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Viking Age
793–1066 (Vikings reached North America c. 1021)· Event· Europe
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
About 270 years when Scandinavian seafarers raided, traded and settled from North America to the rivers of Russia.
See it on the History map →What happened
It is usually dated from the raid on the English monastery of Lindisfarne in 793 to the Norse defeat at Stamford Bridge in 1066. Shallow-draft longships let Norse crews cross seas and row up rivers. They founded Dublin, settled Iceland and Greenland, and ruled much of eastern England and Normandy. Swedes known as Rus traded down Russian rivers to Constantinople and the Arab world. Around 1021 Norse settlers were at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.
Why it matters
They reshaped Europe's map, helped found states in England, Normandy and Kyivan Rus, and were the first Europeans known to reach the Americas.
How we know
Monastic chronicles; Icelandic sagas, written down centuries later; ship burials like Oseberg; hoards of Arab silver coins in Sweden; tree rings dating wood cut at L'Anse aux Meadows to 1021.
Still debated
Why the raids began around 793 is debated: population pressure, a shortage of brides, new wealth from trade, or political upheaval at home.
Connections (2)
▸Charlemagne faced the first raids of the Viking AgeMostly agreed
The connection
The first famous Viking raid, on Lindisfarne in England in 793, shocked Charlemagne's court, where Alcuin of York wrote grieving letters. Danish raids soon hit the Frankish coast, and Charlemagne organized coastal defenses and fleets around 800–810. After his death, his weaker, divided empire suffered far worse attacks, including the sack of Paris in 845.
When and how
The North Sea coasts of Frisia and northern France, about 799–810; the Danish king Godfred's fleet raided Frisia in 810.
How sure are we?
The Royal Frankish Annals; Alcuin's letters after Lindisfarne; a later, probably legendary, story of Charlemagne weeping at the sight of Viking ships.
Debates and open questions
Some historians argue Charlemagne's brutal conquest of the pagan Saxons, Denmark's neighbors, helped provoke the raids; others stress the lure of trade wealth.
▸Viking Age reached America nearly five centuries before Columbus's voyage to the AmericasWell documented
The connection
Norse Greenlanders led by Leif Erikson reached a land they called Vinland around 1000. Excavations at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland found a small Norse camp, with wood cut there in 1021. The Norse stayed only briefly, clashed with local peoples and left no lasting impact, unlike Columbus's voyage 471 years later.
When and how
L'Anse aux Meadows, northern Newfoundland, around 1000–1021; Leif Erikson and other Greenland Norse, meeting peoples the sagas call Skrælings.
How we know
Norse buildings and artifacts found in 1960 by Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad; a 2021 study dated cut wood to 1021 using a known solar-storm signal in tree rings.
Debates and open questions
Where exactly Vinland was, how far south the Norse went, and whether Columbus ever heard of their voyages are unknown.