The St. Brice's Day Massacre In Vikings: Valhalla Explained

Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" may not have covered history going all the way back to the 10th and 11th centuries, but if it did, he might have needed to consider a change in lyrics. Although he may not have been entirely to blame, King Æthelred the Unready certainly started a fire with the Saint Brice's Day Massacre in 1002. Reliable historical records on the event are somewhat spotty, but we have a pretty good idea about why Æthelred made such an order. According to Historic UK, Æthelred was informed that the Danes intended to "faithlessly take his life, and then all his councillors and then possess his kingdom." Though it is unknown if this was a legitimate threat, Danes had repeatedly pillaged English villages in recent years. In response, the king ordered the extermination of all Danes in England.

Although it certainly seems somewhat unlikely that he would have invited warriors to his palace just to murder them, there is a plethora of evidence suggesting an attempted genocide of Viking people actually took place that year. The exact number of casualties from the massacre is also difficult to ascertain, but evidence discovered a whole millennium later gives a few clues. According to the BBC, a total of 35 skeletons belonging to young Viking men were discovered buried in Oxford in 2008. Subsequent examination of the remains indicated that each man had been violently murdered, including a number who had been burned prior to burial. 

Once carbon dating placed the origins of the remains at sometime between 960 and 1020, historians and archaeologists quickly realized the bones likely originated from the Saint Brice's Day Massacre. A royal charter issued by Æthelred in 1014 called the massacre "a most justified extermination," and, most interestingly, made reference to the burning of a church in order to kill a number of Danes who had sought refuge there, much like in "Vikings: Valhalla" (via Heritage Daily).