The Anglo-Saxons and Vikings
The first evidence of the presence of the Germanic raiders can be dated to quite an early part of the pagan Saxon period (circa 450 – 600 AD). This evidence is to be found at or near Ribchester, where an early pagan cremation has been discovered, a rather surprising find considering that most of the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ remains of this period are located largely in the south and east of modern England. About 570, however, it seems that isolated family groups came across the Pennines from Deira, settling on the Fylde and in the Ribble and Lune valleys.
Their settlements bore the suffix “-inga”, and it has been expostulated that the current name of Billinge dates back to this wave.
This seems to have been a peaceful settlement, however, possibly with the blessing of Cynfarch or Urien, who may have invited them as federate soldiers. Further waves followed in about 600 (place name evidence of “-ingaham” settlements further east of here and north, in the Ribble Valley) and after 615 and the British defeat at Chester.
The latter invasion, probably more violent than the first two due to its being in the aftermath of a battle, yields “-ingaton” place names, the local example being Pleasington.
Throughout all of this, and the main Anglo-Saxon migrations later in the seventh century, the county seems to have remained comparatively peaceful – due in no small part, I shouldn’t wonder, to the sparsely-populated nature of the territory.
It is known that, from the mid to late Roman period and onwards, the island of Britannia suffered raids not only from the Saxons to the east, but also by the Irish to the west. One group of people from Ireland, the Scots or Gens DalRiada, settled in the west of Scotland, eventually amalgamating their kingdom with that of the Picts to form the basis of modern Scotland, and others made a home for themselves in Cornwall and parts of Wales.
When, in the first years after the Roman withdrawal, the Picts and Scots, along with Germanic pirates, threatened the newly independent island, the British leader, Vitalinus (?), better known as Vortigern, invited two notable leaders among the Saxons, namely Hengest and Horsa, to come to his aid as foederati (federates, i.e. mercenaries), with the promise of lands made available for settlement.
The main adversary for these first Englishmen were the Picts, an enigmatic folk from Scotland, who, at this time, were ruled by a particularly powerful character called Bridei.
However, some ‘nephews’ of Hengest were believed to have come west to guard against possible Irish incursions, and some may have been posted to the former Roman fort of Bremetennacum.
From place name evidence elsewhere in Britain, a particularly good example being Dumfreis, Scotland, it can be hypothesised that these pioneers were of Frisian extraction. It would be some time before the proto-English would have the upper hand in this region, though.
The first Anglian ruler of note to come unto this region was Æthelfrith of Bernicia. Bede tells us that he won two great battles. The first was at Degastan against King Aedan of DalRiada, a campaign which possibly started with Æthelfrith making a jaunt by way of northern Lancashire.
The Northumbrians enjoyed a succession of great rulers in the seventh century.
The area, about this time, fell to the new power – Mercia. The area first seems to have come under the control of the Mercian royal house in the aftermath of Edwin’s defeat at the hands of Catwallun and Penda, who added the area to his empire.
Surely, were it not for Penda’s pagan recusancy, he would’ve been recognised as Bretwalda. It is, however, important to noth that some sources suggest that the area around Witton was always a part of Northumbria.
Offa was perhaps the greatest of the Mercian kings. He was recognised by Charlemagne, the medieval Christian prince par excellance, as an equal.
During this time, there was one major battle fought at Billingahoh, believed to be in the vicinity of Langho and Billington, south of Whalley on the Blackburn road. This was the culmination of a revolt against Eardulf, king of Northumbria, led by Wada and Alric.
The Chronicle of the Northern Anglo-Saxons has this entry:
“AD 798. This year there was a great fight at Whalley (Whælage) in the land of the Northumbrians, during Lent, on the 4th before the Nones of April, and there Alric the son of Herbert, was slain, and many with him.”
This had been a long time in coming. The Chronicle describes the expulsion of King Alcred from York in favour of Ethelred, son of Moll, in the Easter of 774 AD. Ethelred’s reign was four years in length. In 778 “Ethelbald and Herbert” (the same as Alric’s father?) “slew three high reeves, and then Athwold obtained the kingdom and drove Ethelred out of the country; and he reigned ten years.” Athwold was slain by Siga in October 789, and alcred’s son, Osred, claimed the throne, only to be betrayed and banished the following year in favour of Ethelred, who commenced his second period in charge (or, more accurately, shouldn’t that be “sentence”?).
This reign, in any eventually, was a miserable one, although whether Ethelred was to blame for any of it is highly doubtful to say the least. The kingdom was hit by a dire famine in 793, and the people inhabiting the coasts now suffered the wrath of the “Northmen”.
Of this year, the Chronicle tells us:
“…. Dire forewarnings came over the land of the Northumbrians, and miserably terrified the people; there were excessive whirlwinds and lightnings; and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air.” (the latter always a bad sign).
Ethelred was deposed and slaughtered by his own subjects in May 794, plunging the country into a period of anarchy, from which Eardulf emerged as monarch.
It was a dangerous business at this time, being king of Northumbria. Incidentally, both Wada and Alric had been implicated in the demise of Ethelred.
798, it seems, saw a “formidable revolt” in the western parts of Northumbria.
The rebels must have been driven south of the Ribble, for this region at this time was not a part of Northumbria, but of Mercia. Whether there was any Mercian complicity in this revolt may never be known.
Blackburnshire, it seems, later became, for a time, a part of the “Dena Lagu” or “Dane law”, the part of modern England governed by the Viking kings of Denmark.
The town was compelled to pay Danegeld at this time, despite the fact that it was probably inhabited by Vikings.
Indeed, the name of “Northgate” in the town may not refer to a gate at all, but may derive from the Norse “gata”, meaning a road, i.e. the road to the north.
Before this, however, the great West Saxon king, Athelstan, had won a great victory at Brunanburh, where he overcame an army of “Danes” under a leader called Anlaf (sometimes with the epithet “of Ireland”), i.e. Olaf the Red, Scots, led by their king, Constantine, and Welshmen of Strathclyde, probably under their king Owen III Caesarius, a sub-king of Constantine of Scots. This victory marks Athelstan out as the first true king of all of what is modern England, and enabled him to repeat the feat of his father, Edward the Elder, in achieving the status of “suzerain”, or feudal lord, over the other kingdoms of the island of Britain.
It seems that Brunanburh was borne of intrigues and treacheries
One of the greatest warriors on Athelstan’s side during this battle was Egil Skallagrimson, a Viking explorer/mercenary. His brother, -----, fell in the battle, and was buried -----
Attempts were made to locate this battle near Brindle, not far from Witton Park (by C. Hardwick) and Burnley (by T. T. Wilkinson), along with Blackpool and Dumfreisshire, although other sources suggest the most feasible suggestion is Bromborough on the Wirral.
Much of the former couple of arguments is dependent upon the discovery of the CUERDALE HOARD, one of the most important finds of Viking treasure ever discovered, and certainly England’s most significant.
The great Anglo-Saxon poem commemorating the events, 937’s entry into the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, celebrated the brave deeds of Athelstan and his brother, Edmund Atheling (later Edmund I “Deed-doer” or “the Magnificent”), the latter of whom was barely into his teens.
Edmund was to return North during his kingship, to ally with Malcolm I of Scotland in order to defeat Dunmail of Cumbria, possibly Donald mac Donald, on the border between the old counties of Cumberland and Westmorland.
It seems that Dunmail had, in the power vacuum created by the death of Owen Caesarius at Brunanburh, usurped control of the kingdom from the king of Scots, who normally at this time gave it to his successor.
A cairn between the two tarmac snakes of a dual carrigeway is said to mark the spot where the last independent “British” king of North West England fell in 945, not long survived by Edmund.
Edmund gave Dunmail’s kingdom in trust to the Scots king, and Malcolm’s successors were compelled to do homage for it in future times. The border between England and Scotland was not really set until William II Rufus took Carlisle in 1090 – prior to that, even Lancashire was subject to dispute between the two kingdoms.
Formerly, it was believed that the Danes never came west of the Pennines, bar a small area of settlement in the Manchester area, but it is now believed that both Danes and Norwegians settled here.
Indeed, for a time, the whole of the County Palatine may have been part of a Norse kingdom of Cumbria, and it is possible that it was dominated from Yorvik (York).
No love was lost between the Danes and Norwegians at this time, although a decree by Erik Bloodaxe, one of the Yorvik kingdom’s greatest kings, encouraged them to inhabit the same settlements – some of which may well have been located in the West Pennine Moors and Ribble Valley areas.
Norse settlers made homes along the coasts, and in the marshy, rough and sparsely populated areas of Lancashire – especially north of the Ribble, having filtered in over some time from Ireland (where the Norse were expelled from Dublin in 902 AD), the Isle of Man and the Hebrides.
Evidence of ninth century settlement in the North West is possibly seen in the use of grave goods by the Norse settlers – who, early in the settlement period, may have been pagan.
The large quantity of potentially volatile Scandinavians in this area may well explain why St. Edward the Confessor, king between 1042 and January 1066, held as his own many lands in this area. Indeed, the Domesday Book of 1086 says that a tract of forest stretching from Revidge (north of Blackburn) to the Ribble was in the possession of the king.
We unfortunately do not have names for many of the last Saxons to hold these lands, lands which were granted to noblemen who came with the next and final successful invasion of England.
