THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF VIKING BRITAIN/MEDIEVAL DOCUMENTARY
They left in their wake a patchwork of brethonic and romano british kingdoms scattered throughout the island just like on the mainland however it didn't take long for war-like peoples on the peripheries to move in and take advantage of the new lack of an imperial army from beyond hadrian's wall to the north fearsome pics moved south irish warriors moved in from the west but most importantly of all various germanic peoples from across the channel moved into the east of the island they were angles saxons jutes and friesians from modern day denmark and northern germany and just like their similarly warlike neighbors such as the vandals and the goths they moved in from across the borders as roman power weakened during the fifth sixth and seventh centuries these incoming warrior cultures gradually replaced the romano british and britons on the eastern portion of the island pushing the former into the west and eventually coalescing into seven distinct kingdoms often called the anglo-saxon heptarchy wessex mercia northumbria east anglia kent sussex and essex eventually these kingdoms all converted to christianity yet became no less warlike continuing to fight amongst themselves and their brethonic and pictish neighbours to the west and to the north for several centuries to come most notable during this time were the kingdoms of northumbria and mercia who fought a violent struggle for supremacy throughout the seventh century by the late 8th century the kingdom of mercia in the midlands under its king of famous for the great earthwork construction along the welsh border which still survives today had become the strongest of the realms exercising overlordship over all of the anglo-saxon lands south of the river humber yet little did the great king offer know that in the years following his death a terrifying new threat would arrive on the shores of britain whilst the anglo-saxons had been gradually converting to christianity and increasingly looking to frankie and rome for guidance a distinctly war-like culture had been developing over the centuries across the north sea in scandinavia it was there in the frosted fjords of norway and the islands and archipelagos of denmark the related peoples to the anglo-saxons had lived since the last ice age unlike their anglo-saxon cousins these peoples were still pagan and above all else they placed importance on military power and seafaring prowess as a combination of population pressure frankish aggression from the south and a revolution in ship building techniques gradually forced people to look outwards from scandinavia by the end of the 8th century peaceful traders and spontaneous piratical raiders began to strike out west and east from their homelands for the inhabitants of denmark and norway britain and ireland must have seemed an obvious choice as was charlemagne's frankie to the south and at the very end of offer's reign the snarling dragon heads of scandinavian pirates began to be sighted off the shores of the islands these opportunistic scandinavians would eventually become known as vikings a word which described not their ethnicity but their profession as pirates to the horror of the christian writers of the time who were almost exclusively monks in monasteries they at first focused on attacking christian holy sites which tended to yield the best monetary rewards all over the north of britain and ireland great riches were plundered and carried off before long however their tactics began to change the most ambitious of the newcomers began to overwinter within britain and before long settlers from norway began to either replace or subjugate the existing populations of the pharaoh islands orkney shetland and areas of ireland and scotland others raided the anglo-saxon kingdoms but were generally fought off before any substantial damage could be caused or they could settle down meanwhile mercier gradually lost its dominance over the southern kingdoms during the early 9th century to be replaced by the rise of wessex under its king egbert a shrewd leader who had been educated across the channel in francia egbert was all too familiar with the vikings and fought a number of battles against them during his reign most notably at carhampton in 836 where he defeated a band of raiders who appeared to have been allied with the britons of cornwall he also entirely absorbed the minor kingdoms of essex sussex and kent into essex during his reign firmly establishing his kingdom is the most powerful upon his death he was succeeded by his son ethel wolfe who continued to fight off periodical raids by scandinavians over the years most notably in the 850s when raiding parties attacked his capital at winchester during this time the other kingdoms of britain and ireland were also periodically attacked the invaders making the most inroads in ireland and modern-day scotland where they established firm footholds most notably the town of dublin which would remain a bastion and stronghold of the scandinavian world for hundreds of years to come in wessex ethelwolf was in turn succeeded by his sons ethelbold and ethel bert and finally in 865 the fourth son of ethelwolf named ethel redd succeeded to the throne of wessex supported by the youngest brother and heir alfred who would eventually become the most famous of all anglo-saxonsaside from ethelred's succession 865 was a year that would go down in infamy for centuries to come for it was during that year that a vast armada of longships appeared off the coast of east anglia to make landfall near thetford this was unlike any scandinavian raiding force seen previously hundreds of ships carrying an international army of danes norsemen and swedes from pirate bases all over the scandinavian world to the horror of the christian writers of the time who dubbed it the great heathen army they had come together from ireland freesia frankie scandinavia and picked land to launch a full-scale invasion of the anglo-saxon world the repercussions of which can still be seen today in dna place name evidence and the very culture of not only modern-day england but wales scotland and ireland too quite simply everything was about to change this is the entire history of viking britain and how the england we know today was forged in the fire and the bloodshed hello my name is pete kelly welcome to history time i'm here at castle de ganway in north wales filming for an upcoming documentary that's going to be coming out some point in the next couple of years when it comes to making these things i'm still mostly a one-man team and as you can imagine it takes a huge amount of work to write these things edit them research them narrate them put music to them film them visit the sites so of course this means i can't upload very regularly but if you like more of this sort of thing i've been visiting ancient sites all over the world on my self-titled channel pete kelly so you can check it out here in the meantime i hope you won't mind me taking a moment to thank the sponsor of this video it's magellan tv this video is sponsored by magellan tv one of the best documentary streaming services on the internet and a long time supporter of history time you can find thousands of documentaries on practically any subject you can think of all streamed seamlessly to your phone computer tablet or smart tv you've got science culture geography and of course a wide variety of history i often find myself delving into ancient history as well as the medieval world on this channel and magellan is great for this too if you're looking for more vikings after this video you can check out this title i recently enjoyed vikings merchants and explorers an excellent overview of the immensely far-flung voyages and settlements of the early medieval scandinavians as well as this one called the green land on the animals and landscape of that furthest most permanent settlement and there's so much more to choose from too and now you can watch both of these titles completely for free by signing up for a month-long free trial using my link in the description below go and get yourself some free knowledge now back to viking britain [Music] before the arrival of the great army in 865 scandinavian war bands in britain but almost always operated autonomously from one another and generally lacked unity unlike these earlier groups however this one had several leaders and they had all come together to work side by side with the mutual goal of outright conques initially the army seems to have been led by three war leaders ivar halfdan and uber according to the norse sagas these were the sons of the legendary viking ragnar lothbrok each a sea king potentially commanding thousands of warriors and numerous longships if the sagas are to be believed they had come to england to avenge the death of their father killed by the northumbrian king ayla it is just as likely however that the invasion was the natural culmination of decades of raids into the anglo-saxon kingdoms the natural progression by ambitious worshipers of the norse gods who saw the means to carve kingdoms out for themselves after landing in east anglia they forced the local king edmund to give them horses and supplies before they marched north to capture the city of york capital of northumbria which at the time was suffering from civil war between two rival claimants one of whom ayla is later said to have been the king who killed ragnar lothbrok after this battle northumbria would become a bastion of scandinavian culture for two centuries to come next after ravaging northumbria the army again went on the move likely gathering more and more warriors to their banners from all over the scandinavian world as word spread of their victories this time they marched south into mercia where they captured the town of nottingham and faced off against an army led by the mercian king bergrid murcia called for aid and wessex answered yet no actual fighting took place as ivar and his men remained inside the walls of nottingham eventually it's likely that bergrid paid them to leave and the mercian and west saxon armies mostly made up of farmers disbanded to plow the fields happy to take mercy and coin for now the vikings moved back to york for the winter considerably richer the sons of lord brock kept their words to bergrid heading back to east anglia in the new year where they conquered the kingdom turning its king edmund into a martyr and stamping out the kingdom entirely east anglia would suffer the same fate as northumbria becoming a safe haven for danes for two centuries to come in 870 the army split with some remaining in their new lands in northumbria and east anglia and others like ivar going elsewhere in britain to conquer other lands in his case the brethonic kingdom of old klute in southern scotland it is halfdan who takes center stage at this point as he led part of the army south bypassing murcia entirely to raid deep into wessex after an interval of three years during which time his scouts and spies had probably made their own inroads into essex halfdan along with another warlord bakzkeg made straight for the town of reading where they fortified themselves to wait for the inevitable west saxon counter-attack meanwhile ethelred and alfred gathered up their levees and made for reading where they met with ethelwolf the elderment of berkshire together they attacked half dan's men at reading on the 4th of january but suffered an inconclusive defeat the west saxons regrouped over the next few days and again took to the field on the 8th at a place called ashdown somewhere on the berkshire downs it was there in the mist and the gloom of a mid-winter's morning that the most decisive battle yet of the war was fought ethelred divided his army into two positioning the halves on either side of a ridgeway with himself in command of one side and his younger brother alfred the other as the danes approached they also split their army with half down commanding one and back skeg the other alfred and his contingent watched on from behind their shield wall as the danes drew nearer ethel read meanwhile had apparently decided that he must pray before the battle refusing to advance until his prayer service was complete [Music] seeing that the danish movement would cost him the advantage of the higher ground alfred took it upon himself to charge up the hill without the support of the second contingent heading straight into the heart of the danish lines apparently not realising that alfred's men only represented half of the west saxon army the second force of danes also maneuvered into the combat which amounted to little more than a brutal hand-to-hand slog of shield wall on shield wall after heavy fighting and significant losses on either side ethel red's force whose approach had possibly been obscured and missed finally engaged surprising the danes and turning the battle in the favour of the west saxons baxter was killed in the fighting and halfdan called his remaining men to fall back leaving the west saxons victorious after six long years of defeat an anglo-saxon force had finally emerged victorious against the great heathen army ashdown was by no means a decisive victory and it was certainly a costly one though the hard fighting may have made halfdan more cautious about his future plans for wessex to the fortune of halfdan and his remaining warriors who had fallen back to reading however a batch of fresh reinforcements newly arrived from overseas glided up the thames to join them this great summer army led by a sea king named guthrum would become integral over the next seven long years of war ethelred and alfred now known as the boar of ashdown continued to fight the danes over the coming months fighting several more unsuccessful engagements against them most notably at beijing in late january and at martin in march by april however ethelred was dead possibly as a result of wounds suffered in battle and alfred the boar of ashdown replaced him as king alfdan had had enough of wessex by this point and he accepted a large sum of money in payment from alfred to leave just like he and his brothers had done with bergrid back at nottingham in 868 halfdan would head north to become king in northumbria whereas guthrum went east to take control of the vikings of east anglia alfred had saved his kingdom for now but he and all of his subjects knew the vikings would return the invasion of the great heathen army in 865 swept through britain like wildfire after six long years of violent struggle by 871 the political map of britain had been completely redrawn the anglo-saxon kingdoms of east anglia and northumbria had been swept away their ruling dynasties extinguished and their lands taken by the newcomers in the midlands mercia teetered on the brink of total collapse its eastern portion flooded by marauding bands of scandinavians in the north the various rulers of pictland fought tooth and nail to retain their own independence and even the welsh kingdoms had their fair share of invasions to deal with yet the great army wasn't finished yet just one kingdom remained relatively intact wessex under its new king alfred who had managed to pay a group of invading vikings under halfdan to leave his kingdom earlier in the year in a similar arrangement that bergrid of murcia and edmund of east anglia had previously made alfred knew that sooner or later they would be back the great heathen army wasn't an army in the conventional sense it was a coalition of war bands from all over the scandinavian world that had come together to achieve a common goal the outright conquest of britain when the opportunity presented itself the army tended to split off into parts even more so after vast swathes of land began to be conquered and successes won after his withdrawal from wessex in 871 halfdan headed north to northumbria with around half of the army around a thousand or so veterans who he'd been fighting with since his arrival in britain when he arrived in the north he began to carve up the land between his men and set about plowing the fields this wasn't conquest anymore it was colonisation ivar meanwhile who hadn't been present during the wessex campaign had been busy destroying yet another ancient kingdom this time alongside his ally olaf the white a norse seeking of dublin operating in the irish sea together they attacked dumbarton rock the capital of the brethonic kingdom of alt klute in around 870 besieging it for four months before the defenders finally gave in there would be no quarter given the citadel was raised to the ground its defenders slain the survivors taken to be sold at the slave markets of dublin and york ivar made off with so much plunder that he may have actually retired luckily for wessex he wouldn't reappear again on english shores though his and olaf's descendants in dublin would continue to play a huge role in britain and ireland for centuries to come meanwhile in east anglia the second half of the army that had attacked wessex was now under the command of a newcomer a sea king recently arrived into britain with conquest very much still on his mind guthrum and his great summer army had provided a breath of fresh air into the now exhausted veterans of the original expedition and now along with halfdan's warriors up in northumbria they set their eyes upon carving up the severely weakened mercier king bergrid alfred's brother-in-law was forced into exile in 874 and a puppet ruler joel wolf put in place whilst the vikings divided up the land amongst themselves wessex now stood alone on the very brink of destruction the last anglo-saxon kingdom not to fall 875 it seems that the vikings decided that alfred had had enough of a respite fleets of five or six vessels began to test west saxon defenses maybe even as a diversionary tactic to keep alfred looking to all of his borders for any potential sign of invasion like all of the anglo-saxon kingdoms he could call on an army of levies to aid him in times of war yet these men were primarily farmers who fought with equipment and armour they owned themselves which usually wasn't very much the fjord wasn't a professional standing army like that of the scandinavians after the campaigning season was over traditionally they would return to their lands as they had done for generations alfred's personal retinue of professional warriors probably only consisted of a few hundred men guthrum on the other hand likely had thousands of warriors the vast majority of them hardened from a lifetime of war they could live off the land and as long as they could keep supply lines open with east anglia and murcia they could ravage wessex almost at will whilst breaking down the west saxon will to fight which they did from 875 onwards in 876 guthrum thundered across wessex with a large host of mounted warriors he defeated a small force of west saxons led by alfred on the south coast and seized the important regional town of wareh alfred sued for peace again and guthrum accepted both sides probably buying for time the next spring he was on the move again this time heading even further west to exeter a town situated near the old border between the west saxons and the britons of cornwall a subject people to wessex who had been known to ally themselves with vikings in order to fight against their overlords exeter also provided a number of options for guthrum should he need to retreat yet there was also another reason why guthrum had chosen to take his men there whilst alfred marched west to meet guthrum's army a vast fleet of 120 longboats made its way down the north coast of devon with as many as four thousand men aboard the sea king uber lothbroksen had returned to join up with guthrum and ravage wessex for the final definitive time unlike the other sons of lothbrok uber is described as ducks perhaps meaning king of the friesians so he probably had vikings who had been born in freesia with him just like ivar's army probably numbered vikings who had been born in ireland amongst its ranks it's thought that uber's force originated in ireland and may have overwintered on the south coast of wales the situation looked grim for alfred who must surely have contemplated the grisly fates already handed out to edmund of east anglia and ayla of northumbria in one of the most fortuitous moments of chance ever to befall england however uber's fleet was destroyed by a freak storm of swannage on the south coast of dorset leaving the survivors to limp back to their base in southern wales guthrum meanwhile upon hearing the news abandoned his plan and rode north to gloucester in the south of mercia however much alfred may have seen the storm as a divine judgment against the heathens he was still beset on all sides by armies of piratical raiders intent on personally sacrificing him to odin and usurping his kingdom on the 6th of january 878 in the midst of the christmas festival it was an important part of anglo-saxon culture guthrum threw all of his cards on the table suddenly appearing at alfred's royal estate at chippenham with a mounted force of his best outriders this surprise attack possibly launched in conjunction with treacherous west saxon alderman very nearly ended alfred there and then he barely escaped with his life with just a handful of followers whilst guthrum sent his warriors in swift pursuit alfred fled west deep into the marshlands of the somerset levels at the time a vast area of undrained boggy wetlands he knew the area well having spent much of his youth there hunting on the royal estates with his brothers and his father guthrum had no such knowledge of the intricate riverways and secret paths that crisscrossed the fence it was there on the island of athelney with just a few hundred followers that alfred now mostly dispossessed of his kingdom made his final stand it is at this moment had alfred failed or given up and ran like bergrid of murcia england would have become daneland guthrum stood on the very brink of becoming king in not just east anglia and parts of mercia but wessex too the richest and most powerful of the anglo-saxon kingdoms for the next several months it was alfred who was forced to launch piratical raids into his own kingdom now overrun by gotham's warriors uber meanwhile had probably spent the winter in a pirate base off the coast of david after hearing of guthrum's success however he returned to wessex to take part in the carving up of the kingdom this time with only 23 ships they made landfall somewhere in northern devon near a fortress called ark's sinwit it was a location which may have been intended to corner alfred in a pincer movement after his withdrawal to the wetlands of somerset rather than the easy campaign he had hoped for however uber was met there by the eldermen of somerset oda who had levied his feared men to drive out the invaders it was there at the battle of sinwet in 878 astride the irish sea at uber the last living son of lothbrok was struck down in battle guthrum was left over extended by the destruction of uber's force at sinwit and this appears to have allowed alfred and his elderly to break up guthrum's exposed supply lines and lines of communication alfred then called as many of the feared men of somerset wiltshire and hampshire as he could the only counties left to have any sort of semblance of west saxon government for three long days between the 4th and the 7th of may they waited at a local rallying point called egbert stone for their warriors to arrive from all corners of the realm finally once a sufficient force had been raised probably numbering in the thousands with only a few hundred professional household soldiers they marched to eddington where alfred engaged guthrum's warriors in one final definitive battle that would decide the fate of wessex once and for all a ferocious battle ensued as the two shield walls crashed against one another all day the two sides fought until finally the smaller danish force broke and fell back to their fortress at chippenham the west saxons had no mercy for the danes that day killing everyone who didn't make it inside the fortress and besieging guthrum for two weeks before he sued for peace in addition to offering the customary hostages and promising to leave wessex for good the vikings promised that guthrum would be baptized as a christian unlike previous treaties that the danes vhad promised to keep and later reneged on these men were pushed up against a wall vand alfred was convinced that they would keep their word vat the treaty of wedmore in 879 guthrum was baptized vtaking the christian name atholstan with alfred as his godfather after a few more minor engagements where minor danish warlords defied guthrum's orders to raid the wessex borderlands the danes finally pulled out of wessex entirely retreating back to east anglia where guthrum became king in 886 murcia was divided between guthrum and alfred with the anglo-saxons retaining control of the western portion of the county the danes settling the east it was an extraordinary turnaround for alfred and the west saxons not only had he saved his kingdom but he now found himself in a relatively strong position tensions would flare up every now and again but by and large guthrum would keep the peace giving alfred the breathing room he needed to fortify his country against further invasions from overseas of which there would be many more over the coming years alfred's surprise victory over the vikings in 878 both ensured the survival of his kingdom and allowed the west saxons the breathing room needed to regroup and prepare for the inevitable next attack to come [Music] though guthrum retired to east anglia after the battle to rule there as king under the christian name athelstan wessex still faced potential attack from elsewhere just as guthrum had successfully carved himself out a kingdom well over a decade after the initial arrival of the great ethan army another could just as easily come and do the same it was now time for a new strategy alfred spent the 80s converting the various market towns of his kingdom into burrs which would act as fortified safe havens and meeting points for local militias to fight against the sudden appearance of vikings though alfred was technically at peace with guthrum for the rest of the old sea king's life there was no guarantee that he wouldn't try his luck again or at least harbor those who would alfred also forged a lasting alliance with the portion of murcia still under anglo-saxon control now under the rule of a warlord of unknown origins named ethelred after the death of king chilewolf in around 879 the alliance was sealed by the marriage of alfred's eldest daughter ethel fled to ethelred in the early 80s who began to rule under the title lord of the mercians apparently under some degree of west saxon overlordship alfred also achieved a similar arrangement with the southern welsh kingdoms during this time whose rulers were hemmed in by the expansionist sons of roddery the great in gweneth and poes the most powerful of these northern welsh kings annarad app rodri may have allied himself with the vikings of jorvik against wessex before eventually he too accepted west saxon overlordship thus securing alfred's western border ultimately guthrum kept the peace with wessex until his death in 890 though just two years later the burr system would face its first real test when two massive fleets of raiders comprising of over 300 longboats under a sea king named hasten arrived on the kentish shore to try their luck against the west saxons yet times had changed over the last decade and after some initial victories wessex held out [Music] by 896 haston's men either left britain entirely or dispersed into east anglia the burr system had worked upon his death in 899 alfred the great left his kingdom to his eldest son and heir edward yet the succession was not a smooth one there was another who sought the throne alfred's nephew ethelwold after an initial engagement between the two cousins ethelwold fled north to the orthumbrian danelaw where he was enthusiastically accepted by the local rulers apparently happy to accept him as king in jorvik though this may very well have been a ruse to use ethelwold to finally conquer the last anglo-saxon kingdom once and for all [Music] during this relatively early phase in the history of the danelaw official titles seem to have carried little real weight lands generally being held by a ruling class of aristocrats rather than a single king nevertheless ethelwold spent his time in northumbria gathering an army together and by 901 or 902 he sailed south to essex where he was apparently also accepted as king by the local scandinavian elite who now ruled there from this base of power he was able to gain influence over the vikings of east anglia specifically their new king eric who joined him on a deep raid into murcia by december 902 edward had also raised an army likely comprised of west saxons mercians and kentishmen and his forces finally succeeded in catching ethelwold in a vicious battle in the marshy lowlands near the river hold by day's end it was apparently the danes who emerged victorious yet the men of kent exacted a heavy toll for their victory not only was the east anglian king eric killed but ethelwold too along with the kentish leader sig helm the real winner being edward with ethelwold out of the way edward could now finally focus on consolidating his rule at home which he would do for close to a decade to come in the western portion of mercia meanwhile ethelred and ethelfled had been busy too following the examples set by alfred and fortifying their frontier with the dane law by building burrs wherever they could as part of ethelred's marriage arrangement with ethelfled alfred had given the mercians control of the city of london a hefty source of income together the two rulers oversaw a revival of mercy and power though in a reduced territorial area and ethel fled in particular became extremely popular amongst her adopted people for all intents and purposes seeming to become a mercian yet soon enough the mercians would yet again be forced to go on the defensive just as edward had been fighting his cousin in 902 a mass exodus of vikings from ireland had led to the settlement of a large group of exiles in the lands just to the north of the mercian-held town of chester an old roman fortress its walls still visible today formidable in edward's day though the mercians may have intended these irish vikings to act as a buffer against the ever-present power of the danelaw by 907 the irish vikings had apparently aligned themselves with the danelaw to besiege chester when the mercian army went north that year to deal with this new threat tellingly it wasn't ethelred who went but the lady ethel fled full authority to act on his behalf due to his apparent incapacitation due to illness what happened next is unclear with the west saxon-made anglo-saxon chronicle possibly not wishing to report on a victory achieved solely by the mercians nonetheless the vikings were defeated at jester and in the aftermath it was ethel fled not ethelred who was firmly in the driver's seat the mercians were going on the offensive in 909 the anglo-saxon chronicle records a joint mercian west saxon offensive deep into viking territory to retrieve the relics of the famed northumbrian king oswald the strikeforce also took the opportunity to pillage the relatively inaccessible lands of lindsay for five weeks until they retreated before jorvik could react though no leader is recorded for this expedition it remains possible that edward's eldest son atholstan took part though he was the eldest child athelstan probably wasn't edward's successor at this time instead being fostered by his aunt ethelfled in mercia from around this point onwards he likely took part in most of the major mercy and offensives whilst he trained for a life in the military but we will learn much more of him later deep into murcia they ravaged the countryside loading up on plunder before beginning the journey back north it was then near teton hall at a place named wodensfield that a combined west saxon mercian army caught the vikings by surprise in the ensuing bloodbath the entire leadership of the viking force was killed crippling jorvik for years to come and scoring a decisive victory teton hall was a turning point in many ways it was around this time that ethel redd finally passed away and quite astonishingly despite being awoman in a militaristic male-dominated society ethelfled was chosen as his successor ruling under the title lady of the mercians [Music] though being in no position to argue with her younger brother in a signal of what was to come close to a decade later she was also forced to relinquish control of london to wesse ethelfled would continue to rule though as she had no male heir it was the beginning of the end for independent mercier [Music] for the next eight years ethelfled tirelessly dedicated her time to building burs not only along the frontier with the five boroughs to the east but also against the welsh kingdoms to the west where the sons of rodri who had allied with her father had now grown old threatening more uncertainty in the future a state of perpetual warfare existed with the five boroughs of eastern mercia during this time with occasional raids recorded from the towns of leicester and bedford into western mercia edward meanwhile was finally ready to go on the offensive against the vikings on his own borders between 9 11 and 9 13 he moved his forces by land and by sea into essex fortifying the town of molden and attempting to bring the area under full west saxon control for the first time since the coming of the northmen wessex was growing larger and he now also had a base from which he could attack his main prize east anglia yet in 914 any potential attacks ethelfled or edward might have wanted to make suddenly came crashing to a standstill across the channel in brittany a massive viking fleet had just conquered the entire region extinguishing its ruling family and now under the leadership of two warlords named rold and otter they rode the momentum of that victory all the way over the channel to britain to try their luck again sailing up through the bristol channel they headed into the river seven in an attempt to take the mercians by surprise yet once again ethelfled was ready for them pushing the vikings out of murcia and into wales and killing rolled in the process the children of alfred were now expert viking fighters they were even more ruthless than he had ever been knowing that any hint of weakness would bring disaster edward pursued otter in his remaining vessels all the way to the island of flat home near cardiff where he blockaded them for weeks finally otter gave up on england altogether heading across the sea to ireland the stage was now set for the final confrontation of the war by 914 edward ii was making inroads into the five boroughs forcing the submission of some but not all of the vikings of bedford and northampton by 916 he was back at malden where he continued to make preparations for battle ethelfled meanwhile was forced to campaign into wales in 916 were the sons of rodri who had allied themselves to alfred had now finally passed away leaving their successors who were unknown quantities as potential threats by 9 17 both edward and ethelfled were ready for their final assaults upon the dane law a large force of danes from the southern portion of the five boroughs allied themselves with the east anglians who finally decided to make a move they attempted to mirror the success of the saxons by building their own burr at tempsford in bedfordshire within weeks however edward's forces stormed the burr killing the east anglian king and sweeping onwards to take the whole of east anglia and south eastern mercia just if this hammer blow against the danes hadn't been enough fled was also on the move in mid-917 she marched her now elite army across the border directly heading towards the borough of derby where they laid siege to the town after a fierce battle where several of her leading thanes were killed in the fighting the town fell and with it large swathes of eastern mercia by 918 lester was the next to submit closely followed by the three other boroughs of stamford nottingham and lincoln under ethel fled mercia had finally completed its reconquest and now found itself with nearly the same borders as it had prior to the coming of the vikings yet astonishingly she didn't stop there by mid 918 the vikings of jorvik agreed to submit to ethelfled under the proviso that they would be given aid against a resurgence of viking power in dublin which now threatens to bring northumbria under its control ultimately the deal never materialized ethelfled passed away that same year succeeded by her only child a daughter named elfwin by 918 all of england south of the humber was subject to anglo-saxon control all that now remained for edward to do was to march north to tamworth to seize elfwin place her in a monastery for life and finally incorporate mercier into his ever-growing kingdom for the relatively unknown elfwin living in a heavily dominated society this was a relatively easy process like alfred before him edward then seems to have achieved the fealty of the five welsh kingdoms thus uniting most of the lands south of the humber for the first time in history all that remained now was the kingdom of northumbria though just as edward was annexing mercia into his ever-growing realm the dublin norse members of the soon-to-be-feared evar dynasty of ireland annexed jorvik in a lightning attack england had been made but just as easily could be broken again the idea of a united angle land or england comprised of all the territories of the old anglo-saxon kingdoms was first conceived of and forged by alfred of wessex in the fires of viking invasion it was made into a reality however by the reconquests of his children edward and ethelfled yet it was his grandson athelstan who took the idea even further in extending his overlordship for a time over all of the other kingdoms of britain forging the very first english empire [Music] yet just like his father before him athol athelstan's succession had been a disputed on seen by many as illegitimate he came to the throne amidst dynastic turmoil that looked set to destroy the kingdom before it even got started yet he ended his reign having triumphed over every other kingdom of britain defeating one of the largest viking invasion fleets ever assembled as truly the first and one of the greatest english kings in history athelstan had been born in 894 during the reign of his grandfather alfred who was said to have taken a liking to the boy apparently giving him his blessing to succeed after his son edward though ultimately the west saxon political elite would have other ideas athelstan's mother referred to in the sources as a mere concubine died soon after his birth and edward married again in total having more than 14 other children by another two wives and pushing athelstan far back in the line of succession by 918 athelstan was a trained warrior in his mid-twenties having fought a long series of campaigns at his art ethel fled side to reclaim the five boroughs of the danelaw for mercier upon ethel fled's death that summer however and without a male heir to succeed her edward rode north to claim direct control over mercia for the first time thus extending west saxon control over all of the lands where english was spoken south of the river humber over the next six years edward worked hard to consolidate hisnew realm at times claiming overlordship over the five welsh kingdoms and the vikings of northumbria with varying degrees of legitimacy just before his death in 924 however everything began to go wrong the mercians seem to have risen up in rebellion against west saxon controlwell to the north king citric of jorvik seems to have taken the opportunity to extend his influence southwards into the five boroughs just weeks later edward died closely followed by his son and heir elf weirdrather than submit to the west saxons the mercy and nobility instead opted to choose the already veteran war leader atholstan as their king already 30 years old and a tried and tested ruler for close to a year conflict raged amongst the west saxon political elite and that of murcia threatening to tear the anglo-saxon realm back into its two constituent parts citric meanwhile used the opportunity to further expand his influence southwards finally by the summer of 9 25 the west saxons also agreed to accept athelstan as their king apparently providing he agree not to marry nor have any heirs athelstan in essence was to be a caretaker king for his west saxon half brothers ever the able politician when athelstan was finally crowned in september the ceremony took place not in the west saxon capital of winchester nor the mercian capital of tamworth but at kingston upon thames on the borderlands between the two kingdoms in the first royal coronation in english history he was crowned as king of the anglo-saxons [Music] just months later citric of jorvik very aware of athelstan's reputation also submitted at tamworth accepting the king's sister in marriage and agreeing to baptism this was the first of many conciliatory efforts against the danes of eastern england increasing numbers of whom would be recruited into athelstan's ever-growing army over the coming years upon citric's death in the next year however his kinsmen guthriths claim to the throne were revoked by athelstan marched north to annex the kingdom forcing guthrie and his family back across the irish sea to dublin for the first time in history a southern ruler sat on the northumbrian throne yet athelstan didn't stop there traveling further north to bambra to receive the submission of the english bernician lords whose rule had survived there largely intact throughout the long years of viking occupation his next stop was cumbria where faced with the overwhelming strength of the english army the scottish king constantine ii and the brethonic king of strathclyde owen both acknowledged him as their overlord the five welsh kings also gave him their submission making athelstant a true king of kings and the most powerful ruler in britain since the romans for the next six years athelstan consolidated his realm instigating legal reforms promoting education and religious matters and lavishing gifts upon his new subjects to ensure their continued loyalty by 9 33 however things started to go wrong his brother and successor edwin died in mysterious circumstances whilst apparently fleeing to the continent some say he was murdered and then constantine threw off the shackles of english overlordship declaring his independence from the south once more athelstan's response was overwhelming heading north by land and sea with the combined armies of mercia wessex and the danelaw along with several welsh rulers in order to make an example of the rebellious king it was a truly multi-ethnic force notably including 13 danish earls along with their retinues once they reached constantine's lands athelstan's army ravaged as far north as cuthness in a shock and awe campaign forcing constantine to submit and afterwards to accompany the english king back south to wessex to do homage at his court athelstan continued his attempts to ensure loyalty by lavishing gifts upon the leadership of his recently acquired lands despite his best efforts however descent continued to grow not only in scotland but in wales cornwall cumbria and northumbria a clear line had been drawn between the english and everyone else and a reckoning was on the way [Music] there was another power on the rise too and it came on long boats from across the se king citric of york just so happened to have been a member of the other all-powerful dynasty in britain during this time the sons of ivar from dublin norse irish seekings allegedly claiming descent from the feared warlord ivar the boneless who had ravaged britain during the 860s and 870s when athelstan rejected the norse from northumbria in 927 following citrix death they swore to return though it wouldn't be guthrith who would be back but his son olaf successfully outmaneuvering the other claimants to the throne of dublin upon his father's death in 934 olaf guthriethson a ruthless and energetic young viking king immediately put in motion his plan to reclaim the family territories in britain the first item on the agenda was to bring the other long forts of ireland under his heel in particular the most powerful of the bunch limerick in early 937 after consolidating his rule in dublin olaf led his warriors in a lightning raid upon limerick and its king also named olaf after a fierce battle the king of limerick was either forced into submission or imprisoned but most importantly the limerickmen were brought onside [Applause] in one fell swoop olaf guthriethson had succeeded in uniting all of the norsemen and danes in ireland into a single mighty navy the largest yet seen in the british isles it was an unprecedented feat as many as 615 ships according to one source olaf had himself grandly declared as king of all the norsemen and danes in ireland yet he didn't stop ther the sons of ivar had not forgotten their defeat at the hands of the english and just like athelstan olaf guthrith's son was good at making allies across the sea in scotland constantine ii who had fought tooth and nail for his independence for decades against waves of viking invaders was seething after being forced to submit to athelstan's overlordship was the king of the independent kingdom of strathclyde owen the success estate to the ancient kingdom of old klute though it remains unclear who first broached the alliance by mid-937 the two kings decided to make common cause with the sons of ivar against england secretly plotting an invasion of northumbria according to some sources the alliance was even sealed by the marriage of olaf to a daughter of constantine late in the summer of 9 37 just after the usual campaigning season had ended olaf loaded up his entire navy bolstered by all of the other long forts of ireland and men from all over the scottish isles and man and together they headed to britain there they linked up with not only constantine and owens armies but also men from wales cumbria and possibly even cornwall the last vestiges of pre-anglo-saxon britai debate still rages as to the exact route which olaf took or even the exact location of the battle some historians think he rounded the scottish mainland to make landfall near york where he could count on support from many of the local thanes of northumbria others think he took the shortest route and landed on the mersey estuary where he met up with the allied army all that is known for certain is that the combined army assembled somewhere in northumbria where they linked up with significant elements from the dane law and together began to ravage the countryside when news reached athelstan in the early autumn of the implosion of his empire so late in the usual campaigning season he is said to have entered a state of deep contemplation an extremely pious king according to tradition he prayed for his soul at a local church knowing the terrible bloodbath that would inevitably follow before calling his banners and heading north the most important yet little-known battle in english history was about to be fought according to the historian ethel weird writing a generation after the battle it was still known by the common people simply as the great war [Music] unfortunately possibly as a result of athelstan's apparent unpopularity amongst the political elite of wessex during his reign very little evidence remains of the battle itself what we do know derives mostly from a single heroic poem from the anglo-saxon chronicle it seems that athelstan took his time to prepare gathering together as many men as he could from all of his territories most notably from his heartlands of mercia and wessex but also from kent essex and large contingents of anglo danes from the east of the count together they headed north to a fortress named brunon burr where the english army is said to have attacked the allied forces in a headlong frontal assault both armies would have been made up almost entirely of foot soldiers standing side by side in a tight formation of interlocking shields known as a shield wall a half remembered battle tactic once used by roman legionaries and at this time a mainstay of combat until the advent of norman cavalry over a century later due to the sheer lack of sources on this battle the numbers involved are difficult to estimate though due to the perceived importance of brunenberg and the sheer variety of different groups involved it seems probable that many thousands took part on either side at daybreak both armies advanced seasoned career soldiers in the front ranks hurling insults spears and challenges as the slow advance gradually churned forwards finally the shield walls sickeningly crunched into one another for hours on end each side pushing on the other in a tireless bloodbath both armies seemed matched at first and more and more casualties mounted up on either side including two of athelstan's cousins and countless thanes and yells on the other side finally by the late afternoon the better coordinated english army already well versed in fighting together not made up from many different areas like the opposing army succeeded in making a dent in the allied line a break in the shield wall was all that was needed and after several more hours of long grueling attrition the english ever spurred on by athelstan and his younger brother and heir edmund succeeded in severing the less coordinated allies into several groups forcing olaf's men to fall back to their ships in uncoordinated retreat constantine abandoned the field too fleeing back north to the relative safety of cumbria both were swiftly followed by vengeful englishmen who cut down swathes of fleeing norsemen and scots though ultimately both kings escaped owen's fate remains unknown he may have died in the fighting having secured the survival of his kingdom but at great cost to his christian soul athelstan ruled for another year and a half after brunenburg before he died exhausted after a lifetime of war true to his word he never married and had no heirs and was succeeded by his younger brother edmund still a teenager at the time though one who had stood in the shield wall at the bloodiest battle of the era in 939 however upon the death of athelstan the young edmund could do little as olaf guthriethson returned to reclaim northumbria it's thought that large numbers of anglo-danes from the eastern portion of britain had pledged their personal allegiance to athelstan and now he was dead they were freed from his service [Music] one by one the towns of the five boroughs pledged their allegiance to jorvik now firmly under the control of the sons of evar rather than wessex until finally in 944 edmond was able to reconquer the north [Music] though edmund then fought his own campaigns northwards against strathclyde england wouldn't rule over the other kingdoms of britain again like athelstan had until the time of the plantagenet kings well over two centuries later edmund's premature death at a feast just two years later in 946 once more led to jorvik falling under the sway of the sons of evar this time under olaf's cousin olaf citrixson the son of king citric northumbria was only fully reincorporated into england in 952 after the death of its last viking king an opportunistic norwegian prince named eric bloodaxe though england then entered a prosperous period free from viking raids for close to three decades eric bloodax's direct interference from scandinavia in the early 1950s coincided with a new trend towards unification and a strong centralized monarchs in norway and most importantly denmark and was a harbinger for the next phase of viking invasion to come you
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