The shores of Lindisfarne had no defence against the elements or invaders. It had never needed them. The walls surrounding the priory in 793 were for the purpose of containing livestock, not for keeping Norsemen out. When the Scandinavian invaders reared their heads, in longships sailing on the North Sea, Lindisfarne learned a lesson that was to ring out through Anglo-Saxon Britain: prepare for the fury of the Vikings.
But the story of Lindisfarne began over a century before the Viking raid for which it is best known. It began with an exiled prince named Oswald who was preparing to fight for his kingdom. On the eve of the Battle of Heavenfield (633/4), he called down God’s blessing on his small war band. Oswald received it. The next day, he was victorious. Oswald defeated and killed Cadwallon of Gwynedd and reclaimed the realm that his father had lost. The king had returned.
Now a ruler, Oswald lost no time in sending back to Iona for priests and monks to bring his people to have faith in the God who had brought him victory. But, first time around, it didn’t work out so well: Bishop Corman returned to Iona, disgruntled, complaining that the English were “an ungovernable people of an obstinate and barbarous temperament”.
Rather than give up, Iona sent Aidan to Oswald, and the king gave Aidan a base for his mission: Lindisfarne.
