In the 8th and 9th centuries the people of Scandinavia, who were known as the Vikings, began to come to Britain. Anglo-Saxon accounts describe terrible Viking raids in which people were massacred, churches destroyed, and animals and precious objects stolen. By the end of the 870s, the Vikings occupied most of eastern England. Their territory was called the Danelaw.
The first Viking raid was on the monastery at Lindisfarne. The Vikings stole precious treasures and killed many of the monks.
