c. 500 BC
Beginning of the Scandinavian Iron Age (to c. AD 800).
c. 320 BC
Pytheas of Massalia visits Thule.
c. AD 1 – 400
Emergence of a warrior aristocracy in southern Scandinavia.
c. 400 – 800
The first kingdoms develop in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
425 – 500
Anglo-Saxon migrations from Denmark and Germany to Britain.
c. 528
Hygelac, king of the Geats, leads a Scandinavian pirate raid on the lower Rhine.
c. 725
St Willibrord leads the first Christian mission to Scandinavia.
737
The first phase of the Danevirke rampart is completed.
c. 750
Swedes established at Staraja Ladoga in Russia.
c. 789
Norwegian Vikings sack Portland in Dorsetshire.
793
Vikings plunder the Northumbrian monastery of Lindisfarne.
795
First recorded Viking raids on Scotland and Ireland.
799
Vikings raid Aquitaine.
800
Charlemagne organises coastal defences against the Vikings.
810
Danish king Godfred ravages Frisia.
822 – 3
Archbishop Ebo of Reims undertakes a mission to Denmark.
c. 825
First Danish coins are minted at Hedeby.
c. 825
Irish monks driven out of the Faeroe Islands by Vikings.
826
Danish king Harald Klak is baptised at Mainz. St Ansgar’s first mission to Denmark.
829 – 30
St Ansgar’s first mission to the Svear at Birka.
832
Armagh in Ireland is raided by Vikings three times in one month.
834 – 7
The port of Dorestad on the Rhine is raided annually.
c. 835
The Oseberg ship burial in Norway.
c. 839
The Rus reach Constantinople.
841
Viking longphort is established at Dublin.
843
Treaty of Verdun partitions the Carolingian empire.
844
Viking army in Spain is defeated at Seville.
845
The Danes sack Hamburg and Paris.
851 – 2
St Ansgar’s second mission to Denmark and Sweden.
859 – 62
Hastein and Björn Ironside raid in the Mediterranean.
c. 860
Gardar the Swede explores the coast of Iceland.
860
The first Rus attack on Constantinople is driven off.
862
Charles the Bald, king of the West Franks orders the construction of fortified bridges against the Vikings.
c. 862
Rurik becomes ruler of Novgorod; Askold and Dyr seize Kiev.
865
Danish ‘Great Army’ invades England.
867
The Danes capture York.
870
The Danes conquer East Anglia.
c. 870 – 930
The Vikings settle Iceland.
c. 870
The Earldom of Orkney is established by Rognvald of Møre.
874 – 914
The ‘Forty Years Rest’: a lull in Viking raids against Ireland.
876-9
The beginning of Danish settlement in eastern England.
878
Alfred the Great of Wessex defeats the Danes at Edington.
c. 882
Oleg unites Novgorod and Kiev.
c. 885 – 90
Harald Fairhair wins the battle of Hafrsfjord, uniting most of Norway.
885-6
Unsuccessful Viking siege of Paris.
891
Arnulf king of the East Franks defeats the Vikings at the Dyle.
c. 900
Norwegian settlement begins in north-west England.
902
The Irish expel the Vikings from Dublin.
c. 900 – 905
The Gokstad ship burial in Norway.
907
After their attack on Constantinople is defeated the Rus agree a trade treaty with the Byzantine empire.
911
Rollo is made count of Rouen, founding Normandy.
912 – 54
Wessex conquers the Danelaw.
914 – 36
Vikings occupy Brittany.
917
Vikings under Sihtric Cáech recapture Dublin.
930
Foundation of the Icelandic Althing.
934
Henry the Fowler leads a German invasion of Denmark.
937
English defeat a Scottish-Norse alliance at Brunanburh.
948
First Scandinavian bishoprics founded at Ribe, Århus and Schleswig.
954
Erik Bloodaxe, last Viking king of York, is killed at Stainmore.
964 – 71
Svyatoslav of Kiev campaigns against the Bulgars, Khazars and Byzantines.
965
Harald Bluetooth of Denmark is converted to Christianity.
c. 965
Exhaustion of Muslim silver mines leads to the decline of Viking trade routes to the east.
974 – 81
Germans occupy Hedeby.
c. 980
Harald Bluetooth constructs the Trelleborg forts in Denmark.
c. 986
Erik the Red leads the Norse settlement of Greenland.
988
Byzantine emperor Basil II founds the Varangian Guard.
988
Vladimir the Great of Kiev converts to Orthodox Christianity.
991
Olaf Tryggvason defeats the English at Maldon.
995
Olaf Tryggvason wins control of Norway. Adopts a policy of forcible Christianisation.
995
Olof Skötkonung becomes the first king to rule both the Svear and Götar.
1000
Olaf Tryggvason is killed at the Battle of Svöld.
1000
The Icelanders accept Christianity.
c. 1000
Voyages to Vinland begin.
1002
St Brice’s Day massacre of Danes living in England.
1014
Svein Forkbeard of Denmark conquers England.
1014
Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, defeats Norse-Leinster alliance at Clontarf.
1015
Olaf Haraldsson (St Olaf) becomes king of Norway.
1016
Cnut becomes king of England.
c. 1027
First stone church built in Denmark at Roskilde.
1030
Olaf Haraldsson killed at the battle of Stiklestad.
1030 – 5
Battle of Tarbat Ness: Thorfinn the Mighty, earl of Orkney wins control of northern Scotland.
1042
End of Danish rule in England.
1043
Magnus the Good defeats the Wends at the battle of Lyrskov Heath.
1066
Harald Hardrada killed at the battle of Stamford Bridge. Battle of Hastings begins the Norman conquest of Britain.
1075
Last Danish invasion of England.
1079
Battle of Skyhill. Godred Crovan unites the Isle of Man and the Hebrides.
1086
Cnut the Holy of Denmark is murdered after abandoning a planned invasion of England.
1098
Magnus Barefoot establishes Norwegian authority in the Scottish isles.
1103 – 4
Lund becomes the first Scandinavian archbishopric.
1107 – 11
Norwegian king Sigurd Jorsalfar leads a crusade to the Holy Land.
1122 – 32
Ari Thorgilsson writes Íslendingabók (The Book of the Icelanders).
1147
The Danes join a crusade against the pagan Wends.
1156
Somerled wins the southern Hebrides from Godred II of Man.
1171
Asculf, last Norse king of Dublin, captured and executed by the Anglo-Normans.