Q&A

Did any Vikings raid the British Isles before the attack on Lindisfarne?

Fredrik Åsenius, Sweden

As a violent attack on a holy place which deeply shocked contemporaries, the Viking raid on the island monastery of Lindisfarne in 793 had a powerful symbolic significance – one that has carried down the ages. That’s partly why it’s now often seen as the beginning of the Viking Age. However, it probably wasn’t the first such incident.