VIKING AGE TIMELINE
The Viking Age lasted almost three centuries, from the first recorded raid at Lindisfarne (793) to the last invasion at Stamford Bridge (1066). It was no uniform age: it began with summer raids by small fleets, continued with conquest, colonization and empires, and ended with Christian kingdoms indistinguishable from the rest of Europe. This page sums up that journey in a timeline, year by year, from start to finish.
- 789 — First recorded contact: three Norse ships reach Portland, in Dorset, and kill the king's reeve who rides out to meet them.
- 793 — Sack of Lindisfarne monastery, in Northumbria, on 8 June: the symbolic start of the age.
- 795 — First attack on Ireland: the monastery of Iona is sacked.
- 799 — First attack on the Frankish empire: the island of Noirmoutier, on the Atlantic coast.
- 834 — Annual raids begin on Dorestad, the great Frisian trading port.
- 841 — Vikings winter in Ireland for the first time and found Dublin (Dyflin).
- 844 — Raid on Spain: Seville is sacked; another fleet reaches Morocco.
- 845 — An army tradition ascribes to Ragnar Lothbrok takes Paris and exacts 7,000 pounds of silver.
- 855 — First wintering in England, on the Isle of Sheppey: they no longer come only in summer.
- 860 — The Rus (eastern Swedes) attack Constantinople for the first time.
- 865 — The Great Heathen Army lands in East Anglia: the conquest of England begins.
- 866 — York, Northumbria's capital, falls and becomes Viking Jórvík.
- 869 — King Edmund of East Anglia dies, later venerated as a martyr.
- 871 — Alfred takes Wessex's throne and wins at Ashdown: the last English kingdom holds.
- 872 — Battle of Hafrsfjord: Harald Fairhair unifies Norway (traditional date).
- 874 — Ingólfr Arnarson settles in Iceland: its colonization begins (traditional date).
- 878 — Alfred wins at Edington; the treaty of Wedmore creates the Danelaw, England under Danish law.
- 885-886 — Great siege of Paris: the city holds and the Vikings sail up the Seine for ransom.
- 911 — Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte: King Charles III grants Normandy to Rollo.
- 930 — Foundation of Iceland's Althing at Þingvellir.
- 965 — Harald Bluetooth unifies Denmark and makes it Christian: carved on the Jelling stone.
- 985 — Erik the Red colonizes Greenland.
- 995 — Olaf Tryggvason takes Norway's throne and imposes Christianity.
- 1000 — A triple year: battle of Svold (Olaf Tryggvason dies), Iceland votes Christianity and Leif Eriksson reaches Vinland.
- 1013 — Sweyn Forkbeard takes England's throne.
- 1016-1035 — Cnut the Great rules the North Sea empire: Denmark, England and Norway.
- 1030 — Battle of Stiklestad: Olaf Haraldson falls, later Saint Olaf, Norway's patron.
- 1066 — The end: on 25 September Harald Hardrada falls at Stamford Bridge; on 14 October William of Normandy, of Viking descent, wins at Hastings. The Viking Age is over.