Northwest Europe (820 – 963 CE): Viking Age, Danelaw, and Insular Kingdoms

Geographic and Environmental Context

Northwest Europe includes Iceland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Faroe, Shetland, and Orkney Islands, the Channel Islands, and the western coastal zones of Norway and Denmark (west of 10°E).

• Anchors: the North Sea ports (York, London, Dublin, Bristol, Bergen, Trondheim), the Irish Sea corridors (Dublin–Waterford–Chester), the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Alderney) as a maritime hinge between Normandy and England, the English Channel approaches (Dover, Portsmouth, Southampton), the North Atlantic islands (Faroe, Orkney, Shetland, Iceland), and the Norwegian fjord ports (Bergen, Trondheim)

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Benefiting from the Medieval Warm Period, cereal farming extended further north; pastures flourished in Norway and Iceland after settlement (~870s).

• North Atlantic seas teemed with cod, herring, and whales, supporting expanding fisheries.

Societies and Political Developments

• Viking expansion dominated:

  • England: Great Heathen Army (865), Danelaw entrenched in York and East Anglia.

  • Ireland: Norse–Gaelic towns (Dublin, Waterford, Limerick) arose as trading hubs.

  • Scotland: Orkney, Shetland, Hebrides under Norse jarls.

  • Iceland settled (c. 870–930), forming the Althing assembly (930).

• Anglo-Saxon kingdoms consolidated: Alfred the Great (871–899) defended Wessex, laying foundation for England’s unification.

• Ireland remained fragmented among provincial kings, though Norse towns tied it into Atlantic commerce.

• Norway: Harald Fairhair (872) began consolidation; Denmark projected power into North Sea.

Economy and Trade

• Silver dirhams from the Islamic world reached Scandinavia via Volga–Baltic routes.

• Viking Dublin exported slaves and hides; York and Hedeby tied into Baltic–North Sea trade.

• Cod/dried fish and wool from North Atlantic settlements became staples.

Belief and Symbolism

• Norse paganism thrived; runestones, ship burials, and cults of Odin/Thor.

• Christianity survived in Ireland, Anglo-Saxon England, and parts of Scotland; missionary work reached Scandinavia.

Long-Term Significance

By 963, Northwest Europe was a Viking–Anglo-Saxon–Celtic frontier, with Icelandic settlement, Norse–Gaelic towns, and early English statehood foreshadowing medieval consolidation.

Maredudd, the son of Owain ap Hywel Dda, king of Deheubarth, had taken his father's place when the lattter had grown too old to lead in battle, and had captured Gwynedd from Cadwallon ab Ieuaf in 986.

On Owain's death in 988, Maredudd had also become ruler of Deheubarth.

He may have controlled all Wales apart from Gwent and Morgannwg.

He is recorded as raiding Mercian settlements on the borders of Radnor and as paying a ransom of one penny a head to rescue some of his subjects who had been taken captive in Viking raids.

Danish raids are a constant problem during Maredudd's reign.

Godfrey Haroldson in 987 had raided Anglesey, killing one thousand and carrying away two thousand as captives.

Maredudd dies in 999 and is described by the annalists as "the most famous king of the Britons".

Following his death, the throne of Gwynedd is recovered for the line of Idwal Foel by Cynan ap Hywel.

Gruffydd is the son of Rhydderch ab Iestyn who had from 1023 to 1033 been able to take over the kingdom of Deheubarth.

He had received the lordship of Caerleon in 1031 and strengthened its fortifications.

Already king of part of Morgannwg, Gruffydd had become involved with Deheubarth in 1044 when that kingdom was taken over from Hywel ab Edwin by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, already king of Gwynedd.

Gruffydd and his brother Rhys had secured control of Morgannwg, by 1045, and the native chronicles mention that in 1045 the two brothers performed some treacherous action against Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, the king of Gwynedd and Powys.

The exact nature of this treachery is not specified, however.

Although both Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and the brothers were rivals to rule Deheubarth, in the end, the two brothers became the rulers of the disputed territory.

Gruffydd ap Rhydderch is said to be a powerful king who stoutly resists raids by the Danes and attacks by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.

Ealdred was probably born in the west of England, and could be related to Lyfing, his predecessor as bishop of Worcester.

His family, from Devonshire, may have been well-to-do.

Another relative is Wilstan or Wulfstan, who under Ealdred's influence will become Abbot of Gloucester.

Ealdred had been a monk in the cathedral chapter at Winchester Cathedral before becoming abbot of Tavistock Abbey about 1027, an office he had held until about 1043.

Even after leaving the abbacy of Tavistock, he continues to hold two properties from the abbey until his death.

During his tenure as abbot, he has supported the abbey with gifts; the medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury says that they were splendid and many.

No contemporary documents relating to Ealdred's time as abbot have been discovered.

Ealdred is made bishop of Worcester in 1046, a position he will hold until his resignation in 1062.

He may have acted as suffragan, or subordinate bishop, to his predecessor Lyfing before formally assuming the bishopric, as from about 1043 Ealdred had witnessed as an episcopus, or bishop, and a charter from 1045 or early 1046 names Sihtric as abbot of Tavistock.

Lyfing dies on March 26, 1046, and Ealdred becomes bishop of Worcester shortly after.

However, Ealdred does not receive the other two dioceses that Lyfing had held, Crediton and Cornwall; King Edward grants these to Leofric, who will combine the two sees at Creditonis an advisor to King Edward, and is often involved in the royal government.

He is also a military leader, and in 1046 he leads an unsuccessful expedition against the Welsh in retaliation for a raid led by the Welsh rulers Gruffydd ap Rhydderch, Rhys ap Rhydderch, and Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.

Ealdred's expedition is betrayed by some Welsh soldiers who are serving with the English, and Ealdred is defeated.

Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, from 1057 the only Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales, had reached an agreement with Edward the Confessor, but the death of his ally Ælfgār, Earl of Mercia, in 1062 leaves him more vulnerable.

Harold Godwinson obtains the king's approval in late 1062, for a surprise attack on Gruffydd's court at Rhuddlan.

Gruffydd is nearly captured, but had been warned in time to escape out to sea in one of his ships, though his other ships are destroyed.

Harold's brother Tostig leads an army into north Wales in the spring of 1063, while Harold leads the fleet first to south Wales and then north to meet with his brother's army.

Gruffydd is forced to take refuge in Snowdonia, but at this stage his own men kill him, on August 5 according to Brut y Tywysogion.

The Ulster Chronicle states that he was killed by Cynan ap Iago in 1064, whose father Iago ab Idwal had been put to death in 1039 by Gruffydd.

Gruffydd had probably made enemies in the course of uniting Wales under his rule.

Harold had married Gruffydd's widow Ealdgyth, though she was to be widowed again three years later.

Gruffydd's realm had been divided again into the traditional kingdoms.

Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallon had come to an agreement with Harold and had been given the rule of Gwynedd and Powys.

Thus when Harold was defeated and killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the Normans reaching the borders of Wales had been confronted by the traditional kingdoms rather than a single king.

Gruffydd had left two sons who in 1069 challenge Bleddyn and Rhiwallon at the battle of Mechain in an attempt to win back part of their father's kingdom.

However, they are defeated, one being killed and the other dying of exposure after the battle.

Rhiwallon is also killed in this battle, leaving Bleddyn to rule Gwynedd and Powys alone.