Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is episode 207.

Christianity in early day and law. This show is ad-free due to member support. And as

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This is part two of our story about religion and religious life in the age of the great

Heavon Army and the Danish invasion of Britain.

Last episode, I told you about how the stories were often told of violent atrocities committed

against Christian spaces and against Christendom itself didn't actually originate from the

9th century, when they supposedly occurred, but only appear in our record during the 12th

century, which was 200 years later and during the height of the Crusades. We spoke about

how the idea of the pagan zealotry of the Vikings doesn't really align with the reports

that we got later on that they converted to Christianity eagerly and easily. And I showed

you how the archaeological and contemporary record doesn't comport with the popular story

of a religious war against the Christians of Britain, a story that relies entirely upon

records that were written centuries after the fact.

As you've probably gathered, I'm very suspicious about these later records. However, not all

of our records were recorded centuries later, we do have some contemporary records in the

form of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. And while I don't believe we should use the actions

of 8th century Vikingar bands as a model for how the great Heavon Army would have acted

in the 9th century, I do think that those Vikingar strikes should be addressed and for one

...