[MR] Smithsonian: Viking Excavations at Repton

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Vikings:

The April/May SMITHSONIAN has a large illustrated feature on Vikings in
England. The story centers on excavations underway at Repton in Derbyshire
(then in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia). It was here and at
nearby Foremark that the "Great Heathen Army" camped in the winter of
873-874. They certainly left a lot of "stuff" behind, including graves, and
some of the artifacts are shown in the article.

Wikipedia has a map of England showing the conquests of the "Great Heathen
Army" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Heathen_Army . By 874 most of
England had been conquered, with the exception of Wessex under the rule of
Alfred the Great (essentially a strip across southern England). Alfred was
able to defeat the Vikings in 878 at the Battle of Edington. By 896 the
Viking army dispersed, with many settling permanently in Viking-controlled
kingdoms across what is now northern and eastern England, and others
departing for conquests elsewhere.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆