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The fortress was later rebuilt in stone, covered an area of 50 acres, and was inhabited by 6,000 soldiers. The earliest known mention of Eburacum by name is from a wooden stylus tablet from the Roman fortress of Vindolanda along Hadrian's Wall, dated to c. 95–104 AD, where it is called Eburaci. [3]
The York settlement was called Eoforwic, which suggests it was a place of some significance. The ‘wics’ were seemingly the most important commercial centres in each of the kingdoms – others were Lundenwic (London) and Gipeswic (Ipswich).
Sep 5, 2023 · The Roman invasion of Britain, launched in AD 43, didn’t really touch this part of northern Britain until AD 71, when they established a military base they called Eboracum – today’s York. At that time, the region was inhabited by a Celtic tribal confederation called the Brigantes.
- Pragya Vohra
Jun 24, 2024 · The Norse Influence: Jorvik and the Kingdom of York. Eoforwic took on a new identity when the Viking invaders, known as the Norse, captured the town in AD 866. They established their own kingdom, known as Jorvik, which encompassed the area around York.
- Kelli Wheeler
A history written 150 years later records how the Viking army ‘rebuilt the city of York, cultivated the land around it, and remained there’. Eoforwic had become Jorvik , and was soon transformed into the capital of a kingdom of the same name, roughly corresponding to Yorkshire today.
Eoforwic was the name for York during the four and a half centuries between Roman York and the Viking city. Learn more about this fascinating period of the city's history through poetry, talks, artefact handling, quizzes and more.
The modern name of York stems from its ninth-century Viking name Jorvik, which would appear to be a straight carry-through of the Anglic name Eoforwic, further distorted by the heavy accents of the Scandinavian occupying army.
