Vikings arrive by sea at Portland in Dorset (on the south coast of England) and kill a royal official. It was said at the time that this was the first occasion when men speaking 'the Danish tongue' set foot in England.

Vikings attack the monastery at Lindisfarne in what is now Northumberland, England. The bones of the saints were said to have been trampled ‘like dung in the streets’.

Vikings attack monasteries in the north of England, Ireland and Scotland.

Ireland suffers numerous Viking raids.

Vikings establish camps at Dublin and Annagassan in Ireland.

For the first time, Vikings spend the whole winter in England (on the island of Thanet in the Thames Estuary).

A Viking army, bigger than any seen before, arrives in eastern England. It is known to people at the time as the ‘Great Heathen Army’.

The Great Heathen Army sacks York – the capital of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria.

Vikings dominate Orkney, Shetland and parts of northern Scotland.

King Edmund of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia is killed by the Great Heathen Army.

Dumbarton Rock, the capital of the British kingdom of Strathclyde, is destroyed by Vikings from Dublin and its king taken prisoner.

King Æthelred of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, with his brother Alfred, fights the Vikings to a stalemate at the battle of Ashdown in Oxfordshire/Berkshire. Alfred succeeds his brother as king of Wessex later in the same year.

Repton, an important royal monastery in Anglo-Saxon Mercia, is occupied by the Great Heathen Army.

The Great Heathen Army occupies the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. According to contemporary accounts, they ‘divided up the land; and were ploughing and providing for themselves’.

A Viking army led by Guthrum occupies Wessex and drives King Alfred into hiding at Athelney in Somerset. King Alfred returns to defeat Guthrum at the battle of Edington in Wiltshire. Guthrum accepts Christianity and settles in East Anglia with his army, where he becomes king.

A treaty between Alfred and Guthrum sets out the southern boundary of an area of northern and eastern England that is dominated by Viking settlers. Some historians refer to this region as the 'Danelaw', although the name isn't recorded at the time.

Vikings attack Wales.

The Viking rulers of Dublin are expelled by the Irish.

An alliance of Anglo-Saxons from Wessex and Mercia destroy a large Viking army at the battle of Tettenhall (near Wolverhampton).

Alfred’s son, King Edward ‘the Elder’, conquers the English midlands from the Vikings and is recognised as overlord of all northern Britain.

The Viking chief Rollo is given land to settle in France. This region is later enlarged and becomes known as ‘Normandy’.

The Vikings return to rule in Dublin.

Edward’s son, King Athelstan, conquers Viking Northumbria, creating a unified kingdom of England for the first time.

King Athelstan crushes an alliance of Scots, Vikings and the Britons of Strathclyde at the battle of Brunanburh in northern England.

King Athelstan dies and is succeeded by King Edmund. An independent Viking kingdom of Northumbria is restored under King Olaf Guthfrithsson.

King Edmund takes control of five important Viking towns: Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stamford and Derby.

The last independent Viking king of Northumbria – Erik Bloodaxe – is expelled from York and killed.

The Viking rulers of the Isle of Man increase their power around the Irish Sea.

The Vikings of Dublin are defeated at the battle of Tara, and their power in Ireland declines.

Vikings raid Southampton, and for the next 35 years Viking raids on England become increasingly serious.

A Viking army attacks Essex, defeating an English army at the battle of Maldon. The English pay the Vikings 10,000 pounds to go away...

The English pay the Vikings 30,000 pounds to go away...

Svein Forkbeard, king of Denmark, conquers all England.

The Irish kings of Munster and Leinster fight each other at the battle of Clontarf. Vikings fight on both sides.

Svein Forkbeard’s son, Cnut, becomes king of England.

Thorfinn the Mighty, earl of Orkney, extends his power over parts of northern and western Scotland.

King Cnut dies.

Cnut’s son, King Harthacnut, dies and Danish rule in England ends.

Harald ‘Hard-ruler’ Sigurdsson, king of Norway, invades England and is defeated and killed at Stamford Bridge (Yorkshire) by an army led by the English king, Harold Godwineson.

Duke William of Normandy, a direct descendent of Rollo the Viking, defeats and kills King Harold Godwineson at the battle of Hastings. The Norman Conquest of England begins.