Anniversary march as three Vikings take York once more

IT WAS on November 1 - All Saints Day - in the year 866AD, that the Vikings first invaded York, taking its inhabitants by surprise while they worshipped.
Actors recreate the Viking invasion of York on November 1, AD866. Picture by Charlotte GrahamActors recreate the Viking invasion of York on November 1, AD866. Picture by Charlotte Graham
Actors recreate the Viking invasion of York on November 1, AD866. Picture by Charlotte Graham

The three who came in their wake yesterday faced even less resistance.

To mark the anniversary, and to launch next February’s Viking Festival, actors in period costume assumed the roles of the three brothers, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Ubba Ragnarsson and Ivarr the Boneless, who led the original charge.

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The festival, which runs during the half-term week from February 12-18 and attracts more than 40,000 visitors to the city known in Anglo-Saxon times as Eoforwic, is returning following the reopening last April of the Jorvik Viking Museum. It will tell the story of the earliest days of Viking York, alongside a reconstruction of the peaceful trading hub it became.

Actors recreate the Viking invasion of York on November 1, AD866. Picture by Charlotte GrahamActors recreate the Viking invasion of York on November 1, AD866. Picture by Charlotte Graham
Actors recreate the Viking invasion of York on November 1, AD866. Picture by Charlotte Graham

The festival, the largest Norse-themed event in Europe, will include an enactment of the “call to battle”, as Vikings march from the Minster to Coppergate.

“Our hordes of Viking warriors will face off against the established Anglo-Saxons as we tell the origin story of Viking York,” said marketing manager Paul Whiting.

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