Chapter 7 - Warfare and Peoplehood: The Vikings and the English

Summary

THIS CHAPTER PROVIDES a case study of conflict and identity in ninth-and tenth-century England. It questions some of the common labels we use, starting with those we call vikings and arguing that their identities in English-speaking lands were diverse rather than cohesive, and evolved over time. The analysis will briefly explore terminology in primary sources before looking at the role of battles and negotiations in the creation of a unified kingdom of England. Finally, consideration will be given to the St. Brice's Day massacre in 1002 when, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the English king “ordered to be slain all the Danish men who were in England.” This would seem to be the starkest example of opposition between the English and vikings. The story of the English kingdom is often represented as a clash of cultures between Alfred the Great and his descendants against Scandinavian settlers. The case presented here is that integration and negotiation were more important in the making of England than warfare. It was only once the boundaries of the English kingdom were successfully expanded that there was growing intolerance to perceived enemies within, and a more rigid use of ethnic labels was applied.

One essential problem we have in interpreting how (the people we call) vikings perceived their identity in the ninth century is the lack of contemporary written sources written by them. As Judith Jesch has pointed out in her recent book, there are three ways of defining the term “viking.” We can address its Old Norse etymology, historical usage, and current meaning. The etymology is debated but a víkingr was someone defined by their actions not their ethnicity; in historical usage Scandinavian víkingar “refers to people (always in groups) who were engaged in some sort of military activity, often but not always piratical”— it tends to be pejoratively applied to opponents in one's own country but could have more positive connotations referring to the activities of one's own people elsewhere. It also turns up as a personal name in Norse-speaking communities. However, the label is not used that frequently among Scandinavians or English speakers who used the cognate word wicing.