WI : A Lindesfarne Defence

[RogueTraderEnthusiast]

The raid on Lindisfarne is typically defined as the beginning of the Viking Age - but considering the wealth of Lindisfarne, it seems surprising that there wasn't anyone to protect the place.

So my question is this, what if a group of mercenaries (unusually pious ones) were making a Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne and were there as the Vikings landed, and were able to successfully defend the monastery, and even take a ship or two - what impact could this have on Europe? Could it lead to Northumbria (and Britain) being more prepared for the Viking Period, and building coastal defences as a result?

Could we see a Viking Age that doesn't hit Northumbria as hard as it hits the rest of Europe and Britain? Could this lead to a Northumbrian Britain?

 

[weasel_airlift]

I would doubt that it would have that much impact. At the end of the day, the Vikings are mobile. If it's too well defended where they land, they go somewhere else. Not every place can be defended at once. Spread out to do that, you get defeated in detail

 

[LSCatilina]

The raid on Lindisfarne is typically defined as the beginning of the Viking Age - but considering the wealth of Lindisfarne, it seems surprising that there wasn't anyone to protect the place.

,
The wealth of the place is relative, and a good part of its importance was it was the bishopric center of Northumbrian and Mercian missions in the VIIth century, but it changed and was overshadowed by York and Canterbury eventually.

The key point is that Lindisfarne was set in a remote area : the island was historically unsettled and uninteresting, and no big seaborne threat existed in Britain since at least the VIth century. It's really interesting to point that the place remained to be a relative prosper center until the Xth century while not being raided anew (Norse electing to raid and campaigns either a bit on the north, around York, or directly against "Southumbrian" kingdoms.

Relative decline, no sense of maritime threat, general political distance with Anglo-Saxon complex chiefdoms...It would be strange to see it more defended actually, when even Carolingian monasteries and small rural bishopries weren't that well defended either.

So my question is this, what if a group of mercenaries (unusually pious ones) were making a Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne and were there as the Vikings landed, and were able to successfully defend the monastery, and even take a ship or two - what impact could this have on Europe?

Assuming we're talking of a massive enough pilgrimage (knowing that even classical medieval pilgrimages were rarily massive, except when led by important figures; and that early Middle Ages doesn't know military-supported pilgrimage at all), I wouldn't see any real impact as @weasel_airlift said : raids were, by nature, proteiform and decentralized enough for that you'd end up with other alternativs (and a conjectural happenance isn't really world-changing there).