The Viking Conquest of York

The first account of the Vikings appearing in England was in 787 on the south coast. They were greeted by the Saxon King Beorhtic, who they immediately killed. After the Vikings famously sacked the monastery and slaughtered the Christian monks at Lindisfarne in 793, they were feared throughout England. The Saxons defended themselves as best they could, but the Viking dragon ships, displaying their dreaded flag of a black raven on a blood red background, continued to raid English towns and churches.

In 866, the Danish Vikings' Great Army arrived in East Anglia. Unlike the previous raiding parties, many Viking leaders had combined their forces with the intention of conquering England, or at least taking one or more of the four main Anglo Saxon kingdoms (Northumberland in the North, Mercia in the Midlands, Wessex in the South and East Anglia in the East). King Edmund, the Anglo Saxon king of the kingdom of East Anglia, dared not fight them and bought peace, but the Vikings had bigger plans and their army marched on York.

At the time, York was the capital of the kingdom of Northumberland. Northumberland was in civil war, with two rival kings vying for the throne. It may have been this that attracted the Vikings, who may have sought to take advantage of their squabbles. However, the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok claims that the Vikings deliberately targeted York to avenge the father of the two Viking leaders, Ivar and Halfdan (Halfdene), who one of the rival Anglo Saxon kings had cruelly murdered by casting him into a poisonous snake pit.   

The Vikings attacked York on 1 November 866 which was All Saints Day (a festival that was celebrated at the time - the Vikings probably deliberately picked it as the Anglo Saxon Minster would be full of local wealthy people). York was a substantial city by Saxon standards. The Romans had left 450 years earlier, but much of the fortress they had built north of the River Ouse still remained. The walls of the fortress were, for the most part, still tall and strong. As well as the walls, the city had natural defences. The Ouse made an attack from the west almost impossible as the Vikings would have to cross the river close to the fortress, making themselves sitting ducks for defending archers. An attack from the north was also difficult for an army as large as the Vikings as the dense forest of Galtres lay there, probably just a few hundred yards from the city (approximately where Layerthorpe is now).  Only an attack from the east was possible, though even that was difficult as the smaller River Foss was six hundred yards from the fortress walls. 

Fortunately for the Vikings, they met with little resistance. The two feuding Anglo Saxon kings were not in York and were distracted, fighting each other. The Vikings took the city easily. After a short time resting and drinking to their success, the Viking army moved north to plunder the lands around the River Tyne, though there is no doubt that they always intended to make York their base, possibly because of its defensive qualities and its size. However, by this time the two Saxon kings had woken to the threat they faced and joined forces. When the Vikings returned, York had been re-taken and this time, the Saxons were ready for them.

The second Battle of York took place on 21 March 867. Accounts of the battle that followed vary. Bishop Asser, the biographer of Alfred the Great, claimed that the Vikings got into the city and the Anglo Saxon army, who had bizarrely decided to meet them outside of the city's fortress, then had to breach the walls to attack them. Asser's account then tells how the Vikings routed the Saxons both within the city walls and without, completely destroying both their army and their kings and nobles. Other, albeit later accounts, reverse the two armies, with the Vikings attacking the Saxons in the city. All accounts agree that the Saxon army was utterly defeated.

This was the beginning of the Viking occupation of York. The Viking leader Halfdan became the first Danish King of York, which became the Viking capital of England. The Viking army moved south and, over the years, almost conquered the whole of England.  Alfred of Wessex stood in their way. Eventually England was split and a precarious treaty was reached. The Vikings ruled over all of Northumberland and East Anglia and half of Mercia, whilst Alfred maintained a smaller kingdom consisting of the other half of Mercia and Wessex in the south. The Viking kingdom was called 'Danelaw' and York was its capital.

There were various Viking kings of York over the years, the most famous of which were Ragnald the Irish Viking and Sihtric who, like Odin, only had one eye. There is some debate about where the Viking kings held their palace. Some historians claim it was in Coney Street in central York, and 'Coney' is indeed derived from the Danish word for king. Others claim that they made their palace in the Roman Principia which lay roughly where York Minster is now. This consisted of a large courtyard enclosed on three sides by rows of long low buildings previously housing the Roman legion. On the 4th side stood the Roman Basilica, an enormous building built to house the tributes to the Roman gods. This was a substantial building. One of its pillars is currently on display outside the Minster close to the junction of Minster Gates (at the Minster end of Stonegate).  

The Vikings almost certainly fortified the Roman walls and, according to William of Malmsby, built a castle, which almost certainly stood where Clifford's Tower stands now. Rather than the traditional image of a stone castle, it probably consisted of a raised mound of earth maybe 60 feet high surrounded by a deep ditch with a palisade at the flat top, within which was the residence of a Viking lord or chieftain. Access would have been via a high bridge supported by timbers. An enclosure, also surrounded by a ditch and earthworks, may have been connected to the castle. As well as Clifford's Tower, which in its current stone form was a Norman creation two hundred years later, it is likely that the Norman city walls were built on top of Viking raised mounds.

It was King Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred, who defeated the Viking King Sihtric and the combined kings of the Scots, Strathclyde and several Welsh kings, in 926. Athelstan became king of a united England and was perhaps the greatest of the Anglo Saxon kings. Interestingly, there is a reliable account that during his reign, he introduced a tax on the citizens of York to maintain the hounds needed to keep down the number of Wolves in the forests surrounding the city. 

After Athlestan's death in 940, the Northumbrians chose a Viking leader to be their king and the Kingship of York as an independent state was re-established. The throne passed between Vikings and Saxons several times until Erik Bloodaxe became the last Viking king of York in 947. Eric was the son of Harold the Fair, a Norwegian Viking. Eric had murdered several of his siblings in an attempt to become king of Norway before he was thrown out by his younger brother, Hakon the Good. He became a pirate, with a private army for hire. When he sailed up the Ouse to York in 947, the people of the city installed him as their king. By this time, the rest of England was united with only Northumberland proving troublesome. The Anglo Saxon king of England, King Edred, had an army far larger than Eric's. Edred marched north and tried (but failed) to take York. As Edmund marched home to Wessex, Eric and his army slaughtered their rearguard at Castleford, sending Edred into a fury.

Fearing his wrath, the York citizens expelled Eric in 948 and reinstated Anlaf, who though a Viking, had become a Christian and was endorsed by King Edred (though Anlaf was attempting to deceive Edred and intended to make York independent again). Anlaf and Eric fought without a clear winner, but when Edred found out about Anlaf's deception in 952, the York citizens drove out Anlaf and reinstated Eric as king.

But it soon became clear, again, that Edred would never accept Eric, and in 954 he was once again driven out. The throne of York and title of King of York & Northumberland went with him, never to be reinstated. York became a mere province ruled by Earls for the king of a united England. Eric became a pirate again. He made one more attempt to take York and thereby met his end, killed by Northumbrians loyal to Edred.