The Viking Invasion of Anglo-Saxon England: The Great Heathen Army

For decades, the Viking presence in Anglo-Saxon England followed a predictable, terrifying pattern: hit-and-run raids. Norse longships would materialize out of the morning mist, plunder a wealthy coastal monastery like Lindisfarne, and vanish back across the North Sea before a local militia could even assemble. But in the autumn of 865 CE , the nature of the Scandinavian threat shifted fundamentally. A massive, unified coalition of Norse warriors landed on the coast of East Anglia. They did not