"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 northeast 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 Edington 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"
"losses. The Danes pursued, and on 7 January 871, Æthelred and Alfred defeated the Danes at the Battle of Ashdown. The Danes retreated to Basing (in Hampshire), where Æthelred attacked and was, in turn, defeated. Ivar was able to follow up this victory with another in March at Meretum (now Marton, Wiltshire). On 23 April 871, King Æthelred died and Alfred succeeded him as King of Wessex. His army was weak and he was forced to pay tribute to Ivar in order to make peace with the Danes. During this peace, the Danes turned to the north and attacked Mercia,"
"from King Edmund of East Anglia. 870 − King Edmund refused, Ivar the Boneless defeated and captured him at Hoxne, adding East Anglia to the area controlled by the invading Danes. King Æthelred and Alfred attacked the Danes at Reading, but were repulsed with heavy losses. The Danes pursued them. 871 − On 7 January, they made their stand at Ashdown (on what is the Berkshire/North Wessex Downs now in Oxfordshire). Æthelred could not be found at the start of battle, as he was busy praying in his tent, so Alfred led the army into battle. Æthelred and Alfred defeated"
"and the Anglo-Saxons were forced to retreat while the Danes pursued. The Danish armies caught up with the Anglo-Saxons on the field of Ashdown, located somewhere near the border of Oxfordshire and Berkshire (the precise location is unknown). It was January 8, 871. The weather was cold and damp, and the Berkshire Downs were soaked and boggy. King Ethelred divided his army in two, positioning the halves on either side of a ridgeway. Ethelred commanded one side, Alfred the other. As the Danes approached, they also split their army. Alfred watched as the Danes drew nearer, waiting for the order"
"led by Bagsecg, bolstering the ranks of Halfdan's army. According to the ""Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"", the Danes battled the West Saxons nine times, including the Battle of Ashdown on 8 January 871. However, the West Saxons could not be defeated, and Halfdan accepted a truce from Alfred, newly crowned king of Wessex. The Army retreated to the captured town of London and stayed there over the winter of 871/872. Coins minted in London during this period bear the name Halfdan, identifying him as the leader of the army. In autumn of 872 the Army returned to Northumbria to quell a revolt"
"Bagsecg Bagsecg (died 8 January 871), also known as Bacgsecg, was a ninth-century Viking, and one of the first to be recorded by the ""Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"". Both he and Healfdene were the two commanding Viking kings of the Great Army that set up camp at Reading, and invaded the Kingdom of Wessex in the winter of 870/871. The Great Army is recorded to have combated the West Saxons in several engagements in 871. One of these was the Battle of Ashdown, in which Bagsecg and five Viking earls were slain against the forces Æthelred, King of Wessex. After Bagsecg's death,"
"and that the Danes were initially put to flight, but at the end of the day and after ""much slaughter"" the Danes remained masters of the field. Among the fallen was Bishop Heahmund. It was the last of the battles known to be fought by Æthelred against the Danes that year, and the defeated King is reported to have died on 15 April 871. Whether he died in battle, or as a result of wounds suffered in battle is unclear. The site of the battle is unknown. Suggestions include the borders of the London Borough of Merton, Merton in Oxfordshire,"
"Battle of Basing The Battle of Basing was a battle on 22 January 871 at Old Basing in what is now the English county of Hampshire. It was one of a series of battles that took place following an invasion of the then kingdom of Wessex by an army of Danes. Both battle and campaign are described in the ""Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"". The Danes had established a camp at Reading, and the previous battles of Englefield, Reading and Ashdown had proved indecisive, with victories to both sides. Two weeks after the Saxon victory at Ashdown, the armies met again at Basing."
"the Danes, who counted among their losses five jarls (nobles). The Danes retreated and set up fortifications at Basing (Basingstoke) in Hampshire, a mere from Reading. Æthelred attacked the Danish fortifications and was routed. Danes followed up victory with another victory in March at Meretum (now Marton, Wiltshire). King Æthelred died on 23 April 871 and Alfred took the throne of Wessex. For the rest of the year Alfred concentrated on attacking with small bands against isolated groups of Danes. He was moderately successful in this endeavour and was able to score minor victories against the Danes, but his army"
"in the following year, with varying outcomes; the places and dates of two of these battles have not been recorded. A successful skirmish at the Battle of Englefield in Berkshire on 31 December 870 was followed by a severe defeat at the siege and Battle of Reading by Ivar's brother Halfdan Ragnarsson on 5 January 871. Four days later, the Anglo-Saxons won a brilliant victory at the Battle of Ashdown on the Berkshire Downs, possibly near Compton or Aldworth. Alfred is particularly credited with the success of this last battle. The Saxons were defeated at the Battle of Basing on"
"poured into the country, sweeping aside all resistance and taking control of the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In 871, only the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex still offered resistance. It was ruled by King Ethelred of Wessex, but two of his brothers had already been king and died. Now, only he and his younger brother Alfred were left. The Danes, full of confidence after success at Reading, marched west to attack the Saxons who had retreated up onto the Berkshire Downs to reassemble their armies. Alfred had to act quickly to avoid defeat. The King’s troops had to be quickly mustered from"
"situation, the battle had little meaning. However, later that year, King Ethelred would be struck down, and Alfred would take up the crown as the last hope for Wessex. The knowledge and respect he gained on the battlefield of Ashdown were likely instrumental in his ability to eventually turn the tide against the Danish invaders and slowly begin the reconquest of England. The Saxons prevailed but losses on each side were considerable. The Danes were forced back eastward, across Berkshire. Many hundreds of bodies covered the battlefield. King Bagsecg and the five Danish earls perished during the battle. Local tradition"
"near Compton Beauchamp. The Danes had meanwhile reached Uffington Castle, where they had made their camp. On the morning of 8 January 871, the two sides met. The armies were drawn up in two columns each. The Danes were commanded by their Kings, Bagsecg and Halfdan Ragnarsson and five Earls. Ethelred and Alfred led the Saxons. Alfred was keen to get to grips with the enemy, but Ethelred decided to spend the ensuing lull in prayer for victory. He left the battlefield for the little church at Aston (Tirrold or Upthorpe) and, despite Alfred’s insistence, he would not return until"
"Battle of Assandun The Battle of Assandun (or Essendune) was fought between Danish and English armies on 18 October 1016. There is disagreement whether Assandun may be Ashdon near Saffron Walden in north Essex or, as long supposed, Ashingdon near Rochford in southeast Essex, England. It ended in victory for the Danes, led by Canute the Great, who triumphed over the English army led by King Edmund Ironside. The battle was the conclusion to the Danish reconquest of England. During the battle, Eadric Streona, the Ealderman of Mercia, left the battle allowing the Scandanavians to break through the English lines"
"Britain was in 793 at Lindisfarne monastery as given by the ""Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"". However, by then the Vikings were almost certainly well-established in Orkney and Shetland, and many other non-recorded raids probably occurred before this. Records do show the first Viking attack on Iona taking place in 794. The arrival of the Vikings (in particular the Danish Great Heathen Army) upset the political and social geography of Britain and Ireland. In 867 Northumbria fell to the Danes; East Anglia fell in 869. Though Wessex managed to contain the Vikings by defeating them at Ashdown in 871, a second invading army"
"the Danes, and a Viking/Welsh alliance in 878 defeated an Anglo-Saxon army from Mercia. Although the Welsh had been longtime enemies of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, their relationship with the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex was somewhat warmer. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 893, for example, refers to Vikings being pursued by a combined force of West Saxons and north Welsh along the River Severn. The combined Anglo-Saxon and Welsh army eventually overtook the Vikings before defeating them at the Battle of Buttington. The city of Swansea was founded by Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark, who by 1013 was King of"
"Battle of Marton The Battle of Marton or Meretum took place on approximately 22 March 871 at a place recorded as Marton, perhaps in Wiltshire or Dorset. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the battle took place ""about two months"" after a prior loss to the Danes at the Battle of Basing, in which both sides suffered heavy losses. King Æthelred of Wessex and Prince Alfred fought against the Danes, who were possibly under the leadership of King Halfdan Ragnarsson, who had commanded many of the earlier battles that year. The Chronicle tells us that the forces were split in two"
"went before the main army with a design to plunder.(""Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"")"" The Battle of Assandun (or Essendune) was fought between Danish and English armies on 18 October 1016. There is disagreement whether Assandun may be Ashdon near Saffron Walden in north Essex or, as long supposed, Ashingdon near Rochford in southeast Essex, England. It ended in victory for the Danes, led by Canute the Great, who triumphed over the English army led by King Edmund Ironside. The battle was the conclusion to the Danish reconquest of England. The battle is mentioned briefly in ""Knýtlinga saga"" which quotes a verse of"
"known historical figures. Ivar the Boneless was the leader of the Great Heathen Army from 865 to 870, but he disappears from English historical accounts after 870. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler Æthelweard records Ivar's death as 870. Halfdan Ragnarsson became the leader of the Great Heathen Army in about 870 and he led it in an invasion of Wessex. A great number of Viking warriors arrived from Scandinavia, as part of the Great Summer Army, led by King Bagsecg of Denmark, bolstering the ranks of Halfdan's army. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Danes battled the West Saxons nine times, including"
"Saints during the late 13th to early 15th centuries. Battle of Assandun The Battle of Assandun (or Essendune) was fought between Danish and English armies on 18 October 1016. There is disagreement whether Assandun may be Ashdon near Saffron Walden in north Essex or, as long supposed, Ashingdon near Rochford in southeast Essex, England. It ended in victory for the Danes, led by Canute the Great, who triumphed over the English army led by King Edmund Ironside. The battle was the conclusion to the Danish reconquest of England. During the battle, Eadric Streona, the Ealderman of Mercia, left the battle"
"time. However, Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington in 878. The resultant treaty gave the Danes control of northern and eastern England, with Alfred and his successors controlling Wessex. But the whole of England was unified with Norway and Denmark in the eleventh century, during the reign of the Danish king Cnut. When Cnut died, however, he was succeeded by the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor. Edward managed to reign until his death in 1066, when he was succeeded by the powerful Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson. Harold's accession, however, was not"
"Battle of Reading (871) The first Battle of Reading was a battle on 4 January 871 at Reading in what is now the English county of Berkshire. It was one of a series of battles, with honours to both sides, that took place following an invasion of the then kingdom of Wessex by an army of Danes led by Bagsecg and Halfdan Ragnarsson in an attempt to conquer Wessex. Both battle and campaign are described in the ""Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"", and this account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of the town of Reading. The Danes had established"
"historical novel by C. Walter Hodges. The battle is described in ""The Last Kingdom"" by Bernard Cornwell. There is also an account of a visit to the battlefield in ""Tom Brown's Schooldays"":- ""And now we leave the camp, and descend towards the west, and are on the Ashdown. We are treading on heroes. It is sacred ground for Englishmen—more sacred than all but one or two fields where their bones lie whitening. For this is the actual place where our Alfred won his great battle, the battle of Ashdown ('Aescendum' in the chroniclers), which broke the Danish power, and made"
"the Spring of 871 than it had been before then. Nevertheless, news of their success in Wessex appears to have enticed the arrival of another Viking army at Reading. This overseas force, variously called """" by the ""Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"", thereupon united with Healfdene's men. The commanders of this arriving army could well be identical to Guthrum, Oscytel, and Anwend, three Viking kings noted by the ""Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"" in 875. One or more of these men may have been elevated to the status of king because of Bagsecg's death in 871. As early as the eighteenth- and nineteenth centuries, Bagsecg has"
"in 793. The raiding then virtually stopped for around 40 years; but in about 835, it started becoming more regular. In the 860s, instead of raids, the Danes mounted a full-scale invasion. In 865, an enlarged army arrived that the Anglo-Saxons described as the Great Heathen Army. This was reinforced in 871 by the Great Summer Army. Within ten years nearly all of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms fell to the invaders: Northumbria in 867, East Anglia in 869, and nearly all of Mercia in 874–77. Kingdoms, centres of learning, archives, and churches all fell before the onslaught from the invading Danes."
"and constructing settlements there. In 866 Norse armies captured York, one of the two major cities in Anglo-Saxon England. In 871 King Æthelred of Wessex, who had been leading the conflict against the Vikings, died and was succeeded on the throne of Wessex by his younger brother, Alfred. Meanwhile, many Anglo-Saxon kings began to capitulate to the Viking demands, and handed over land to the invading Norse settlers. In 876 the Northumbrian monarch Healfdene gave up his lands to them, and in the next four years they gained further land in the kingdoms of Mercia and East Anglia as well."
"Harald Wartooth Harald Wartooth or ""Harold Hiltertooth"" (Old Norse: Haraldr hilditǫnn; Modern Swedish and Danish: Harald Hildetand; Modern Norwegian: ""Harald Hildetann""; flourished 8th century) was a legendary king of Denmark who is mentioned in several traditional sources. He is held to have succeeded his father as king of Zealand and to have expanded his realm. According to different sources, he may have ruled over Jutland, part of Sweden and the historical northern German province of Wendland. He is said to have been finally defeated and killed at the semi-legendary Battle of Bråvalla (c.770). Saxo Grammaticus, in ""Gesta Danorum"", gives two"
"overthrown Ceolwulf in 823) at Ellendun. The Battle of Ellendun proved decisive. Beornwulf was slain while suppressing a revolt amongst the East Angles, and his successor, a former ealdorman named Ludeca (reigned 826-827), met the same fate. Another ealdorman, Wiglaf, subsequently ruled for less than two years before Egbert of Wessex drove him out of Mercia. In 830 Wiglaf regained independence for Mercia, but by this time Wessex had clearly become the dominant power in England. ""Circa"" 840 Beorhtwulf succeeded Wiglaf. In 852, Burgred came to the throne and with Ethelwulf of Wessex subjugated North Wales. In 868, Danish invaders"
"name (the meaning is ""Basa's people""). It was the site of the Battle of Basing on 22 January 871, when a Danish army defeated Ethelred of Wessex. It is also mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The subdivision of the Basingas retained a role beyond the Anglo-Saxon period as Basingstoke remained the administrative centre for a distinctive grouping of hundreds within Hampshire throughout the Middle Ages. Basingas The Basingas were an Anglo-Saxon tribe, whose territory in the Loddon Valley formed a ""regio"" or administrative subdivision of the early Kingdom of Wessex. Their leader, Basa, gave the tribe its name"
"813 and then again at Gafulford in 825. During the course of these campaigns he conquered the western Britons still in Devon and reduced those beyond the River Tamar, now Cornwall, to the status of a vassal. In 825 or 826 he overturned the political order of England by decisively defeating King Beornwulf of Mercia at Ellendun and seizing control of Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Essex from the Mercians, while with his help East Anglia broke away from Mercian control. In 829 he conquered Mercia, driving its King Wiglaf into exile, and secured acknowledgement of his overlordship from the king"
"Angles appealed to Egbert of Wessex for protection against the Mercians and Æthelstan then acknowledged Egbert as his overlord. Whilst Wessex took control of the south-eastern kingdoms which had been absorbed by Mercia during the eighth century, East Anglia could maintain its independence. In 865, East Anglia was invaded by the Danish Great Heathen Army, which occupied winter quarters and secured horses before departing for Northumbria. The Danes returned to East Anglia in 869, wintering at Thetford before being attacked by the forces of Edmund of East Anglia, who was defeated and killed at ""Hægelisdun"" (identified variously as Bradfield St"
"of Northumbria 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 Northumbria 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""."
"a campaign that lasted until 874. Both the Danish leader Ivar and the Mercian leader Burgred died during this campaign. Ivar was succeeded by Guthrum, who finished the campaign against Mercia. In ten years, the Danes had gained control over East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia, leaving just Wessex resisting. Guthrum and the Danes brokered peace with Wessex in 876, when they captured the fortresses of Wareham and Exeter. Alfred laid siege to the Danes, who were forced to surrender after reinforcements were lost in a storm. Two years later, Guthrum again attacked Alfred, surprising him by attacking his forces wintering"