The altar is an example of one of Norway's finest Renaissance altarpieces and the church is adorned with staves ( planks ) on which one can see Viking graffiti, an 11th-century crucifix and other artifacts from the Viking period.

It managed to survive the plunderings of the Viking raids and the Anglo-Norman wars, and was only destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in 1552.

Sections of decorated elements from some large looted works such as reliquaries were sawn up by Viking raiders and taken home to their wives to wear as jewellery, and a number of these survive in Scandinavian museums.

Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, and by his death had become the dominant ruler in England.

Hoards dating to the Viking occupation of London in 871 / 2 have been excavated at Croydon, Gravesend, and Waterloo Bridge ; these finds hint at the cost involved in making peace with the Vikings.

he ordered the construction of a small fleet, perhaps a dozen or so longships, that, at 60 oars, were twice the size of Viking warships.

Recent excavations at the Viking harbor town of Fröjel, Gotland in Sweden have revealed a small number of rock crystal lenses known as the Visby lenses.

Blood feuds could be regulated at meetings, such as the Viking things.

In 877, shortly after building a new church for the Culdees at St Andrews, Causantín was captured and executed ( or perhaps killed in battle ) after defending against Viking raiders.

King Æthelstan was successful in securing Constantine's submission in 927 and 934, but the two again fought when Constantine, allied with the Strathclyde Britons and the Viking king of Dublin, invaded Æthelstan's kingdom in 937, only to be defeated at the great battle of Brunanburh.

Northumbria may have been divided by this time between the Viking kings in York and the local rulers, perhaps represented by Eadulf, based at Bamburgh who controlled the lands from the River Tyne or River Tees to the Forth in the north.

Whether there were Viking or Norse-Gael kingdoms in the Western Isles or the Northern Isles at this time is debated.

Wars with the Viking kings in Britain and Ireland continued during Donald's reign and he was probably killed fighting yet more Vikings at Dunnottar in the Mearns in 900.

A meeting at Eamont Bridge on 927 was sealed by an agreement that Constantine, Owen of Strathclyde, Hywel Dda, and Ealdred would " renounce all idolatry ": that is, they would not ally with the Viking kings.

The Faroese at Junkarinsfløtti remained dependent upon bird resources, especially puffins, far longer, and to a greater degree than any of the other Viking Age settlers of the North Atlantic islands.

In 845, a fleet of 600 Viking ships sailed up the River Elbe and destroyed Hamburg which, at that time, was a town of around 500 inhabitants.

The first recorded Viking attack in Britain was in 793 at Lindisfarne monastery as given by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Alfred the Great's victory at Edington in 878 stemmed the Danish attack ; however, by then Northumbria had devolved into Bernicia and a Viking kingdom, Mercia had been split down the middle, and East Anglia ceased to exist as an Anglo-Saxon polity.

Map of Viking Denmark with Hedeby at the southern edge.

Viking raids began on Scottish shores towards the end of the 8th century and the Hebrides came under Norse control and settlement during the ensuing decades, especially following the success of Harald Fairhair at the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872.

By 1300, the Inuit and their language had reached western Greenland, and finally east Greenland roughly at the same time the Viking colony in southern Greenland disappeared.

The Gokstad ship, on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway.

Longships were sea vessels made and used by the Vikings from the Nordic countries for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age although scientific analysis of the oak timber shows at least one well known ship was built in Dublin, Ireland.

Viking raids in 875 led to the monks fleeing the island with St Cuthbert's bones ( The bones of St Cuthbert are now buried at the Cathedral in Durham ).

Ragnar drives onto the field at the beginning of a game dressed in Viking garb, on a motorcycle, while a cheerleader used to ride a snowmobile.

Irish, it remained largely under Viking control until the Norman invasion of Ireland was launched from Wales in 1169.

The Viking Age brought great changes in Britain and Ireland, no less in Scotland than elsewhere.

The end of the Viking Age is traditionally marked in England by the failed invasion attempted by the Norwegian king Harald III ( Haraldr Harðráði ), who was defeated by Saxon King Harold Godwinson in 1066 at the Battle of Stamford Bridge ; in Ireland, the capture of Dublin by Strongbow and his Hiberno-Norman forces in 1171 ; and 1263 in Scotland by the defeat of King Hákon Hákonarson at the Battle of Largs by troops loyal to Alexander III.

Fire-gilded European dragon | dragon's head from Ireland, found in a Viking grave at Stavanger, Norway ( Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen )

In 832, a Viking fleet of about 120 invaded kingdoms on Ireland ’ s northern and eastern coasts.

In 838, a small Viking fleet entered the River Liffey in eastern Ireland.

Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A. D. 1014.

This period of Viking expansion – known as the Viking Age – forms a major part of the medieval history of Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland and the rest of Medieval Europe.

On 1 July 2007, the reconstructed Viking ship Skuldelev 2, renamed Sea Stallion, began a journey from Roskilde, Denmark to Dublin, Ireland.

* Brodir of Man, a Danish Viking who killed the High King of Ireland, Brian Boru.

* Downham, Clare, Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to AD 1014.

Ireland was affected also by the Viking expansion across the North Sea.

This period of Viking raids on the coasts of Ireland has been named the longphort phase after these particular types of settlements.

* In the earliest recorded Viking raid on Ireland, they attack Iona, Inisbofin and Inismurray.

* April 23 – Battle of Clontarf: Gaelic Irish forces under Brian Boru defeat several allied Viking forces in Ireland, ending their power there but losing Brian in the battle.

Folklore holds that lutefisk originated during the Viking pillages of Ireland, when St. Patrick sent men to feed spoiled fish to the Viking raiders.

The reasons for the waves of immigration were complex and bound to the political situation in Scandinavia at that time ; moreover, they occurred when Viking settlers were also establishing their presence in the Hebrides, Orkney, the Faroe Islands, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, France ( Normandy ), Russia and Ukraine ( see Kievan Rus ').

The battle has traditionally been presented as symbolising the end of the Viking Age, although in fact major Scandinavian campaigns in Britain and Ireland occurred in the following decades, notably those of King Sweyn Estrithson of Denmark in 1069 – 70 and King Magnus Barefoot of Norway in 1098 and 1102 – 03.

The Viking influence can still be seen with Reginald's Tower, one of the first buildings to use a bricks and mortar construction method in Ireland.

The popular image of Brian — the ruler who managed to unify the regional leaders of Ireland so as to free the land from a ' Danish ' ( Viking ) occupation — originates from the powerful influence of a work of 12th century propaganda, Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh ( The War of the Irish with the Foreigners ) in which Brian takes the leading role.