Viking Age timeline: 793 to 1066
In short: the Viking Age is usually dated from the raid on Lindisfarne in 793 to the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, about 270 years of Norse raiding, trading, settlement and kingship from Ireland to Newfoundland. This Viking Age timeline walks through those years in four stretches. If you ride indoors, Cyclorama's Viking Age runs on the same calendar, at about 5 years per kilometre.
The Viking Age timeline in one paragraph: 793 to 1066
Norse seafarers from what is now Denmark, Norway and Sweden raided, traded and settled across Europe and reached North America. They settled in the British Isles, Ireland, the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland and Normandy, and travelled the Dnieper and Volga trade routes in eastern Europe, where they were known as Varangians. Few Scandinavians of the Viking era were raiders themselves. In the 11th century the home countries came together as larger kingdoms, and for a short time Cnut ruled a North Sea empire. Wikipedia puts the Viking Age at about 800 to 1050, during the Middle Ages; the dates 793 and 1066 are the conventional bookends, and this timeline uses them.
793 to 850: the first raids
- 793: Lindisfarne. Norse seafarers attack the monastery on Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumbria. Monks are killed or enslaved and the monastery's wealth is taken. The raid is often treated as the start of the Viking Age, though Scandinavian contact with Britain began earlier (Sack of Lindisfarne).
- 834 or later: the Oseberg burial. A longship is buried in a mound near Tønsberg in Norway, with two women and many grave goods. Scientific dating puts the burial no earlier than 834. Dug up in 1904 to 1905, it is now one of the best-known objects from the period (Oseberg ship).
- 845: Paris. A fleet of about 120 ships under a chieftain called Reginherus, or Ragnar, sails up the Seine and occupies Paris at Easter. Charles the Bald pays 7,000 livres in gold and silver for them to leave (Siege of Paris).
850 to 900: the Great Army and settlement
- About 853: Dublin. A Norse kingdom forms around Dublin. It is the first and longest-lasting Norse kingdom in Ireland and survives until 1170 (Kingdom of Dublin).
- 865: the Great Heathen Army. A coalition of mainly Danish warriors lands in East Anglia, aiming to take the four English kingdoms rather than raid them. It captures York in November 866 and campaigns for 14 years (Great Heathen Army).
- 874: Iceland. Later Icelandic tradition places Ingólfr Arnarson's settlement around this year. Earlier visits came before a permanent Norse population grew (one of the Viking Age moments in Cyclorama).
- 878: Edington. Alfred of Wessex defeats Guthrum's army in Wiltshire. Guthrum is baptised and withdraws to East Anglia, and Wessex stays independent (Battle of Edington).
900 to 1000: Iceland, Greenland and Vinland
- 911: Normandy. After the siege of Chartres, Charles the Simple grants Rollo land between the Epte and the sea. In return Rollo swears allegiance, converts, and guards the Seine against other raiders (Rollo).
- 930: the Althing. Iceland's general assembly first meets at Þingvellir. It is still Iceland's parliament today (Althing).
- About 982: Greenland. Erik the Red is exiled from Iceland for three years, explores Greenland, and founds the first lasting European settlement there (Erik the Red).
- 1000: Iceland becomes Christian. The Althing votes to make Christianity the official religion, after years of pressure from Olaf Tryggvason of Norway (Christianization of Iceland).
- Around 1000: Vinland. The sagas say Erik's son Leif Erikson set up a settlement in Vinland, usually read as coastal North America. The Norse site at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland has a tree-ring date of 1021 (Leif Erikson, L'Anse aux Meadows).
1000 to 1066: kings, Cnut and the end at Stamford Bridge
- December 1013: Swein Forkbeard. The Danish king takes the English throne. He dies on 3 February 1014 (Swein Forkbeard).
- 1016 to 1035: Cnut. Swein's son becomes King of England in 1016, of Denmark in 1018 and of Norway in 1028. Historians call the three crowns together the North Sea Empire. He dies on 12 November 1035 (Cnut).
- 1030: Stiklestad. Olaf Haraldsson tries to win back Norway and is defeated. His 15-year-old half-brother Harald goes into exile and later commands the Varangian Guard in Byzantium (Harald Hardrada).
- 25 September 1066: Stamford Bridge. Harold Godwinson's English army defeats Harald Hardrada, now King of Norway, in Yorkshire. Harald and Tostig are killed. Less than three weeks later the Normans defeat Harold at Hastings. Stamford Bridge is the traditional end of the Viking Age, though Danish and Norwegian kings campaigned in Britain and Ireland in 1069 to 1070 and again around 1100 (Battle of Stamford Bridge).
How the era rides: 55 km Classic, 25 km Sprint, about 5 years per km
The ride starts on 1 January 793 and ends on 31 December 1066. The Classic route is 55 km with 500 moments, so each kilometre moves the calendar on by about 5 years. The Sprint covers the key events in about 25 km. Each route keeps its own progress and your place is saved, so you can ride the Viking Age timeline a session at a time (Sprint and Classic).
That is a very different pace from the other eras. World War II moves about a month per kilometre; here a single kilometre covers about five years, so Cnut's 19 years on the English throne pass in under 4 km. The cards come up as you reach their date, and you can turn on Read cards aloud if you would rather listen than read. Every card links to its Wikipedia source. You do not need a smart trainer: see how to ride without a smart trainer, or exercise bike apps without Bluetooth if you have a basic bike.
It is built for the easy days, when the trainer is dull and a show is just background. One rider in r/Zwift put it simply: "Got bored with Zwift + Netflix". Cyclorama reads a smart trainer, a speed or cadence sensor, a power meter, or no sensor at all, and never changes your resistance. To see what else exists, read is there a history app for cycling. There is no account to make, and the no account, works offline guide explains what stays on your phone.
Questions
When did the Viking Age start and end?
By convention it starts with the raid on Lindisfarne in 793 and ends with the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25 September 1066. Many historians round it to about 800 to 1050, and Scandinavian raids on Britain and Ireland went on for some decades after 1066.
Are there cycling apps that teach you history while you ride?
Few are built around history. Strava tracks and shares rides, Zwift is an indoor app for smart trainers and bikes, and Rouvy plays real routes from around the world. Cyclorama is an iPhone and iPad app where the distance you pedal indoors moves an era's calendar forward, and dated moments adapted from Wikipedia appear as you reach them. It is not a course: the cards are short, and the source is one tap away.
Is the Viking Age part of the Middle Ages?
Yes. Wikipedia describes the Viking Age as a period during the Middle Ages, in the early medieval centuries before the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
How far is the Viking Age in Cyclorama?
The Classic route is 55 km with 500 moments, about 5 years per kilometre. The Sprint is about 25 km. Your place is saved between rides, and the other five eras run from 56 to 89 km.
Sources and licence
The history on this page is adapted from the Wikipedia articles linked in each entry, read on 5 November 2026, and is shared under the same licence, CC BY-SA 4.0. Credit Wikipedia and Cyclorama if you reuse it. Dates in Viking history are often approximate or drawn from later sagas and chronicles; where a source says "about" or "traditionally", so does this page. The history in the app is adapted from Wikipedia in the same way and links each moment to its source.
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Image credits
| Credit | Licence | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Illustration, not a photograph: a Viking longship with a striped sail on a calm fjord at sunrise. Created for Cyclorama with ChatGPT (AI-generated) | AI-generated by us (ChatGPT) | |
| Larry Lamsa | CC BY 2.0 | source |
| Dennis G. Jarvis (photo); the embroidery is 11th-century | CC BY-SA 2.0 | source |
| Cyclorama on iPhone. App Store screenshot, Cyclorama | Own product screenshot, from the App Store listing | source |
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