Date of Award
5-2019
Document Type
Thesis
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree Program
History
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Thesis Advisor
Gregory Bell
Committee Member
Josephine Koster
Committee Member
Jason H. Silverman
Keywords
Vikings, Conquests of England, Anglo-Saxon, Heathen invasion, Early Medieval, Danegeld
Abstract
In the year 865 CE, a coalition of Viking forces combined to form an army aimed at the conquest and settlement of England. Known as The Great Heathen Army, these Vikings managed to capture most of the territory that today constitutes England with the notable exception of the English kingdom of Wessex. And so, despite many successes, they failed to conquer all of English territory. Though these events, which transpired throughout the 860s and 870s, are well documented, the Viking perspective is rarely taken into account and there has yet to have been an argument that pinpoints how and why the Great Army was defeated. The purpose of this thesis will be to determine why the great army failed in their attempt to conquer all of the lands that belonged to the Anglo-Saxons.
Recommended Citation
MacNeill, Ryan, "The Great Heathen Failure: Why the Great Heathen Army Failed to Conquer the Whole of Anglo-Saxon England" (2019). Graduate Theses. 104.
https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/graduatetheses/104
