<P> Archaeologists James Graham - Campbell and Colleen E. Batey noted that there was a lack of historical sources discussing the earliest Viking encounters with the British Isles, which would have most probably been amongst the northern island groups, those closest to Scandinavia . </P> <P> The Irish Annals provide us with accounts of much Norse activity during the 9th and 10th centuries . </P> <P> The Viking raids that affected Anglo - Saxon England were primarily documented in the Anglo - Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals initially written in the late 9th century, most probably in the Kingdom of Wessex during the reign of Alfred the Great . The Chronicle is however a biased source, acting as a piece of "wartime propaganda" written on behalf of the Anglo - Saxon forces against their Norse opponents, and in many cases greatly exaggerates the size of the Norse fleets and armies, thereby making any Anglo - Saxon victories against them seem more heroic . </P> <P> The Norse settlers in the British Isles left remains of their material culture behind, which archaeologists have been able to excavate and interpret during the 20th and 21st centuries . Such Norse evidence in Britain consists primarily of Norse burials undertaken in Shetland, Orkney, the Western Isles, the Isle of Man, Ireland and the north - west of England . Archaeologists James Graham - Campbell and Colleen E. Batey remarked that it was on the Isle of Man where Norse archaeology was "remarkably rich in quality and quantity". </P>

Who was king of england when vikings invaded