What was the impact of the Viking
invasion the redevelopment of London's economy and political status in the 9th
and 10th centuries?
The Norse seafaring people used their long shallow boats to
row up the Thames and reshape London leaving an impact on the city and country
that would last until modern times. They not only destroyed, looted and moved
on from the places they conquered, they occasionally stayed. The Vikings
occupied London for about 200 years and did not entirely harm the city during
their reign. How Vikings have been viewed throughout history has varied with
the ages. They were seen as terrible barbaric people who raped women, stole
riches, burned towns and moved on to the next. The ways in which they were
portrayed were brutal but were they really as brutal as they are sometimes made
out to be? The impact of the Viking invasion on London’s economy and political
status was immense in the 9th and 10th centuries. They
transformed London into an important trading hub, connecting it to the rest of
Europe and developed its economy through trade. The Vikings also made political
moves that provide us with our modern city scheme. In this essay, we will first
examine who the Vikings were, where they came from and how they got to London.
Secondly, we will discuss the Viking occupation of London. Lastly, we will
investigate the impact that the Viking occupation had on London politically and
economically and how that impacted the future layout of London.
Popular
ideas of the Vikings are usually different then the complex picture that emerges
from archaeology and written sources. A romanticized picture of Vikings as
noble savages began to take root in the 18th century. This developed and became
widely spread during the 19th-century Viking revival.[1] There
is a point on the perception of ‘Viking’ that I find worthy to point out for
this essay: Not all Danes were Vikings, and not all Vikings were Danes.
(Likewise for Norwegians, Swedes, and other Scandinavians) But for all
intensive purposes of this essay, we will refer to all the Norse seafaring warriors
from Scandinavia as Vikings.
Who were
the Vikings? As I have just said, they were seafaring warriors from
Scandinavia. They came from various parts of Scandinavia and raided, traded,
and settled in various parts of Europe and Asia.[2] The
Vikings would travel from Scandinavia all the way across the Baltic, down
through the Mediterranean and even to the Americas. Their main interest was to
find wealth, and to take it. They took
monks and unguarded people as their slaves and sold them for riches at their
trading ports. The Vikings had languages and gods that were unique to them.[3]
These people navigated the world and did all their conquests on their ships.
It was, for
a time, a mystery as to how the Vikings got from Scandinavia to the interior of
Europe and beyond, but the discovery of two ships filled with slain warriors
uncovered on the Estonian island of Saaremaa has helped archaeologists and
historians understand the Vikings' warships. This discovery exposed the
evolution of the ships from short-range, rowed crafts to sailing ships; where
the first warriors came from; and how their battle tactics were developed.[4] The ships were quite, fast, narrow and light,
which enabled them to navigate not only the sea, but also through
intercontinental rivers.[5] This
is how they reached London.
To truly
understand the Viking’s impact on London one must start at the beginning of
their raids in England. In 789 the first
recorded Viking attack happens in Dorset. The Viking attack on Portland in
Dorset is the first of its kind recorded in the British Isles. The reeve of
Dorchester, a local high-ranking official, went to greet them after they landed
and was killed. The Vikings were not the Scandinavian traders the towns people
may have been used to. The Viking Age is known to have begun on June 8, 793, at
an island monastery off the coast of northern England. A monk recorded the
moment with a brief entry: "The ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed
God's church on Lindisfarne, with plunder and slaughter."[6]
Another monk recorded said it was “God's punishment on the kingdom for its
fornication, adultery, incest and greed.”[7]
Viking attacks increased in intensity over the coming decades.[8]
The Vikings
navigated to London around 830 and from then onward London suffered from
numerous Viking attacks. The city was attacked in 842 in a raid that was
described by a chronicler as "the great slaughter". In 851, another
raiding party, reputedly involving 350 ships, came to plunder the city. Vikings
were drawn to London by its vulnerable riches and its strategic position alongside
the Thames. He who controlled London controlled the use of the Thames as a
waterway for war galleys and he controlled the midlands of England.[9] London
had easy access for the Vikings. Not only did the city have sea access via the
Thames River, the old Roman road system was still intact. The route that the
Viking armies took and the speed at which they traveled indicates their use of
the Roman road systems.[10] In
871 Ethelred and Alfred of Wessex meet the Vikings in several battles. A series
of bloody clashes between the armies of the Vikings and the kingdom of Wessex
took place at Reading, Ashdown, Basing and elsewhere. None of these battles
were exceptionally significant. Ethelred died during the campaign and Alfred
became king of Wessex and would go on to be called Alfred the Great, the only
English monarch to have ‘The Great’ tacked on to their name.[11]
In 878, West Saxon forces led by Alfred the Great defeated
the Vikings at the Battle of Ethandun and forced their leader Guthrum to sue
for peace. The Treaty of Wedmore and
the later Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum
divided England and created the Danish controlled Danelaw. It was during this
time that London came under the direct control of English kings. Alfred's son
Edward the Elder won back much land from Danish control. London had become an
important commercial center in the 10th century. Although the political
center of England was Winchester, London was becoming increasingly important
through the monarchs that were to come.[12] This
is the rebirth of the idea of London as a capital city. In 954 virtually all
England was under the control of one king and this is the first time it becomes
possible to speak of a united English country.[13]
After a century of relative peace in London, more Viking
raids began to occur in 980. Viking King
Olaf Tryggvason of Norway and King Sweyn
Forkbeard of Denmark steered their ships into London and planned to
seize it. They attacked the city firmly
and tried to set it on fire. They suffered more harm and injury than they
expected and were forced to retreat. Olaf stayed and joined forces with King
Ethelred the Unready. Sweyn retreated back to Kent, where he reassembled his
forces.[14] In
1013 Sweyn defeated Ethelred and Olaf and the city of London was forced surrendered. A year later, Ethelred and Olaf gathered
their armies and prepared to take back the city. Together, the two forces took
down London Bridge and forced the Vikings out of their city. The nursery rhyme
about London Bridge falling down is is thought to have originated from this
battle. “London Bridge is broken down/ Gold is won and bright renown”.[15]
Despite all the work Ethelred did to reclaim his city, it was attacked and captured
again by son of Sweyn, the Danish King Cnut. Ethelred fled to Normandy and Cnut
then gave himself the title, King of England in 1016.[16]
London under the rule of the Danish King Cnut was not as ruthless
as one might think. Under Cnut and his successors is where we see the lasting
impacts of the Viking occupation on London. Cnut took fiscal revenge on the
unenthusiastic Londoners. He made them render one eighth of their incomes to
England. He made sure they wouldn’t rise up against him by stationing loyal his
Danes all about the city. While previous monarchs had ruled from Winchester,
Cnut made London the unambiguous capital of England.[17]
London is now officially the political seat of the country. After Cnut’s death,
the Saxon line was reinstated with Cnut’s stepson, Edward the Confessor.
The Vikings, while in power, did great things for London.
They originally, and for a number of times, came against the city as
semi-savages only to steal, sack and slay, but even before the fall of the
Saxon power they had begun to settle down as promoters of industry and
commerce. Not all that the Vikings brought was bad. They reintroduced the
importance of London as a port city. Roman London was emphasized as an
important port, but the ports were slightly forgotten during the Anglo Saxon
rule. Merchants of the powerful Hanseatic League, which managed the commercial
interests of a confederation of German and Scandinavian trading cities,
mentioned London as early as the 10th century.[18] Viking’s
trade systems connected London to ports in Russia, Greenland, mainland Europe
and Byzantium. The Vikings literately gave
London the access to their trading routes. They bought goods and materials such as silver, silk, spices,
wine, jewelry, glass, pottery, honey, tin, wheat, wood, iron, fur, leather,
fish and walrus ivory.[19]
London as an important trading port had been reborn.
Along with reinstating a prosperous trading hub in London’s
ports, the Vikings impacted the economics in London as well. In 1018 Danish King
Cnut placed an outrageous tax on Londoners of what is equal to £ll,000 today.
The amount not only shows the wealthy condition the people were living in at
the time but it also shows how productive London had to have been in order for
the people to have even had this much money. The productiveness of London to
have been then about one-seventh of the productiveness of the whole kingdom. The
tax on London was £11,000, while that on all England was £72,000.[20] During
Cnut’s rule, London was flourishing!
After the death of King Cnut, his successor, Edward the
Confessor built Westminster Abbey and the surrounding area including the
Westminster Palace. This created a second nucleus for London’s growth.
Westminster was the political hub, contrary to its economic counterpart within
the old Roman walls. The creation of Westminster would shape the entire
succeeding history, not only for the future of London as a Metropolis, but for
the entire country itself.[21] The
migration to Westminster was the first step to the planting of royal government
at Westminster. It drew expansion westward and set up potential separations
between the Crown and the City.[22] Because
of the founding of Westminster, we see a distinction between political London
and economic London. Still today Westminster is home to London’s politics,
while the City of London is home to its economics.
The economy that was set up in London from the Vikings was
steady. The people became townies while the city grew because of the trading
merchants. Through trade and invasion, London has been sucked into Europe. By
1066 London had become so mighty that even William the Conqueror knew it would
be too dangerous to reshape it. He left its inhabitants to do their trade, with
a tax of course, while he ruled on the side. [23]
The Viking Kings
of England undid the Anglo Saxon dynasties and instated their own, even though
they Saxon line was reinstated after Cnut. They created a whirlwind of physical
political changes that would not change. They made London a center of foreign
wares for all parts of the kingdom. They soon constituted London, with its
suburbs, the true capital of England, both commercial and political. On the 6 of January 1066 Edward the Confessor died
and is succeed by Harold Godwinson, earl of Wessex, who was crowned the
same day as the funeral of his predecessor. He was immediately faced with
powerful threats from William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold Hardrada, King of
Norway, both of whom laid claim to the English throne.[24] With
three families laying claim to the English throne, the situation was
unpleasant, but William of Normandy succeeded in winning the throne.
The rule of William the Conqueror marks the end of Vikings
in London, but not the end of their impact. As we have discussed the Viking’s
impact on London was both political and economic. The re-founding of the ports
of London allowed the Vikings to use their giant trade system which connected
London to the many new places throughout Europe and west Asia. The trade system
that the Vikings had increased the wealth of the city as well as the people
living there. The creation of Westminster moved the politics of London westward
and left the economics to be in the City of London. The Vikings did not just
pillage, rape and plunder London, but through their trade routes and expansions
they brought forth the beginning of London as a Metropolis.
[1] Langer, Johnny. "The Origins of the Imaginary
Viking", Viking Heritage Magazine, Gotland
University/Centre for Baltic Studies. Visby (Sweden), n. 4, 2002. Accessed
November 23, 2013.
[2] Roesdahl, Else. The Vikings, London: Penguin Books, 1998. pp. 9-21.
[3] Roesdahl,
Else. The Vikings, London: Penguin
Books, 1998. pp. 52, 78, 147.
[4] Curry, Andrew. "The First
Vikings." Archaeology 66, no. 4: 24-29. Academic
Search Premier, EBSCOhost 2013.
Accessed November 23, 2013.
[5] Langer, Johnny. "The Origins of the
Imaginary Viking", Viking Heritage Magazine, Gotland
University/Centre for Baltic Studies. Visby (Sweden), n. 4, 2002. Accessed
November 23, 2013.
[6] Curry, Andrew. "The First
Vikings." Archaeology 66, no. 4: 24-29. Academic
Search Premier, EBSCOhost 2013.
Accessed November 23, 2013.
[7] British Broadcasting Center, "Vikings
and Anglo-Saxons." Last modified 2013. Accessed November 23, 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/vikinganglosaxons_timeline_noflash.shtml
[8]British Broadcasting Center, "Vikings
and Anglo-Saxons." Last modified 2013. Accessed November 23, 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/vikinganglosaxons_timeline_noflash.shtml
[9] Lewis, Jon E. London: The Autobiography : 2,000 Years of the Capital's History by
Those who Saw it Happen. London: Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2008.
[10] Vince, Alan. Saxon London: An Archaeological Investigation. London: B.A. Seaby
Ltd. 1990. pp. 119.
[11]
British Broadcasting Center, "Vikings and Anglo-Saxons." Last
modified 2013. Accessed November 23, 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/vikinganglosaxons_timeline_noflash.shtml
[12]British Broadcasting Center, "Vikings
and Anglo-Saxons." Last modified 2013. Accessed November 23, 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/vikinganglosaxons_timeline_noflash.shtml
[14] Lewis, Jon E. London: The Autobiography : 2,000 Years of the Capital's History by
Those who Saw it Happen. London: Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2008. pp.
46-47.
[15] Wilson, A.N. London: A Short History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2004.
pp. 20.
[16] Lewis, Jon E. London: The Autobiography : 2,000 Years of the Capital's History by
Those who Saw it Happen. London: Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2008. pp.
46-47.
[17] Lewis, Jon E. London: The Autobiography : 2,000 Years of the Capital's History by
Those who Saw it Happen. London: Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2008. pp.
46-47.
[18] Tames, Richard. City of London Past. London: Historical Publications Ltd. 1995. pp.
31.
[19] Inwood, Stephen. History of London. Great Britain: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1998.
pp. 47.
[20] UK Genealogy Archives, “History: London,” The
Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1894-5, Last modified
November 18th 2010. Accessed November 23, 2013 http://ukga.org//england/London/gazetteer/A.html
[21] Tames, Richard. City of London Past. London: Historical Publications Ltd. 1995. pp.
14
[22] Porter, Roy. London: A Social
History. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1994. pp. 27.
[23] Porter, Roy. London: A Social
History. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1994. pp. 27.
[24] British Broadcasting Center, "Vikings
and Anglo-Saxons." Last modified 2013. Accessed November 23, 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/vikinganglosaxons_timeline_noflash.shtml
No comments:
Post a Comment