The Fiery Dragons over Northumbria
Months before the Vikings' first great raid on England, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded fiery dragons flying through the air.
What was reported
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's entry for 793 says that terrible portents appeared over Northumbria and frightened the people: great flashes of lightning, and fiery dragons seen flying in the sky. A great famine followed.
In June of that year, heathen raiders from the sea attacked the monastery on the holy island of Lindisfarne, the event often taken as the start of the Viking Age in Britain.
Explanations offered
The 'dragons' may have been an aurora, a display of meteors or bright fireballs, or lightning in storms. Medieval chroniclers often recorded strange signs before disasters, and some were added or sharpened looking back. What people saw in the sky that year is unknown.
- When
- AD 793
- Where
- Lindisfarne, Northumberland, England
- Witnesses
- The people of Northumbria, recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
- Status
- Unidentified
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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