er" (marked by red lines). Beginning in the 8th century, the Danes initiated the construction of trading towns across their realm, including
Hedeby,
Ribe,
Aarhus and
Viborg and expanded existing settlements such as
Odense and
Aalborg. Hedeby quickly grew to become the largest settlement in Scandinavia and remained so until its eventual destruction in the later half of the 11th century. From around 800 AD, the Danes began a long era of well-organised raids across the coasts and rivers of Europe. Some of the raids were followed by a gradual succession of Danish settlers and during this epoch, large areas outside Scandinavia were settled by the Danes, including the Danelaw in England and countryside and newly established towns in Ireland, the Netherlands and northern France. In the early 11th century, King
Cnut the Great (died 1035) ruled the extensive
North Sea Empire for nearly 20 years, consisting of Denmark, England, Norway, southern Sweden and parts of northern Germany. During the 10th century the royal seat of the Danes was moved from Lejre to
Jelling in central Jutland, marking the foundation and consolidation of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Danelaw In the
British Isles, Danes landed three
Viking ships at the isle of
Portland, Dorset in 786 AD, where they met and killed a local reeve and his men. In 793 AD, a Viking raid and plunder of the monastery at
Lindisfarne took place, but no further activity in England followed until 835 AD. In that year, the Danes raided and built a permanent camp on the
Isle of Sheppey in south east England and settling followed from 865, when brothers
Halfdan Ragnarsson and
Ivar the Boneless wintered in
East Anglia. Halfdan and Ivar moved north and captured
Northumbria in 867 and
York as well.
Danelaw – a special rule of law – was soon established in the settled areas and shaped the local cultures there for centuries. Cultural remains are still noticeable today.
Ireland The Danes first arrived in Ireland in 795 AD, at
Rathlin Island, initiating subsequent raids and fortified trade settlements, so called
longphorts. During the Viking Age, they established many coastal towns including
Dublin (Dyflin),
Cork,
Waterford (Veðrafjǫrðr) and
Limerick (Hlymrekr) and Danish settlers followed. There were many small skirmishes and larger battles with the native
Irish clans in the following two centuries, with the Danes sometimes siding with allied clans. In 1014 AD, at the
Battle of Clontarf, the Vikings were eventually defeated and the remaining Danish settlers gradually assimilated with the Irish population.
Frisia The first Vikings appeared in
Frisia, now part of the Netherlands and Germany, in 800 AD, when Danes plundered coastal settlements and later the trade town of
Dorestad became a frequent target of raids. During this time, Frisia was ruled by the
Franks and in the mid-9th century, the Danish chieftain of
Roric received the western parts of the Netherlands as a fief and established here. The Danes were probably involved in Frisia much earlier as
Gregory of Tours (c. 538–594 AD) mentions a Danish king
Chlochilaichus who was killed there while invading
Frankish territory in the early 6th century.
France s on the Normandy coast. Scene from the
Bayeux tapestry. The first known Viking raid in what now constitutes France, commenced in 799, when an attack was fought off on the coast of
Aquitaine. Several other smaller skirmishes with aggressive Vikings from primarily Danish territory have been recorded, including the first raid on the
Seine in 820, but it was not until the year 834 before Viking activity in France took off on a grand scale. In that year, Danes established a lasting base on
Noirmoutier island, a central spot for the European salt trade at the time, and poured into the
Loire Valley on larger raid expeditions. Many large scale raids followed all across the coasts and in-land rivers of Western Europe in subsequent decades. In the beginning of the 900s, Vikings had established an encampment and base in the lower parts of the
Seine river around
Rouen. In an effort to stop or reduce the relentless raids,
Charles the Simple made a
treaty in Saint-Clair-sur-Epte with the Viking chieftain of
Rollo in 911, granting Rollo and his Danish men authority over the area now known as
Normandy. This prompted Scandinavian settlers to establish themselves here and in the course of the next couple of centuries, the Norman culture emerged in Normandy. ==Historical texts==