A History of the Vikings by Kendrick T. D

Author:Kendrick, T. D. [Kendrick, T. D.]
Language: eng
Format: azw
ISBN: 9780486123424
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

FIG. 31. — England and Wales

DANES ATTACK WESSEX 870—871

After the fall of Edmund, East Anglia had perforce to submit to the heathen invaders, and now the greater part of the eastern plain of England was held fast in the grip of the Danes. The time had come when central and southern England was to tremble lest it shared a similar fate. Halfdan and a chief by the name of Bagsecg were the commanders when the Danes next advanced, this time to attack Wessex. Their object was to surprise Æthelred by a winter attack, and it was late in December of 870 when they marched into the Thames valley and descended upon Reading, where they made for themselves a fortified camp at the confluence of the Kennet and the Thames. In January of 871 there was a skirmish with a small English force at Englefield, six miles west of Reading, in which the Danes were worsted, but four days later when King Æthelred and his brother Alfred together assailed the Danish stronghold at Reading the English were beaten off. Another four days passed, and then a second battle took place between Æthelred and Alfred and the whole force of the Danes who were drawn up on the slopes of Ashdown,254 some 25 miles to the west of Reading. The result of the battle was a big victory for the English, and Bagsecg and many of the viking chieftains were slain ; but Æthelred did not follow up his success, and only a fortnight later the English were beaten in a third encounter that took place at Basing in Hampshire. In March there was yet another pitched battle between the two Wessex princes and the Danes, this time in Wiltshire at the village of Marton on the outskirts of Savernake Forest ; for the greater part of the day the English held the upper hand, but they could not put the enemy to flight, and, after heavy slaughter on both sides, they were forced to withdraw leaving the Danes in possession of the field.

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