Viking Age: Timeline

The timeline below represents Viking influence and settlement in Ireland.

795: Viking attacks on Rechru (probably Rathlin Island off northern Irish coast) and Scottish Hebridean island of Skye recorded by Annals of Ulster

802: Monastery on Hebridean island of Iona attacked by Vikings

806: Another Viking attack on Iona left 68 monks dead

825: Vikings attacked Hebridean island of Iona again, killing its prior, Blathmac

836: Viking fleets moved inland in Ireland

839: First overwintering of Vikings in Ireland, on Lough Neagh

841: Vikings established settlement in Dublin, Ireland

849: New Viking fleet arrived in Ireland

902: Vikings expelled from Dublin by Irish

917: Norse settlement of Dublin reestablished by Sigtrygg Caech

980: Vikings of Dublin defeated in Battle of Tara in Ireland

989: Sigtrygg Silk-Beard became king of Dublin

1052: Diarmait, king of Leinster, seized control of Dublin

1072: Diarmait, ‘king of Wales and the Isles and Dublin’ died. Muirchertach, great-grandson of Brian Boru, became king of Dublin

1091: Godred Crovan became king of Dublin

1094: Godred Crovan expelled from Dublin; Domnall mac Muirchertaig became king of Dublin

1095-96: Death of Godred Crovan; succeeded by his son, Lagman, who then abdicated in favour of Domnall mac Muirchertaig of Dublin

1102: Magnus Bare-Foot’s second western expedition. He spent the winter with Muirchertach II, Irish high-king, and made a marriage alliance with him

1103: Death of Magnus Bare-Foot in Ulster, Northern Ireland.

1118: Domnall mac Muirchertaig of Dublin deposed

1170-71: Anglo-Norman conquest of Dublin; the town’s last Norse king was executed

(Katherine Holman: Key Dates: 250-257)

Visual Timeline:

TimelineJS Embed (knightlab.com)

Holman, Katherine. The Northern Conquest: Vikings in Britian and Ireland. Luton, Bedfordshire: Andrews UK Ltd. 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central.