(2) Vikings: Military History and Notable Events

793 - Sack of Lindisfarne (All Facts)

• Sacking of the namesake monastery and holy island of Northumbrian where many defenseless monks were slaughtered by Vikings

• Most historians consider it as the start of the Viking Age

795 - Sack of Iona (All Facts)

• After attacking the Shetlands, the Vikings sailed down the west coast of Scotland and sacked the namesake monastery, plundering it and Ireland for the first time

806 - Sack of Iona (All Facts)

• Sacked the namesake monastery where they famously massacred 68 monks, today known as the martyrs of the namesake monastery

834 - Sack of Dorestad (All Facts)

• Sacked the namesake major trading center near the mouth of the Rhine River

842 - Sack of Noirmoutier (All Facts)

845 - Sack of Hamburg (All Facts)

891 - Battle of Leuven (All Facts)

• Battle in which the Vikings were defeated by King Arnulf and Germany / East Francia (and the Holy Roman Empire) near the Dyle River, expelled from his kingdom of Germany / East Francia (and the Holy Roman Empire)

911 - Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte (All Facts)

• Peace treaty signed between Charles the Simple of France / West Francia and Rollo of Normandy

• Peace treaty in which Charles the Simple conceded western territory to Rollo that laid the foundations for the Duchy of Normandy (or “Northmen” or “Normans”), and Rollo

  • Swore homage to Charles the Simple

  • Accepted baptism and converted to Christianity

  • Agreed to defend his kingdom against other Vikings

991 - Battle of Maldon (All Facts)

• Battle in which Olaf the Norseman and the Vikings defeated the English, overcame the heroic English defense, and afterwards continued to advance deep into England until they were bought off by English King Aethelred II “The Unready”

999 - 1198 - Norman Conquest of Southern Italy (All Facts)

1014 - Battle of Clontarf (All Facts)

• Battle in which the Vikings were defeated by King Brian Boru and his Irish forces, although Boru was killed in battle

1053 - Battle of Civitate (All Facts)

• Battle in which Robert Guiscard and his Norman forces invaded Italy and defeated Pope Leo IX and his Papal forces, capturing Pope Leo IX and conquering southern Italy and Sicily

1059 - Treaty of Melfi (All Facts)

• Treaty signed between Pope Nicholas II and the Norman princes Robert Guiscard and Richard I of Capua, in which

  • The Pope promised to recognize the Norman conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily and Robert Guiscard as Duke of Apulia and Calabria (which he had already conquered by that point), and as Duke / Count of Sicily (which he was going to conquer next but did not want the fear of Papal armies attacking his rear)

  • Robert Guiscard promised to be faithful to the Pope and the Catholic Church and promised to invade and take back Sicily from the Muslims

1066 - Battle of Hastings (All Facts)

• Battle in which William, Duke of Normandy, and his Norman-French forces, defeated Harold II and his Anglo-Saxon forces, completing the Norman-French Conquest of England and initiating the reign of William as King of England and the founding of the House of Normandy Dynasty of England

• Battle in which William commanded a mixed force of around 7K Norman-French, Breton, and mercenary soldiers and crushed the army of his rival for the English throne, King Harold, on windswept Sussex

  • Battle after which the Norman-French claimed William was the rightful heir to the English throne and that King Harold II had conceded this

• Battle which saw a struggle between two opposed styles of combat, including

  • Mobile Norman-French archers

  • Stoical, close-packed ranks of English infantry armed with lances and axes

• Battle which saw Harold II and his Anglo-Saxon forces dominate for much of the battle

• Battle in which

  • William and his Norman-French forces approached through a wood near the top of Sandlake Hill, eight miles inland, and dismounted and formed up in tight formation on the high ground

  • William’s Norman-French troops attacked with archers in front followed by armor-clad infantry

  • William and his Norman-French forces rolled uphill in human waves which boke time and again

  • William, on horseback, stayed close and kept control as a conspicuous target who had three horses killed under him

  • William dismounted, removed his helmet in order to be recognized, and, spear in hand, ordered back into the battle the French front ranks who had at last panicked and fled, their own knights having cut them down

  • The Anglo-Saxon English then, observing the beginning of a rout, freed at last from their role as bowmen’s targets, ran forward in hot pursuit

  • The English, however, were hit on both flanks by French cavalry, which was probably the most decisive moment in the battle

  • William and his Norman-French forces, turned near-disaster to their advantage, using the ploy to encourage the Anglo-Saxon English to break ranks

  • In such confusion, the Anglo-Saxon English leaders were exposed as ready targets and Harold II’s two brothers were killed in a hail of arrows and spears

  • William and his Norman-French forces continued to squeeze the core of Harold II’s army until only a few dozen remained standing

  • Those survivors, knowing all was lost, retreated in good order to make a last stand on ground which gave them the best chance to sell their lives dearly, in a steep valley cut by ditches and unsuitable for the Norman-French cavalry

  • However, William, his lance broken, led a party of men from Boulogne into the enemy at this position

• Battle in which Harold II, despite having lost one eye, fought on magnificently against William and his invading Norman-French forces so much so that when his body was recovered it was virtually unidentifiable

1068 - 1071 - Siege of Bari (All Facts)

• Battle in which Robert Guiscard and the Normans take the namesake city during the Norman Conquest of Southern Italy, having brought Byzantine rule in southern Italy to an end after 500 years

1071 - 1072 - Siege of Palermo (All Facts)

• Battle in which Robert Guiscard and the Normans, with the help of his brother Roger of Hauteville, defeated the Arab-Muslims and ended their occupation of Sicily during the Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily

• Battle after which Roger of Hauteville was installed as the first Count of Sicily

1084 - Sack of Rome (All Facts)

• Event in which Robert Guiscard and his Norman forces burned and destroyed the namesake city

  • When Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV besieged and captured a part of the namesake city, Henry IV installed antipope Clement III to take Pope Gregory VII’s place

  • Pope Gregory VII thus fled to the Castel Sant’Angelo, where he called on Robert Guiscard and the Normans to rescue him and the Romans from the invasion of the Holy Roman Empire by Henry IV

  • When he and his Norman forces came, they outnumbered the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and his forces, forcing them to flee; and he rescued Pope Gregory VII from the Castel Sant’Angelo and the invasion of the Holy Roman Empire as well

  • However, after thwarting the Holy Roman Empire and rescuing Pope Gregory VII, he and his forces proceeded to burn and destroy and sack the namesake city

• Event which saw a pall of smoke cover the namesake city as thousands of bodies lie putrefied in the streets