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In the footsteps of Ivarr the Boneless

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Dublin to England: AD 865-867

Ivarr's Vikings eventually settled down at York. This bustling street is part of the Jorvik exhibition

This reconstruction of a bowl-maker's residence in the Jorvik exhibition is in the exact place where evidence of wood-working was found during the excavation of the site

AD 865 saw the greatest invasion of the British Isles in recorded history. In this year, according to an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 'a great heathen army came into England.'

Unstoppable success
It was an army of Danes – a Viking force of hitherto unseen strength and number – that moved through the land with frightening speed and seemingly unstoppable success. Led by Ivarr and his brothers Halfdan 'of the wide embrace' and Ubbe, this was the first Viking invasion of the British mainland aimed at conquest rather than pillage. Its impact was devastating.

Within the Scandinavian saga tradition, the 'great heathen invasion' was the result of Ivarr and his brothers' very personal desire to avenge the death of their father in the Northumbrian pit of vipers.

The defeat of Northumbria
The Vikings landed on the East Anglian coast. King Edmund, the local ruler, bought peace for his kingdom by supplying the invaders with food, horses and winter quarters. Ivarr then led his army – perhaps reinforced by other Vikings from France – north along the old Roman road, crossing the Humber into the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria.

On 1 November 866, taking advantage of a civil war raging there between Ælla and his rival Osbert (who may have been his brother), the Viking army captured and occupied the Northumbrian capital of York (Jorvik) in a surprise attack, meeting little resistance. The invaders began to build up the defences of York, to make it theirs.

The warring Northumbrians had put aside their differences to unite against the common enemy, and on 23 March 867, the combined forces of Osbert and Ælla attempted to retake York. They were heavily defeated by the Danes. Osbert was killed in battle and Ælla was put to death. The Annals of Ulster record: 'A defeat of the Northern Saxons in York, at the hands of the Danes, in which Alli, king of the Northern Saxons, was slain.'

Ælla's execution
The manner of Ælla's death has generated tremendous debate among scholars of the period. His execution is described in great detail in the Scandinavian sources, and Ivarr's personal involvement is stressed. The most graphic description appears in the ßáttr af Ragnars sonum: 'They caused the bloody eagle to be carved on the back of Ælla, and they cut away all of the ribs from the spine, and then they ripped out his lungs.'

This particularly gruesome act was a form of Viking ritual murder known as the 'blood-eagle'. The practice has been rejected by certain academics who feel it is based entirely on folklore, and that later descriptions are the result of mistranslation. However, the fact that the term 'blood-eagle' existed as a meaningful concept in the Old Norse vocabulary indicates that it constituted a ritual form of slaying in its own right.

Ivarr's devastating attack on the British Isles can thus be seen in the context of filial revenge and Ælla's exceptionally gruesome execution as the culmination of this impulse.

What was left of the Northumbrian royal court fled north, and Ivarr installed Egbert I as the puppet king of Northumbria. He was little more than a tax collector for the Danes, helping to bring them greater wealth and emphasising their power.

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Find out more

Time Team Live 99
www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/archive/
timeteamlive99/
In addition to investigating Roman and medieval sites in York, the team made some of its most spectacular finds in a Viking plot in Walmgate. This website contains an enormous amount of information, not least (under 'Archaeology in York') archived articles from Current Archaeology that describe the original Jorvik excavations.

English Heritage Book of Viking York by Richard Hall (Batsford, 1994). Out of print; may be available from libraries and second-hand bookshops.
During the Viking Age, York was the most important centre of Scandinavian power and influence in Britain. This book outlines the history of this exciting period and traces the impact that the Viking settlers made.

The Fury of the Northmen: Saints, shrines and sea-raiders in the Viking age by John Marsden (Kyle Cathie, 1996). Out of print; may be available from libraries or second-hand bookshops.
Revealing the Viking onslaught from the viewpoint of those who felt its might, this book offers an evocation of the last years of the 8th century, as the holy places that had been the great civilising force of early medieval Europe were doomed. The raid on Lindisfarne, followed by those on the Tyne, on Iona and on the Irish coastline, showed the holy men the strength and greed of the northern raiders, as detailed in contemporary documents.

Northanhymbre Saga: The history of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Northumbria by John Marsden (Kyle Cathie, 1992). Out of print; may be available from libraries or second-hand bookshops.
Between the end of Roman Britain and the earliest onslaught of the Viking age, a warrior dynasty claiming descent from Woden forged the first military superpower of the Anglo-Saxon world. For 200 years, the kings of Northumbria reigned supreme. This history of Northumbria, from the 'Battles of Kites and Crows' in the shadow of the Roman wall to the 'golden age' of the Lindisfarne Gospels, draws on the earliest surviving sources.

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