Battle of Edington
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Ethandun or Edington is where the forces of the Anglo-Saxon
kingdom of Wessex
under Alfred the Great
defeated the Great Heathen Army
led by Guthrum
between 6 and 12 May AD 878. It ultimately resulted in the Treaty of Wedmore
the same year.
. At the other end of the country, in the Kingdom of Northumbria, during AD 793 the Holy Island of Lindisfarne
was raided. After the sacking of Lindisfarne the raids around the coasts were somewhat sporadic till the 830's, when the attacks became more sustained. In 835, heathen men ravaged Sheppey. In 836, Ecgberht of Wessex fought against a force of thirty-five ships at Carhampton, and in 838 he faced a combined force of Vikings and Cornishmen at Hingston Down
, in Cornwall.
The raiding continued and with each year became more and more intense. In 865/866 it escalated further on the arrival of, what the Saxons called, the Great Heathen Army
. Whose size has been estimated at being between five hundred and a thousand men, under the leadership of the brothers Ivar the Boneless
, Ubbe Ragnarsson
, and Halfdan Ragnarsson
. What made this army different from those before it was its intent. Its arrival began "a new stage, that of conquest and residence". By 870, the northmen had conquered the kingdoms of Deira and East Anglia, and in 871 they attacked Wessex. Of the nine battles mentioned by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
during that year, only one was a West Saxon victory; but in this year Alfred succeeded his brother Ethelred, who died after the Battle of Merton.
Mercia
had collapsed by 874, and the Army's cohesion went with it. Halfdan went back to Deira and fought the Picts
and the Strathclyde
Welsh to secure his northern kingdom. His army settled there and he is not mentioned after 876, when "'[the Danes] were engaged in ploughing and making a living for themselves,'". Guthrum
, with two other unnamed kings, "departed for Cambridge
in East Anglia
". He made several attacks on Wessex, starting in 875, and in the last nearly captured Alfred in his winter fortress at Chippenham
.
By 878, the Danes held the east and north east of England, and their defeat at the Battle of Ashdown
had paused but not halted their advance. Alfred the Great had spent the winter preceding the Battle of Ethandun in the Somerset marsh
of Athelney, the nature of the country giving him some protection. In the Spring of 878, he summoned his West Saxon forces and marched to Ethandun, where he met the Danes, led by Guthrum the Old, in battle.
. Alfred spent Christmas
at Chippenham, thirty miles from Gloucester. The Danes attacked Chippenham "in midwinter after Twelfth Night", probably during the night of January 6–7, 878. They captured Chippenham (barely missing Alfred) and forced Alfred to retreat "with a small force" into the wilderness. It is to this period that the story of King Alfred burning the cakes belongs.
Alfred seems at this time to have chased ineffectually around Wessex, while the Danes were in a position to do as they pleased. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle attempts to convey the impression that Alfred held the initiative; it is "a bland chronicle which laconically charts the movements of the Danish victors while at the same time disingenuously striving to convey the impression that Alfred was in control", although it fails. Even if Alfred had caught up with the Danish force, it is unlikely that he could have accomplished anything. The fact that his army could not defend the fortified Chippenham, even in "an age... as yet untrained in siege warfare" casts great doubt on its ability to defeat the Danes in an open field, unaided by fortifications. There was little, beyond repeatedly paying the invaders off, that Alfred could do about the Danish menace between 875 and the end of 877.
in 871) proved themselves adept at defending fortified positions. So he retreated to the south, preparing himself and his forces for another battle, and then defeated Guthrum and his host. The first we read of Alfred after the disaster at Chippenham is around Easter
, when he built a fortress at Athelney
. In the seventh week after Easter, or between 4 and 7 May, Alfred called a levy at Ecgbryhtesstan (Egbert's Stone). Many of the men in the counties around (Somerset
, Wiltshire
, and Hampshire
) who had not already fled rallied to him there. The next day, Alfred's host moved to Iley Oak, and then the day after that to Ethandun. There, on an unknown date between 6 and 12 May, they fought the Danes. According to the Life,
After the victory, when the Danes had taken refuge in Chippenham, the West Saxons removed from the area around all food that the Danes might be able to capture in a sortie, and waited. After two weeks, the hungry Danes sued for peace, giving Alfred "preliminary hostages and solemn oaths that they would leave his kingdom immediately", just as usual, but in addition promising that Guthrum would be baptized. The primary difference between this agreement and the treaties at Wareham
and Exeter
was that Alfred had decisively defeated the Danes at Ethandun, rather than just stopping them, and therefore it seemed more likely that they would keep to the terms of the treaty.
The primary reason for Alfred's victory was probably the relative size of the two armies. The men of even one shire could be a formidable fighting force, as those of Devon
proved in the same year, defeating an army under Ubbe Ragnarsson at the Battle of Cynwit. In addition, in 875 Guthrum had lost the support of other Danish lords, including Ivar and Ubbe. Further Danish forces had settled on the land before Guthrum attacked Wessex: in East Anglia, and in Mercia between the treaty at Exeter and the attack on Chippenham; many others were lost in a storm off Swanage
in 876-7, with 120 ships wrecked Internal disunity was threatening to tear the Danes apart, and they needed time to reorganize. Fortunately for Wessex they did not use the time available effectively.
.
was soon signed, and later the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum
, but conflict continued between the Danes and the Anglo-Saxons.
After Ethandun, the Danes were contained within the Danelaw; Wessex, the last free Anglo-Saxon kingdom, was to remain free of Danish control. If Alfred had lost at Ethandun, it seems inevitable that Guthrum would have swept through the rest of Wessex, bringing it under his rule. Another direct consequence of the battle, the baptism of Guthrum and his men at Aller, with Alfred as Guthrum's sponsor, gave Alfred some moral sway over the warriors of the Danelaw.
The spiritual parenthood established by Alfred over Guthrum at Aller must inevitably have implied some level of cultural and political superiority, and Guthrum, as the spiritual son of Alfred, was in turn supposed by the Saxons to have acknowledged the future on-going superiority of the king whose religion he had been forced to adopt. However, the Danes disputed this.
The defeat of Guthrum 'the Unlucky' after the battle of Ethandun, and after many other failed attempts to take the country, was immensely demoralizing to the Danes, and Wessex was made safe from them for some years.
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
kingdom of Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
under Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
defeated the Great Heathen Army
Great Heathen Army
The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Great Army or the Great Danish Army, was a Viking army originating in Denmark which pillaged and conquered much of England in the late 9th century...
led by Guthrum
Guthrum
The name Guthrum corresponds to Norwegian Guttom and to Danish Gorm.The name Guthrum may refer to these kings:* Guthrum, who fought against Alfred the Great* Gorm the Old of Denmark and Norway* Guthrum II, a king of doubtful historicity...
between 6 and 12 May AD 878. It ultimately resulted in the Treaty of Wedmore
Treaty of Wedmore
The Peace of Wedmore is a term used by historians for an event referred to by the monk Asser in his Life of Alfred, outlining how in 878 the Viking leader Guthrum was baptised and accepted Alfred as his adoptive father. Guthrum agreed to leave Wessex and a "Treaty of Wedmore" is often assumed by...
the same year.
Events before the battle
The first Viking raid on Anglo-Saxon England, is thought to have been between AD 786 and 802 at Portland in the Kingdom of Wessex, when three Norse ships arrived and killed the local kings reeveReeve (England)
Originally in Anglo-Saxon England the reeve was a senior official with local responsibilities under the Crown e.g. as the chief magistrate of a town or district...
. At the other end of the country, in the Kingdom of Northumbria, during AD 793 the Holy Island of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
was raided. After the sacking of Lindisfarne the raids around the coasts were somewhat sporadic till the 830's, when the attacks became more sustained. In 835, heathen men ravaged Sheppey. In 836, Ecgberht of Wessex fought against a force of thirty-five ships at Carhampton, and in 838 he faced a combined force of Vikings and Cornishmen at Hingston Down
Hingston Down
Hingston Down is a hill not far from Gunnislake in Cornwall in the United Kingdom.-History:This is possibly the Hingston Down mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which says that in 835 Egbert king of the West Saxons defeated an army of Vikings and Cornish at Hengestdun = "Stallion Hill"...
, in Cornwall.
The raiding continued and with each year became more and more intense. In 865/866 it escalated further on the arrival of, what the Saxons called, the Great Heathen Army
Great Heathen Army
The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Great Army or the Great Danish Army, was a Viking army originating in Denmark which pillaged and conquered much of England in the late 9th century...
. Whose size has been estimated at being between five hundred and a thousand men, under the leadership of the brothers Ivar the Boneless
Ivar the Boneless
Ivar Ragnarsson nicknamed the Boneless , was a Viking leader and by reputation also a berserker. By the late 11th century he was known as a son of the powerful Ragnar Lodbrok, ruler of an area probably comprising parts of modern-day Denmark and Sweden.-Invader:In the autumn of AD 865, with his...
, Ubbe Ragnarsson
Ubbe Ragnarsson
Ubbe, Ubba or Hubba Ragnarsson was a Norse leader during the Viking Age. Ubbe Ragnarsson was one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok and, along with his brothers Halfdan and Ivar the Boneless, a leader of the Great Danish Army....
, and Halfdan Ragnarsson
Halfdan Ragnarsson
Halfdan Ragnarsson was a Viking chief and one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok with Aslaug. It has been suggested that Halfdan is the same person as Ragnar's son Hvitserk....
. What made this army different from those before it was its intent. Its arrival began "a new stage, that of conquest and residence". By 870, the northmen had conquered the kingdoms of Deira and East Anglia, and in 871 they attacked Wessex. Of the nine battles mentioned by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
during that year, only one was a West Saxon victory; but in this year Alfred succeeded his brother Ethelred, who died after the Battle of Merton.
Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
had collapsed by 874, and the Army's cohesion went with it. Halfdan went back to Deira and fought the Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
and the Strathclyde
Strathclyde
right|thumb|the former Strathclyde regionStrathclyde was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created by the Local Government Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc Act 1994...
Welsh to secure his northern kingdom. His army settled there and he is not mentioned after 876, when "'[the Danes] were engaged in ploughing and making a living for themselves,'". Guthrum
Guthrum
The name Guthrum corresponds to Norwegian Guttom and to Danish Gorm.The name Guthrum may refer to these kings:* Guthrum, who fought against Alfred the Great* Gorm the Old of Denmark and Norway* Guthrum II, a king of doubtful historicity...
, with two other unnamed kings, "departed for Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
". He made several attacks on Wessex, starting in 875, and in the last nearly captured Alfred in his winter fortress at Chippenham
Chippenham, Wiltshire
Chippenham is a market town in Wiltshire, England, located east of Bath and west of London. In the 2001 census the population of the town was recorded as 28,065....
.
By 878, the Danes held the east and north east of England, and their defeat at the Battle of Ashdown
Battle of Ashdown
The Battle of Ashdown, in Berkshire , took place on 8 January 871. Alfred the Great, then a prince of only twenty-one, led the West Saxon army of his brother, King Ethelred, in a victorious battle against the invading Danes.Accounts of the battle are based to a large extent on Asser's "Life of...
had paused but not halted their advance. Alfred the Great had spent the winter preceding the Battle of Ethandun in the Somerset marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
of Athelney, the nature of the country giving him some protection. In the Spring of 878, he summoned his West Saxon forces and marched to Ethandun, where he met the Danes, led by Guthrum the Old, in battle.
Alfred's position before the battle
Guthrum and his men had applied the usual Danish strategy of occupying a fortified town and waiting for a peace “treaty,” involving money in return for a promise to leave the kingdom immediately; Alfred shadowed the army, trying to prevent more damage than had already occurred. This started in 875 when Guthrum's army “eluded the West Saxon levies and got into Wareham”. They then gave hostages and oaths to leave the country to Alfred, who paid them off. The Danes promptly slipped off to Exeter, even deeper into Alfred's kingdom, where they concluded in the autumn of 877 a "firm peace" with Alfred, under terms that entailed their leaving his kingdom and not returning. This they did, spending the rest of 877 (by the Gregorian calendar) in GloucesterGloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
. Alfred spent Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
at Chippenham, thirty miles from Gloucester. The Danes attacked Chippenham "in midwinter after Twelfth Night", probably during the night of January 6–7, 878. They captured Chippenham (barely missing Alfred) and forced Alfred to retreat "with a small force" into the wilderness. It is to this period that the story of King Alfred burning the cakes belongs.
Alfred seems at this time to have chased ineffectually around Wessex, while the Danes were in a position to do as they pleased. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle attempts to convey the impression that Alfred held the initiative; it is "a bland chronicle which laconically charts the movements of the Danish victors while at the same time disingenuously striving to convey the impression that Alfred was in control", although it fails. Even if Alfred had caught up with the Danish force, it is unlikely that he could have accomplished anything. The fact that his army could not defend the fortified Chippenham, even in "an age... as yet untrained in siege warfare" casts great doubt on its ability to defeat the Danes in an open field, unaided by fortifications. There was little, beyond repeatedly paying the invaders off, that Alfred could do about the Danish menace between 875 and the end of 877.
Battle
This was even more true after the Twelfth Night attack. With his small warband, a fraction of his army at Chippenham, Alfred could not hope to retake the town from the Danes, who had in previous wars (for example at ReadingReading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
in 871) proved themselves adept at defending fortified positions. So he retreated to the south, preparing himself and his forces for another battle, and then defeated Guthrum and his host. The first we read of Alfred after the disaster at Chippenham is around Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, when he built a fortress at Athelney
Athelney
Athelney is located between the villages of Burrowbridge and East Lyng in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. The area is known as the Isle of Athelney, because it was once a very low isolated island in the 'very great swampy and impassable marshes' of the Somerset Levels. Much of the...
. In the seventh week after Easter, or between 4 and 7 May, Alfred called a levy at Ecgbryhtesstan (Egbert's Stone). Many of the men in the counties around (Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, and Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
) who had not already fled rallied to him there. The next day, Alfred's host moved to Iley Oak, and then the day after that to Ethandun. There, on an unknown date between 6 and 12 May, they fought the Danes. According to the Life,
After the victory, when the Danes had taken refuge in Chippenham, the West Saxons removed from the area around all food that the Danes might be able to capture in a sortie, and waited. After two weeks, the hungry Danes sued for peace, giving Alfred "preliminary hostages and solemn oaths that they would leave his kingdom immediately", just as usual, but in addition promising that Guthrum would be baptized. The primary difference between this agreement and the treaties at Wareham
Wareham, Dorset
Wareham is an historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles southwest of Poole.-Situation and geography:...
and Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
was that Alfred had decisively defeated the Danes at Ethandun, rather than just stopping them, and therefore it seemed more likely that they would keep to the terms of the treaty.
The primary reason for Alfred's victory was probably the relative size of the two armies. The men of even one shire could be a formidable fighting force, as those of Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
proved in the same year, defeating an army under Ubbe Ragnarsson at the Battle of Cynwit. In addition, in 875 Guthrum had lost the support of other Danish lords, including Ivar and Ubbe. Further Danish forces had settled on the land before Guthrum attacked Wessex: in East Anglia, and in Mercia between the treaty at Exeter and the attack on Chippenham; many others were lost in a storm off Swanage
Swanage
Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is situated at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck, approximately 10 km south of Poole and 40 km east of Dorchester. The parish has a population of 10,124 . Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks,...
in 876-7, with 120 ships wrecked Internal disunity was threatening to tear the Danes apart, and they needed time to reorganize. Fortunately for Wessex they did not use the time available effectively.
Location of the battle
The location of the battle is generally stated as Edington, Wiltshire, but this is uncertain, and arguments have been advanced for other places, including Edington, SomersetEdington, Somerset
Edington is a rural village, situated on the north side of the Polden Hills in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England.Either side of it lie the villages of Chilton Polden and Catcott, and north of it is the small village of Burtle...
.
Consequences
The Treaty of WedmoreTreaty of Wedmore
The Peace of Wedmore is a term used by historians for an event referred to by the monk Asser in his Life of Alfred, outlining how in 878 the Viking leader Guthrum was baptised and accepted Alfred as his adoptive father. Guthrum agreed to leave Wessex and a "Treaty of Wedmore" is often assumed by...
was soon signed, and later the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum
Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum
The Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum is an agreement between Alfred of Wessex and Guthrum, the Viking ruler of East Anglia. Its date is uncertain, but must have been between 878 and 890. The treaty is one of the few existing documents of Alfred's reign; it survives in Old English in Corpus Christi...
, but conflict continued between the Danes and the Anglo-Saxons.
After Ethandun, the Danes were contained within the Danelaw; Wessex, the last free Anglo-Saxon kingdom, was to remain free of Danish control. If Alfred had lost at Ethandun, it seems inevitable that Guthrum would have swept through the rest of Wessex, bringing it under his rule. Another direct consequence of the battle, the baptism of Guthrum and his men at Aller, with Alfred as Guthrum's sponsor, gave Alfred some moral sway over the warriors of the Danelaw.
The spiritual parenthood established by Alfred over Guthrum at Aller must inevitably have implied some level of cultural and political superiority, and Guthrum, as the spiritual son of Alfred, was in turn supposed by the Saxons to have acknowledged the future on-going superiority of the king whose religion he had been forced to adopt. However, the Danes disputed this.
The defeat of Guthrum 'the Unlucky' after the battle of Ethandun, and after many other failed attempts to take the country, was immensely demoralizing to the Danes, and Wessex was made safe from them for some years.
See also
- British military historyBritish military historyThe Military history of Britain, including the military history of the United Kingdom and the military history of the island of Great Britain, is discussed in the following articles:...
- The Ballad of the White HorseThe Ballad of the White HorseThe Ballad of the White Horse is a poem by G. K. Chesterton about the idealized exploits of the Saxon King Alfred the Great, published in 1911. Written in ballad form, the work is usually considered the last great traditional epic poems ever written in the English language...
- The Battle of Ethandun provides the backdrop to the novel The Pale HorsemanThe Pale HorsemanThe Pale Horseman is a novel by Bernard Cornwell, based in 9th Century Wessex and Cornwall, and is the second book in his The Saxon Stories series. The book is the sequel to The Last Kingdom, and starts where that tale left off...
by Bernard CornwellBernard CornwellBernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...
.