The Vikings

It is nevertheless true that the frequency and scale of attacks on monasteries increased after the arrival of the Vikings. Whereas a monastery could have sought legal redress or compensation from an Irish attacker, it could not subject the Vikings to the same process of law. To that extent it may have suffered a greater degree of permanent damage.

What material gain did the Vikings seek from attacking an Irish monastery? A commonly held view is that their main objective was the removal of the precious objects of the monastery such as shrines, altar vessels and other valuable ornaments. This view is reinforced by the belief that the Vikings as pagans were bent on the deliberate desecration of Christian altars. The Vikings undoubtedly did remove precious metal objects from Irish monasteries, as is attested by their survival today in Scandinavian museums. The actual bullion content of most of these objects, however, is quite small, and they were probably valued then, as now, more for their craftsmanship than their precious metal content.

But the Vikings were also interested, and, indeed, probably more interested in the food provisions, the livestock and cattle and even the human population of monastic settlements, many of whom were carried off to be sold as slaves. The inhabitants of a monastery comprised not just the community of monks but also the tenants who farmed the monastic lands. The fact that in early Ireland the rite of sanctuary in churches and their surrounding enclosures extended to property as well as persons also dictated that early Irish monasteries were rich in material resources. In short, the economic wealth of eighth-century Ireland was most readily available in the monasteries and in a variety of forms.

All that was new about the Viking raids on Irish monasteries was the unforeseen source of the attack, namely from raiders who were pirates and who had travelled a considerable distance by sea. This was a potential source of danger which had not hitherto been contemplated by Irish monks. It accounts for their shocked reaction to the first Viking raids in Ireland as recorded in the monastic annals. The most enduring impression we get from the contemporary monastic annalists is the unexpectedness of, and unpreparedness for, attacks from seafaring robbers. In reality, plunder and robbery was a common feature of early medieval societies, including Irish society, and much more common than the outrage of the early Irish monk recording a recent Viking attack on his monastery might suggest. What was distinctive about Viking activity was that by the eighth century, Scandinavian society, as we know now chiefly from archaeological evidence, had developed highly sophisticated boatbuilding techniques and in particular a sturdy vessel with a shallow draught, a vessel which could be depended upon to undertake long sea journeys and yet was still suitable for beaching in shallow waters. It was this which enabled the Vikings to conduct the relatively common medieval pursuits of pillage and plunder further afield.

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From the Appletree Press title: The People of Ireland (currently out of print).
Also see A Little History of Ireland.