[Sca-cooks] viking history

[Decker, Terry D.]

I'm fear I must disagree with the Scots.  The climax of the Viking Age came
with the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, although there were later battles in
England and Scotland and sporadic raids during the 11th Century.  A commonly
accepted date for the end of the Viking Age is 1050.

One of the keys to the end of the Viking Age is the change in Norse society
from many small kingdoms to a unified kingdom between the 9th and 10th
Centuries, as independent chieftans became nobles subservient to the will of
a monarch in more than name.

Harald Hardrada's attack on England in 1066 was an attempt to extend the
state of Norway, rather than a simple raid for profit, and marks a definite
change in Norwegian goals.

In 1098, Magnus Barefoot laid claim to the Western Isles.  The Lords of the
Isles, who were Norse-Scots, became rather loosely connected vassals of the
Norse Crown.  In reality, they became independent lords practicing the same
kind of border warfare as occurred on the English-Scottish border.  Several
attempts to subdue the Western Isles failed.

Alexander III of Scotland was only 8 years old when he took the throne in
1249, so he had to wait a few years before taking on the Lords of the Isles.
He did so in 1263 with such success that Haakon IV came to the aid of his
vassals with a fleet.

Alexander undertook to treat with Haakon until October when the weather
turned bad and the talks broke down.  Bad weather damaged the fleet in the
Firth of Clyde leaving the Norse at a disadvantage in an attack on Largs.
The Norse were defeated on both land and sea.  Haakon was wounded and died
at Kirkwall.  Magnus VI ceded the Isles to Scotland as part of the peace
settlement.

So the Battle of Largs was not a Viking raid, but the authorized assault of
a national military levy for reasons of national policy.

As a small point, AIUI, Scottish fans refer to Norse footballers as
"Vikings," so the common usage appears to be beyond historic basis.

Bear

> >Sorry King haakon not magnus barelegs.
> In the UK it is classed as the last Viking raid and is still
> celebrated as
> such. And I'm not arguing with that many drunken Scots....at
> least drunk by
> the time the ship burning takaes place.
> vara