Welcome
Angelcynn: The History of Anglo-Saxon England
The history of the Germanic kingdoms of England, from the Saxon Advent to the Norman Conquest.

Anglo-Saxon Warfare (1 threads, 79 posts)
    Great Battles of Anglo-Saxon England (55 posts)
    Historical Thread 0 Featured January 7 , 2004

    Descriptions and discussions of battles in the Anglo-Saxon world, with links to relevant sources and research material. ...
    14 Members have made 47 Posts here to date.
    Google
    AncientWorlds.net Web
    Next: It's a Draw!
    Prev: Maldon - the battlesite
    ASC list of Viking won and lost battles
    avatar.jpg
    Author: * MerlintheMad Knudsson - 14 Posts on this thread out of 197 Posts sitewide.
    Date: Jan 10, 2004 - 15:52

    (I added more battles that I missed.)

    The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is not a complete listing of fracases involving the Vikings, but it does list a passel of fieldbattles, sieges and naval battles, the majority of them named. I found the results interesting because it shows that Viking armies were in fact not superior in battle compared to the Anglo-Saxons. In fact, in defending and assaulting fortifications, and at sea, the Anglo-Saxons seem to have been superior.

    (Interesting to the particular topic of Maldon being discussed, is the siege of 917: were the Vikings in 991 avenging their ancestors' failure there ? How long were the memories of sons and grandsons who had inherited the careers of their forebears ?)

    836 Carhampton: king Ecgbryht vs the Danes (25 ship crews): Vikings won.

    838 Hingston Down: king Ecgbryht vs the Danes and Cornishmen: Anglo-Saxons won.

    840 Southhampton: earl Wulfheard vs crews from 37 ships; Anglo-Saxons won.
    840 Portland: earl Aethelhun vs the Danes: Vikings won.

    841 Romney Marsh: earl Herebryht vs the Danes: Vikings won.

    843 Carhampton: king Aethelwulf vs "heathens": Vikings won.

    845 Mouth of the Parret: earl Eanulf, earl Osric and bishop Ealhstan vs the Danes: Anglo-Saxons won.

    851 Wicgeanbeourg: earl Ceorl vs the "heathens": Anglo-Saxons.
    851 ?: king Brihtwulf of Mercia vs the "heathens" (crews of 350 ships): Vikings won.
    851 Acled: king Aethelwulf and son Athelbald of Wessex vs Vikings: Vikings won.
    851 Sandwich (a naval battle): earl Aethelstan and earl Ealhere vs Vikings: Anglo-Saxons.

    853 Thanet: earls Ealhere and Hutha vs Vikings: both earls dead: a drawn battle.

    860 ?: earls Osric and Aethelwulf vs Vikings: Anglo-Saxons won.

    867 York (a civil war between rival kings): king Osbriht vs king Aelle and his allies the "force" (Vikings) at York: Aelle and Vikings assault the "fort" and break in; many Northumbrian casualties: both kings killed: remaining Northumbrians make peace with Vikings: Vikings won.

    870 Thetford: king (St) Edmund vs "force": Vikings won.

    871 Englefield: earl Aethelwulf vs "force": Anglo-Saxons won.
    871 Reading: king Aethelred and his brother Alfred (of Wessex), and earl Aethelwulf (killed) vs "force": Vikings won.
    871 Ashdown: king Aethelred vs two Viking kings (Basceg and Halfdane): Alfred the atheling vs the earls (at least two): drawn battle.
    871 Basing: king Aethelred and Alfred the atheling vs the "force": Vikings won.
    871 Maeredun: two battles fought in one day between king Aethelred and Alfred atheling vs the Danes: Anglo-Saxons won first; Vikings won second.
    871 Wilton: king Alfred of Wessex (w/small company) vs the "whole force": Vikings won.
    871 2 other battles: result unknown: but Wessex "made peace with the force": Vikings won.

    875 ?: king Alfred vs 7 ships at sea: Anglo-Saxons won.

    878 Edington: king Alfred vs the "whole Force": Anglo-Saxons won.

    881 ?: Franks vs the "force": Vikings won.

    882 ?: king Alfred at sea vs 4 ships: Anglo-Saxons won.

    885 Rochester: a siege; king Alfred raised it: Anglo-Saxons won.
    885 at mouth of the Stour: naval battle vs 16 Viking ships: Anglo-Saxons won.
    885 naval battle at sea (same Anglo-Saxon fleet): Vikings won.
    885 2 battles: "old Saxons" (Vikings) allied with Frisians (Vikings) vs the Franks: Vikings won.

    890 St Lo: Bretons vs the "force": Bretons won.

    891 ?: king Earnulf with the "mounted troops" (Vikings) vs the east Franks, Saxons and Bavarians: Vikings won.

    893 Farnham: Anglo-Saxons cut off Vikings with mounted troops: Anglo-Saxons won.
    893 Benfleet: fieldbattle, then the Anglo-Saxons broke into the fort: Anglo-Saxons won.
    893 Buttington: (Vikings breaking out of a siege): Anglo-Saxons won.

    894 Chichester: "town-dwellers" vs the "force": Anglo-Saxons won.

    895 "fort on the Lea": Londoners ("city-dwellers") and "other people" vs Vikings: Vikings won.

    903 "northern fens": kentish vs the "force": Vikings won.
    903 "The Holme": kentish vs the Danes: English casualties mentioned: inconclusive.

    909 campaign in Northumbria: troops from Wessex and Mercia vs the northern "force": Anglo-Saxons won.

    910 Tettenhall (6 August): English vs the Danes: Anglo-Saxons won.
    910 ?: Wessex and Mercia vs the "force" from Northumbria; attacked Vikings from behind on their way home from a raid: heavy casualties mentioned: Anglo-Saxons won.

    913 "Luton": "force" from Northampton and Leicester vs the "people of those parts": Anglo-Saxons won.

    914 "Archenfield": the men of Gloucester, Hereford and the "nearest boroughs" vs the "great force": Anglo-Saxons won.

    917 Towchester: the borough vs the "force": Vikings could not break in and left: Anglo-Saxons won.
    917 Bedford: townsmen of Bedford vs the "force"; townsmen came outside: Anglo-Saxons won.
    917 Wigingamere: "force" vs the boroughmen inside; Vikings left off but took the cattle: Anglo-Saxons won.
    917 Tempsford: king Edward's men vs the "force" inside the town: Anglo-Saxons broke in, killed a Danish king, his brother and two earls: Anglo-Saxons won.
    917 Colchester: men from Kent, Surrey, Essex and the "nearest boroughs" vs the Vikings in the town: Anglo-Saxons won.
    917 Maldon: "great force" from East Anglia allied with "vikings": besieged the town until outside forces came to relieve it: gave up siege: townsmen and "those outside" pursued and attacked: Anglo-Saxons won.

    937 Brunnanburh: king Athelstan and Edmund the atheling vs the Scots ("men of the ships" i.e. vikings) of king Olaf (greatest battle since the Saxons and Angles first came "seeking Britain"): Anglo-Saxons won.

    943 Tamworth: king Olaf vs townsmen: Vikings won.
    943 Leicester: king Edmund besieges king Olaf and archbishop Wulfstan; they escape; Olaf "obtained king Edmund's friendship" and was baptised: also king Raegnald is baptised. Then....

    944 campaign in Northumbria: "King Edmund overcame all Northumbrian lands in his power, and drove out the two kings Olaf and Raegnald": Anglo-Saxons won.

    945 campaign in Cumberland: "King Edmund ravaged all Cumberland": Anglo-Saxons won.

    948 Castleford: a siege (?); the "force" at York "overcame the king's troops left behind" there: Vikings won.

    980 Southhampton: the "force" killed and enslaved the town-dwellers "for the most part": Vikings won.

    982 London was burnt: Vikings won.

    991 Maldon: earl Byrhtnoth vs Olaf (Tryggvason ?) with 93 ship crews (= c. 3,720 men): Vikings won.

    992 ?: naval battle: ships of London and East Anglia vs the "force"; Vikings won.

    993 Bamburgh: destroyed: Vikings won.

    994 Siege of London: king Aethelred vs Olaf and king Swein of Denmark; Anglo-Saxons won.

    998 campaign in Dorset: the "force" wins all the fieldbattles.

    999 Rochester: kentish vs the "force"; Vikings won.

    1001 Dean: Hampshire vs Danes: Vikings won (though they took heavier casualties).
    1001 Pinhoe: "Kola the high-reeve" and "Eadsige the reeve" vs the "force": Vikings won.

    1004 Thetford: earl Ulfcytel vs the "force": Anglo-Saxons won.

    1006 Wallingford: town burnt down; Vikings won.
    1006 Kennet: "the army" vs the "force": Vikings won.

    1009 London besieged (often): Anglo-Saxons won.
    1009 Oxford burnt down: Vikings won.

    1010 Ipswich (first day of Ascension): earl Ulfcytel and east Anglians vs the "force": Vikings won
    1010 in Cambridgeshire: killed: Athelstan (king Aethelred's son-in-law), his son Oswi, et al "and many other good thanes, countless folk": Vikings won.
    1010 Thetford: assault: town burnt down: Vikings won.
    1010 Cambridge: assault: town burnt down: Vikings won.

    1011 Canterbury: siege: betrayed through treachery; archbishop Aelfheah captured (later martyred): Vikings won.

    1013 siege of London: king Aethelred vs king Swein of Denmark: Anglo-Saxons won (but later submitted, and Aethelred fled to Normandy).

    1016 siege of London: "force" dug a ditch and dike around town and attacked repeatedly: Anglo-Saxons won.
    1016 Penselwood: king Edmund vs king Canute: drawn battle.
    1016 Sherston: king Edmund vs king Canute: drawn battle.
    1016 London: king Edmund lifts siege "and put the force to flight to the ships": Anglo-Saxons won.
    1016 Brentford: king Edmund vs "force": Anglo-Saxons won.
    1016 siege of London: "force" attacks powerfully by land and water: Anglo-Saxons won.
    1016 Ashingdon hill: earl Eadric betrays king Edmund by fleeing the field (all the oldest retainers in England perished): Vikings won.


    NEXT: It's a Draw!
    PREV: Maldon - the battlesite
Rome - Rome, Season 1 - The Stolen Eagle


Copyright 2002-2008 AncientWorlds LLC | Code of Conduct and Terms of Service | Contact Us! | The AncientWorlds Staff