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Gofraid and a Viking ally called Thurfrith led a force to York and besieged the city. Æthelstan counterattacked and Gofraid was captured. The city was then looted by the Anglo-Saxons and Gofraid allowed to return to Ireland.
Viking armies captured York, the major city in the Kingdom of Northumbria, in 866. Counterattacks concluded in a decisive defeat for Anglo-Saxon forces at York on 21 March 867 , and the deaths of Northumbrian leaders Ælla and Osberht .
The Battle of York was fought between the Vikings of the Great Heathen Army and the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria on 21 March 867 in the city of York. Formerly controlled by the Roman Empire, York had been taken over by the Anglo-Saxons and had become the capital of the Kingdom of Northumbria.
The Vikings conquered York on 1 November 886 and it remained under Vikings control for almost a century, including a second wave of Viking invaders from Ireland in c. 917 which strengthened its links with Dublin. Although York lies c. 60 km from the coast, it was an important port linked by the River Ouse to the Humber Estuary.
Viking Invasion. Viking head - Yorkshire Museum, York. Led by Halfdan and Ivar the Boneless, the Viking army attacked on November 1 866. This date may well have been chosen with care. It was All Saints Day, an important festival in York when many of the town’s leaders could have been in the cathedral, making a surprise attack even more effective.
The Battle of York was fought between the Vikings of the Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Northumbria on the 21 March 867. In the spring of 867 Ælla and Osberht put aside their differences and united in an attempt to push the invaders out of Northumbria.
Viking timeline. 793 – Viking raiders attack Lindesfarne monastery. It is their first recorded campaign on English soil. 850 – After half-a-century of raids on the North-East, Viking raiders overwinter in England for the first time, on the island of Thanet in Kent.
