Lyminge was one of the ‘Old Monasteries’. Founded in the 7th century, theirs is one of Britain’s longest-running Christian traditions. And without interruptions. Neither the bloody Viking attacks failed to break their faith (or their walls) for a century.
Archaeologists from the University of Reading say that Lyminge, located in Kent, on the front lines of Viking hostilities, withstood repeated attacks. But it resisted and resisted for almost 100 years, avoiding its collapse using effective defensive strategies organized by both secular and high church leaders.
In a study published in the journal Archaeologia, researchers even go so far as to extrapolate from what happened in Kent to conclude that Anglo-Saxon monasteries were generally more resistant to Viking attacks than previously thought.
“The picture of ruthless Viking raiders slaughtering defenseless monks and nuns is based on written records, but a new examination of archaeological evidence shows that monasteries were more resilient than might be expected,” said Dr Gabor. Thomas.
Although it was located in one of the regions of England that bore the brunt of the Norse raids in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, the remains found suggest that the monastic community at Lyminge not only survived these attacks but also he fully recovered from each of these assaults.
During excavations carried out between 2007-15 and 2019, archaeologists from the University of Reading discovered the main elements of the site, including the stone chapel surrounded by wooden buildings and other structures where monastic brothers and their dependents conducted their daily lives.
Radiocarbon dating of animal bones discarded as garbage indicates that this occupation persisted for nearly two centuries after the monastery’s establishment in the second half of the 7th century. In addition, there has been a reappraisal of the remains of Lyminge Cemetery, originally explored by the antiquarian Canon Jenkins in the 1850s.
Historical records held at nearby Canterbury Cathedral show that after a Viking raid in AD 804, the Lyminge monastic community was granted asylum within the relative safety of the walled haven of Canterbury, an ancient Roman city and the administrative and ecclesiastical capital of Anglo-Saxon Kent.
But evidence found by Gabor Thomas’s team, such as silver coins, shows that the monks not only returned to re-establish their settlement at Lyminge, but continued to live and build for several decades throughout the ninth century.
“This research paints a more complex picture of the monasteries’ experience during these troubled times, pointing out that they were more resilient than the ‘easy target’ image portrayed in popular accounts of Norse raids based on historical events such as the iconic attack on the monastery on the island of Lindisfarne in the year 793 after Christ”, explains the expert.
However, the monastery’s resistance was subsequently stretched beyond the breaking point. “In the late 9th century, at a time when King Alfred the Great of Wessex was involved in a full-scale conflict against Viking armies, the monastery site appears to have been completely abandoned,” he adds.
The researcher points out that this fact was probably due “to sustained pressure over time from the Norse invaders, who are known to have been active in south-east Kent in the 880s and 890s,” says Thomas. Life ‘normal’ was only restored in Lyminge during the 10th century. “But it was already under the authority of the Archbishops of Canterbury, who had acquired the lands that previously belonged to the monastery,” he concludes.
