The Vikings (1958)
Director: Richard Fleischer
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Janet Leigh, Alexander Knox, Frank Thring
Narrated by: Orson Welles
The movie was shot on-location scenes in Norway and Brittany stand out.
ENGLISH/SCOTTISH HISTORY: AGE OF THE VIKINGS
787 first Danish invasion of Britain
792 beginning of the Viking era in Britain; Vikings attack the English island monastery of Lindisfarne
793 East Anglia annexed to Mercia by Offa
796 Offa, king of Mercia dead; succeeded by Cenwulf (-821)
798 Cenwulf of Mercia subdues Kent
802 Egbert, formerly an English refugee at the court of Charlemagne, establishes himself as king of Wessex (-839)
806 Monastery of Iona sacked by Northmen
815 Egbert of Wessex defeats the Britons of Cornwall
821 Cenwulf of Mercia dead; end of Mercian supremacy in England
824 Egbert subdues and unites English part-states
825 Battle of Ellandum: Mercia defeated by Egbert
828 Egbert of Wessex recognized as overlord of the "Seven Kingdoms of the Heptarchy"
834 the Danes raid England
837 War between Wessex and the Danes
839 Ethelwulf, king of England (-858)
844 Kenneth, king of the Scots, defeats the Picts and becomes sole monarch
849 Alfred the Great born (d. 899)
851 Danish forces enter Thames estuary, land and march on Canterbury; they are defeated by
Ethelwulf at Oakley
856 Ethelbald's rebellion against his father Ethelwulf
858 King Ethelwulf dead; succeeded by his son Ethelbert (-865)
860 Kenneth I MacAlpine dead, the first king of united Scotland
865 Ethelbert I, king of England, dead; succeeded by Ethelred (-871)
865 the Danes occupy Northumbria
866 the Danes establish a kingdom in York
870 the Danes occupy East Anglia, kill its last king, St. Edmund, and destroy Peterborough Monastery
871 Alfred the Great, king of England (-899)
877 Mercia partitioned between the English and Danes
878 King Alfred recaptures London from Danes & defeats them at Edington: Treaty of Chippenham
881 Constantine II of Scotland, defeated & killed by the Danes, succeeded by King Eocha (-889)
886 King Alfred gives London and Eng. Mercia to his son-in-law Ethelred
889 Donald I, king of Scotland (-900)
890 Alfred the Great establishes a regular militia and navy, extends the power of the king's courts, and institutes fairs and markets
893 The Danes renew their attacks on England but are defeated
895 Alfred defeats and captures Danish fleet on the Lea River
899 Alfred the Great dead; Edward the Elder, king of England (-924)
900 Constantine III, king of Scotland (-942)
900 England divided into shires, w/ county courts as safeguard of civil rights of inhabitants
901 Edward the Elder takes the title "King of the Angles and Saxons"
910 Ethelred of Mercia dead, & brother-in-law Edward the Elder takes possession of London & Oxford
912 Valley of the Thames annexed by Wessex
913 Edward the Elder recaptures Essex from the Danes
924 Edward the Elder dead
925 Athelstan becomes king of England (-940)
926 Athelstan drive Guthfrith out of Northumbria & annexes his realm; kings of Wales, Strathclyde, of the Picts and Scots, submit to him
937 Battle of Brunanburh: Athelstan defeats Danes, Scots, and Strathclyde Britons
940 Edmund I, brother of Athelstan, becomes king of England
941 the Danes in England make war on Edmund I
942 Malcolm I, king of Scotland
945 Cumberland and Westmorland annexed by Scots
946 Edmund I, king of England, succeeded by Edred, his brother (-955)
953 Indulf, king of Scotland (-962)
954 Expulsion of Eric Blodoxe, last Danish king of York
955 Edwy, son of Edmund, becomes king of England (-959)
956 Edwy exiles St. Dunstan
957 rebellion by Mercians and Northumbrians against Edwy
959 Edgar the Peaceful, king of England (-975)
965 the English invade Celtic kingdom of Gwynedd
967 Cuilean, king of Scotland (-971)
971 Kenneth II, king of Scotland (-995)
975 St. Edward, the Martyr, king of England (-979)
979 King Edward murdered at Corfe Castle
980 renewal of Danish raids on England; they attack Chester, Southampton, and Thanet
988 Vikings attack Devon and Somerset, and Irish Danes raid Wales
991 at the Battle of Maldon Byrhtnoth of Essex is defeated by the Dane
993 Vikings ravage Yorkshire
994 Olaf of Norway and Sweyn of Denmark besiege London
995 Constantine IV, king of Scotland (-997)
997 Kenneth III, king of Scotland (-1005)
998 Isle of Wight attacked by Danes
1000 Ethelred II ravages Cumberland and Anglesey
1002 Massacre of St. Brice's Day; Danish settlers in England murdered by order of Ethelred II
1003 Sweyn lands with his army in England
1005 Malcolm II, King of Scotland (-1034)
1007 Ethelred II pays 30,000 pounds to the Danes to gain two years' freedom from attacks
1011 Ethelred invades South Wales and the Danes take Canterbury
1012 Ethelred pays additional 48,000 pounds to the Danes
1013 the Danes masters of England; Ethelred flees to Normandy --- HIGH POINT
1014 Sweyn dead; succeeded by Canute: Ethelred returns
1015 Wessex submits to Canute
1016 Ethelred II, the Unready dead and Canute ascends English throne
1017 Canute divides England into four earldoms
1018 Union of southern and northern Scotland
1018 Council of Oxford: Canute confirms laws of Edgar
1020 Faroes, Shetlands, and Orkneys recognize Olaf Haraldsson as King
1025 indecisive battle between Canute and Olaf at Holy River, Sweden
1026 Canute goes on pilgrimage to Rome
1028 Canute conquers Norway
1030 Battle of Stiklestad: Canute defeats & kills the former Norwegian king, Olaf Haraldsson
1034 Malcolm II of Scotland dead; succeeded by his grandson Duncan (-1040)
1035 Canute dead, his kingdom being divided among his three sons: Harold is given England, Sweyn Norway, Hardicanute Denmark
1039 Prince Gruffydd of Gwynedd and Powys defeats the English
1040 Duncan of Scotland murdered by Macbeth, who becomes king (-1057)
1040 Harold dead, succeeded by Hardicanute (1042)
1041 Siward murders Eardwulf and becomes sole ruler of Northumbria
1042 Hardicanute dead; succeeded by Ethelred's son Edward the Confessor (-1066)
1042 Magnus, king of Denmark (-1047)
1047 Sweyn Estrithson, king of Denmark (-1076)
1047 Harald Hardrada, king of Norway (-1066)
1050 Normans penetrate into England
1053 Harold succeeds his father Godwin as Earl of Wessex
1054 Macbeth defeated by Malcolm and Siward of Northumbria, at Dunsinane
1055 Siward of Northumbria dead; succeeded by Tostig, son of Godwin
1056 Gruffydd does homage to Harold of Wessex & Leofric of Mercia
1057 Macbeth murdered by Malcolm; succeeded by his stepson Lulach
1057 Leofric of Mercia dead; succeeded by Alfgar
1058 Malcolm slays Lulach and becomes King of Scotland (-1093)
1061 Malcolm of Scotland invades Northumbria
1063 Harold and Tostig subdue Wales
1065 King Edward the Confessor was near death and childless. William, duke of Normandy had some claim to the throne. His rival was Harold Godwin, Earl of Wessex, Edward's lieutenant and virtual ruler of England.
NORMAN ERA
1066 Edward the Confessor dead on May 1
1066 Harold II is crowned June 1
1066 Harold II defeats invaders at Stamford Bridge Sept. 25
1066 William of Normandy lands at Pevensey Sept. 28
1066 Harold killed in Battle of Hastings Oct 14
William the Conqueror and his invading Normans defeated the Anglo-Saxon forces at Hastings on the south eastern coast of England. Norman men-at-arms and mounted knights attacked Harold's force. He became King William I (1066-1087). He established efficient royal administration in England.
1066 William I, the Conqueror, crowned Dec. 25
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