In this series
790-900
c.710 Willibrord unsuccessfully attempts to convert the Danes
793 Vikings attack Celtic monastery at Lindesfarne
790s Viking raids on western Europe, Scotland, and Ireland
826 Ansgar journeys to Denmark and to Birka, Sweden (829-31), to evangelize
841 First wintering of Vikings in Ireland
845 Pagan revolt forces missionaries to abandon Birka
859 Vikings enter the Mediterranean
865 Ansgar dies, succeeded by Rimbert
870 Vikings kill the king of East Anglia, Edmund (later St. Edmund)
c.870 Norse begin to settle Iceland
Other Events
800 Coronation of the Emperor Charlemagne
c.800 Irish hermits settle in the Faeroe Islands and Iceland
862 Brothers Cyril and Methodius go as missionaries to Moravia
864 Boris I of Bulgaria converts
900-1000
902 Vikings expelled from Dublin
911 Founding of Normandy by Viking chieftain Rollo
930 Founding of the Icelandic Althing at Thingvellir
c.934 Hakon the Good becomes king of Norway and soon attempts to convert his country to Christianity
948 Bishops appointed to Hedeby, Ribe, and Arhus in Denmark
954 Erik Bloodaxe, son of Harald Finehair, expelled from York and killed at the battle of Stainmore
958 Gorm the Old, king of Denmark, buried at Jelling by his son, Harald Bluetooth
c.965 Harald Bluetooth of Denmark converts
980 Renewed Viking attacks on England
c.985 Erik the Red settles in Greenland
c.995 Olof Skötkonung, king of Sweden, converts to Christianity
995 Olaf Trygvesson unites Norway under Christian banner
Other Events
963 First monastic settlement on Mt. Athos
980 Mainz Cathedral begun
c.988 Prince Vladmir of Kiev baptized
1000-1100
1000 Olaf Trygvesson dies in the Battle of Svold; Iceland converts to Christianity
c.1000 Leif Eriksson voyages to Vinland in North America
1013 Danish king Svein Forkbeard conquers England, succeeded by his son Knut the Great (1016)
1021 Bishopric established at Skara
1027 First Scandinavian stone church built at Roskilde, Denmark
1030 Olaf Haraldsson, later St. Olaf, dies in the Battle of Stiklestad
c.1050 Bishopric established on the Orkney Islands
1053 Hamburg-Bremen archbishopric granted authority over Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Danes, and Svear
1056 First bishopric in Iceland, at Skalholt
1067 Ari Thorgilsson, historian of Iceland, is born
1070 Adam of Bremen describes the pagan temple at Uppsala, Sweden
c.1070 Urnes stave church built in Luster, Norway
Other Events
1054 Great Schism; eastern and western branches of Christendom excommunicate one another
1066 Battle of Hastings; the Norman conquest of England (last major event of the Age of Vikings)
1093 Anselm becomes archbishop of Canterbury
1095 Pope Urban II preaches the First Crusade
1100-1200
1104 Archbishopric for Scandinavia established at Lund, Sweden
c.1110 Public celebration of pagan rites at Uppsala ended
1117 Magnus, patron saint of Orkney, murdered
c.1125 Bishopric established at Gardar, Greenland
1157 Eric IX and Henry, bishop of Uppsala, embark on a crusade to convert Finland
1178 Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic poet and historian, is born
Other Events
1115 Bernard founds monastery at Clairvaux
1141 Hildegard of Bingen first writes about her visions
c.1150 Universities of Paris and Bologna founded
1170 Thomas Becket assassinated
1182 Francis of Assisi born
Copyright © 1999 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine. Click here for reprint information on Christian History.
