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On June 8, 793, Vikings in long ships from modern-day Norway plundered St Cuthbert's monastery on Lindisfarne Island, off the northeast coast of England. From the article:
The Viking Raid on Lindisfarne
The devastating Viking attack on the church of St Cuthbert in 793 sent a shockwave through Europe. But a Christian community at Lindisfarne survived, and recorded the event on the famous ‘Domesday stone’.
WHIRLWINDS AND DRAGONS
The first few months of the year 793 were worrying times. Later Anglo-Saxon writers in northern England recalled how ‘immense whirlwinds, flashes of lightning and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air’. They thought these aerial phenomena were portents of imminent disaster.
Sure enough, a great famine followed. But worse was to come. On 8 June,
heathen men came and miserably destroyed God’s church on Lindisfarne, with plunder and slaughter.
HOLY ISLAND
This Viking raid on the island of Lindisfarne, just off the Northumbrian coast, was not the first in England. A few years before, in 789, ‘three ships of northmen’ had landed on the coast of Wessex, and killed the king’s reeve who had been sent to bring the strangers to the West Saxon court.
But the assault on Lindisfarne was different because it attacked the sacred heart of the Northumbrian kingdom, desecrating ‘the very place where the Christian religion began in our nation’. It was where Cuthbert (d. 687) had been bishop, and where his body was now revered as that of a saint.
News of the raid quickly reached Alcuin, a Northumbrian scholar living far away in the Frankish kingdom, where he was tutor to the children of the renowned King Charlemagne. Alcuin was aghast at this unprecedented atrocity. As he wrote to Higbald, bishop of Lindisfarne, ‘a place more sacred than any in Britain’:
The church of St Cuthbert is spattered with the blood of the priests of God, stripped of all its furnishing, exposed to the plundering of pagans.
GUILTY PARTY
Alcuin was particularly worried about why God ‘and so great a company of saints’ had allowed this most holy of places to suffer.
He advised Higbald to examine his conscience to see if there was any reason why God might have allowed such a terrible disaster to happen. ‘Is this the outcome of the sins of those who live there?’ he asked. ‘It has not happened by chance, but is the sign of some great guilt.’ He wondered, too, whether the ransacking of a Christian church by non-believers would lead to ‘greater suffering’.
Was Alcuin perhaps implying that he thought he knew why God’s wrath had been visited upon Northumbria?
A VENGEFUL GOD?
The Anglo-Saxon chroniclers suggest that he did perhaps have recent sordid events in mind. On 23 September 788, the nobleman Sicga had led a group of conspirators who murdered King Ælfwald of Northumbria. Another chronicle records that in February 793 Sicga had ‘perished by his own hand’. But on 23 April his body was carried to the island of Lindisfarne for burial.
So a man who was both a regicide and had committed suicide had been buried there just six weeks before the Viking pirates struck. Was this the ‘great guilt’ Alcuin referred to? Clearly he thought that the pagan raids were an act of holy vengeance on a sinful people.
‘GREATER SUFFERING’
Whatever it was that had brought about the raid on Lindisfarne, it was certainly only the beginning of ‘greater suffering’. Viking raids increased in frequency around the coast of Britain, Ireland and Francia. By 850 foreign armies were overwintering in England, and by 870 the Danish conquest of the northern, midland and eastern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had begun.
But despite the ferocity of the attack at Lindisfarne, a Christian community survived there. The cult of St Cuthbert became the greatest in the North, moving first to Norham, then in 883 to Chester-le-Street, and thence to Durham in 995.
Christian continuity at Lindisfarne is shown by the religious sculpture made there in the 9th and 10th centuries. This includes the Domesday stone, which vividly depicts on one side a troop of seven uniformed warriors brandishing Viking-style battle-axes and swords. On the other side is a symbolic depiction of Domesday, when – so Christians believe – Christ comes again to sit in judgement on the sins of men. By Joanna Story."
The Viking Raid on Lindisfarne
The devastating Viking attack on the church of St Cuthbert in 793 sent a shockwave through Europe. But a Christian community at Lindisfarne survived, and recorded the event on the famous ‘Domesday stone’.
WHIRLWINDS AND DRAGONS
The first few months of the year 793 were worrying times. Later Anglo-Saxon writers in northern England recalled how ‘immense whirlwinds, flashes of lightning and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air’. They thought these aerial phenomena were portents of imminent disaster.
Sure enough, a great famine followed. But worse was to come. On 8 June,
heathen men came and miserably destroyed God’s church on Lindisfarne, with plunder and slaughter.
HOLY ISLAND
This Viking raid on the island of Lindisfarne, just off the Northumbrian coast, was not the first in England. A few years before, in 789, ‘three ships of northmen’ had landed on the coast of Wessex, and killed the king’s reeve who had been sent to bring the strangers to the West Saxon court.
But the assault on Lindisfarne was different because it attacked the sacred heart of the Northumbrian kingdom, desecrating ‘the very place where the Christian religion began in our nation’. It was where Cuthbert (d. 687) had been bishop, and where his body was now revered as that of a saint.
News of the raid quickly reached Alcuin, a Northumbrian scholar living far away in the Frankish kingdom, where he was tutor to the children of the renowned King Charlemagne. Alcuin was aghast at this unprecedented atrocity. As he wrote to Higbald, bishop of Lindisfarne, ‘a place more sacred than any in Britain’:
The church of St Cuthbert is spattered with the blood of the priests of God, stripped of all its furnishing, exposed to the plundering of pagans.
GUILTY PARTY
Alcuin was particularly worried about why God ‘and so great a company of saints’ had allowed this most holy of places to suffer.
He advised Higbald to examine his conscience to see if there was any reason why God might have allowed such a terrible disaster to happen. ‘Is this the outcome of the sins of those who live there?’ he asked. ‘It has not happened by chance, but is the sign of some great guilt.’ He wondered, too, whether the ransacking of a Christian church by non-believers would lead to ‘greater suffering’.
Was Alcuin perhaps implying that he thought he knew why God’s wrath had been visited upon Northumbria?
A VENGEFUL GOD?
The Anglo-Saxon chroniclers suggest that he did perhaps have recent sordid events in mind. On 23 September 788, the nobleman Sicga had led a group of conspirators who murdered King Ælfwald of Northumbria. Another chronicle records that in February 793 Sicga had ‘perished by his own hand’. But on 23 April his body was carried to the island of Lindisfarne for burial.
So a man who was both a regicide and had committed suicide had been buried there just six weeks before the Viking pirates struck. Was this the ‘great guilt’ Alcuin referred to? Clearly he thought that the pagan raids were an act of holy vengeance on a sinful people.
‘GREATER SUFFERING’
Whatever it was that had brought about the raid on Lindisfarne, it was certainly only the beginning of ‘greater suffering’. Viking raids increased in frequency around the coast of Britain, Ireland and Francia. By 850 foreign armies were overwintering in England, and by 870 the Danish conquest of the northern, midland and eastern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had begun.
But despite the ferocity of the attack at Lindisfarne, a Christian community survived there. The cult of St Cuthbert became the greatest in the North, moving first to Norham, then in 883 to Chester-le-Street, and thence to Durham in 995.
Christian continuity at Lindisfarne is shown by the religious sculpture made there in the 9th and 10th centuries. This includes the Domesday stone, which vividly depicts on one side a troop of seven uniformed warriors brandishing Viking-style battle-axes and swords. On the other side is a symbolic depiction of Domesday, when – so Christians believe – Christ comes again to sit in judgement on the sins of men. By Joanna Story."
The Viking Raid on Lindisfarne
Posted from english-heritage.org.uk
World History
Military History
Church
Religion
Murder
Posted >1 y ago
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When Winter's shadowy fingers first pursue you down the street And your boots no longer lie about the cold around your feet Do you spare a thought for summer...
Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for reminding us about the Norseman raid on St Cuthbert's monastery on Lindisfarne Island that began on June 8, 793 and sent a shock-wave through Northumbria at first and later spread to much of Christianized Europe [news traveled slower then, after all].
The Word of God reminds us that there will and always has been a remnant of believers - that does not refer to a specific place; but, rather the promise that the Word of God is protected by God and HE always has a remnant of true believers.
1. Background on Lindisfarne from archive.robertianhawdon.me.uk/sites/lindisfarne.co.uk/archives/misc/mc_disc72.htm
Behind the name Lindisfarne lies a wealth of history. Way back, up until the 11th century, an island off the Northumberland coast, now known as Holy Island, was called Lindisfarne. At low tide it can be reached by a causeway, but if you don't want to get wet feet, it's best to be quick about it for it's a good three mile trek.
The "Lindis" part of the name refers to a small stream, which appeared at low tide, and could also possibly have something to do with the "Low" which has to be crossed to reach the island, and "Farne" is the name given to the neighbouring group of around 20 small islets - some of them just rocks, and it comes from the Celtic word meaning land.
The island boasts a village, castle, parish church and ruined priory, said to be most impressive with, we are told, "venerable walls of red sandstone rising above smooth green lawns." The castle, built around 1500, is perched on a small rock overlooking a tiny harbour. All these attractions are to be found at the southern end of the island. The northern part being composed mainly of sand dunes, which, weather permitting, are a goodly haunt for sunbathers. So much for the island's geography.
In ad 634, Oswald, who had just made himself King of Northumbria after successfully seeing off a Welsh prince Cadwaller and his cohorts, cordially invited St Aidan over from Iona to teach Christianity to the pagan Angles of Northumbria. Apparently Oswald sussed out St Aidan as "a man of outstanding gentleness, holiness and moderation" and as a token of his liking for this remarkable fellow gave him the island of Lindisfarne. Here the saintly person founded his Episcopal monastery, which became the religious capital Northern England and Southern Scotland. Christianity spread rapidly throughout the region and after the death of St Aidan all went well under a series of excellent bishops until 793 when the Danes arrived and disturbed the tranquility of the place in no small way by destroying the abbey and killing off such inmates as had not been forewarned of their arrival and left in good time. Among the island's chief prides and joys are the Lindisfarne Gospels, exquisitely illustrated and probably influenced by some Italian manuscript brought to the island. These are now to be found in the British Museum."
2. A British folk ground adopted the name Lindisfarne. [English folk rock band from Newcastle upon Tyne established in 1969 (originally called Brethren).]
1969: The formation of Brethren - an amalgamation of most previous members of Downtown Faction (who had already recorded one unreleased album). Personnel being Simon Cowe (guitar)- ex Aristokats, Rod Clements (bass)- ex Impact, Ray Jackson (harmonica/vocals)- ex Zulus, Autumn States and Ray Laidlaw (drums)- ex Aristokats, Druids, Impact.
Around this time, entrepreneur Dave Wood and singer songwriter Alan Hull ran a folk club at the Rex Hotel, Whitley Bay. Brethren soon join forces with Alan- ex Dean Ford & The Crestas, High Five, Clik, and The Chosen Few (who had some years previously released two singles, and had a series of shows on Radio Luxembourg). It was at this venue that the Lindisfarne sound was born - sometimes billed as Alan Hull and Brethren, or Brethren and Alan Hull - depending on who secured the gig! Meanwhile tracks for a sampler LP were recorded for Dave Wood's new Rubber Records label. This album Take Off Your Head And Listen would be released a little while later, with the tracks credited to Alan Hull & Bretheren (note the spelling!).
1970: The band are signed to the Charisma record label in June, making a debut appearance at the Newcastle City Hall in July, and after a name change to Lindisfarne, their first album Nicely Out Of Tune is released in the November.
Winter Song - Lindisfarne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_dsk7u26A
FYI Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG William Jones SGT John " Mac " McConnell PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SSG Donald H "Don" Bates SP5 Jeannie Carle SPC Margaret Higgins
The Word of God reminds us that there will and always has been a remnant of believers - that does not refer to a specific place; but, rather the promise that the Word of God is protected by God and HE always has a remnant of true believers.
1. Background on Lindisfarne from archive.robertianhawdon.me.uk/sites/lindisfarne.co.uk/archives/misc/mc_disc72.htm
Behind the name Lindisfarne lies a wealth of history. Way back, up until the 11th century, an island off the Northumberland coast, now known as Holy Island, was called Lindisfarne. At low tide it can be reached by a causeway, but if you don't want to get wet feet, it's best to be quick about it for it's a good three mile trek.
The "Lindis" part of the name refers to a small stream, which appeared at low tide, and could also possibly have something to do with the "Low" which has to be crossed to reach the island, and "Farne" is the name given to the neighbouring group of around 20 small islets - some of them just rocks, and it comes from the Celtic word meaning land.
The island boasts a village, castle, parish church and ruined priory, said to be most impressive with, we are told, "venerable walls of red sandstone rising above smooth green lawns." The castle, built around 1500, is perched on a small rock overlooking a tiny harbour. All these attractions are to be found at the southern end of the island. The northern part being composed mainly of sand dunes, which, weather permitting, are a goodly haunt for sunbathers. So much for the island's geography.
In ad 634, Oswald, who had just made himself King of Northumbria after successfully seeing off a Welsh prince Cadwaller and his cohorts, cordially invited St Aidan over from Iona to teach Christianity to the pagan Angles of Northumbria. Apparently Oswald sussed out St Aidan as "a man of outstanding gentleness, holiness and moderation" and as a token of his liking for this remarkable fellow gave him the island of Lindisfarne. Here the saintly person founded his Episcopal monastery, which became the religious capital Northern England and Southern Scotland. Christianity spread rapidly throughout the region and after the death of St Aidan all went well under a series of excellent bishops until 793 when the Danes arrived and disturbed the tranquility of the place in no small way by destroying the abbey and killing off such inmates as had not been forewarned of their arrival and left in good time. Among the island's chief prides and joys are the Lindisfarne Gospels, exquisitely illustrated and probably influenced by some Italian manuscript brought to the island. These are now to be found in the British Museum."
2. A British folk ground adopted the name Lindisfarne. [English folk rock band from Newcastle upon Tyne established in 1969 (originally called Brethren).]
1969: The formation of Brethren - an amalgamation of most previous members of Downtown Faction (who had already recorded one unreleased album). Personnel being Simon Cowe (guitar)- ex Aristokats, Rod Clements (bass)- ex Impact, Ray Jackson (harmonica/vocals)- ex Zulus, Autumn States and Ray Laidlaw (drums)- ex Aristokats, Druids, Impact.
Around this time, entrepreneur Dave Wood and singer songwriter Alan Hull ran a folk club at the Rex Hotel, Whitley Bay. Brethren soon join forces with Alan- ex Dean Ford & The Crestas, High Five, Clik, and The Chosen Few (who had some years previously released two singles, and had a series of shows on Radio Luxembourg). It was at this venue that the Lindisfarne sound was born - sometimes billed as Alan Hull and Brethren, or Brethren and Alan Hull - depending on who secured the gig! Meanwhile tracks for a sampler LP were recorded for Dave Wood's new Rubber Records label. This album Take Off Your Head And Listen would be released a little while later, with the tracks credited to Alan Hull & Bretheren (note the spelling!).
1970: The band are signed to the Charisma record label in June, making a debut appearance at the Newcastle City Hall in July, and after a name change to Lindisfarne, their first album Nicely Out Of Tune is released in the November.
Winter Song - Lindisfarne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_dsk7u26A
FYI Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG William Jones SGT John " Mac " McConnell PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SSG Donald H "Don" Bates SP5 Jeannie Carle SPC Margaret Higgins
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Capt Daniel Goodman
Those hpguys, I gather historically, were a major pain, pretty much everywhere they went....
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