Viking Raid on Lindisfarne, A.D. 793
Lindisfarne was a small island off the northeastern coast of England, which was part of the kingdom of the Northumbrian King Oswald,
founded by Saint Aidan at the request of King Oswald.
This small island near the Scottish border became home to a monastery know today as the Lindisfarne Priory or the Holy Island.
The Priory was originally made of wooden walls and a thatched roof.
However, in the late 7th century,
the timber church was replaced by a later bishop who covered the walls in lead.
In the year 793, the Lindisfarne Priory experienced several months of upheaval,
beginning with a great famine which left many, including the monks, without food.
But more challenging times than just empty stomachs lay ahead—
On June 8th of 793, a Viking attack was launched on the Holy Island.
The only survivors: a few of those belonging to Lindisfarne Priory.
In the early Middle Ages, Viking attacks were increasing in frequency and distance due to the design of Viking longships.
Vikings were capable of travelling vast distances for exploration and for the opportunity of plunder.
Using both sails and the power of Viking rowers, the attack on Lindisfarne in 793 came from a Viking settlement in the north,
possibly originating in Norway.
It was not the first time that raiders had attacked England, but it was this attack on Christian land that may have begun
what is now known as the Viking Age.
Stories that were told about Viking attacks in Anglo-Saxon England and Scotland recorded instances of brutal torture by Vikings—
for both punishment and recreation.
In the case of the Viking attack on Lindisfarne, havoc was wrought on both the island and the monastery.
It was chosen by the Norseman because it was an easy target, wealthy and full of treasures, remote, and unarmed.
Citizens and monks alike were slaughtered—even taken as slaves—and buildings were destroyed by the Viking raiders.
Treasure was plundered including: gold crosses,
silver goblets, and a Gospel book with a cover decorated in gold and jewels.
Luckily, they missed the monks most important relic: the body and coffin of Saint Cuthbert.
Viking torture techniques, specifically at Lindisfarne Priory,
included tying monks to trees,
lashing them, and using them as target practice for archers until they were finally beheaded in what may have actually been an act of mercy—
as opposed to spending years as slaves to the Viking raiders.
Even if the monks had been able to defend themselves properly, the Vikings were skilled in battle using shields, swords, spears,
battle axes, and bow and arrows.
Saint Alcuin himself described the attack in a letter to the king and the presiding bishop of the Priory:
"Pagans have desecrated God's sanctuary, shed the blood of saints around the altar,
laid waste the house of our hope, and trampled the bodies of saints like dung in the streets.
Never before has such an atrocity been seen."
It was this attack on Lindisfarne Priory that created terror throughout England and continental Europe,
about the brutality of the Viking people and the imminence of their raids.
Viking attacks also created terror due to the unpredictability of raids,
as the long ships were fast and quiet and they could maneuver easily to many places in Europe.
The shallow hull of long ships also allowed them to travel upriver with ease, and they could be dragged across land,
which spread great fear, as they could attack areas far from the coast.
Other attacks have been launched by the Vikings on European and Anglo-Saxon communities,
but it was the fact that Lindisfarne was undefended, exposed, and a center of Christian belief and education that further offended and threatened
the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and community.
The Viking raids on Anglo-Saxon communities like Lindisfarne continued for another 200 years.
Viking raids would increase in frequency in Anglo-Saxon England,
and they even captured the town of York by 866.
The Vikings use their position in England to mount a larger attack on the Kingdom of Northumberland,
which subsequently collapse in 873,
forcing the monks of Lindisfarne priory to abandon the Holy Island in the late 9th century.
The last surviving legacy of this early Lindisfarne community are the Lindisfarne Gospels,
which was an illuminated manuscript created at Lindisfarne in the years before the Viking raid.
The Lindisfarne priory was reestablished in 1093.
Much of the information surrounding the Viking attack on the Lindisfarne Priory and the Holy Island is still unknown to both historians and archaeologists.
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