Unearthing the Viking Great Army of the 860s

There is an interesting and lengthy article in the latest issue of the Smithsonian Magazine which sets out recent archaeological research into the Viking Great Army of the 860s which presaged the Viking settlement of what became the Danelaw.

Despite its occasionally popularist style - there really is nothing new about seeing the Vikings in a more positive light, and that has been going on for the last fifty years - it does make for worthwhile reading. It outlines the significant discoveries at the two sites associated with the places where the Army overwintered and from where they perhaps began the process of establishing themselves in England. Thus Repton and Foremark in Derbyshire, where they are recorded as basing themselves in the winter of 873-4 receive considerable attention. It should perhaps be stressed more than the article does that Repton was already an important Mercian centre and was the necropolis of its more recent kings. 

The site of the earlier Danish camp site at Torksey in Lincolnshire lower down the Trent, where the winter camp had been in 872-3 also attracts attention for what it reveals.

By 876 the Vikings had started actively conquering and having taken the area that became Yorkshire were establishing themselves there. In succeeding years the Danelaw extended south and east to take in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire and East Anglia, leaving only Wessex and western Mercia unoccupied and from whence to resist the Danes. From that resistance led by King Alfred and from his descendants skill in drawing the Danelaw under their dominion there came about a unified, but diverse, English realm.

The material evidence discussed includes burial sites - and a possible identification of teo elite warriors at Repton - earthworks, pottery finds and personal jeweller brought by the invaders. This is then linked to references in chronicles or annals to further reconfigure the story of Danish settlement.

The article can be viewed at Digging Up the Rich Viking History of Britain. It is a stimulating review of the evidence.