Vikings
In England the Viking Age began dramatically on 8 June 793 when Norsemen destroyed the abbey on the island of Lindisfarne. The devastation of Northumbria's Holy Island shocked and alerted the royal courts of Europe to the Viking presence. "Never before has such an atrocity been seen," declared the Northumbrian scholar Alcuin of York. Medieval Christians in Europe were totally unprepared for the Viking incursions and could find no explanation for their arrival and the accompanying suffering they experienced at their hands save the "Wrath of God". More than any other single event, the attack on Lindisfarne demonised perception of the Vikings for the next twelve centuries. Not until the 1890s did scholars outside Scandinavia begin to seriously reassess the achievements of the Vikings, recognizing their artistry, technological skills, and seamanship.
Swedes in the United Kingdom
The earliest wave of migration from modern day Sweden, Norway and Denmark came in the form of the Viking invasion of Britain in the year 793. Viking raids occurred up and down the largely undefended east coast of England and Scotland during the eighth and ninth centuries and Scandinavian settlements became established over the entire island of Great Britain, the most important of which was Jórvík (now York). Viking rule came to an end in the 11th century when Normans invaded the shores of Britain. Despite this, Scandinavian influence is evident in the UK even to this day and many millions of Britons have some Viking heritage (especially in Northern England, Eastern England, Scotland and the Shetland Islands).