The Holy Island of Lindisfarne is a beautiful and spectacular island that is only accessible
at certain times of the day. The tide makes the island inaccessible and it is possible
to be cut off there. However its a remarkable place to visit, and it’s an island steeped
in incredible history and religious lore, as Lindisfarne and the priory here had a very
important role in the spread of Christianity in the north in the early medieval period.
However it was the site of a devastating viking raid that contributed to the feared reputation
of the Danes and the invaders at the time. Today we look at the Viking Attack on Lindisfarne,
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The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded around the year 634 but the Irish monk Saint Aidan.
He was sent from Iona just off the West coast of Scotland, to Northumbria. He had been sent
to spread the word of christianity, and once on Holy Island, he established a priory on
the island, and he stayed there for the next 17 years until he died. The priory today is
a spectacular ruin, and was rebuilt after the viking attack on the same side. Lindisfarne
had an incredibly important religious value to the North of England, and St Bede commented,
‘In this island of Lindisfarne, small as it is, there is found the seat of a bishop,
also that it is the home of an abbot and monks. For one and the same dwelling place of the
servants of God holds both, and indeed all are monks. The abbot who they themselves have
chosen by the advice of the brethren, rules the monastery, and all the priests, deacons,
singers and ecclesiastical grades together with the bishop himself, keep the monastic
rule in all things.’
It became a base for early Christian worship in the north of England, and the monks from
Iona settled on the Island. Saint Cuthbert was also an abbot of the monastery, and he
was considered a valued member of the order, and today is the patron saint of Northumbria.
Cuthbert became the Bishop of Lindisfarne, and following his death he was buried inside
the priory, and his remains were kept there. However in the year 793, life on the peaceful
island was changed forever, with a brutal raid that would go down in history as one
of the most savage of the vikings.
The island before was incredibly peaceful, but horror and terror soon hit Holy Island.
In Northumbria there was a belief that something tragic was on the horizon, possibly a plague
or high profile death, but no-one could have predicted the attack on the monastery. It
was said in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle that, ‘Here were dreadful forewarnings come over
the land of Northumbria, and woefully terrified the people. These were amazing sheets of lightning
and whirlwind, and firery dragons were seen flying in the sky. A great famine soon followed
these signs, and shortly after in the same year, the woeful inroads of heathen men destroyed
god’s church in Lindisfarne Island by fierce robbery and slaughter.’ It’s mostly accepted
that the viking raid took place on the 8th June 793, as the conditions and the season
made it the perfect time for the vikings to raid.
They arrived in their longships on the shores of Lindisfarne, and the monks who lived inside
the monastery were taken by surprise by the Viking invaders. They landed on holy island,
and rampaged throughout the whole settlement causing massive amounts of devastation, death
and chaos. The houses of those who lived outside of the monastery, and farmed the land were
burned down with the inhabitants slaughtered in their homes and their wealthy and riches
stolen and raided. The island was completely pillaged and robbed, but the worst came inside
of the monastery, which was considered incredibly holy. The Vikings arrived at the monastery,
and would have been aware of the importance and riches of the site.
Everything on the island focussed around the monastic order, and this is where the Vikings
really focussed their attack on. Inside of the monastery, they caused an absolute bloodbath.
They entered the building, and slaughtered the monks inside their own home with their
axes in a horrific scene. A scholar at the time wrote, ‘It is nearly 350 years that
we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never before has such terror
appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race. Behold the church of St
Cuthbert, splattered with the blood of the priests of god, despoiled of all its ornaments,
a place more venerable than all in Britain is given as prey to pagan peoples.’
The monastery would have been a terrible sight. There would have been blood shed all up the
walls, and on the floors. The slaughter of the unarmed and pious men of god was barbaric,
and the Vikings took no mercy on the priests and monks who lived inside, with them all
being killed. They stole a number of precious ornaments and valuables also, and the monastery
which would have been covered in priceless holy relics was sacked and looted, many of
these valuables were made from gold and had great value. It was written that, ‘The heathens
poured out the blood of lints around the altar and trampled on the bodies of saints in the
temple of God, like dung in the streets.’ These accounts really do show the anger towards
the Vikings because of the raid.’
It was also said how, ‘‘In the same year the pagans from the northern regions came
with a naval force to Britain like stinging hornets and spread on all sides like fearful
wolves, robbed, tore and slaughtered not only beast of burden, sheep and oxen, but even
priests and deacons and companies of monks and nuns. And they came to the church of Lindisfarne,
laid everything to waste with previous plundering, trampled the holy places with polluted steps,
dug up the altars and seized all the treasures of the holy church. They killed some of the
brothers, took some away with them in fetters, many they drove out, naked and loaded with
insults, some they drowned in the sea. The Vikings did miss one relic though, that being
the body of St Cuthbert which was later on taken to a different site away from the site
of the massacre.’
The effect of the raid on lindisfarne was catastrophic, with the monastic order on the
island completely destroyed, and their monastery was never the same again. The effect was that
the area became abandoned until the 12th century, when a Norman priory was built upon the island
and reinhabited. However the devastating raid did wonders for the Viking’s reputation
as the most feared group of conquerors and attackers in the Medieval period. They got
everything they wanted, immense riches associated with the monastery, a propaganda boost from
destroying the monastery, and also a terrifying reputation that later they would build upon
as the sought to conquer more land in England.
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