The Old Norse word Viking meant ‘a pirate’ and the earliest expeditions of the Pagan Norsemen (from Denmark and Sweden as well as Norway, and starting at the end of the 8th century) were invasive forays for whatever could be carried away or exploited. By the middle of the 5th century the Roman Empire in North-West Europe was at an end, and the disappearance of Imperial power allowed people from outside the Empire's borders to move into Western Europe. One of the latest of these 'Dark Age' folk movements was from Scandinavia. For Orkney, the invasion came from the west coast of Norway. Prevailing winds across the North Sea were ideal for the Vikings' purpose - westwards in the spring and homewards in the autumn.

Earliest raiding began in the late 700s. During the 8th century, Scandinavians gained supremacy over the seaways of Europe and their superbly conceived and constructed warships carried Norwegian, Danish and Swedish Vikings westwards into the Irish Sea, southwards through the North Sea and eastwards through the Baltic Sea. The attacks on Christian monasteries in the British Isles gave the North men a fearsome reputation. Initially, they sought wealth, gold, silver and slaves, and they brought terror and destruction to the coastal communities which lived in fear of the dragon-prows of their vessels.

It’s hard to say whether the Pictish inhabitants of the islands left in fear, were wiped out by the invaders, or were gradually absorbed into the developing Norse communities – probably a combination of all three.

But Orkney is fertile and productive, temperate in winter and offered too good a strategic advantage to merely pillage and leave behind. The outposts created provided long-term bases for the Vikings, who settled and became a dominant force in the islands. The members of raiding parties became merchants, farmers and traders. Norsemen married into the local community.

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