A Viking History Timeline

Building a Viking history timeline starts with a puzzle: the countries we call Denmark, Norway, and Sweden didn’t yet exist when the Viking Age began. Denmark came together first. Around 965, Harald Bluetooth boasted on the great Jelling stone that he had “won for himself all Denmark and Norway.” In Norway, Harald Finehair’s victory at Hafrsfjord, traditionally dated to about 872, began the uniting of the coastal chieftaincies. Sweden took longest: rival kings ruled the Svear and the Gotar for generations, and the pope recognized a Swedish church province, with its archbishop at Uppsala, only in 1164, a century after the Viking Age had closed.

Jump to: How we know the dates · When the Viking Age began and ended · Before Lindisfarne · Early Viking Age · Middle Viking Age · Late Viking Age · End of Viking Age · Modern Viking Events

Key dates – 793 Lindisfarne raid · c. 872 Battle of Hafrsfjord · c. 965 the Jelling stone · 986 Greenland settled · c. 1000 Leif Eriksson reaches North America · 1030 Battle of Stiklestad · 1066 Stamford Bridge and Hastings

Dates are AD unless marked otherwise; “c.” means approximately.

Related pages – Looking for the gods, giants, and terms of the myths instead? In that case, see our Norse Mythology Vocabulary.

How Do We Know the Dates on a Viking History Timeline?

The Vikings didn’t write history books. They carved runestones, composed poetry, and told stories aloud, and those stories shifted with each telling. Most of our dates come from their Christian neighbors, whose monks and royal clerks kept careful annals. Denmark, next door to the Frankish empire, shows up in those records early and often. Sweden, farther away, appears much less in writing, but it is rich in archaeology: more Viking-Age runestones stand in Sweden than anywhere else, and trading towns like Birka have been extensively excavated.

Many of those records were written by the Vikings’ victims, who rarely asked where the raiders came from. English chroniclers called them “Danes” or simply “heathens,” the Franks called them “Northmen,” and the Irish called them “foreigners.” To the people being raided, one Scandinavian looked much like another.

Scandinavians from different regions had real differences, but because the sources so often blur them, this Viking history timeline gathers Viking activity from across the Norse world in one place, from Denmark to Greenland.

Where Does the Viking History Timeline Begin and End?

Most Viking history timelines start in 793, the year of the first famous raid. But the Vikings didn’t appear out of nowhere. For generations before, Scandinavians had been building faster, more seaworthy sailing ships, widening their trade networks and sharpening the skills that would eventually carry them from the markets of Baghdad to the coast of North America.

Many historians close the Viking history timeline in 1066, when King Harald Hardrada of Norway fell at the Battle of Stamford Bridge trying to conquer England. The Scandinavians didn’t vanish, of course; strong kings, the Church, and new ways of making war simply turned the old raiding life into history.

For the following Viking history timeline, all dates are approximate. We have endeavored to include a geographical location when appropriate and known.

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What Comes Before Lindisfarne on the Viking History Timeline?

c. 753 (late tradition) – Thomas of Elmham, a monk writing in the 1400s, records Vikings plundering the nunnery at Minster-in-Thanet in Kent. No earlier source confirms it, and later traditions date the abbey’s sacking to about 855.

789 – Three ships of “Northmen” land at Portland in Wessex and kill the king’s reeve who rides out to meet them, the first Viking attack on England recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

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Early Viking Age on the Viking History Timeline

First Raids and Danish Kings (793–829)

793 (June 8) – Raiders strike the monastery on Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumbria, killing monks and carrying others off as slaves. The scholar Alcuin wrote within weeks that never before had such terror appeared in Britain. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, compiled about a century later, records the raid (its text gives January 8, usually corrected to June 8). Most scholars treat this as the start of the Viking Age.

c. 800 – (Sweden) The Rok runestone is carved in Ostergotland. Its roughly 760 runes make it the longest runic inscription in the world.

c. 804–808 – King Godfred of the Danes, the first Danish king well documented in contemporary sources, faces down Charlemagne’s expanding empire on Denmark’s southern border and strengthens the Danevirke, the great earthwork that guards it.

810 – Fresh from a 200-ship raid on Frisia, King Godfred is murdered by one of his own men.

812 – (Denmark) Harald Halfdansson and Reginfred are co-rulers of Jutland.

823 – Ebo, Archbishop of Reims, preaches Christianity in Denmark.

826 – Harald Klak is baptized at St. Alban’s in Mainz along with his wife and hundreds of followers, becoming the first Scandinavian king known to accept Christianity.

829 – The missionary Ansgar makes his first journey to Sweden, preaching at the trading town of Birka.

Missions, Armies, and New Lands (c. 850–947)

c. 850 – (Denmark) With permission from King Horik I, the missionary Ansgar builds a church at Hedeby, one of the first in Scandinavia. Under Horik II, around 860, he builds another at Ribe.

865 – (England) A coalition of Scandinavian warriors, mostly from Denmark, invades England. Known as the Great Heathen Army, it comes not to raid but to conquer and occupy the kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex.

c. 872 (traditional date) – Harald Finehair wins the Battle of Hafrsfjord and begins uniting Norway’s coastal districts under one king. Many historians now place this closer to 900.

c. 874 – (Iceland) Norse settlers, with Celtic wives and slaves from the British Isles, begin to make Iceland their permanent home.

911 – (France) Charles the Simple, king of West Francia, grants the Viking leader Rollo the lands between the river Epte and the sea. In return, Rollo swears loyalty, accepts baptism, and defends the Seine against other raiders. His lands become Normandy.

930 – (Iceland) Icelanders found the Althing, their national assembly. It still meets today and is often called the oldest parliament in the world.

c. 932 – (Norway) Harald Finehair dies. His son Erik Bloodaxe rules briefly but is driven out for his brutality, and his half-brother Hakon, raised in England as foster son of King Athelstan, becomes king (Hakon the Good).

c. 936–958 – (Denmark) Gorm the Old, father of Harald Bluetooth, reigns. His runestone at Jelling, raised for his wife Thyra, contains the earliest mention of “Denmark” on Danish soil.

947 – Erik Bloodaxe becomes king of York, but the English king Edred soon drives him out.

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Middle Viking Age on the Viking History Timeline

Kings of York, Norway, and Denmark (952–970)

952 – The overthrown Erik Bloodaxe regains his territory in York.

954 – Erik Bloodaxe is killed when Edred claims North England as part of his territory, and he tries to flee. The BBC calls Bloodaxe “the last Viking in England.”

c. 961 – Hakon the Good dies after the Battle of Fitjar, fighting Erik Bloodaxe’s sons. Harald Greycloak becomes king but holds only western Norway. Earl Hakon takes power in Trondelag after Greycloak kills his father, Earl Sigurd. In Sweden, the trading town of Birka is abandoned around this time.

c. 965 – Harald Bluetooth raises the great Jelling stone, proclaiming that he “won for himself all Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian.” Often called Denmark’s birth certificate, it marks the kingdom’s official conversion.

970 – Harald Greycloak is killed by Earl Hakon and his Trondelag men. Hakon becomes the most powerful man in Norway but submits to the rule of Denmark’s Harald Bluetooth.

Bridges, Greenland, and New Kings (979–995)

979 – Denmark’s largest known Viking-Age bridge is built across the Vejle River valley. Now called the Ravning Bridge, about 2,500 feet (760 meters) long, it remained the longest bridge in Denmark until 1935. There is no record of it ever being repaired. Reconstructed sections at the site today show its enormous scale.

982 – (Greenland) Exiled from Iceland for killing, Eirik the Red sails west and spends three years exploring Greenland.

985 – Eirik the Red returns to Iceland to recruit settlers for Greenland.

986 – Eirik returns with about 25 ships of settlers (only 14 make it) and founds the Eastern Settlement, near present-day Qaqortoq (Julianehab), and the Western Settlement, near present-day Nuuk (Godthab).

987 – (Denmark) Svein Forkbeard overthrows his father Harald Bluetooth and takes control of the throne.

995 – A slave kills Earl Hakon. Olaf Tryggvason becomes king of Norway and begins a systematic campaign to convert it. Olof Skotkonung becomes king of the Swedes, ruling both the Svear and the Gotar; he is the first Swedish king whose life is known in any detail.

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Late Viking Age

Conversion and Conquest (999–1018)

999/1000 – Under pressure from Olaf Tryggvason, Iceland’s Althing adopts Christianity. Olaf is killed at the sea battle of Svolder, and Norway is divided among Svein Forkbeard, the Swedish king Olof, and the earls Erik and Svein.

c. 1000 – Leif Eriksson sails from Greenland to North America, which the sagas call Vinland. Tree-ring dating of wood cut with metal tools at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, shows Norse people were there in 1021, the earliest known European presence in the Americas.

c. 1008 – Olof Skotkonung of Sweden is baptized at Husaby by the missionary Sigfrid; the exact year is uncertain.

1013 – Svein Forkbeard, king of Denmark, conquers parts of England and remains king until his death five weeks later.

1014 – Svein Forkbeard dies in February. His son Harald II inherits Denmark, while his younger son Cnut fights to win back England. Earl Erik, son of Earl Hakon, joins Cnut’s campaign in 1015–16.

1015 – Olaf Haraldsson becomes king and works to unite Norway while converting the people there to Christianity by force. He adds inland regions to his kingdom.

1016 – Cnut the Great becomes the sole ruler of England.

1017 – Earl Erik, son of Earl Hakon, becomes Earl of Northumbria under Cnut the Great.

1018 – Harald, son of Svein Forkbeard, dies. Cnut the Great becomes ruler of Denmark.

Cnut’s Empire and Its Heirs (c. 1022–1050)

c. 1022 – Olof Skotkonung dies. His son Anund Jakob succeeds him in Sweden.

1027 – Cnut the Great claims to rule all of England, Denmark, and Norway; he also claims to rule “some of Sweden.”

1028 – Cnut the Great sails to Norway with a fleet, and Norway’s chieftains, led by Earl Hakon of Trondelag, abandon Olaf Haraldsson. Olaf flees east through Sweden to Kievan Rus, where Prince Yaroslav the Wise, married to a Swedish princess, takes him in. Earl Hakon becomes Cnut’s earl in Norway but drowns at sea the next year.

1030 – Olaf Haraldsson returns to Norway and is killed at the Battle of Stiklestad on July 29. Within a year he is venerated as a saint. Cnut’s son Svein and Svein’s mother, Aelfgifu, take power in Norway and quickly become unpopular.

1035 – St. Olaf Haraldsson’s son, Magnus the Good, returns to Norway. Cnut’s son Svein Alfivason flees to Denmark and dies. Cnut the Great dies. Harthacnut inherits Denmark.

1040 – Harthacnut becomes king of England.

1042 – (Denmark) Harthacnut dies. Norwegian King Magnus the Good comes into power.

1046 – Harald Hardrada, half-brother of St. Olaf, returns rich from years in the Byzantine emperor’s Varangian Guard and forces Magnus the Good to share the Norwegian throne.

1047 – Magnus the Good dies. Svein Estridsson, nephew of Cnut the Great, gains power in Denmark. Harald Hardrada becomes sole ruler of Norway.

1050 – Anund Jakob dies. His half-brother Emund Slemme becomes king in Sweden.

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End of the Viking History Timeline

1066 (Sept. 25) – At the Battle of Stamford Bridge, King Harold II of England defeats and kills Harald Hardrada of Norway. Days later William, Duke of Normandy, lands on the south coast; Harold marches his army south and falls at the Battle of Hastings on October 14. The Normans, themselves descendants of Viking settlers, take England.

1076 – (Denmark) Svein Estridsson dies (Danish chronicles say 1074, but letters show he was still alive in 1075). His son Harald III Hen becomes king.

1080 – (Denmark) Harald III dies. Cnut IV, also known as Cnut the Holy, becomes king.

1086 – (Denmark) Rebels kill Cnut IV in St. Alban’s Church, Odense.

1101 – Cnut IV is declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the first Danish king to receive the honor.

1126 – Greenland becomes a bishop’s seat.

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Modern Viking Events

1880 – The Gokstad ship is excavated from a burial mound near Sandefjord, Norway.

1904 – The Oseberg ship is found in Norway.

1960 – Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad find the Norse site at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, the first confirmed Viking site in the Americas.

1962 – (Denmark) Five Viking ships are excavated at Skuldelev.

This Viking history timeline is incomplete. As new information becomes available, we will add it.

Keep exploring – The gods, giants, and places of the myths are gathered on our Norse Mythology Vocabulary page, and Odin’s own titles on Names of Odin and What They Mean. To learn why Asgard Alaska tells these stories, read Our Mission.