Originating from Scandinavia, the Vikings were initially disparate tribes, earldoms, jarldoms, and kingdoms. Raids on coastal Europe (British isles in particular) started in the late 700s, escalated in the mid 800s into ever larger and more organised raiding parties, then peaked in the late 800s/early 900s. Scandinavian consolidates into kingdoms from the late 800s until we becoming predominantly Denmark, Norway, Sweden by the mid 1000s.
One overlooked factor on why Viking Golden Age started around 800CE is the warmer weather.
c350 BCE: Hjortspring boat; the earliest known plank-built Scandinavian vessel
c200 CE: Evidence of Roman technology used in shipbuilding
c350: Nydam Boat built – one of the first capable of longer distances; excavated in 1863
540-790: Vendel Period in Scandinavia; time of change and rebuilding that provided the cultural and economic foundations of the Viking Age.
740: Legendary Battle of Bravellir; Sigurd Hring (King of Sweden) victorious over Harald Wartooth (King of Denmark).
c750: Presumed founding of the important Viking trading center of Birka in Sweden
750: Ladoga trade settlement founded in Eastern Europe by Vikings; first steps towards the emergence of the Norse-Slavic Rus confederation.
789: First Viking raid recorded in history; in southern coast of Wessex
793: Infamous raid on Lindisfarne, Northumbria, England; marks beginning of Viking Age
795: First recorded Vikings raids in Scotland and Ireland
810: Vikings raid Frisia (Netherlands)
814: Charlemagne dies and heirs quarrel; Europe is weak and is plagued by raids by Vikings, Moors and Magyars.
834: Historians note a change in Viking activity around this year from smaller-scale raids to larger, longer-term movement of armies; after a couple generations of success, Vikings ramp up invasions.
836-839: Turgeis leads raids Ireland with 60 ships.
840: Vikings build fort and est Dublin, Ireland; a center of Viking activity for the next 2 centuries
841: Treaty of Verdun splits Carolingian Empire
844: Vikings raid Lisbon, Seville, coastal Spain; but Moors are too organised for lasting incursions.
845: Ragnar Lothbrok raids Paris; ransoms 7,000 pounds of silver. This pattern of “Danegeld” payments by the Franks would amount to ~10% of GDP over the next decades.
848: Picts and Scots unite in response to Viking raids
851: Franks eventually repel a 3-year viking raid along Rhine River; triggered by retaliation for Frankish invasion of Jutland (845-847).
851-856: Olaf and Ivar est Viking kingdom from Dublin. This Ivar is thought to be Ivar the Boneless.
859-865: Bjorn Ironside and Halfdan lead an estimated 60 ships in raids throughout France and the Mediterranean.
860: Rus Vikings’ first attack on Constantinople; motivated by trade restrictions
c865: Ragnar Lothbrok invades Northumbria; but fleet is scattered by a storm and is captured by King Aella; dies in pit of vipers, according to sagas and poems.
866: “Great Heathen Army”; 500-1,000 strong; under sons of Ragnar invade and conquer most Saxon kingdoms of England; Viking kingdom est in York, England and name it Jarvik; lasts ~90 years.
870: Ivar the Bonelss leaves the Great Army; sieges Strathclyde in Scotland, carries wealth and captives back to ireland; dies of natural causes in Ireland in 873.
870-1056: The “Saga Age” in Iceland; starting with island settlement and ending with establishment of a bishopric in Skalaholt.
871: Alfred the Great becomes king of Wessex, last remaining Anglo-Saxon kingdom in England; breaks momentum of Great Heathen Army at Battle of Ashdown; signs 5-year treaty at old Roman road Watling St.
872: Harald I Fairhair becomes first king of united Norway; according to legend his tyranny prompts many to leave for Iceland.
874: Vikings reach and settle Iceland
878: Guthrum (Danish king of Vikings in England) breaks treaty and attacks Wessex; but defeated at Battle of Edington / Ethandun; king Alfred presses advantage with treaty (that would last this time).
879: Kiev est capital of Kievan Rus’ by Rurik.
886:
– West Frankia under Count Odo repels another viking siege on Paris (885-886); this time led by Rollo (Hrolf) the Walker and Siegfried. Carolingian emperor Charles the Fat pays vikings off; marking decline of Carolingians in France. Count Odo replaces as ruler in 888.
– Alfred divides England with the Danes under the Danelaw Pact.
900: Vikings raid the Mediterranean coast.
910: Wessex-Mercia victory at Battle of Tettenhall/Woden’s Field checks Viking power in England.
911: Franks grant Rollo lands; Normandy in France is founded.
913: Vikings raid the wealthy Muslim Abbasid cities along the Caspian Sea.
930: Iceland “fully settled” with all the arable land claimed; population is ~25,000; grows to ~75,000 over next century and a half; before being cut in half by hardships of the Little Ice Age.
937: Wessex king Aethelstan (the grandson of Alfred the Great) defeats alliance of Vikings, Scotts, Irish, and Britons at the Battle of Brunanburh; many see this event as foundational moment of England as a nation.
941: Rus Vikings under Prince Igor attack Constantinople again (first in 860)
942: Sviatoslav (the Brave) becomes Prince of the Rus after Igor is killed by Slavic tribes; with his mother Olga as regent, unites Slavs along Dneiper and Volga over 30 year reign. Last non-Christian ruler of Kievan Rus.
c950: Viking trading center Birka goes into abrupt decline
954: Last Vikings forced out of York (Jorvik)
958: Harald Bluetooth begins reign (r.958-986) as king of Denmark and Norway; origin of phone ‘bluetooth’
960: Jomsviking brotherhood founded; elite Viking mercenaries operating from Wolin, Poland.
978: Viking mercenaries help Vladimir become Prince of the Rus. Vladimir later sends his Byzantine emperor brother in-law Basil the Bulgar Slayer viking mercenaries; who would later become Varangian Guard.
981: Erik the Red discovers and colonises Greenland; while serving 3-year exile from Iceland for murder. Serves as hunting ground for luxury goods like ivory and furs.
991: Athelred II pays the first Danegeld ransom to stop Danish attacks on England.
995: Olav I conquers Norway and proclaims it a Christian kingdom.
1000:
– Olav I dies; Norway is ruled by the Danes.
– Leif Eriksson, son of Erik the Red, explores North America; reaching L’Anse aus Meadows in New Foundland, North Amreica.
1002:
– Brian Boru defeats the Norse-Irish and becomes the king of Ireland.
– Wessex king Aethelred massacres Danes in England; will have consequences later
– According to the Vinland Sagas, 1st first violent contact between Native Americans and Vikings leaves Leif’s brother dead.
1010: Explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni attempts to found a settlement in North America.
1013: Danes under Sven Forkbeard conquer England; Wessex king Aethelred flees to Normandy. Nursery rhyme, London Bridges Falling Down, thought to date back to these events.
1014: King Boru defeats Norse-Irish at Battle of Clontarf; marking end of Viking Age in Ireland. Dublin remains Norse-Irish until Normans in 1171 though.
1015: Vikings abandon the Vinland settlement.
1016:
– Olav II (“Saint Olaf”) regains Norway from the Danes.
– Danish king Knut (Canute) conquers England
1028: Knut (Canute), king of England and Denmark, conquers Norway; rules his North Sea Empire well
1030: Saint Olaf dies at the Battle of Stiklestad. His young half-brother, Harald Hardrada, escapes to the Rus court of Yaroslav the Wise; then eventually becomes a Byzantine Varangian Guard.
1035: Magnus the Good succeeeds Knut the Great to become King of Norway.
1042: Edward the Confessor ruled England with Danish support.
1043: Magnus the Good destroys the Jomsvikings at their stronghold in Jomsburg, Poland.
1046: Harald Hardrada returns to Norway and becomes joint king of Norway with Magnus. Becomes sole ruler after Magnus death in 1051; immediately begins attacking Denmark.
1050: Oslo, Norway founded
1062: Harald Hardrada of Norway victious in naval battle of Niz (or Nisa) against Danish for control of Scandinavia; buts unable to press advantage
1066: Saxon King Harold Godwinson (with 15,000 troops) defeats and kills Harald Hardrada (with 9,000 troops), King of vikings, at Battle of Stamford Bridge… But is soon defeated by William Duke of Normandy at Battle of Hastings. Accepted date of end of Viking Age. Many of the displaced Anglo-Saxon and Danish aristocracy of England flee to Byzantium and take service in the Varangian Guard.
1096-1099: First Crusade marks new era in European history; and accelerating decline of paganism in North Eastern Europe.
See also:
Visual Timeline Series