Seven years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Jorvik Viking Festival and ever since I have been dying to return. It has grown over the years to be one of the largest Norse-themed festivals in Europe, attracting over 40, 000 international visitors each year and providing education as well as a whole heap… Continue reading Return of the Vikings
Welcome to Part two of the history of Lindisfarne. If you have missed the first part in which Lindisfarne was founded and became a religious, cultural and scholarly mecca, you can read the article here. Unfortunately for Lindisfarne, its rise to prominence also made it a target. The climax of the centre’s history came in… Continue reading Lindisfarne, Holy island of the north: Part 2
After nearly six months of warfare with Wessex, the pagan army went to London in Mercia for their winter quarters to recuperate. Burghred, the King of Mercia at that time and brother-in-law of King Alfred, purchased a truce from them for a sum of money. Halfdan and his army had already sworn that they would… Continue reading Northumbrian rebellion in 862 and the exile of King Burghred of Mercia
Most people know that in the early medieval period the Vikings came and attacked the various kingdoms of England and that many of them even settled down here afterwards to farm. You may also have previously known that one of the cities they conquered was York which later became one of their bases and a… Continue reading The second attack on York: The Northumbrians strike back
Unlike his brothers Ivarr the Boneless and Ubbe, none of the Viking Sagas mention anything of Halfdan or any other similar name (with the one exception of Hvitserk in the Saga of Ragnar's sons, although this figure died in Russia). We are quite sure that they were brothers, however, as Simeon of Durham, Roger of… Continue reading Historical Figure Profile: Halfdan
This is going to be a long character study so I am just going to get on with it. Olaf the White or Amlaib Konung was a Norse viking king in Ireland who is also rumoured to be the brother of Ivarr the Boneless who attacked York in 866. He is not directly involved with… Continue reading Historical Figure Profile: Olaf the White
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