What Started the Viking Age?
We know what we know about the Viking Age primarily from two sources: writings and archeological finds. The writings are all written by Christian sources – particularly, monks – who unfairly misrepresent the Vikings because they were the primary victims of the raids. Early in the Viking Age, the focus of the Scandinavian pirates in Western Europe remained fixed on coastal monasteries. Later, the Vikings would attack further inland, but the initial violence (A.D. 793-835) occurred peripherally. The Christians blamed themselves for angering their god. Historians have several hypotheses on what began the Viking Age. Most famous of the hypotheses lies in the climatic changes of the early middle ages which warmed the weather in all of Europe and caused a large population growth unusual for Scandinavia. Most historians draw on a combination of several hypotheses, each a part in the larger picture. While several factors contributed the initial raids, what event acted as the catalyst for centuries of attacks?
A little known series of events in the late 8th century involving the Franks and the Saxons may have sparked the Viking Age in the same way the assassination of Franz Ferdinand sparked World War I. The conditions for the Viking Age were all in place — warm weather, larger population, naval advances, technology advances, and a deep hatred for the Christians in the south. What event, then, caused the launch of thousands of ships westward? In 792 A.D. Emperor Charlemagne (yes, the one credited with inventing public schools) was just finishing his conquest of modern day Poland, as well as northern Germany up to the Danevirke, a barrier build along the southern border of Denmark to repel the germanic tribes. Charlemagne believed it was his duty to spread Christianity across the known world, and he did so through conquest. One of his more notorious exploits took place along the Danevirke in sight of the Danes who watched in horror as the Franks defeated the Saxons. The Franks took 3000 prisoners. Charlemagne ordered the Saxons be baptized in the nearby Elbe River where the Franks dunked the Saxons under water, recited their benedictions, and held them underwater until they drowned. A few Saxons undoubtedly escaped and explained their horrific tale to the Danes who kept in close contact with the Norwegians.
How does this event play into the Viking Age? At Lindisfarne in 793 A.D., the first raid on a monastery, the Vikings dragged many of the priests to the beach and drowned them under the waves. This act is viewed by many historians as symbolic of the raiders’ acknowledgement of the threat of warmongering Christianity on their lands. In essence, the first raid was a retaliation for the aggressive acts of the Franks. It is therefore appropriate to say, after so many years of misconception and misrepresentation, that the Vikings were in reality no more violent than their southern neighbors. It was an age of violence.
