At its pinnacle, the British Empire was so vast it was the empire on which the sun never sets.

It encompassed as much as one quarter of the earth, but 1,000 years before her height,

the blazing inferno of power was merely a smoldering candle on the precipice of being extinguished.

The late 700 AD British Isles were a collective of nine minor kingdoms, closer to warring tribes than the true nations.

These kingdoms were Christian due to the missionary efforts of men like St. Patrick,

St. David, and ultimately a Pope Sanctioned Mission from St. Augustine in 597 AD.

Just to the east, a pagan storm was growing.

The Northman, Danes, or Vikings through overpopulation, or more than likely

due to a global cooling and difficulty with growing crops in cooler weather, sent their first raiding party to the ripe British Isles.

The first major Viking raid landed on a small island off the coast called Lindesfarn. Dr. Ben Merkel says that. Lindesfarn was

probably chosen as a target since churches and monastic communities offered the prospect of great wealth with very little

protection. In the following years monasteries throughout Britain and Ireland

would fall prey to the Viking raids.

The Vikings came from the sea arriving in a handful of their longboats, with little or no warning

of their approach. Their shallow drafted ships were beached on the shore of Holy Island and

then pulled far enough up the shore to be safe from the tide for several hours.

The monks merely puzzled for the moment, watched from within the walls of the monastery.

Then once the ships were secured, the Vikings turned to the monastery.

It is unlikely that they met any resistance as they approached.

No barrage of arrows and spears, no shield wall, not even an armed guard.

After gaining an easy entrance, the raiding party plundered the monastery of whatever portable

wealth could be found, hacking to pieces whatever feeble resistance the monks

...