8
June 793 A.D. Vikings
Ransack & Loot Lindisfarne
Mr. Graves tells the story.
A monk shouted. His fellow monks
looked his way, their eyes following his finger that pointed out to sea. Ships!
On the little island of
Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumbria, England, the monks must have felt
fear as the ships came closer. Their rowers were armed and warlike. As the men
leaped from their ships with terrifying yells, there could be no doubt. This
was a raid!
Although Christian in name,
Northumbria's understanding was clouded by its pagan past. The people still
believed in omens. And that year, there had been many such signs which,
according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "miserably frightened the people.
These were immense flashes of lightening, and fiery dragons were seen flying in
the air. A great famine immediately followed these signs; and a little after
that in the same year..."
A little after that, on this day,
June 8, 793, Vikings attacked the
church on Lindisfarne island. The raiders hacked the monks to death or dragged
them into the sea and drowned them. They were after the unguarded treasures of
Lindisfarne's rich and beautiful sanctuaries.
Many people had given the
monastery silver and gold, some of them believing their souls could find peace
through such gifts and the prayers offered because of those gifts. On the
island were golden crucifixes and coiled shepherd's staves. There were silver
plates for the bread and wine of mass, and ivory chests in which reposed the
relics of saints. The chapel walls hung with shimmering tapestries and in the writing
room one could find some of the most beautiful illuminated manuscripts ever
made.
When the Vikings left, all of
this was either destroyed or bagged in the bottom of their boats. The monks lay
dead around their altars.
This was the first major Viking attack
recorded in England. Few had even contemplated such a raid from the sea. That
the first blow fell where it did shocked a people who thought of the dead
saints as powerful intercessors. Alcuin, the greatest scholar of the day, was
an Englishman living in the court of Charlemagne. He wrote, "What
assurance is there for the churches of Britain, if St. Cuthbert, with so great
a number of saints, defends not its own?"
As we know, the Vikings had only
begun. Over the course of the next two years, they were back for more easy
pickings, attacking other wealthy religious houses. Their invasions were
repeated for over a century. Eventually, when England had been bled of its
wealth, the Vikings began to take the land, too.
Bibliography:
1. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
2. Edmonds, Columba. "Ancient
Diocese and Monastery of Lindisfarne." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New
York: Robert Appleton, 1914; and other articles, such as "St.
Cuthbert."
3. "Holy Island -
Lindisfarne" Northeast England History Pages http://www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk/Lindisfarne.htm
4. "Lindisfarne." The
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A.
Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
5. Miles, George, of
Newcastle-on-Tyne. The Bishops of Lindisfarne , Hexham, Chester-le-Street, and
Durham, A.D. 635-1020. Being an introduction to the ecclesiastical history of
Northumbria. London, W. Gardner, Darton & co., 1898.
6. The Age of Bede; translated by
J.F. Webb ; edited with an introduction by D.H. Farmer; Lives of the abbots of
Wearmouth and Jarrow translated by D.H. Farmer. Harmondsworth, Middlesex,
England; New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Penguin, 1988.
Last updated May, 2007.
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