Viking Conquest of York (Jorvik)
Who Fought
Great Heathen Army led by Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson versus the combined Northumbrian forces of Osberht and Ælla
History & Significance
Scandinavian York (Jórvík) or Viking York (Old Norse: Jórvík) is a term used by historians for a region similar to current Yorkshire during the period of Scandinavian domination after the Viking invasion in 865 (interlaced with brief periods of Anglo-Saxon control as battles would breakout) until it was annexed and integrated into England after the Norman Conquest in 1066; in particular, it is used to refer to York, the city controlled by this ebb and flow of Viking and Anglo-Saxon kings and earls, including the period when Viking King Cnut ruled all of England, part of his North Sea Empire, until his death in 1035. The Kingdom of Jórvík was closely associated with the longer-lived Kingdom of Dublin throughout this period.
York was first recorded by Ptolemy around the year 150 as Eborakon. During Roman Britain, it became the provincial capital and bishopric of Eburacum. The Roman settlement was regularly planned, well-defended, and contained a stone castra (legionary fortress).
The end of Roman rule in Britain happened in 407, and was followed by the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain starting in 410. The Angles occupied the settlement beginning in the early 7th century. Post-Roman York was in the kingdom of Deira; it was taken over in 655 by its northern neighbour, Bernicia, to form the kingdom of Northumbria. Edwin, King of Northumbria, was baptized there in 627, and the first Anglo-Saxon archbishop, Ecgbert, was consecrated in 780. The settlement became the trading port of Eoforwic.
The Vikings had been raiding the coasts of England from the late 8th century, but in 865 a Viking army landed with the intention of conquering rather than just raiding. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle described the army as the "mycel heathen here" (Great Heathen Army). They landed in East Anglia where the locals, under Edmund of East Anglia, "made peace" with them in return for horses.
The army, led by Ivar the Boneless and his brother Halfdan Ragnarsson, made its way north to Northumbria where the Anglo-Saxons were embroiled in a civil war. In 862 the ruler of Northumbria, Osberht, had been deposed by Ælla of Northumbria. Ivar the Boneless was able to capitalize on the Anglo-Saxons disarray and captured York in 866/ 867.
In those days, the nation of the Northumbrians had violently expelled from the kingdom the rightful king of their nation, Osbryht by name, and had placed at the head of the kingdom a certain tyrant, named Alla. When the pagans came upon the kingdom, the dissension was allayed by divine counsel and the aid of the nobles. King Osbryht and Alla, having united their forces and formed an army, came to the city of York; on their approach the multitude of the shipmen immediately took flight. The Christians, perceiving their flight and terror, found that they themselves were the stronger party. They fought upon each side with much ferocity, and both kings fell. The rest who escaped made peace with the Danes.
The ground they fought on
The site of Viking Conquest of York (Jorvik) lies on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.
Symeon of Durham captured the dramatic reversal at York vividly: the Viking shipmen took immediate flight at the Northumbrian approach, leading the Christians to believe they had the upper hand, yet the battle that followed was fought 'with much ferocity' on both sides, and when it was over both King Osbryht and the tyrant Alla lay dead, with the survivors left to make peace with the Danes.
- Both Northumbrian kings, Osberht and Ælla, killed; Viking and Northumbrian losses otherwise unrecorded in the sources
Frequently Asked Questions
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