North of York, in the year 954. A line of men follow the old Roman road through Stainmore Gap. It's a lonely place surrounded by hills. Eric Bloodaxe leads the pack. Days ago, he was king of Northumbria. Years ago, he was king of Norway. Now, he's a three time exile, forced from power by his enemies. He's headed for Dublin, to plot his next move. That's when it happens. One of the men escorting him draws a sword. We don't know if it was an assassination or an ambush It's unknown if he fought. But minutes later, the last Viking king of the Danelaw is lying dead on the desolate moore. [Music: Birth of the People by Demetori] This series is brought to you by a Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia. A new strategy game set during this time period. Let's go back seven years. The council of Northumbria was debating how to find a new king. Over the past decade, they'd had several, but none really worked out. All of them had been Scandinavians from the kingdom of Dublin. And the Vikings in that occupied kingdom tended to be too pagan and wild for the council's liking. Nothing like the settled Danes that lived there in York. The archbishop, a power broker who had pulled the strings behind Northumbrian politics for years, proposed a compromise candidate: Eric Bloodaxe. Sure, he had spent his formative years killing his brothers for the throne of Norway, and then killing more of his brothers to keep it. Sure, he was known for being cruel. And, okay, he had fled to Britain after one of his brothers - - the one he didn't manage to kill - - dethroned him. But he was noble, and available. And it was far better than the alternative. If they didn't get a king soon, they all knew who would be ruling Northumbria. And they didn't really want that. And so, this archbishop and his Anglo-Saxon council invited a pagan to be their sovereign lord. "Wait," I hear you saying, "What is happening here? "Last episode, the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes were bitter enemies. "Vikings were looting monasteries "and now an archbishop is allying with one? "What happened?" Well, just - shush, I'll tell you. 80 years happened. 80 years of Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavian settlers living side by side. Each learning about and changing the other. Generations of Scandinavians put their marks and their names on the landscape of what would be England. So today, we are going to examine how this happened. Or at least, we will paint the best picture of it we can from the fragmentary written records, archaeological finds, and etymological evidence. Just keep in mind historians are still debating major parts of this story. We have picked the theories that make the most sense to us, but reasonable people could argue that, like, everything in this episode is wrong, so, you know. Let 's go further back, to 875 when Guthrum and Alfred were still throwing down. As Guthrum was sneaking into Wessex, the great heathen army's other king, Halfdan, was headed North. to manage the Viking held city of York. When he arrived there, he broke up the Northumbrian estates handing out farms and villages to men who served him. With the local rulers all displaced or killed, the Vikings settled in as the kingdom's new elite. This Viking kingdom of Northumbria, however, was just the northernmost point of the Danelaw. When the great army had first arrived in Britain, there were four major kingdoms, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex. By the time Alfred and Guthrum signed their treaty, The Vikings held East Anglia, Northumbria, and most of Eastern Mercia. But the Danelaw wasn't a country. It wasn't even a centralized kingdom like Alfred's Wessex. In fact, it wasn't even called the Danelaw until after it already disappeared. The Danelaw was a geographic area where Scandinavians ruled and their laws held sway, but that's really it. Northumbria and East Anglia operated as independent kingdoms. Just like they had before the conquest. But Eastern Mercia, called The Five Boroughs, was simply a collection of powerful towns all vying for their own interests. What makes it even weirder, though, is that while a Scandinavian elite did control the Danelaw, it appears that many of their kingdoms depended on the cooperation of Anglo-Saxon earls. And, even stranger, the church. Now, you might reasonably ask, "Weren't Vikings infamously hostile to Christianity? "Didn't they, like, sack monasteries and kill priests?" Well, yeah. They did. All the time. But, it appears that their motivation for doing so was mostly economic. The Vikings didn't hate churches, those churches were just easy pickings. They were like banks, except guarded by nerds. In robes. And it's not like church-sacking was an activity unique to Vikings. Anglo-Saxon kings, too, had been known to seize Church lands and sack shrines when budgets got tight. Besides, those churches were all geographically fixed. Just because Vikings were running the place now didn't mean that all those church figures could relocate, or abandon their parishes and cathedrals. So, the churches remained in Viking territory, And, to the churches' surprise, the Danes, generally, seemed to leave them alone. And, even more surprising, they proved relatively easy to convert. The earliest converts were probably tempted by political or economic boosts, some were likely Scandinavian lords who found that their subjects liked them better if they were Christian, others were probably Viking merchants who found that they could get better trade deals while they had a cross round their necks. And, while these conversions might not have been total, historically, polytheists have a tendency to simply add new gods to their existing lists rather than embracing monotheism, archaeological evidence suggests that Scandinavian settlers accepted Christianity pretty quickly. Within just a few decades, they were burying their dead in curchyards. And, within a generation, grave-goods started phasing out of use. replaced by stone tomb monuments combining pagan and Christian imagery. But it wasn't just the newly settled Vikings who were changing. The Anglo-Saxons were changing, too. Adopting Scandinavian art, clothing, even hairstyles. as the groups interacted and intermarried. But the biggest impact of this intermingling was linguistic. In fact, the only way we can estimate the size and development of the Danelaw, is through place names. Today, many towns around York still carry Scandinavian words paired with the Old English word "-ton," which means, "Town." Some are even personal names. Stakkr's Town became modern Saxton. GrÍmr's Town became Grimston. In fact, it's possible these names, which we still use today, are the names of the Viking captains who benefited from Halfdan's land division. Later settlers from Scandinavia who had missed the period of conquest instead tended to name land after notable features. Modern Skewsby descended from the old Norse word for, "forest." Plus, the Old English "-by," meaning, "farm." "Mickleby," essentially means "Great farm," while "Skidby," hilariously, means "dung farm." And it wasn't just place names. Anglo-Saxons adopted old Norse words like it was goin' out of style. And we still use those today, all the time. Like: "They" "Slaughter" "Kid" "Strike" "Keel" "Mire" All Norse words. By the way, some of you might have noticed I tried to use as many of those words as I could think of last episode. So, okay, let's work our way back to Eric Bloodaxe. After Alfred finished dealing with Guthrum, he transformed Wessex into a military superpower. littering his territory with forts and organizing both a navy and a large conscript army. And when he died, the next generation (His son Edward and his daughter Æthelflæd) used that power to bring East Anglia and the five boroughs under the banner of Wessex, gobbling up the southern Danelaw. Alfred's grandson, Æthelstan, went on to capture York in 927, making him, if only briefly, the first king of England. But, once he died, Northumbria again slipped from Wessex's grip. Which brings us right back to the beginning: The great council of Northumbria making a devil's bargain. It seems strange, but given the politics at the time, it's not surprising that Anglo-Scandinavians in the Danelaw seemed to have preferred independence under a foreign king, to domination by Alfred's heirs. So, they offered Eric the job. Except it did not go so great. Eric was king for a year before Wessex marched into Northumbria and raised the shrine of its patron saint. forcing him to abdicate and make a run for it. Four years later, he was back, ready to retake his crown. And he did! For, like, two years, and then he lost it again. So Eric was once more an exile. Traveling along the old Roman road. You might ask, why was he ousted the second time? Well, we don't exactly know, but we do have one clue: A thirteenth century book quoting some earlier (long-lost) source. which alleges that the man who arranged Eric's murder was an Anglo-Saxon earl who ruled north of York. A man who, after Eric's death, would rule Northumbria as a puppet of Wessex. With his ascension, both Viking rule and Northumbrian independence met their end. England was at last united. But its culture, language, and lands would remain forever marked by the Viking presence. But that's not quite the end of Eric Bloodaxe's story: We have one more record of him, a skaldic death ode. Probably commissioned by his widow or his sons back in Norway. In it, Odin awakes from a dream. Knowing that someone is coming. fresh from the battlefield He orders Valkyries to bring wine, and readies his hall for feasting. Valhalla trembles with the visitor's approach. It is Eric, the prince! he tells the gods, in many a land, he has readied the blade. and carried a bloodied sword. Indeed, Odin had only denied Eric victory because he was in great need of warriors. Ragnarok may arrive at any moment. The gray wolf ever gazes on the home of the gods. The visitor enters, and the heroes of old bid welcome to Eric Bloodaxe, [End theme starts]
last king of the Danelaw. [Music: Odds and Ends by Kiner Brothers Music] This video is brought to you by thrones of Britannia, a strategy game that combines huge real time battles with a deep sandbox campaign. You can lead Alfred and his forces, Guthrum's viking army, or pick from eight other factions to build your kingdom and rewrite the history of the British isles. Click the link in the description to find out more.
Man, I just wish we could get back to the OG vikings. Blood eagles, horned helmets, power metal, Wagners Opera. I miss the good old days.