This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians
Terrifying the people most woefully. These were immense sheets of light running through the air and whirl winds and fiery dragons
flying across the firmament. These
tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine; and not long after on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same
year, the harrowing inroads of Heathen men made lamentable Havoc in the church of God in Holy Island
lindisfarne by [Rappin] and slaughter
Intro Music
June 8
793 CE
Lindisfarne: It's a clear day, a cool wind blows off the sea, the waves lap against the sand banks that line the island's shore
In the center of the Island stands the church proud and tall against the North Sea sky. The priory
sprawls out around it: monks passing in and out of cells, bread baking in the vast communal kitchen, servants and laypeople
tending to animals, drawing water,
washing robes. In one building an old monk teaches novices how to write and how to read latin.
In another the business of the church is being
overseen. The Monastery of Lindisfarne is also the seat of the bishop for much of Northeastern Britain. In the scriptorium
monks work diligently to reproduce Great works of Faith. Their art, talent, and dedication are recognized even onto the continent
They had stood for years
Purveyors of the Faith. Both as missionaries to pagan tribes that still occupied much of Britain and as the creators of the holy books
so that the word would not be lost and could be passed on from generation to generation and
delivered to the far parts of the globe. Around the priory, fields were cultivated sheep were herded. It was a small island
but the population here had grown
Lindisfarne had been the final resting place of the revered Saint Cuthbert
Pilgrims from all of Britain came to venerate his remains. And those pilgrims needed lodging and food; guides and
transports along the way. And so the Pilgrims had made the priory rich and enriched the lands around it. The bishop Higbald allowed himself
just a slight indulgence in the sin of pride. A trio of sails were seen on the Horizon
they moved with unusual swiftness
They were probably traders from the East or of the North headed to the mainland
But the sails did not tack. They didn't change course. The sailors were headed to the priory
Their ships were odd, long and narrow
Closer still they came in them sat strange men of dress unknown to the monks and the people of this land
Their ships did not stop not even for the shore
They simply sailed right onto the sand banks that made up the coast and out of them jumped men
Terrifying and wild and giant in the eyes of these monks. Men with shields and blades men speaking a tongue unknown to them
They spread out over the island Higbald could see them as they came. They dashed over the field and through the pastures
Some workers they slew, others
they simply passed by and then they were upon the priory with fire and sword
Monks held up the cross and the holy book, but it didn't no good
They were hewed down without a moment's pause
Blood painted the walls, the very altar, and these men pulled down crosses of gold and pried loose the gems of the reliquary;
chalice for eucharist and silver plate all went into the sacks. Or where they could not find such into the robes they tore off monks
where they stood and
monks and laity like were hauled off in chains, thrown aboard ships, taken forever from British shores. And
as the fires died and the screams faded these men, who to the monks seemed like demons, simply boarded their ships and
disappeared, vanishing over the waves as they had come
Higbald, though, survived he sent letters to his friend Alcuin of York
who was staying at the Royal Court of Charlemagne. Who wrote back 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 the Saints like dung in the street?
what assurance can the churches of Britain have if Saint Cuthbert and so great a company of Saints do not defend their own and
So the alarms began to sound around Europe: a storm was coming from the North not a plague of locusts
But a plague of men sent to descend on the unworthy and scourge the unrighteous of Christian nations
barbarians who knew nothing of the faith and whose might and whose fury were unparalleled. And it would not be long now
week by week and month by month the frequency of raids would only
increase. The monarchs of Europe and even that greatest Monarch Charlemagne would be unprepared for the wrath of those pagans from the north
Kingdoms would fall and Empires would shatter beneath the prows of those heathen ships. A
light that had for a moment shone in Europe would nearly be extinguished. And for the first time since the fall of Rome
Christenedom would contract. A new Dark age was coming
But that's just one side of the story for another group
this was a day of glory, a strike against a culture that had been using them, unfairly that
denigrated their religion and their beliefs, that tried to swindle them at trade
It was the beginning of something monumental: an expansion, a diaspora
They had seen the weakness the indefensibleness of these
southern lands of plenty. They had discovered that the wealth of Christendom lay unbarred and unguarded within the walls of monasteries and churches
Religious institutions that had always been
sacrosanct by their very nature as part of the church. They had come to realize that the decades their people had spent
trading and learning the seas could now take them beyond their homeland. That the very routes they once used to carry freight would now serve
as highways to conquest. From the heart of Russia to the shores of Britain and beyond and with each new place
they sailed they saw an opportunity for more riches. They saw an opportunity to create a new home in more fertile lands
that would see their people thrive and so the ashes of Lindisfarne were a signal fire for all of Europe
the Viking age had begun
music