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Home , 870s, Fyrd, Great Heathen Army, Guthrum, Mercia, Militia (English)

TheWars of Alfredthe Great Alfredthe Great was a brilliantmilitary leader and organiser. Throughout the , was beset with a sustainedseries of Viking raids, which cost amongother things Alfred's brother, King Aethelred. After assuming the andcarrying on the fight, Alfred negotiated a peace and used the time purchased byhis tribute to turn Wessex into a heavilyarmed citadel. When the returnedin892, Alfred held them in place with his fortified burghs and drove them offwith his mobile field army. By the time of his death in 899, Alfred ruled much of ,and had secured his Wessex throne against the Vikings...

HeathenRaiders from Across the Sea

The first recordedViking raid uponEngland occurred in the year793.The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports:

Here terrible portents came about over the land of , and miserably frightened the people: thesewere immenseflashes of lightning, and fiery dragonswere seen flying in the air.A greatfamine, and after that in the sameyear the raiding of the heathen miserably devastatedGod's church in islandby lootingand slaughter.' For the first half of the ninth centu4r,the Vikings sporadicallyraided the English coast.While costly, these raids were never more than a nuisance.But in 865 a great wave of Viking maraudersarrived in England,settling first in before plunderingtheir way north. The Anglo-Smon Chronicle calls them the 'great heathenarmy'. They ravagedEast , , and Northumbria, sacking cities like , killing kings and , and taking everything of value.Having exhausted the resourcesofnorthern and eastemEngland, the Vikings looked west to Wessex, The campaignsof the GreatHeathen Army 865-879. the kingdomof the WestSaxons. An evocation of the Saxon .

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Armiesand Weapons in the until the tenth century used similar crossed the Thames and made camp $trugglefor England arms and equipment. They were also at Reading, about thirty miles up the organized along similar lines. Raiding Thames from . The Vikings parties would form around kings who fortified the camp and sent raiding To defend Wessex,Aethelred andAlfred promised great glory and plunder. The parties against the counhyside. In the had the furd. The furd was an Anglo- kings delegatedmuch authority to jarls; New Year the local , commanded Saxon led by ealdormen and nobility and prominent men in command by an ealdorman named Aethelwulf, . The latter were the rich land of raiding parties or sections of raiding was heavily defeated at Englefield. owners and nobility who were rewarded parties. The Vikings were accomplished A few days later, King Aethelred and with the king's favour in exchange sailors who used their longboats for Alfred arrived with the rest of the West for military service. They were often strategic mobility (though they surely Saxonfurd andunited with Aethelwulf's armed with swords and outf,tted with would never have called it that). They remaining forces. The combined army mall byrnies and conical helmets. The could be brutal and recreationally marched on Reading. Here a bloody fyrd's rank and file was lower-class cruel. Contemporaries often substitute battle was fought and the West freeholdersand commoners.These men the word Dane for Viking, though they inflicted great slaughter upon the carried a simple spear, which could be hailed from all over .3 Vikings who then retreated to their thrust or thrown, and a small, round fortified camp. But when Aethelred and wooden shield. covered in leather and TheVikings come to his men reached the gates the Vikings ringed by a metal band. In combat, they stormed out in a furious charge 'like would lock shields and form a wall. In Wessex wolves' saysAsser, Alfred's biographer, theory the shield wall would stand firm and routed the West Saxons.Aethelwulf in defenceor press forward in atlack.2 In late 870 the 'great heathenarmy' was killed, but Aethelred and Alfred The Vikings, who did not start using invaded Wessex.Led by the Viking escaped.a their infamous two handed battle axe kings Bagsecgand Halfclan,the army Four days after the battle of Alfred'sfinal campaigns,892-896.

\,r''' Saxons fought savagely and pusir.'. t'.,. back the Vikings. But the Viking- \,,, ') t.. regrotrped and counterattacked an. ( overwhelmedthe Anglo-Saxons. Wor:. a gleatfleet arrived. Under the colnmdnLl /,J of the Viking kings Gr.rthmrn.Oscetcl. and Anwencl, the fleet etnbarkeclfi'orr the continentas word filterec'lback thlt Wessexwas ripe for plunderand lightl.' clef'cnc1ed.Wessex was to suffet'auothcr blow when,after , Aethelrecl clicd At thc age ol'twenty two. with Wesscr 'witlt under firrious attack, Alfi'ed thc approvalof divinewill anclaccorcliug tt, theunanin.rons wish of all theinhabitants of the kingdorn.'(ol so Assertells us). assurneclthe throne. A n.ronthafler taking thc throne.Alfi'cd led his fblcesinto battlc at Wilton,about seventy-fivcnriles south of Readirtg. The batllc lastedall clay,with neitheL siclegaining a clearadvantage. Finalll,. the Vikings withdrew frorn the ficld and Alfi'eclpursued with a srnallbancl. Seeingthat Alfl'ecl lackecl the lnanpowcl t \ to overwheltn thcrn. the Vikings counterattackcclaud def-eatcclAlfi'ed's fbrce. Thc Vikings continuedto inflict Landings of the Great Army rl Saxon vlctory clepravaliotisuport the countrysicle. and of Hasteinn But Alliecl would t.totgo qtrictly. hr Rrids of 893 ,l Norse fortlficatlon all, the year'871 saw no lessthan ninc Campaignsof894 I Alfred's burghs battlcsbetween the West Saxons ancl thc Campaigns of 895-6 and the Vikings. Accorclingto Asscr: dlspersal of the Great Army

' . . .the Saxons were virtually annihilatcd 'like Reading,Aethelred and Alfrccl attacked a wild boar', and held the Vikings to a man in this singleyear...leaving Bagsecg'sforces at Ashclorvu.about in checkuntil Aethelrecl's forccs arrived asidc the inuumelableskimrishes by flfteen rnilesnorthwest of thcir Reacling and fell upon the Viking flank and rear. day and night which Alfi'ed...had base.Bagsecg held the high groundanci clriving them frorn the field. Not only fought ceasclesslyand intently against c'leployedhis troopsin two sectior.rsalong had1he Vikings fled; King Bagsecgand the Vikings. How rnany thottsandsc'rl a ridge; one division he cotlmanded l:re jurl.s rvere killed. Alfi'ed and his the Viking army were killed in thesc rvith Halfdan. while the other was led brotherwon a greatvictory for Wessex. frequent skinnishes (Quite aparl front by their izr'l lieutenants.Aethelred and thosewho were slaughteredin the eight their forces in "f- battlesmentioned above) is not krown. Alfled agreed to split ,*l',I 1-i' +::-r.!'i ;t i*i*= -.: ?ll i.: f : i'':-:l- :g tu,o. Aethelred wor.rld attack Bagsecg exceptto alone.' and Halfdan: Alfi'ed would deal with knew the.jut'ls.Alfi'ed led his men into battle Yet afterReading, the WestSaxons *1il': "., ; -{ , -,, : -: !;".;1 .' first. br-rt Aethelred did not follow. only setbacks.A few weekslater another Apparently he refusedto attack before battle was fought at the royal estateof he finishedhis prayers,so Alfred found Basing, ten miles south of Reading. Even so, the Vikings proved to be totr 'a himself confronting the entire Mking After what calls violent clash much for Wessexand by the end of the army on his own. Alfred ordered his on all fi'onts' the Vikings prevailed. In year Alfred's resourceswere exhansted. men to close ranks and charge.Alfred late anotherbattle was fought at Alfred was forced to make peacewith personallyled the assault,Asser tells us the royal estateof Merettn. The West the Viking invaders and paid them ttr abandontheir baseat Readingand leave with a small band to the marshlandsof dominate the Thames. As a result, Wessexaltogether. After Alfred bought Somersetand made a campon the Isle of Alfred concludeda more advantageous them off, the Vikings spent 872-875 Athelneynear Taunton. From hereAlfred treaty with . In return for ravaging Mercia and Northumbria, continuedto resist,sallying out of the ceding , , and the after which they returnedto Wessexand marshesto wage a partisanwar against EastemMidlands to Guthrum,the latter campedat Wareham.Remembering the the Vikings. Word spread throughout recognisedAlfred's undisputedconhol chaosbrought about by the last Viking Wessex that West Saxon resistance over and everything south of raid, Alfred was in no mood to fight was not at an end. In early JuneAlfred the Thames.Alfred also exertedsome and negotiatedterms with the Vikings led his men out of the marshwith the control of the western and whereby he paid them tribute in return objectiveof raisingthe fyrd andbingng EnglishMercia from Walesto Watling for leavingWessex alone. about a pitched battle againstGuthrum. Street,and north to the .In Alfred marchedto Egbert's Stone on describingAlfred's growingpower, the 'all Viking Treachery 's southernborder: here he Anglo-SaxonChronicle claims that issueda call to arms.In all Alfred seems the Englishrace turned to him...'. The to have gatheredone thousandmen. new territorial arrangementgave Alfred In Decemberof 876 the Vikings broke Leaming of Alfred's sortie out of the a stablekingdom with definedborders their word - Asser calls it 'their usual marsh.Guthrum hunkered down amidst that couldbe defended.At this time, the treachery'- marchedinto Devonshire, his fortifications at Edington. Ready Vikings were ravaging the , but and occupied the forhess of . for war, Alfred marchedto Guthrum's this could not last forever and. sooner Alfred rallied the fyrd and surrounded camp and offered battle. The Vikings or later,the Vikings would once again the forhess. With their fleet largely salliedout from their fortificationsand turn their attentionto Alfred's kingdom. destroyedin a violent stormoff , a fiercebattle erupted.This time, West When they did, Alfred intendedto be thereby cutting them off, the Vikings Saxon manhood prevailed over the readyfor them. agreedto terms and left Wessexfor GreatArmy; the Vikings fled the field Mercia.But the Vikingswould be back. and Alfred pursued, inflicting great This agreementonly boughttime. sufferingupon the Vikings as he went. In 878 Guthrum led an army into What was left of the Viking force took Wessexand seizedthe royal estateof refuge inside their fort which Alfred ,northwest of Wiltshire besiegedfor two weeks, eventually on the River Avon, whereAlfred held bringingabout their surrender.Alfred's court. Alfred was unprepared for victoryresulted in a diplomaticcoup. He Guthrum's attack. At the sametime. a convertedGuthrum to Christianityand Viking fleet of twenty-threeships, led signeda treaty of friendship.Guthrum by a brother of Halfdan,raided along left Wessex,promising to plunderit no the coast of Devon and besiegedthe more.and settledin westemMercia on fortress of Countisbury.Rather then be moreor lessfriendly terms withAlfred. starved into submission,the local fyrd burst from their fortifications, caught Alfred ConsolidatesHis the Vikings unaware, and defeated them. Nevertheless.it must have been Power a drain on the already weak resourcss of Wessex,for the Viking raids from Alfred was not fool enough to count on Chippenhamwere unusuallyfierce; so the good intentions of the Vikings; he much so that many of the WestSaxons had to find a way to stop them militarily, fled their landsor pledgedallegiance to but how? While it is true that he Guthrum.No longercould Wessex resist experimented with naval forces against the heathenonslaught and most of the the Vikings he eventually decided that counkysidefell into Viking hands. the main effort must come on land. To solidiff his land based defence, Alfred Fights On Alfred took possession of London. It is unclear how this came about, though Oneof ours,or one of theirs? military action is one possibility. With - a fearsomequestion for ninth- But Alfred was unwilling to concede. this move, Alfred gained conhol of centurysaxons. Tn March 87R Alfred fled his esfAfes Enolish Mercia nnd from there cnrrld YI I I I I

arrived at the mouth of the Thameswith a fleet of eigbty ships. Hasten quickly constructeda fortified base at Milton while the other raiding party operated out of Appledore.The baseswere in supportingdistance of one anotherand in position to dominatethe Thames. The English rallied to Alfred, and the Northumbrians and East Anglians sworeallegiance to him. Now he was morethan just King of theWest Saxons; he wasKing of theAnglo-Saxons. With his new allies. Alfred mobilised the fyrd. He positioned his mobile field force betweenthe two Viking campsso that the armies could not unite without fighting him first. The Chronicle speaks '... of constantskirmishing: [Alfred's troops]went throughthe forestin gangs andmounted groups, on whicheveredge was without an army and also from the strongholds...'Alfred's forces must have been fearsome,his skirmishers exacting a heavy toll, becausethe On the GontinentViking armiesbuilt substantialfortified bases, yet in Britainapparently did not find it so necessary- why? A reconstructionof Trelleborgin its heyday.

main purposeswas to pin down Viking Alfred Readiesfor Another raiding parties until Alfred's reformed lnvasion fyrd arived. Alfred reformed the fyrd in severalways. First, he divided the militia in half. Onehalf was designated During the long interval between to garrisonthe burghs,the otherto serve sustained Viking attacks, Alfred in his mobile field army. The mobile reorganisedhis defencesand prepared field army was to march to the relief of Wessexfor the inevitableViking return. besiegedburghs and battle the Vikings. To hold off Viking attiacks, Alfred Second,to facilitate quick marchesto establisheda string of fortified strong- trouble spots,Alfred requiredmen to points called burghs. Burghs were keep horseson hand and sixty days' established along the southern coast rations.Alfred's reformsensured that he and the border with Mercia. Several had a force readyto move out andmarch burghs were also constructed along quickly to the areaof battle. key waterwaysand roadways.In some cases,burghs were built on top of old The VikingsReturn The wait is harderthan the battle. Romanbases; in othersthey were fresh constructions of wooden palisades, earthen ramparts, and ditches. Burghs Wessex was as ready as Alfred could Viking armies did not sally from their were designedto slow down and blunt make it when in 892, fleeing the campsen massemore than twice, once Viking raids and to serve as refuges in and pestilence among the West Franks, before thefyrd had been mobilised and caseofattack. a large fleet appeared at the mouth of once when they were trying to carry Of course, the burghs could not the River Andred. Not long after their their booty to the fleet in Essex.Here, hold out indefinitely. One of their arrival, a Viking king named Hasten Alfred struck he sent his son. Edward, with a strong force to intercept the Viking army - a vulnerable target as it was laden with booty. Edward overtook the Vikings at and routed them. The survivors took refuge on an islet, which Edward besieged.

Alfred Prevails

Alfred was marching with his force to join the when word reached him that a fleet of one hundred ships threatenedExeter while a smaller fleet of forfy ships menacedDevonshire. Alfred at once led most of his army to Exeter. En route he gathered reinforcements at London. With his combined army he marched on Benfleet where Hasten had made camp, housing the majority of his army while he was personally out on a raid. Alfred and his men stormed the base, routed the garrison and put it to the torch, then marching back to London with Viking treasure, women, and children. Among Alfred's prisoners were Hasten's wife and two sons whom he returnedto the Dane.Alfred's gesture of goodwill was not reciprocated by Hasten, who returned to Benfleet, built another camp, and once more took to raiding the countryside. While Hasten was plundering, Alfred again struck his base and destroyed it. Then Alfred marched on Exeter and drove off the besieging army. Meanwhile, Viking forces gathered at Shoebury in Essex where they built a base and received reinforcements from bases in East Anglia and Northumbria. From here, the Vikings moved up the Thames and the Severn threatening . Earls loyal to Alfred, including his son-in- law, gathered their forces to engage the Vikings along the Thames and Severn. The Saxonsand Norsehad very similarcultures, and were both They marched against the raiding army, immigrantsto Britain.Doubtless that madecoexistence easier once overtook it, and besiegedit at Buttington Englishrule was restored. The excavationof the Sutton Hooship on the Severn shore. The Vikings, burial. short of food, sallied out from their fortifications and attacked the Anglo- In early 894 Viking reinforcements Welsh border. The Anglo-Saxon army Saxons. The Vikings were defeated arrived from East Anglia and pursued the Vikings and laid siege to 'and very great slaughter was made of Northumbria, and marched north and this base. Viking parties were ridden the Vikings,'the Chronicle tells us. The west and built a camp at Wirral or down and slaughtered and the land crrnrirrino \/il:incc tafleqlaA ln Elanfleaf /ahacfar an nlr{ Pnman fnrf naar fLo or^"nn +Lam ro-'.^-,1 A l+lr^rrdla +L- f^# t,li t.

Far left: The weaponwhich seemsto havegiven the Saxonstheir name- the seax. Yet 300years settledin England'sfields and forestsseems to have gentledthem a little by the time the Vikingsarrived. Left: PaganViking burialpractices mean that we knowmore about the qualitiesof theirbeloved swordsthan possiblyany other class of medieval artefact.A tool exquisitelysuited to its purpose, and often a work of decorativeart as well.@ Royal Armouries.

was not stormed,the Vikings were driven out and forcedinto .This bandreturned to EastAngliaand Northumbria. But againthey salliedout andbuilt a baseon the islandof Mersea near the mouth of the Thames.Meanwhile, the Viking army that attackedExeter marched north for a time, plunderinginto Sussexin the Chichesterregion but the Chroniclenotes '...the garrisonput them to flight and killed many hundredof them, andtook some of theirships.'

Alfred'sFinal Battles

In 895 the Viking bandat Mersearan out their boats,went up theThames and built a fortifiedbase atLea, twenty miles above London.Tbelocalfurd attackedbut wasunable to dislodgethe Vikings. So that summer,Alfred arrivedto superviseoperations personally.He madesure that cropswere harvestedin order to denythem to the Vikings. Thenhe fortified the river above and below'the Viking position, taking away their mobility. The Vikings abandonedtheir base and marched overland, arriving at Bridgenorthon the Severn,where they camped. Alfred containedthe Vikings in the area.Tiring of Alfred and his Anglo-Saxons,the raiding army retueatedinto EastAnglia andNorthumbria, and the nextyear, set out for the Seine.Thus endedthe crisis.As the Chroniclerecords, 'The raiding-army, by the grace of God, had not altogetherutterly crushedthe Englishrace; but they werea greatdeal more crushedin those '. threeyears. . . In the year897 , Viking bandsout of EastAnglia and Northumbriawould raid the south Wessexcoast, but they did not ventureinland. Alfred died in 899.

Alfred'sAchievement

Alfred's victory was remarkable.He fought the Vikings, lost, retreated,counterattacked, and was ultimately victorious. He was personallybrave. Moreover, he was forward - thinking; his vision united much of England.He foundeda military rl establishmentthat lasteduntil (andalmost turned back) William the Bastard.Alfred was the greatestAnglo-Saxon warrior king. William Stroock The text of the peacetreaty betweenKing Alfred and King Guthrum

Thisis the peacethat KingAlfred and KingGuthrum, and the Witanof allthe Englishnation, and allthe people that are in EastAnglia, have all ordainedand withoaths confirmed, for themselvesand for theirdescendants as wellfor bornas for unborn,who reckof God'smercy or of ours.

L Concerningour landboundaries - up on the darenot,let him pay for it threefold,as it be Thames,and then up on the Lea,andalong the Lea valued. untoits source,then straightto ,then up on the Ouse untoWatling Street. 4. And that everyman knowhis warrantorin acquiring slavesand horsesand oxen. 2. lf a manbe slain,we estimateall equallydear, Englishand Danish,at 8 halfmarks of puregold; 5. And we all ordainedon that day thatthe oathswere exceptlhe ceorlwhoresides on rentedland and their sworn,that neitherbondman nor freeman might go (theDanes')freedmen; they also are equally dear, or to the hostwithout leave, no morethan any of them at200.shillings. to us. But if it happenthat from necessityany of them will havetraffic with us or we withthem, with cattle 3. And if a king'sthegn be accusedof manslaying, and withgoods, that is to be allowedin thiswise if he daresto clearhimself on oath,let him do that - that hostagesbe givenin pledgeof peace,and as with 12 king'sfhegns. lf any one accusethat man evidencewhereby itmay be knownthat the partyhas who is of lessdegree than the king'sfhegn, let him a cleanback. clearhimself with 11 of hisequals and with one king's Adaptedfrom Albeft Beebe Whiteand Wallace .And so in everysuit which may be morethan Notestein,eds., Source Problems in English History, 4 .(equivalent to thirtypence)And if he Harperand Brothers,New York: 1915.

PhotoCredits Bibliography Endnotes

Ourthanks to RegiaAnglorum for Abels. Richard.: 1 MichaelSwanton, ed. The Anglo- the use of theircopyright images. War, Kingship and Culture in Saxon Chronicle. (New York: Regiais an internationalsociety, Anglo-Saxon England. (London: Routledge,1996) basedin the UK,that seeks to re- Longman,1998) 2 RichardAbels. Alfred the Great: createthe lifeand times of the folk Ducket,Eleanor Shipley. Alfred the War, Kingship and Culture in whodwelt in and around the lslands Great:The King and His England. Anglo-Saxon England (London: of Britainaround a thousandyears (Chicago: University of Chicago Longman,1998) ago.Website:- wwwregia.org. Press,1956) Griffith, Paddy. The Viking Art of 3 Paddy Griffith. The VikingArt of War. (London: Greenhill Books, War. (London: Greenhill Books, FurtherReading 1e95) 1995) Hooper, Nicholas; Bennett, a For further Simon Keynes;Michael Lapidge reading, Mr. Stroock Mathew. lllustrated recommends contemporary eds. Alfred the Great: Asser's Atlas: Warfare in the Life of Kng Alfred and Other sources on Alfred such as lhe (Cambridge: 768-1487. Cambridge Contemporary Sources. (London: Anglo-SaxonCh ronicle and Asser's UniversityPress, 1 996) good PenguinBooks, 1983) Life of Alfred. A modern work Keynes, Simon; Michael Lapidge is RichardAbels' 5 Alfred the Great: eds. Alfred the Great: Asser's Treatywith GuthrumAlbert Beebe War,Kngship and Culturein Anglo- Life of King Alfred and Other White and Wallce Notestein, Saxon England. ln The Viking Art ContemporarySources. (London: eds., Source Problems in English gives good of War, Paddy Griffith a PenguinBooks, 1983) History. (New York: Harper and treatment of Alfred'santagonists. Swanton,Michael eds. The Anglo- Brothers,1915). Saxon Chronicle. (New York: Routledge,1996)