Setting out to reveal the Viking onslaught from the viewpoint of those who felt its might, this book offers an evocation of the last years of the 8th century, as the holy places which had been the great civilizing force of early-medieval Europe became doomed. The raid on Lindisfarne, followed by those on the Tyne, on Iona and on the Irish coastline, showed the holy men the strength and greed of the Northern raiders, as detailed in contemporary documents. The author also wrote Northanhymbre Saga, a history of the kings of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria.