June 8th, 793 AD. A monk watches in horror as dragon-headed ships emerge from the morning fog off the
coast of Lindisfarne. Within hours, his monastery is in flames, his brothers are dead, and the survivors
are being carried off to slavery.
The Viking Age has begun.
This is the complete story of the Vikings — from their first devastating raid to the moment their
descendants conquered England. How raiders became traders, how pagans became kings, and how their legacy
lives on in our language, our laws, and even our smartphones.
■■ THE STORY:
THE RAID (793 AD)
• Lindisfarne monastery attacked
• "Heathens desecrate God's sanctuaries"
• First major Viking attack recorded
• Europe will never be the same
WHO WERE THE VIKINGS?
• "Viking" means raider — not an ethnic group
• Scandinavia: Norway, Denmark, Sweden
• Bathed weekly (Anglo-Saxons thought this was suspicious!)
• Norse gods: Odin, Thor, Freya
• Revolutionary ship technology
THE EXPANSION
• Paris 845 AD — Ragnar Lothbrok, 120 ships
• Danegeld: £7,000 silver to leave
• 100 tons of silver extracted over time
• Great Heathen Army (866 AD) — Ivar the Boneless
• York conquered, transformed into trading hub
THE EAST
• Swedish Vikings (Rus) founded Kiev
• "Russia" comes from "Rus"
• Varangian Guard — Byzantine Emperor's elite bodyguard
• Harold Hardrada — from guard to king
THE WEST
• Iceland settled ~870 AD
• Althing (930 AD) — world's oldest parliament
• Eric the Red discovers Greenland
• Leif Erikson reaches North America (1000 AD)
• 500 YEARS BEFORE COLUMBUS
THE EMPIRE
• Canute (Cnut) — crowned King of England 1017
• North Sea Empire: England, Denmark, Norway, Sweden
• Grandson of Harold Bluetooth (yes, THAT Bluetooth)
• The logo is his initials in runes
THE END (1066)
• Harold Hardrada — last great Viking king
• Stamford Bridge: defeated
• 3 weeks later: Battle of Hastings
• Norman conquest — but Normans WERE Vikings
• "Final triumph of Viking ambition"
THE LEGACY
• Words you use daily: egg, sky, knife, window, husband, law
• Days: Wednesday (Woden), Thursday (Thor), Friday (Freya)
• Place names: -by, -thorpe, -kirk
• Surnames: -son (Johnson, Wilson, Anderson)
• Trial by jury — Viking legal tradition
• 25% of Scottish Isles carry Viking DNA
■■ TIMESTAMPS:
[Update with actual timestamps]
00:00 - The Raid on Lindisfarne
08:00 - Who Were the Vikings?
15:00 - Ship Technology Revolution
22:00 - The Age of Raids
32:00 - Great Heathen Army
42:00 - Eastward: The Rus and Varangian Guard
50:00 - Westward: Iceland, Greenland, Vinland
62:00 - Christianization
70:00 - Canute's North Sea Empire
78:00 - 1066: The End of the Viking Age
85:00 - The Legacy That Surrounds You
■ KEY FACTS:
• Vikings reached North America 500 years before Columbus
• Your Bluetooth logo honors Viking King Harald
• 6x more Anglo-Saxon coins found in Scandinavia than Britain
• Vikings bathed weekly — Anglo-Saxons found this suspicious
• One Viking was baptized 20 times