanently. Key developments:

• Dublin, c.841: Vikings established a fortified base that became a major slave-trading port and the largest Norse settlement in Ireland.
• Jorvik (York), 866: A Danish Viking army captured York and made it the capital of a Viking kingdom. Jorvik became a major international trading city.
• The Danelaw, 878: After Alfred the Great defeated the Viking leader Guthrum at the Battle of Edington, the Treaty of Wedmore divided England. The Viking-controlled eastern and northern territories became known as the Danelaw.
• Paris, 885–886: A fleet of 700 ships besieged Paris. The Franks eventually paid 700 pounds of silver as Danegeld (tribute money) to make them leave.
• Varangian Routes: Swedish Vikings opened trade routes via the Rivers Dnieper and Volga to Constantinople (which they called Miklagarðr — ‘The Great City’) and to Baghdad’s Abbasid Caliphate. They traded furs and slaves for silver and silk.

Phase 3: Political power (c.900–c.1050)

• Normandy, 911: The Frankish king Charles the Simple granted land in northern France to the Viking chief Rollo under the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. Rollo became the first Duke of Normandy — and his descendants would conquer England in 1066.
• Cnut’s North Sea Empire: By 1028, King Cnut (Canute) ruled England (from 1016), Denmark (from 1018) and Norway (from 1028). He issued English laws, promoted English churchmen, and was accepted as a legitimate Christian king. Viking rule had become sophisticated political governance.