Very interesting. I will be all over that Nature paper.
As a historian, I like details to be as accurate as possible. If I hear another person say that the Vikings first attacked Britain in 793 at Lindisfarne, I shall probably punch them. This raid (as you point out) may not have been the first. Just the first against people who had the means to record it, literate monks. So ‘history’ is made.
Hi Helen, thanks for your comment! Indeed, Lindisfarne was not the first, even in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. An entry for the year 789 has the Vikings arriving at the port of Portland and causing an incident (though not a raid). Further scholarship on the exploits of the Rus to the East puts trade routes as opening perhaps even before they knew how to put down a keel, so the movements of the so-called "Vikings" most certainly started much earlier. You should check out Alex's book, details are on the Vikingology page.
Thank you. I will. I’m writing a book based on my MA research into late Roman and early Saxon Britain. Whilst this is not about the Vikings per se, I see many similarities between them and the earliest ‘Danes’.
Very interesting. I will be all over that Nature paper.
As a historian, I like details to be as accurate as possible. If I hear another person say that the Vikings first attacked Britain in 793 at Lindisfarne, I shall probably punch them. This raid (as you point out) may not have been the first. Just the first against people who had the means to record it, literate monks. So ‘history’ is made.
Would love to discuss this further.
Hi Helen, thanks for your comment! Indeed, Lindisfarne was not the first, even in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. An entry for the year 789 has the Vikings arriving at the port of Portland and causing an incident (though not a raid). Further scholarship on the exploits of the Rus to the East puts trade routes as opening perhaps even before they knew how to put down a keel, so the movements of the so-called "Vikings" most certainly started much earlier. You should check out Alex's book, details are on the Vikingology page.
Thank you. I will. I’m writing a book based on my MA research into late Roman and early Saxon Britain. Whilst this is not about the Vikings per se, I see many similarities between them and the earliest ‘Danes’.