After Imperial Rome fell, all the barbarians who were left over from the previous chapters that I haven’t wrote about, they all turned to the Church and all became Christians.
At this time everyone started attacking each other. The Saxons attacked the Britons, Islam successfully conquered Spain for a few hundred years, and the Arabs attacked France, only to lose to Charles Martel, the grandfather of Charlemagne.
The Norwegians and the Danes had an interesting relationship. Sometimes they were with each other, sometimes they murdered each other. They had a weird habit of cooking their feasts in the dead bodies of their enemies (not cannibals though)
They once fought a battle on Irish soil, and the locals asked them why they did so. They said “Why not? They would do it to us!”.
The Norsemen had a new strategy and way of getting around: Horses. They plundered towns and took horses to ride swiftly, instead of on foot.
In England, the King’s officer received word that there were ships in the harbor. Thinking they were merchants, he rode eagerly to the harbor, only to get killed by the not-so-merchanty-Norsemen.
That marked the beginning of the Viking Age.
One day in January 793, the Holy Island, or Lindisfarne, was attacked by Denmark. It was winter, and the Monks there received no help. The Danes took the Monks as slaves. The next year, they tried again, but failed due to weather and their enemies being ready for them. Their King was tortured and put to death. A few of the Danes escaped and told their tale of woe. England was never to be attacked for another 40 years by Denmark.
The Vikings, at this time, attacked and destroyed Iona. The Viking’s constantly attacked places. Needing a settlement, they explored, the world, eventually discovering America.