This post will look at the 3^rd decade of the 9^th century – the 820s – and will attempt to summarise what was happening in Northern Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia during those years while introducing some of the characters who will play a leading role in events to come.

In my post  Constantin, son of Uurguist/son of Fergus I noted that the Pictish king Constantin died in 820 leaving his son, Domnall, controlling neighbouring Dal Riada. For more than two decades the British Isles had been subject to a series of ferocious attacks by raiders from the North – the Vikings – and this was impacting on the politics of the various peoples of Britain to differing degrees. It was the west of the northern British Isles where the attacks were reported most frequently – although this may simply because records of the Picts (who were mainly in the east) were less common than those of Ireland and the west of (what is now) Scotland. In the area covered by modern England, attacks on the east coast were frequent – as recorded by the Anglo-Saxon historians.

By the 820s it is clear that the visiting Northmen were not just setting up camp for the duration of their stay but were also spending longer periods of time there and would start to settle on a more permanent basis. The earlier time-limited raiding episodes continued but they were now also giving way to more frequent pitched battles against defending armies.

War and Fire

According to the (albeit mainly Irish) sources, it was the emerald isle which was now bearing the brunt of the “Viking” attacks. In 821, Edar (near modern-day Dublin) was “plundered by the heathens” who enslaved a large number of women. Beg Eire and Dairinis Camhain (Begery island and St Camhain’s island, both off Wexford harbour) were also “plundered.” [1]

The following year there were attacks on other places further south, including Cork[2] and there was no respite with raids on Scelec (Skellig Michael in the south west of the island) where the abbot Etgal was captured (he later starved)[3]; then Dun Lethglaise[4] (Downpatrick in what is now Northern Ireland) and Bangor[5]. Here the oratory of the Abbey was broken and the relics of Comgall (its founder) were stolen from the shrine. The moving of the bones had apparently been foretold by the abbot, as related by the annals[6]:

“It will be true, true

By the will of the supreme King of kings.

My bones will be brought, unblemished

From the beloved Bangor to Antrim”

The year 825 was particularly eventful. Mag Bile (Movilla, County Down) was burned[7]. Inis Daimle (Little Island, in the river Suit, south-east of Waterford) was plundered[8].  In battle, the Ulaid defeated the Northmen in Mag Inis Lecale[9] (in County Down) but the “foreigners” also defeated another Irish kingdom – the Osraige[10]. 825 was also the year which saw the slaughter and martyrdom of Blathmac of Iona, as reported in Iona and the Vikings.

Further activity took place in Lusca (Lusk, north of Dublin) in 827[11], which was also burned, and Dun Laighen at Druim (County Wicklow)[12]. In 828 at Ard Cianachta on the east coast the “foreigners” carried out a great slaughter of porpoises (presumably as a food source rather than just because the killers were evil) while also mortally wounding Cinaed son of Cumuscach, the king there.[13]

In 828, just to illustrate that it did not always go the vikings’ way, the Northmen were defeated by an army of King Laethobar of Ulaid[14] and also by Cairpre, Lord of Ui Ceinnsealaigh (Wexford) and by the community of Tech Munnu (Taghmon, also in County Wexford)[15].

For Ireland then at least any roaring in the 820s was that of the battle-cry and fire.

Pictland, Dal Riada, Northumbria and Strathclyde

Across the Irish Sea the decade saw little change in the leadership of the Picts and Dal Riadan Scots. After Constantin’s death in 820, the Pictish throne was assumed by his brother Onuist. Known as Onuist II – to distinguish him from the first Onuist who ruled from the late 720s and 761 – he lasted right through the 820s. His nephew, Domnall son of Constantin continued to exert power over Dal Riada, as he had done since around 811. As the decade ended, the Pictish supremacy remained in place in what is now Scotland.

Unfortunately we know little of Onuist II, other than a dubious tale which is associated with him concerning the origins of the Scottish flag – but that can wait until a future post.

Meanwhile in Northumbria, power had passed through a number of monarchs since we last looked at that kingdom. This was a period of internal strife over who ruled the most northerly Anglo-Saxon kingdom. After the murder of Aethelred by a group of Northumbrian nobility at Corbridge in 796, the next king was Osbald, a former advisor to Aethelred. Osbald was by all accounts not a very pleasant man. In 780, he had arranged for the burning to death of Bearn, the son of the earlier king Aelfwald (who ruled 779-788). After 27 days, the Northumbrian nobility had had enough and forced him to flee north, where he sought refuge from Constantin of the Picts. By 799, he was dead, his body returned to Northumbria where it was buried at York Minster.

Osbald’s replacement was Eardwulf whose reign lasted at least ten years until 806. Very little is known of his background and his relationship to the various other contenders for the throne. One story tells how he had been captured some 15 or so years before his succession by the then king Aethelred, son of Aethelwald Moll (see Kings in the North) at the start of that king’s second reign. Sent to Ripon in North Yorkshire, Eardwulf was apparently put to death just beyond the walls of the monastery, but he made a miraculous midnight recovery which no doubt scared the singing monks senseless:

“In the second year (of his second reign, i.e. 791), the leader Eardwulf was captured, and led to Ripon, and there by the order of the king (Aethelred) was killed outside the gate of the monastery. The monks carried his body to the church with Gregorian chanting, and placed it outside in a tent. In the middle of the night he was found alive in the church.”[16]

After a decade in power, it seems that Eardwulf was deposed and lived in exile – not this time with the Picts, instead choosing to visit the European continent. He was possibly succeeded/overthrown by Aelfwald II, but at this point the history becomes less secure. After a couple of years this Aelfwald may have been replaced by a returning Eardwulf, or by Eardwulf’s son, Eanred. One 13^th century source states that Eanred reigned from 808 until 840[17] before being replaced by his son Aethelred. However other evidence (which we will look at later) suggests that Eanred’s reign may have lasted a little bit longer (perhaps 850).

In contrast with the complications of Northumbria, the regal and political history of the final kingdom in northern Britain – Strathclyde/Alt Clut – is much simpler – at least in the sense that we have very little information to cause any confusion. Dumnagual who signed the peace treaty with Onuist and Eadberht in 756[18] died in battle against the Saxons probably around the year 760. He was succeeded by his son Eugein, who was then succeeded by his son Riderch, then by his son, another Dumnagual. The source gives no indication of dates and since these kings have not survived in other sources, we can only assume timescales. The next king named, Dumnagual’s son Arthgal is named in the Annals of Ulster as dying in 872[19].

This then was the political picture in northern Britain and Ireland in – and leading up to – the 820s. A major factor in this was no doubt the increasing influence of the visitors from Scandinavia. Norway and Denmark, while not yet the kingdoms of even a century later, also had their leaders about whom we begin to learn more and more.

Norway consisted of a number of petty kingdoms. One of these was Agder in the south of that land and in the year 820, a young boy of perhaps ten years old was being brought up in the royal household. His name was Halfdan and his mother, Åsa was the daughter of King Harald of Agder. His father, Gudrod Hunter-king (Guðrøðr veiðikonungr), had been king of another nearby realm called Vestfold just to the north on the Oslofjord but had been killed when Halfdan was one year old. Rule over Vestfold had passed to Halfdan’s older half-brother, Olaf (they shared the same father). There is no evidence to suggest that these royal figures were involved in trips to Britain and Ireland, but one of their descendants will play a major role in what happens in the following decades

Midway through the 820s, the impact of Scandinavian expansion can be seen with the legendary settlement of the Faroes by Grimur Kamban, whose second name may well have been Irish or Scottish – as described in The Islands of Sheep: Settlement of The Faroes.

Without the support of the Annals to provide a reference, the dating of the births and deaths of most of the prominent characters coming from Scandinavia increasingly becomes a process of intelligent guesswork. With this caveat it is possible to propose that in 820, Bjorn Buna, whom we met in A Very Short Interlude Across the North Sea, died. He left behind a number of children include three sons: Helgi, Hrapp and Ketil. Ketil would later be known as “Flat-nose” and he and his descendants will become an important feature of this Northern Tapestry.

It is also possible that 820 saw the birth of a certain Olaf (Amlaíb is the Celtic version) who represents the coming together of Hiberno and Norse cultures. According to the Icelandic sagas, Olaf was the son of Ingjald, son of Helgi Olafsson, a petty Norwegian king from the Ringerike area. This is mentioned in the Book of Settlements[20], Erik the Red’s Saga[21] and Eyrbyggja Saga[22].  A different lineage, mentioned in Laxdaela Saga, states that Olaf’s father Ingjald was “the son of Frodi the Valiant, who was slain by the Svertlings”[23]. The Book of Settlements notes that Olaf would eventually go on a viking expedition to the British Isles (“Olafr en Hviti heriadi i vestrviking[24]”) and conquer Dublin – but we are getting ahead of ourselves and will look at this character in much more detail in a later blog.

In summary then the 820s saw increased “Viking” activity in Britain and Ireland with a move to more settlement on the part of the Scandinavians. This will have led to a fusion of culture and people and thie story will now turn to look at some of those people. There was some level of stability in what is now Scotland, but less so in Northumbria, which had also seen its fair share of Viking attacks.

In this decade I have proposed that Bjorn Buna, father of Ketil Flatnose, died, while in Norway a young prince called Halfdan (later known as Halfdan the Black) was growing up. The Northmen (or perhaps a mix of Northmen and Irish or Scots) had reached the Faroes, confirming the hunger for further exploration beyond Scandinavia and the British Isles.

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[1] Annals of Ulster 821.3; Annals of the Four Masters 819.4

[2] Chronicum Scotorum 822

[3] Annals of Innisfallen 824.3

[4] Annals of Ulster 825.9; Chronicon Scotorum 825.4

[5] Annals of Ulster 823.4; Chronicon Scotorum 823.7

[6] Annals of Ulster 824.2

[7] Annals of Ulster 825.10; Annals of the Four Masters 823.15; Chronicon Scotorum 825.5

[8] Annals of Ulster 825.15; Annals of the Four Masters 823.16; Chronicon Scotorum 825.8

[9] Annals of Ulster 825.11; Annals of the Four Masters 823.17; Chronicon Scotorum 825.6

[10] Annals of Ulster 825.12; Annals of the Four Masters 823.18

[11] Annals of Ulster 827.3; Annals of the Four Masters 825.9

[12] Annals of Ulster 827.9; Annals of the Four Masters 825.13

[13] Annals of Ulster 828.3 & 828.4

[14] Annals of Ulster 828.5; Annals of the Four Masters 826.10

[15] Annals of Ulster 828.6; Annals of the Four Masters 826.9

[16] Symeon of Durham: “Cuius anno secondo Eardulf dux captus est et ad Ripun perductus, ibique occidi iussus extra portam monasterii a rege praefato. Cuius corpus fratres cum Gregorianis concentibus ad ecclesiam portantes, et in tentorio foris ponentes, post mediam noctem vivus est in ecclesia inventus”

[17] Roger of Wendover:   

“Anno Domini dcccviii. Eardulfo, Northanhumbrorum rege, a regno fugato, Alfwoldus ei duobus annis successit ; fugaverat autem illum idem Alfwoldus et regnum ejus occupavit” (In 808, Eardwulf, king of the Northumbrians, was driven from his kingdom, and was succeeded by Aelfwald, who reigned two years. but that same Aelfwald had driven him away and seized his kingdom)

“Anno Domini dcccx. defuncto rege Northanhumbrorum Alfwoldo, Eandredus regnavit pro eo triginta duobus annis” (In 810 Aelfwald, king of the Northumbrians died, and Eanred reigned after him for thirty-two years)

“Anno Domini dcccxl., defuncto rege Northanhumbrorum Andredo, Athelredus, filius ejus, septem annis successit.” (In 840, Eanred, king of the Northumbrians died, and was succeeded by his son Athelred, who reigned seven years)

[18] See Picts, Britons and Anglo-Saxons: The Supremacy of Onuist, Part II

[19] Annals of Ulster 872.5: “Artghal, rex Britanorum Sratha Cluade”

[20] Landnámabók, chapter 95 (as per Pálsson & Edwards)

[21] Chapter 1

[22] Chapter 1

[23] Laxdæla Saga Chapter 1

[24] Landnámabók. I-III. Hauksbók. Sturlubók. Melabók m. m. Udgiven af Det kongelige nordisk oldskrift-selskab : Finnur Jónsson, 1858-1934 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive