I read somewhere that Charlemagne's Saxon war was one of the triggers for the beginning of Norse raids. So, assuming a PoD around 771/772 (maybe the Saxons can't find Deventer and consequently don't burn it), what sort of butterflies could occur.
One of the more unusual ideas I had is that the Vikings may launch attacks earlier, because they don't see the Frankish determination so easily (this could be because Charlemagne is fighting his brother, fighting Spain, is dead even), so they have no reason to begin the raids so late as 793. This is possible as a scenario simply because they had the technology to raid 50-60 years before Lindisfarne, but didn't raid for fear of Martel, Pippin and then Charlemagne (in fact I don't believe the Franks were attacked outside of Saxony until the time of Charles the Bald).
Although, the Vikings could have seen the burning of Irminsul (a holy relic tree trunk thing meant to represent heaven or something like that) as a reason to start raiding - if it doesn't get destroyed for whatever reason, they might just think 'Ahh, stuff the Christians. They haven't done anything.'
What do you think?
- BNC
One of the more unusual ideas I had is that the Vikings may launch attacks earlier, because they don't see the Frankish determination so easily (this could be because Charlemagne is fighting his brother, fighting Spain, is dead even), so they have no reason to begin the raids so late as 793. This is possible as a scenario simply because they had the technology to raid 50-60 years before Lindisfarne, but didn't raid for fear of Martel, Pippin and then Charlemagne (in fact I don't believe the Franks were attacked outside of Saxony until the time of Charles the Bald).
Although, the Vikings could have seen the burning of Irminsul (a holy relic tree trunk thing meant to represent heaven or something like that) as a reason to start raiding - if it doesn't get destroyed for whatever reason, they might just think 'Ahh, stuff the Christians. They haven't done anything.'
What do you think?
- BNC