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Years of Viking Age

The earliest known Viking raid in England took place in Portland in 787 AD

The earliest date given for a Viking raid is 787 AD, when three Viking ships had beached in Portland Bay, in Southeastern England. However, that incursion may have been a trading expedition that went wrong rather than a piratical raid.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a group of men from Norway sailed to the Isle of Portland in Dorset. There, they were mistaken for merchants by a royal official. They murdered him when he tried to get them to accompany him to the king's manor to pay a trading tax on their goods.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Viking raiders struck England in 793 AD and raided Lindisfarne, the monastery that held Saint Cuthbert’s relics. This raid marks the beginning of the "Viking Age of Invasion", made possible by the Viking longship.

The raiders destroyed the abbey on Lindisfarne, a centre of learning famous across the continent (photo: Lindisfarne Abbey and St. Mary's Cathedral).

The monks were killed in the abbey, thrown into the sea to drown or carried away as slaves along with the church treasures.

The end of the Viking Age on the British Isles is traditionally marked to have ended gradually, as follows:

1. In England, in 1066 by the failed invasion attempted by the Norwegian king Harald III (Haraldr Harðráði), who was defeated by Saxon King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Godwinson was subsequently defeated within a month by another Viking descendant, William, Duke of Normandy. Normandy had been conquered by Vikings (Normans) in 911;

2. In Ireland, in 1171 by the capture of Dublin by Strongbow and his Hiberno-Norman forces;

3. In Scotland, in 1263 by the defeat of King Hákon Hákonarson at the Battle of Largs by troops loyal to Alexander III.

Land of the Kvens

Since the end of the last ice age ca. 11'000 years ago, Scandinavia and Fennoscandia have been continuously inhabited by Finnic tribes and the Finno-Ugric Samis.

Kvenland was the name of the country covering nearly all of Scandinavia and most of Fennoscandia up to the start of the first millennium AD, inhabited by the Kvens and the Samis.

At the dawn of the Viking Age, Kvenland still covered all of the Central and Northern Scandinavia, all of today's Central and Northern Finland, and a part of today's Northwestern Russia.

The Kvens travelled to, and they had an impact on, far away places, such as the Northern Orkney Islands, whose Scottish people they mixed with.

King Olav Tryggvason - of a Kven-Norse stock - brought Christianity to Orkney, Scotland. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, the Kven-Norse King Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway (872–930 AD), took control of Orkney in 875 AD.

In the Orkneyinga Saga from 1230 AD, the 2nd and 3rd centuries' King Fornjót is said to have ruled over both Finland and Kvenland, and also Gotland, an island between the modern-day countries of Latvia and Sweden.

Not much is known of the early kings of Kvenland, but their names and their family lineages are. This page features a royal family lineage from King Fornjót of Kvenland to King Robert the Bruce of Scotland.

The line includes Rognvald "The Wise" Eysteinsson (c. 825-892), the founder of the 'Earldom of Orkney', a Kven-Norse dignity in Scotland. That title was passed down the same family line through to the Middle Ages.

Kven King Fornjót

Fornjót (Fornjótr in Old Norse) was an ancient giant in Norse mythology and a King of Finland. His children are Ægir (a.k.a. Hlér, ruler of seas), Logi (fire giant) and Kári (god of wind).

The name has often been interpreted as forn-jótr, "ancient giant", and because of this Karl Simrock (1869) identified Formjót with the primeval giant Ymir.

In 1818, historian Müller suggested that Fornjót is one in a well-established group of names or titles of gods under the term 'njótr', referring to "user, owner, possessor".

This would make Fornjót the "original owner" (primus occupans vel utens) of Norway.

Fornjót is mentioned in the 9th century Ynglingatal, skaldic ("courtly") poem listing the kings of the House of Ynglings, the oldest royal dynasty in Scandinadia.

In Ynglingatal, "son of Fornjót" seems to refer to fire, as in Skáldskaparmál, one of the three distinct books of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda in circa 1220 AD - in this manner:

"How should the wind be periphrased? Thus: call it son of Fornjót, Brother of the Sea and of Fire, Scathe or Ruin or Hound or Wolf of the Wood or of the Sail or of the Rigging."

Kven dynasty rulers

Fornjót's son Kári is mentioned in Skáldskaparmál as a term for wind. In the Hversu account and in the Orkneyinga saga, Kári appears to be the heir to his father's kingdoms, as in the Hversu account Kári's descendants emerge not only as the rulers of Finland and Kvenland, but also Sweden, and then through Viking and Varangian conquests many other nations as well.

Kári's son was named Frosti ('frost') according to the Orkneyinga saga, and Jökul (jǫkull, 'icicle, ice, glacier') according to the Hversu account. He was the father of Snær the Old ('Snow the Old'), who according to the Sturlaugs saga was also the King of Finnmark, i.e. the northernmost territory of Scandinavia and Kvenland.

Snær's daughter Drifa married King Vanlandi of Upsal, Sweden, as is stated e.g. in the Ynglinga saga. Their son Visbur became the King of the House of Ynglings, succeeded by his son Dómaldi, the king of Sweden.

Snaer was succeeded by his son Thorri as the King of Kvenland, Finland and Gotland. Thorri's children were Gói ('Thin Snow'), Gór and Nór, who was the founder of Norway and a forefather for Halfdan the Old, of whom many royal families of Europe descended.

Based on the Ynglinga saga, Frosti's daughter Skjálf married King Agne of Sweden. He was succeeded by the legendary Swedish King Yngvi, according to the Íslendingabók and the Historia Norwegiæ. However, the Ynglingatal gives the sons Alrekr and Eirikr as Agne's successors.

In Orkneyinga saga

"There was a king called Fornjót who ruled over Finland and Kvenland, the countries stretching to the east of what we call the Gulf of Bothnia, which lies opposite the White Sea.

Fornjót had three sons, Hler (whom we also call AEgir), a second called Logi and a third, Kari, the father of Frosti, who was in turn the father of Snaer the Old, the father of Thorri. He had two sons, Nór and Gór and a daughter, Gói."

According to the legend, Fornjót was also the father of Karl, Hlessey, and Gmir.

Nór founded Norway (Nór's way) and Gor was known as the "Sea King".

Goi was abducted by Hrolf of Bjard, son of the giant Svadi. Nór challenged Hrolf for the return of his sister, and the battle ended with Nór getting Hrolf's sister for his wife and Hrolf keeping Goi as his wife.

The Orkneyinga Saga goes on to say:

"Earl Rognvald campaigned with King Harald Fine Hair, who gave him charge of North More, South More and Romsdale. Earl Rognvald married Ragnhild, the daughter of Hrolf Nose, and it was their son, Hrolf, who conquered Normandy.

This Hrolf was so big that no horse could carry him, which is why he was given the name Gongu-Hrolf. The earls of Rouen and the kings of England have descended from him."

The Standing Stones of Stenness is a Neolithic monument on the mainland of Orkney, Scotland, from c. 3500 BC.

Robert the Bruce

The King of Scotland Robert the Bruce was the first and eldest child of Robert Bruce, the 6th Lord of Annandale, and Marjorie Carrick.

In 1295, he married his first wife, Isabella of Mar, and they had one child, Marjorie Bruce, who later married Walter Stewart, and their child was the future Robert II of Scotland.

In 1302, he married his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, and they had the following children: David II, John, Matilda and Margaret. In 1316, he was also crowned the King of Ireland, and he stated:

"Whereas we and you and our people and your people, free since ancient times, share the same national ancestry and are urged to come together more eagerly and joyfully in friendship by a common language and by common custom, we have sent you our beloved kinsman, the bearers of this letter, to negotiate with you in our name and permanently strengthening and maintaining inviolate the special friendship between us and you, so that with God's will our nation (nostra nacio) may be able to recover her ancient liberty."

In 1314 AD, King Robert the Bruce - of Braveheart fame - secured an independence for the Scotch from the British in the Battle of Bannockburn. He is buried at the Dunfermline Abbey in Scotland.

The Big Orkney Song Project - click for the Facebook site

"Having in view the traces of Finns, which have been stated, the question may be asked, is it not probable that there were settlements here and there of Finns among our old English forefathers ?
They were an ancient maritime race, as they are at present. They were closely connected with Sweden, and were at one time partly located in it."
Source: Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race, Thomas William Shore, first edition 1906, reissued in 1971 by Kennikat Press
Picture: The prehistoric Stonehenge monument in Wiltshire, England.

Kven Britain

Click for more Kven and Kvenland related images

Based on Medieval sources such as the ones below, the ruling families of England, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Normandy, Norway, the Orkney Islands, Russia, Scotland and Sweden - among others - descended from the kings of Kvenland and Finland.

Historic references to these kings include but are not limited to the following:

In 600 AD (c.), Widsith, an English poem claims King Caelic to be the ruler of Finland. The originally 6th or 7th century poem was copied in the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late 10th century:

"Caesar ruled the Greeks, Caelic the Finns ... I was with the Greeks and Finns and also with Caesar ..."

In 1154 AD, the Arab historian and scientist Muhammad al-Idrisi tells that the King of FMRK has possessions in Norway.

Fmrk" refers to Finnmark ("mark" in Norwegian means "land"), which at the time covered the northernmost parts of Scandinavia and today's Finland. Based on various sources such as the Medieval account by the Norwegian leader and explorer Ottar and the Universal History of Orosius by King Alfred the Great, Finnmark was ruled by the Kvens.

Finnmark is the epicenter and flagship of the Kven culture today. According to Emeritus Professor Kyösti Julku (Kvenland - Kainuunmaa, 1986), in the modern-day Norwegian county of Troms alone there are at least 12 prehistoric Kven place names.

In 1200 AD, the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus writes about Finnish kings.

In 1220 AD, in the Ynglinga Saga by the Icelandic bishop, poet, and historian Snorri Sturluson discusses marriages and wars of Finnish and Swedish royal families.

The saga also tells about the Ynglings, who are often referred to as the oldest known Scandinavian dynasty, a semi-legendary royal Kven-Norse clan during the Age of Migrations (300–700 AD), with Kven kings such as Ongenpeow (died c. 515 AD) and his sons Onela and Ohthere (Ōhtaharjaz in Proto-Norse).

These three Kven kings led the Sveas in battles against their southern neighbors Geats in the modern-day area of Southern Sweden, at the time when the middle and northern parts of the modern-day Sweden were still a part of Kvenland.

The 'Ynglings' are also know as the Fairhair dynasty, a family descending from the kings of Oppland, Norway, who sprang from the Kven Nór's great-grandson Halfdan the Old. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, Nór was founded Norway.

In 1220 AD (c.), in the Skáldskaparmál section the account called Edda, Snorri Sturluson discusses King Halfdan the Old - Nór's great-grandson - and his nine sons who are the forefathers of various royal lineages, including "Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended".

In 1230 AD, the Orkneyinga Saga provides information about Fornjót, the ruler of Finland and Kvenland Gotland, and the conquest of Norway by his descendant, Nór. The saga also provides details on the royal descendants of Gór, Nór's brother.

In 1230-1240 AD, the Egils saga discusses Faravid, the "King of Kvenland".

In 1387 AD, Hversu Noregr byggðist traces the royal descendants of the primeval ruler Fornjót.

Hversu Noregr byggðist ('How Norway was inhabited') is an account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages. It traces the descendants of the primeval Finnish ruler Fornjót down to Nór, who is here the eponym and first great king of Norway, and then gives details of the descendants of Nór and of his brother Gór in the following section known as the Ættartölur ('Genealogies').

The Hversu account is closely paralleled by the opening of the Orkneyinga saga, which provides details on the descendants of Gór only, including information not found in the Hversu or Ættartölur. This other account is sometimes called Fundinn Noregr, 'Foundation of Norway'.

The 'Genealogies' also claims that many heroic families famed in the Scandinavian tradition but not located in Norway were of a Finnish/Kven-Norse stock, mostly sprung from Nór's great-grandson Halfdan the Old.

Almost all the lineages sprung from Halfdan are then shown to reconvert in the person of Harald Fairhair, the first king of all Norway. Where the information here is comparable with accounts in other sources, the information can be confirmed. Contradicting information is also available however, as would be expected.

The 'Ættartölur' account ends with a genealogy of Harald's royal descendants down to Olaf IV of Norway with the statement the account was written in 1387, a list of the kings of Norway from this Olaf back to Harald Fair-hair, and a mentioning of the accession of Margaret, Olaf's mother, as a direct ruler of Norway.

Runestone U 130 - click for more Kven and Kvenland related images

Viking Age memorial in Uppland - the stronghold of Viking royals - refers to Finnveden in the modern-day Southern Sweden, a part of the primeval Kvenland. Most runestones in Finnveden describe men who died in England.

Translation in English: "Bjôrn, Finnviðr's son, had this rock-slab cut in memory of Óleifr, his brother. He was betrayed at Finnveden. May God help his spirit. This estate is the allodial land and family inheritance of Finnviðr's sons at Elgjastaðir."

Kven lineage to King of Scotland

King Fornjotur of Kvenland

(b. 160 in Finland, d. 250 in Finland)

Children:

Karl Fornjotur Kvenland

King Kari Fornjotursson Kvenland

Logi Fornjotursson Kvenland

Hlessey Fornjotursson Kvenland

Hler Fornjotursson Kvenland

King Kari Fornjotur of Kvenland

(b. 185 in Finland, d. in 209 Finland)

Children:

Frosti Karasson Kvenland

King Frosti Karasson of Kvenland

(b. 210 in Finland, d. 239 in Finland)

Children:

Children: Siokul Frostasson Kvenland

Jokull Frostasson Kvenland

Snaer Jokulsson Kvenland

King Jokull Frostasson of Kvenland

(b. 240 in Finland, d. 274 in Finland)

Children:

Snaie Jokulsson of Kvenland

S Jokulsson of Kvenland

Snaer Jokulsson of Kvenland

Snaer Jokulsson of Kvenland, b. 275 Finland, d. 301 Raumsdal, Norway

Thorri Snaersson of Kvenland, b. 320 Raumsdal, Norway, d. 344 Raumsdal, Norway

Gorr Thorasson of Kvenland, b. 365 Raumsdal, Norway, d. 418 Raumsdal, Norway

Heytir Gorrsson of Kvenland, b. 425 Raumsdal, Norway, d. 499 Raumsdal, Norway

Svidri Heytsson of Kvenland, b. 600 Raumsdal, Norway, d. 649 Norway

Sveidi Svidrasson of Kvenland, b. 650 Raumsdal, Norway, d. 699 Raumsdal, Norway

Halfdan Sveidasson of Kvenland, b. 700 Oppland, Norway, d. 749 Oppland, Norway

Ivar Halfdansson of Kvenland, b. 770 Oppland, Norway, d. 824 Oppland, Norway

Eystein Glumra Ivarsson, b. 800 Maer, Nord, Norway, d. 846 Maer, Nord, Norway

Rognvald I. Eysteinsson, b. 830 Maer, Nord, Norway, d. 890 Orkney Islands, Scotland

Einar Rognvaldsson, b. 852 Maer, Nord, Norway, d. Orkney Islands, Scotland

Thorfinn I Einarsson, b. 890 Orkney Islands, Scotland, d. Mound, Hoxa, Scotland

Hlodver Thorfinnsson, b. 924 Orkney, Scotland, d. 988 Hofn, Caithness, Scotland

Sigurd Hlodversson, b. 960 Orkney, Scotland, d. 23 April 1013 Battle Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland

Brusi Sigurdsson, b. 987 Orkney, Scotland, d. 1031 Orkney Islands, Scotland

Ragnvald Brusesson, b. 1011 Orkney, Scotland, d. Dec. 1046 Papa Stronsay, Orkney Islands, Scotland

Robert De Brusse, b. 1036 Carrick, Argyllshire, Scotland, d. 1085 Annan, Dumfries, Scotland

Adam Brus, b. 1051 Carrick, Argyllshire, Scotland, d. 1081 Skelton Castle, Yorkshire, England

Robert Brus, b. 1071 Skelton Castle, Yorkshire, England, d. 11 May 1141 Skelton, Yorkshire, England

Robert Brus, b. 1103 Annandale, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, d. 1190 Annandale, Dumfrieshire, Scotland

William De Bruce, b. 1142 Annandal, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, d. 1215 Annandale, Dumfrieshire, Scotland

Robert De Bruce, b. 1164 Annandal, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, d. 1245 Saltre Abbey, Stilton, England

Robert Bruce, b. 1210 Annandal, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, d. 1295 Priory, Lochmaben, Dumfrieshire, Scotland

Robert Bruce (6th Lord of Annandale), b. 1243 Annandal, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, d. 1304 Palestine, Jerusalem, Israel, married Marjorie Carrick, b. 1255 Carrick, Scotland, d. 1292 Argyll, Scotland

Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland

(b. 11 July, 1274, d. 7 June, 1329)

Royal Kven lineage to British and French royalty

Click chart to enlarge

Impact of Kvens to the British Isles

The family lineage introduced above is based on Hversu Noregr byggðist ("How Norway was inhabited") and the Orkneyinga and Heimskringla sagas. It shows how the royal families on the British Isles descended from the Finnish Kven kings, Rognvald "The Wise" Eysteinsson (c. 830-890) (son of Eystein Ivarsson) being the founder of the Earldom of Orkney.

At what point in more ancient history had the ancestors of the Kvens possibly first landed on the Brittish Isles is unclear. However, modern genealogy has shown that the closest genealogical relatives of Finns live, quite surprisingly to many, in Western Europe. Generally one can say e.g. that an ordinary Englishman shares more genealogical markers with a Finn than e.g. an average Finn has in common with his Russian neighbor living only a few kilometers away from the Finnish border.

In his 1906 book, 'Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race', Thomas William Shore discusses impact left by Vikings of Finnic origin on place names, terminology, people and way of life in Britain. Other historians such as F.N. Flinck (1899) and Julius Pokorny (1936) have also suggested similar type of impact from Finnish language to Germanic languages - and vice versa.

Below are a few takes from the book by Thomas William Shore, 'Origin of Anglo-Saxon Race':

"Finland, the most northern of the Baltic countries, inhabited by people allied to, or perhaps even descended in part from, the old Gothic and Scandinavian stock, has been through the range of history, and still is , more advanced in the arts of civilization than its Slavic neighbors, and its geographical position in ancient time brought it into commercial intercourse with Scandinavia and Denmark. ..."
"... In the Anglo-Saxon times some of the Cwaens or Fins occupied part of the Scandinavian peninsula as far south as Helsingland, on the east of Sweden, opposite to Finland, where the name Helsingfors probably denotes some ancient connection with Helsingland. As the Lapps were called Skidfinnen by the Norse, and are still called Fins by them, some confusion has risen in the use of this name. As applied to natives of Finland it is a native name. We may, however, look for traces of them in England under the name Cwen or Quen, as well as, Fin ..."
"... It is in some of those parts of England which were occupied by Danes that traces of Fins, Lechs and other Eastmen from Baltic are found, where they may well have settled as Danish allies.
In considering the probability that there were some Fins among other Northern settlers, we must remember their ancient names, Cwens or Quens. There are some old English place-names which have been apparently deriven from this source, such as Quenintone and Quenintune, in separate hundreds in Gloucestershire. Both are mentioned in Domesday Book. Cwuenstane, also, is mentioned among the boundaries of Selsea, in Sussex, in a charter dated A.D. 975.
Quinstone or Quenton, in Northamptonshire, occurs twice in Domesday Book, and other places of same name are recorded in Wiltshire and Warwickshire. Quenfell in Westmoreland, Queningburg in Leicestershire, and Quenhull in Worcestershire, are met with in later records. Ingulf in his chronicle mentions a place called Finset, and similar names, such as Finborough and Finningham, occur in the eastern counties. Still earlier references to Finset and Finbeorh occur in the Saxon charters, the former in Northamptonshire, the latter in Wiltshire.
The name Cwenena-broc brings us to curious difficulty-viz., to determine whether Cwenena is the genetive plural of Cwen, a Fin, or Cwen, a woman. It has been explained as the women's brook, but the name Cwentan , now Quinton, mentioned in a Saxon charter, is in the same locality. There is a well known story of Adam of Bremen being present at a conversation during which one of the old Scandinavian kings spoke of Quenland, or Quena-land, the country of Quens or Quains.
As the stargers knowledge of old Danish was very imperfect, he supposed the king had said Quinna-land, the country of woman and amazons. Hence arose the absurd story of the terra feminarum, or amazons country, which spread through the whole of Europe, "through mistaking the name for that of a woman".
The name Cwenena-broc must mean either the brook of the Quens or Fins, as allies of Scandinavia and their descendants, or that of a community of women. Which is more probable? It is a boundary name, apparently a boundary of Cwentan, and we must either recognize a settlement of Fins or a settlement of women. During the period when the dialects of many tribal people were being assimilated into one form of speech it is not difficult to suppose that Cwenena may have been written for Cwena, the usual form of genitive plural of Cwen, a Fin.
Reference has already been made to the fair aspect of the people of east Gluocestershire at the present time. The circumstantial evidence of the place-names points to the settlement of tribal people of various blonde races in this district. Among such races are the Fins, concerning whose aspect the proverbial expression " as blonde as a Fin". The Fins that settled in England must have come as allies of the Danes, and it is interesting to note that by the Roman road east Gloucestershire was in direct communication with Lincolnshire.
Some remarkable customs which the old English had in common with Fins and Esthonians were those connected with midsummer. It is scarcely possible for us to realize the full extent to which customs connected with the summer solstice prevailed among our tribal forefathers. Their vitality caused them to survive in England for more than thousand years. The midsummer fires were lighted in many parts of our country, as they were in numerous districts in Northern Europe.
The customs connected with the solstice must have been most strongly adhered to, if they had not indeed originated, in Northern lands. In the North of Britain, as in Finland, Esthonia and the greater part of Sweden and Norway, the evening gloam of midsummer passes into the morning dawn and there is no real night ..."
"Having in view the traces of Finns, which have been stated, the question may be asked, is it not probable that there were settlements here and there of Finns among our old English forefathers ? They were an ancient maritime race, as they are at present. They were closely connected with Sweden, and were at one time partly located in it."

Source: ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE, THOMAS WILLIAM SHORE, FIRST EDITION 1906, REISSUED IN 1971 BY KENNIKAT PRESS

Starting in 5500 BC, the Finno-Ugric (U) language zone in Europe began gradually shifting northbound. In the process, the pronunciation and the syntax of the Indo European (IE) language spoken in the Middle Europe changed and the Germanic languages were born in Northern Germany. (Bs stands for Bask) ~ Sourse: Kalevi Wiik