The Vikings of Bjornstad - Vikings Timeline

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

Selected Dates Before the Viking Age
ca 9500 BC	Göbekli 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 BC	First phase of Stonehenge construction begins on Salisbury Plain in England
ca 2606 BC	Pharaoh Khufu orders construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Two million stones are put in place within 20 years.
ca 1200 BC	Celtic Hallstatt (Austria) culture begins
ca 750 BC	Homer writes the Iliad and the Odyssey
ca 500 BC	Celtic La Tène (Switzerland) culture begins
390 BC	Gauls sack Rome
335 BC	Celts send ambassadors to Alexander the Great
334 BC	Alexander the Great defeats Persian forces at the Granicus River in modern-day Turkey
279 BC	Celts sack Delphi
221 BC	Shih huang-ti unifies China, connects and extends existing defenses into the Great Wall
58 BC - 50 BC	Julius Caesar divides and conquers the Gauls
55 BC	Julius Caesar attempts invasion of Britain with 10,000 troops and 80 ships; fails
48 BC - 44 BC	Reign of Julius Caesar as dictator of the Roman Empire
27 BC - 14 AD	Reign of Augustus Caesar as emperor of the Roman Empire
9	Arminius 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.
43	Roman legions under emperor Claudius successfully invade and occupy Britain
60	Boudicca, Queen of the Celtic Iceni tribe, leads an unsuccessful revolt against Roman rule in Britain
ca 115	Roman Empire reaches its greatest extent under Trajan
410	Last Roman legions leave Britain
455	St. Patrick returns to Ireland
476	Alaric the Visigoth sacks Rome; traditional date for the fall of the western Roman Empire
500	Battle of Mount Badon halts Saxon (German) advance in Britain. Legends associate the victory with King Arthur.
771 - 800	Charlemagne 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 century	Norwegians settle Orkney and Shetland	Late 8th century	Ribe 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."
793	Norsemen plunder the monastery at Lindisfarne in Northeastern England. The Viking Age begins.
794-795	Monasteries at Jarrow and Iona sacked
795	Vikings raid near Dublin
		799	Southwestern France attacked by Vikings
		808	Godfred destroys Slav town of Reric and settles Hedeby
		810	Godfred and Danish Vikings ravage the Frisian coast of the Frankish Empire
		829	Carolingian emperor Louis I the Pious dispatches monk Ansgar to evangelize Denmark
830s	Raids on Ireland intensify. Norwegians found the town of Dublin.	834	Danes plunder town of Dorestad
835-865	Viking armies attack England
				839	Rus' representatives arrive at the Frankish court as part of a Byzantine diplomatic mission
		844	Vikings raid Galicia and take Seville, Spain and Porto, Portugal (on its west coast). They are quickly driven out by the Moors
840s	Dublin established as Viking base	845	Vikings burn Hamburg, ravage Paris and Spanish towns
		849	Monk Ansgar's second mission to Sweden
		850	First church built at Hedeby
851	Danish army first winters in England			854	Swedish Viking king Olof attacks, captures and burns Grobiņa (Latvia), besieges Apuolė (Lithuania).
				858	Swedish Vikings settle in the city of Kyiv
ca 860	Scandinavia discovery of Iceland	859-861	Vikings 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.	860	Vikings attack Byzantium (Constantinople) without success
		860	Vikings sack Luna, Italy, thinking it to be Rome (legend, but not confirmed)	860s	Traditional dates for first Viking activity in Russia
865	Thousands 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.
867	York taken by Vikings
		870	Monk Rimbert writes life of (later Saint) Ansgar
871-899	Alfred 'the Great' comes to power in Wessex, England, and spends most of his reign fighting Norse invaders
ca 874	Vikings establish a settlement in Iceland			874	Commercial treaty between Byzantines and Rus'
876	Vikings divide up Northumbria
878	King Alfred defeats Viking King Guthrum			ca 882	Viking Oleg takes over Kyiv
		885-886	40,000 Danish Vikings with 700 ships lay siege to Paris for 11 months
886	Treaty 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
				907	Rus' attack on Byzantium
910-918	Reconquest of Danelaw begins	Early 10th century	Decline of Kaupang
		911	Vikings granted Normandy
				912	Vikings attack Baku on Caspian Sea
				921/922	Ibn Fadlan describes Rus' on Volga
927	Kingdom of the English established under Æthelstan, uniting Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
930	Icelandic republic established; Icelanders convene the first Althing, a democratic assembly
		934	Germans 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 nation	934-961	Haakon I (the Good) King of Norway, only surviving brother to Erik Bloodaxe; introduces Christianity
				950	Emperor Constantine writes about Rus'
954	Erik 'Bloodaxe', king of Norway and Northumbria, killed
		ca 965	Conversion of Harald 'Bluetooth', king of Denmark	ca 965	Svyatoslav of Kyiv defeats Khazars, Ossetes and Circassians, attacks Bulgars
		970s	Decline of Birka and rise of Sigtuna	972	Vladimir seizes power in Novgorod
		974	German Otto II siezes Hedeby
980	Battle of Tara reduces power of Viking kings of Dublin
980s	Renewal of systematic Viking raids on England
985	Bjarni Herjolfsson fails to make landfall in Greenland and sights North America instead
		ca 994	Olaf Tryvasson king of Norway converted
		990s	Bergen and Trondheim founded
				ca 1000	Varangian Guard at Byzantium
999	Iceland adopts Christianity
ca 1000	Leif Eriksson explores North America, wintering in a place he calls Vinland
ca 1000	Vikings establish a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada - the only authenticated Viking site in North America
1002	King Æthelred orders Danes massacred on St. Brice's Day in England
		1008	Olaf Sköttkonung king of Sweden converted
1014	Irish defeat Vikings at Clontarf
				1015-1054	Jaroslav 'the Wise' king in Kyiv
1016-1035	Cnut 'the Great' of Denmark, son of Svein Forkbeard, reigns as King of England, part of an Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom	ca 1020	Lund founded
		1030	Olaf Haraldsson (St. Olaf) king of Norway killed
1051	Scandinavian mercenaries paid off by English
		1064	Treaty separates Norway and Denmark
		1066	Hedeby 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
1069/1070	Sven 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
1085	Canute 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 century	Codex Regius written, author unknown, primary source for the 31 poems of the Poetic Edda
1215	King 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
1492	Christopher Columbus makes landfall in the West Indies