On 8 June, a band of what the Chronicle calls ‘heathen men’ landed their ships on the island of Lindisfarne, plundered the monastery there, and slaughtered many of the monks. Alcuin described in horror how the altar of the church was spattered with blood and the tombs of the saints were trampled underfoot. He also reveals that, as well as stealing the abbey’s precious ornaments, the visitors seized some of the younger members of the community and led them off into captivity, presumably to be sold as slaves. The ‘heathen men’ who attacked Lindisfarne in the summer of 793 are better known today
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