BattlefieldsViking Raid on Whitby Abbey 867
Early Medieval

Viking Raid on Whitby Abbey 867

867
North Yorkshire, England
Also known as: Streonshall sacked by Danes · Whitby sacked 867
Era
Early Medieval
Battle Type
Skirmish
Location
North Yorkshire, England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Whitby monastic community
Forces
Whitby monastic garrison c. 50–100.
VS
Victor
Vikings (Great Heathen Army)
Forces
Viking raiders c. 200–400
Outcome
Whitby Abbey (Streonshall) sacked and burned by Great Heathen Army raiders; monastic community dispersed
The Battle

History & Significance

Whitby Abbey — Streonshall — was one of the great double monasteries of Northumbria, where the Synod of Whitby had been held in 664 to determine the dating of Easter. It was the burial place of Northumbrian royalty and associated with St Hild. The Great Heathen Army, operating from its base at York after the capture of 867, sent raiders along the coast. Whitby was sacked and the community dispersed. The monastery did not recover for over a century and the great Benedictine house established by William de Percy in the eleventh century was built on the ruins.

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