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The Vikings of Bjornstad
The Vikings in History - a Selected Timeline


Selected Dates Before the Viking Age
ca 9500 BCGöbekli Tepe, a monumental complex built on the top of a rocky mountaintop in Turkey, is the oldest permanent human settlement anywhere in the world.
ca 3100 BCFirst phase of Stonehenge construction begins on Salisbury Plain in England
ca 2606 BCPharaoh Khufu orders construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Two million stones are put in place within 20 years.
ca 1200 BCCeltic Hallstatt (Austria) culture begins
ca 750 BCHomer writes the Iliad and the Odyssey
ca 500 BCCeltic La Tène (Switzerland) culture begins
390 BCGauls sack Rome
335 BCCelts send ambassadors to Alexander the Great
334 BCAlexander the Great defeats Persian forces at the Granicus River in modern-day Turkey
279 BCCelts sack Delphi
221 BCShih huang-ti unifies China, connects and extends existing defenses into the Great Wall
58 BC - 50 BCJulius Caesar divides and conquers the Gauls
55 BCJulius Caesar attempts invasion of Britain with 10,000 troops and 80 ships; fails
48 BC - 44 BCReign of Julius Caesar as dictator of the Roman Empire
27 BC - 14 ADReign of Augustus Caesar as emperor of the Roman Empire
9Arminius and a confederation of North German tribes slaughter Quinctilius Varus and three Roman legions in the Teutoberg Forest. The defeat puts an end to Roman expansion east of the Rhine.
43Roman legions under emperor Claudius successfully invade and occupy Britain
60Boudicca, Queen of the Celtic Iceni tribe, leads an unsuccessful revolt against Roman rule in Britain
ca 115Roman Empire reaches its greatest extent under Trajan
410Last Roman legions leave Britain
455St. Patrick returns to Ireland
476Alaric the Visigoth sacks Rome; traditional date for the fall of the western Roman Empire
500Battle of Mount Badon halts Saxon (German) advance in Britain. Legends associate the victory with King Arthur.
771 - 800Charlemagne sole ruler of Frankish Empire (includes modern France)
Vikings in the West Vikings in Scandinavia and the Continent Vikings in the East
ca 700 Ceremonial or diplomatic mission to Salme, Estonia, results in 42 Swedes killed; interred with two ships
late 8th centuryNorwegians settle Orkney and ShetlandLate 8th centuryRibe and Paviken flourish; Cufic coins from Muslim world reach Eastern Scandinavia
    782 Frankish king Charlemagne orders the death of 4,500 Saxons in Verden, in what is now Lower Saxony, Germany, during his intermittent thirty-year campaign to Christianize the Saxons.
789 From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: "And in his (Beorhtric's) days came first 3 ships from Hordaland: and then the reeve rode there and wanted to compel them to go to the king's town because he did not know who they were; and then they killed him. These were the first ships of the Danish men which sought out the land of the English race."
793Norsemen plunder the monastery at Lindisfarne in Northeastern England. The Viking Age begins.
794-795Monasteries at Jarrow and Iona sacked
795Vikings raid near Dublin  
  799Southwestern France attacked by Vikings
 808Godfred destroys Slav town of Reric and settles Hedeby
810Godfred and Danish Vikings ravage the Frisian coast of the Frankish Empire
829Carolingian emperor Louis I the Pious dispatches monk Ansgar to evangelize Denmark
830sRaids on Ireland intensify. Norwegians found the town of Dublin.834Danes plunder town of Dorestad
835-865Viking armies attack England
839Rus' representatives arrive at the Frankish court as part of a Byzantine diplomatic mission
  844Vikings raid Galicia and take Seville, Spain and Porto, Portugal (on its west coast). They are quickly driven out by the Moors
840sDublin established as Viking base845Vikings burn Hamburg, ravage Paris and Spanish towns
849Monk Ansgar's second mission to Sweden
850First church built at Hedeby
851Danish army first winters in England 854Swedish Viking king Olof attacks, captures and burns Grobiņa (Latvia), besieges Apuolė (Lithuania).
  858 Swedish Vikings settle in the city of Kyiv
ca 860Scandinavia discovery of Iceland 859-861Vikings raid into the Mediterranean from the Iberian peninsula and North Africa to southern France, through the Balearic Islands to northern Italy, Sicily, probably to Greece and perhaps even Egypt. The raid was so destructuve, so bloody and so much wealth was removed from local monasteries that the Iberian locals called this "Dies Lordemanorum" (Day of the Northmen). Despite this, up to 60% of the Viking fleet is destroyed by Córdoban forces. Leaving the Mediterranean, the Vikings attack the kingdom of the Basques, capturing the ruler, García Iñiquez and ransom him for 70,000 dinars, 300 kilos of pure gold.860Vikings attack Byzantium (Constantinople) without success
   860Vikings sack Luna, Italy, thinking it to be Rome (legend, but not confirmed)860sTraditional dates for first Viking activity in Russia
865Thousands of Viking warriors (the 'Great Heathen Army') invade England.  Battles continue until at least 876 and result in the establishment of the Danelaw. First 'Danegeld' from England. Over the course of the Viking Age, 50 million silver coins flow from England and France alone to Scandinavia.
867York taken by Vikings
870Monk Rimbert writes life of (later Saint) Ansgar
871-899Alfred 'the Great' comes to power in Wessex, England, and spends most of his reign fighting Norse invaders   
ca 874Vikings establish a settlement in Iceland 874Commercial treaty between Byzantines and Rus'
876Vikings divide up Northumbria
878King Alfred defeats Viking King Guthrum ca 882 Viking Oleg takes over Kyiv
885-88640,000 Danish Vikings with 700 ships lay siege to Paris for 11 months
886Treaty partitions England; Scandinavians settle Danelaw
900 Rolf the Ganger raids and then settles in northern France; now known as Normandy (Northman land)  
ca 900-935 Erik I Bloodaxe becomes king of Norway, later becomes king of Northumberland, England  
    902 Irish force Norse invaders out of Dublin  
907Rus' attack on Byzantium
910-918Reconquest of Danelaw beginsEarly 10th centuryDecline of Kaupang
911Vikings granted Normandy
912Vikings attack Baku on Caspian Sea
921/922Ibn Fadlan describes Rus' on Volga
927 Kingdom of the English established under Æthelstan, uniting Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
930Icelandic republic established; Icelanders convene the first Althing, a democratic assembly
934Germans capture Hedeby
937 Battle of Brunanburh between Æthelstan, King of England, and an alliance of Olaf Guthfrithson, Norse King of Dublin, Constantine II, King of Scotland, and Owain, King of Strathclyde, a milestone toward the unification of England into one nation934-961Haakon I (the Good) King of Norway, only surviving brother to Erik Bloodaxe; introduces Christianity
    950Emperor Constantine writes about Rus'
954Erik 'Bloodaxe', king of Norway and Northumbria, killed
ca 965Conversion of Harald 'Bluetooth', king of Denmarkca 965Svyatoslav of Kyiv defeats Khazars, Ossetes and Circassians, attacks Bulgars
970sDecline of Birka and rise of Sigtuna972Vladimir seizes power in Novgorod
974German Otto II siezes Hedeby
980Battle of Tara reduces power of Viking kings of Dublin
980sRenewal of systematic Viking raids on England
985Bjarni Herjolfsson fails to make landfall in Greenland and sights North America instead
ca 994Olaf Tryvasson king of Norway converted
990sBergen and Trondheim founded
ca 1000Varangian Guard at Byzantium
999Iceland adopts Christianity
ca 1000Leif Eriksson explores North America, wintering in a place he calls Vinland
ca 1000Vikings establish a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada - the only authenticated Viking site in North America
1002King Æthelred orders Danes massacred on St. Brice's Day in England
1008Olaf Sköttkonung king of Sweden converted
1014 Irish defeat Vikings at Clontarf   
1015-1054 Jaroslav 'the Wise' king in Kyiv
1016-1035Cnut 'the Great' of Denmark, son of Svein Forkbeard, reigns as King of England, part of an Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom ca 1020Lund founded
1030Olaf Haraldsson (St. Olaf) king of Norway killed
1051Scandinavian mercenaries paid off by English
1064Treaty separates Norway and Denmark
 1066Hedeby sacked by Slavs; superseded by Schleswig
1066 Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, attacks England from the north and is defeated by Saxon King Harold Godwinsson at Stamford Bridge on 25 September. Duke William of Normandy invades England from the south-east, 190 miles away, and defeats King Harold at Hastings on 14 October. French-speaking Normans rule England for 300 years. The Viking Age ends.
Selected Dates After the Viking Age
1069/1070Sven Estridsson of Denmark invades England aiding Anglo-Saxon rebels, but makes peace with William I, the Conqueror
1075 Adam of Bremen writes Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen), makes the earliest known reference to Vinland reached by Leif Eriksson
1085Canute IV, King of Denmark, later called 'the Holy', raids England but fails in attempt to conquer it
ca 1185 - 1222 Saxo Grammaticus writes Gesta Danorum, a history of the ancient Danish gods and heroes
13th centuryCodex Regius written, author unknown, primary source for the 31 poems of the Poetic Edda
1215King John of England signs the Magna Carta, a milestone toward government by the governed
ca 1220 Prose Edda, primary source for Norse mythology, written by Snorri Sturluson
1492Christopher Columbus makes landfall in the West Indies
 

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