Scandinavian-Britain

WALES 189Pembroke was never, like the Cumbrian colony,extended far inland. Its operations appear to coverthe country surrounding the great fjord which givea haven to Viking ships. Many of the placenameswhich have tempted etymologists to doubtfulconclusions must have resulted from the Englishsettlement under the Norman rule. The Northmenseem to have occupied only the central and southernpart of the country, and to have used the place as afactory or emporium a stronghold for piracy and acentre of slave traffic where the worse traditions ofthe Viking Age survived not ; making it,as in otherparts of Britain, an area of peaceful colonisation andsteady domestic progress.Much the same story must be told of North Wales.We have noticed the invasion of Orm in 855, and thehistory of the coast from Anglesey to Chester is onetale of repeated attacks rather than permanentsettlement. In 873, according to Caradoc ofLlancarvan, Danes landed in Anglesey, and weredriven off in two battles by Roderic; in 878Roderic's death was revenged by the battle ofCymrhyd, near Conway. Then followed more Danishattacks on the north Welsh coast, until, in 900, Igmundor Ingimund from Dublin with his Norse landed atHolyhead and fought their way to Chester, after whichthey found homes in Wirral. Then, in 909, the Danesfrom Dublin, who had driven out these Norse, followedthem, and besieged Chester, lately fortified by the English.About 920, as Caradoc and William of Malmesburysay, Leofred from Dublin joined Gruffydd ap