In fact, historians debate whether Vikings actually even destroyed the bridge. Vikings: Valhalla's account of
Olaf's idea was to build rafts and top them with thatched roofs nicked from local houses; his protected men sailed down the Thames, wrapped cables round the bridge piles then rowed off hard, destabilising and possibly even pulling it down.
This wooden bridge was short-lived however, as in 1014 Viking invaders led by King Olaf Haraldsson, attacked the British Isles and tore the bridge down.
Viking attacks
They attacked London in AD 842, and again in AD 851, and The Great Army spent the winter in the town in AD 871-72. Alfred the Great, who became king in AD 878, forced the Vikings to make peace and fortified the town. During the next century London became the most powerful town in England.
While the London Bridge has never fallen down, bridge piers are susceptible to damage from shipping vessels and from the force of the river rushing through it. This is what finished the life of the medieval bridge (and probably earlier bridges, as well).
The only two collapses occurred when maintenance had been neglected, in 1281 (five arches) and 1437 (two arches).
To minimise any disruption to traffic, the new bridge was to be build 30 metres upstream of the old crossing, therefore allowing the Medieval bridge to function until the latter was opened in 1831. Once this was completed, the old bridge was quickly dismantled and lost into the annals of history.
The Viking presence in England was finally ended in 1066 when an English army under King Harold defeated the last great Viking king, Harald Hardrada of Norway, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, near York.
King Alfred and the Danes
In 886 Alfred took London from the Vikings and fortified it. The same year he signed a treaty with Guthrum. The treaty partitioned England between Vikings and English.
Although Viking rule returned to the north of England later in the tenth century, the violent death of King Erik Bloodaxe in 954 marked the end of independent Viking power in the north. This was not the end of the Viking era, however.
This new fortified settlement of London was named Lundenburgh (A burgh meaning “fortified dwelling place”) and formed a collective defensive system of “burghs” and fortified towns.
Our three main protagonists of Vikings: Valhalla are based on historical characters. But the thing is, their historical counterparts never actually met. Well, Leif and Freydís did, because they were indeed siblings, but they didn't know Harald, as they didn't even exist as the same time.
To be precise, Vikings: Valhalla Season 2 is a fictionalised story based on real events of Pegan's history, however, this particular series focuses on the aftermath of the St Brice's Day Massacre, which saw King Athelred of England order the mass killings of Danes in 1002.
The events of 1066 in England effectively marked the end of the Viking Age. By that time, all of the Scandinavian kingdoms were Christian, and what remained of Viking “culture” was being absorbed into the culture of Christian Europe.
A number of broader factors contributed to the Vikings' decline: more and more communities previously attacked by Vikings became better able to defend themselves, with armies and fortifications; Christianity's spread in Europe; and less egalitarianism in Viking society.
Early research said the exodus was due to many problems, including climate change, a lack of management, economic collapse and social stratification. Temperature change has often been cited as an explanation for the end of the Vikings, so let's take a closer look.
According to medieval sources, Ragnar Lothbrok was a Danish king and Viking warrior who flourished in the 9th century. There is much ambiguity in what is thought to be known about him, and it has its roots in the European literature created after his death.
history. Viking Scotland, known as Lothlend, Laithlinn, Lochlainn and comprising the Northern and Western Isles and parts of the mainland, especially Caithness, Sutherland and Inverness, was settled by Norwegian Vikings in the early ninth century.
The Viking reputation as bloodthirsty conquerors has endured for more than a millennium but new research shows that some Norsemen approached the British islands with more than a little trepidation.
Harald Hardrada (Harald III Sigurdsson) is often known as "the last real Viking," and maybe he was what many understood by a real Viking king.
Long before the island of Great Britain was invaded by Germanic tribes called Angles and Saxons, these islands were inhabited by Celts. The Celtic (kel'-tik) period dates from around 500 B.C. to A.D. 45.
There was even a rumor—since discredited—that the Americans had been duped into thinking they were buying the more iconic Tower Bridge. In the end, however, it was McCulloch and Wood who had the last laugh. Their whimsical purchase proved to be the marketing ploy that Lake Havasu City needed.
The 1831 London Bridge was the last project of engineer John Rennie and completed by his son, John Rennie. By 1962, it was not sturdy enough to carry the increased load of traffic; the bridge was sold by the City of London in April 1968 to make way for its replacement.
Modern London Bridge
The current London Bridge, built between 1968 and 1972, replaced Rennie's stone arches with beams of prestressed concrete reaching 104 metres (340 feet) in the central span.