6. ISLAM AND THE WEST DURING THOSE DARK DAYS

DECLINE ... AND RECOVERY IN THE WEST

The sacking, burning (of its immense library) and slaughter in 793 of the wealthy and famous monastery and its monks at Lindisfarne (coastal Northeast Britain) was the announcement that a new, crude, and extremely violent set of players had emerged out onto the European political stage.  The Vikings had finally made their appearance ... and would terrorize Europe for the next several centuries. Behind this activity were factors similar to the Germanic incursions into the Roman Empire:  land hunger.  The population of Scandinavia had been expanding in a land that is mountainous and cold ... and thus not well suited to bringing new lands under cultivation to feed a growing population.   In their forays out of the North, they were determined and focused ... and learned quickly how defenseless the Christians to the South of them were to unexpected surprise attacks coming from these warriors in their longboats.  These longboats were an amazing piece of naval technology, one that allowed them to go most anywhere on the high seas, yet move deeply upriver along any of the European tributaries to those high seas. They ventured far and wide, settling Iceland and reaching North America in the West ... in the East venturing deep into the Slavic lands of what would eventually (under their domination) become Russia ... and in the South venturing into the Mediterranean and even establishing Viking or Northmen (simplified to "Norman") settlements  on the strategic island of Sicily. The Vikings in England For the next 40 years following the sack of the abbey at Lindisfarne little would be heard from these Nordic marauders ... until around 835 when Viking raids resumed ... and became a regular feature of English life. By the 860s raids had become complete invasions by Danish Viking armies accompanied by Danish settlers (the "Great Heathen Army").  One by one (865-875) the Saxon kingdoms fell before the Danish invaders ... until Wessex, the western portion of Mercia and the northern portion of Northumbria remained as the only Saxon kingdoms still intact.  In the middle of what had once been the Saxon heartland, the Danish established a Viking state operating under Danish custom ... eventually known as the Danelaw. Alfred the Great (r. 871-899) Alfred was the fourth in a line of brothers to come to rule Wessex ("West Saxony") after their father, Aethelwulf died in 858.  He fought alongside his older brother Aethelred against the Vikings in a series of battles that varied between Saxon victories and Viking victories.  Then when his brother died in 871, Alfred found himself at age 23 as the new leader of Wessex. But things got off to a bad start for Alfred ... even though he was able to get the Danes to leave Wessex ... probably at some great cost in tribute.  For the next five years the situation stabilized around this arrangement. Then in 876 the Danes came under an ambitious leader, Guthrum, who disregarded truces and agreements in the attempt to spread his personal rule deeper into Saxon England.  Alfred fought back fiercely ... but in January of 878 he barely escaped with a small group of followers when Guthrum suddenly attacked and slaughtered the inhabitants of a town where Alfred had been staying for Christmas. At this point Alfred went into hiding. In May of that year he emerged to rally again a Saxon army ... and then at the Battle of Edington was able to deliver the Danes such a blow that they retreated to a position that Alfred then encircled ... and slowly pushed the defending Danes to a point of starvation.  Guthrum's Danes surrendered ... and as part of the terms of surrender had Guthrum and his court baptized. Eventually (880?) a treaty was agreed on between Alfred and Guthrum, respecting Alfred's sovereignty over Wessex and the western part of Mercia with Guthrum acknowledged as ruler of East Anglia and the eastern portion of Mercia ... the foundation of the Danelaw . This did not end the Viking threat ... for not all Vikings were in agreement with this arrangement – and a number of them crossed to the European continent to raid and sack towns there.  Also independent Viking bands continued to descend from Denmark to raid the shores of England ... although they presented themselves more as a bloody nuisance than as a serious political threat – except for one Danish attack in Kent (885) which weakened but did not undo Alfred's position there. But with Guthrum's death in 889 the Saxon-Dane truce began to disintegrate as local Danish warlords went to battle to claim ascendancy in Guthrum's place. Then in 892 (or 893) a large fleet of Danes crossed from the European continent to invade Kent ... with the obvious intent of seizing and settling the land there.  As Alfred was confronting this group of Danes, others arrived at other parts of England, requiring Alfred to keep his troops constantly on the move ... forcing the Danes back here and there (the Danes, being mostly raiders rather than settlers, and thus lacking their own food and supplies, were not prepared for long encounters).  And thus he busied himself protecting (rather successfully) his domain ... reclaiming even much of what the Vikings had taken from the Saxons – including the strategic city of the north, York.  For this he was well-beloved by his people ... some who considered him to be virtually a saint! Alfred was remembered not only for his fighting skills but also for building the a small but effective navy, for his hard work at organizing his Saxon domain into effective political units, structured by a law code of his own making, and for his efforts to raise the level of learning within his kingdom (abysmally low given the damage the Vikings had done to the monasteries which had long served as England's educational centers).  Of particular importance was his effort to promote such educational improvement in terms of the English language rather than the usual Latin. He died in 899, having given Saxon England a relative degree of peace in the face of the constant Viking threat ... a threat that was still making life in coastal Europe miserable. The Vikings in France Charlemagne's feuding grandsons gave the Danes next door to the north the opportunity in the 830s and 840s to conduct raids of Frankish coastal cities (while they were doing the same across the channel in Saxon England).  In 850 a huge Viking raiding party (5,000 men) under Ragnar sailed all the way up the Seine River to attack the strategic city of Paris ... sacking and slaughtering in the process.  Only a major plague – and Carolingian King Charles the Bald's payment of 7000 livres (pounds) of silver and gold, and the promise of continuing payments after that (eventually termed the Danegeld) cause the Danes to leave. Vikings would return again and again ... but encountering much more secure town walls guarding Paris. Then in 885 the Danes returned with hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of warriors to attack Paris but even then found the Parisians, led by Count Odo, able to hold out against this massive onslaught.  Months went by (Vikings venturing from there to sack and plunder in the region).  Only the next summer did the Carolingian King Charles the Fat arrive ... not to fight the Vikings but to let them continue upriver to attack the rebellious Burgundians, and to offer a huge payment in silver.  This was hardly a satisfactory solution to the Parisians ... and when in 888 Charles died, the stronger Odo was elected King of West Francia – the first non-Carolingian to take that title. Also of note was the last Viking leader to vacate the siege of Paris was Rollo ... who would come to play a huge part in the rise of these Vikings or "Northmen" (or "Normans") in France. Rollo Rollo in 876 had already taken control of the city of Rouen (downriver from Paris) and the coastal city of Bayeux probably prior to even that ... where he captured, married and had a son, William, by the daughter of the local Frankish count.  He also seems to have had some kind of working relationship with Guthrum, the Danish king of East Anglia across the channel.  In short, Rollo was busy establishing himself as something of a local lord in northwestern coastal Francia. In 911 French king Charles III of West Francia (France) finally came up with the brilliant idea of negotiating a deal with Viking leader Rollo after he and his Vikings had burned and sacked Paris (again).  He gave formal recognition by Rollo and his Norman warriors and their families (after being baptized) of the ducal rule (under the sovereignty of the king himself, however) of the region at the mouth of the Seine River (eventually "Normandy"), understanding that with a vested interest in the peace of the region, Viking military prowess would be the best way of keeping Paris from being regularly sacked and burned by future Viking predators.  It worked.  And eventually the Norman Vikings were assimilated into French culture.

Grip of a Viking processional cudgel (800s)
Oslo, Universitets Oldsaksamling

A finely constructed Viking ship used for the burial of possibly a king

Continuing Viking attacks on England Viking raids on England never really ceased.  But it was not until 947 that they were truly threatening to the Saxon kingdom – for in that year Erik Bloodaxe was able to take York and add it and the region of Northumbria to his Norwegian kingdom.  But actually this was only part of the ongoing relationship (peaceful and warlike) that united the destinies of England and Scandinavia. Sweyn Forkbeard Another challenge to Saxon England began to brew in the mid-980s when Sweyn Forkbeard seized the Danish throne from his father Harald Bluetooth ... but was driven into exile for the next fourteen years by his father's allies (including the kings of Sweden and German Saxony).  But by the year 1000 Sweyn rebuilt his power base ... and then led a series of attacks on England – off and on between the period 1003 and 1013 – in retaliation for Saxon king Aethelred the Unready's savage attacks on Danes living in the Danelaw.  Sweyn was so successful that even the Saxons of England were ready to acknowledge him as the King of England in late 1013. Cnut the Great takes the English throne But Sweyn died only a few weeks later in early 1014.  At this point his sons took over, Harald in Denmark and Cnut in England ... although it took a long struggle against Aethelred's son Edmund Ironside for Cnut to achieve this position (finally in 1016).  In 1017 the Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury officially crowned Cnut as King of England.  To further secure this throne Cnut had most of the Saxon nobility and the sons of Aethelred executed – but married Aethelred's widow, Emma ... eventually elevating as royal heir his son by her, Harthacnut, above his sons by his first (Danish) wife.  He extracted a huge indemnity from the English in order to pay off his troops – most of whom he then dismissed – but retained a large navy (presumably to protect his kingdom from other Viking invaders).  He reorganized the lay of his kingdom into a group of four earldoms, appointing key supporters to each as Earl ... some of these earls eventually drawn from the ranks of noble Saxons. When his brother Harald died soon thereafter (1018) Cnut then moved to take the position as King of Denmark (converting it into another of his earldoms).  But his greatest work was in the way he united the English Saxons and Vikings of the Danelaw into a single society ... joined together in a military expedition into the Baltic and then to Norway, where he took position there as King of Norway (including part of southern Sweden). By 1026 Cnut was the ruler of a vast kingdom. And so well established was he that he dared to take a trip (or pilgrimage) all the way to Rome in 1027, to attend the coronation of Conrad as Holy Roman Emperor ... indicating Cnut's own rank among the Christian "greats" of his day. But aside from the successful challenge to his rule in Norway by Norwegian nobility Cnut's rule was quite stable until the year of his death in 1035. The Norman conquest of England Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-1066).  But that stability was not to last long.  Upon his death his huge kingdom was divided up into a number of smaller kingdoms … with his descendants fighting among themselves for supremacy.  Ultimately in England, actually a Saxon nobleman of the House of Wessex, Edward "the Confessor" was able peacefully to take the position as England's new king.  However, Edward seemed more interested in piety than in political power … thus the name "the Confessor."  This tended to weaken greatly the 24-year rule of Edward … to the advantage of local Saxon lords.  This proved to be especially the case for the house of Godwin … earls of the powerful Wessex domain. Harold Godwinson – the last Anglo-Saxon king (1066).  Then as death approached, Edward named the well-proven warrior Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, to be his successor.  But the Norman-French Duke William of Normandy then claimed that earlier, on a trip to the continent, Harold had sworn fealty to William – in support of William's claim to the English throne.  Supposedly also, the childless Edward the Confessor had earlier named his cousin William to be his heir in England. So then, who had actually the right to the English throne upon Edward's death?  Ultimately, the contest between Harold and William for this position would prove to be deeply life-changing for English society.   The Battle of Hastings (October 1066).  At the time, Harold was engaged in a fierce conflict with his brother Tostig … while over in France, William was assembling a huge navy (700 ships), ready to convey a massive army across to England and seize control (and the throne) there.   Furthermore, Pope Alexander II took the side of William, claiming that he did so because Harold had broken his earlier oath to William.  Hearing this, other English noblemen also took William's side.  Things were not looking good for Harold. Then things got much worse in mid-September, when Norwegian king Harald Hardrada – joined by Harold's brother Tostig – invaded Northumbria and defeated the English earls there.  This forced Harold to have to move his troops quickly to the north … where the invading troops were defeated and Hardrada and Tostig were killed (late September). But at the same time, William of Normandy's huge navy and army arrived at England’s southern shores in East Sussex.  Thus Harald had to quickly force-march his army 240 miles back to the south.  Then on 14 October the two sides went to battle.  The Saxon lines held over the course of most of the day.  And then a retreat by the Normans Harold interpreted as the path to victory … only to find that his army had just marched into a trap.  Harold was then killed … and the Saxon effort fell apart.  It was a huge victory for the Normans. The larger outcome.  This, of course, established a Norman-French feudal rule over the English-speaking Saxon commoners.  By doing so, it established a strict class-based society, with French-speaking Norman families now ruling over the English-speaking Saxon commoners … and with a class barrier erected between the two groups that was almost totally unbridgeable.  And it would be lasting. However also, with this event, Britain was now finally closely linked to continental European affairs.

Go on to the next section:  The High Middle Ages (1100 to Late 1300s)