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THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE (Selected annuals)

The most important narrative source concerning the Vikings in England


is the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE. The first version of this was compiled
in Wessex in the late ninth century, and in the following three centuries
it was continued in various places by several authors. The following
excerpts illustrate characteristic features of Viking activity as well as
some of the most important events of the period: the conquests and
settlements made by the so-called ”Great Army” in the ninth century,
and the conquest of England by Svein Forkbcard in the early eleventh. -
Niels Lund.

Though the Anglo-Saxod Chronicle was never illustrated, those designs


shown here are taken from contemporary manuscripts.

789 - In this year King Beorhtric married Offa’s daughter Eadburh. And
in his days [786-802] there came for the first time three ships of
Northmen and then the reeve rode to them and wished to force them to
the king’s residence, for he did not know what they were; and they slew
him. Those were the first ships of Danish men which came to the land of
the English.

850 - In this year Ealdorman Ceorl with the contingent of the men of
Devon fought against the heathen army at Wttganbeorg, and the
English made a great slaughter there and had the victory. And for the
first time, heathen men stayed through the winter on Thanet. And the
same year [851] 350 ships came into the mouth of the Thames and
stormed Canterbury and London and put to flight Brihtwulf, king of the
Mercians, with his army, and went south across the Thames into Surrey.
And King AEthelwulf and his son AEthelbald fought against them at Acka
with the army of the West Saxons, and there inflicted the greatest
slaughter [on a heathen army] that we ever heard of until this present
day, and had the victory there...

866 - In this year AEthelbert’s brother AEthelred succeeded to the


kingdom of the West Saxons. And the same year a great heathen army
came into England and took up winter quarters in East Anglia; and there
they were supplied with horses, and the East Angles made peace with
them.

870 - In this year the army came into Wessex to Reading, and three
days later two Danish earls rode farther inland. Then Ealdorman
AEthelwulf encountered them at Englefield, and fought against them
there and had the victory, and one of them, whose name was Sidroc,
was killed there. Then four days later [871] King AEthelred and his
brother Alfred led a great army to Reading and fought against the army;
and a great slaughter was made on both sides and Ealdorman
AEthelwulf was killed ... And four days later King AEthelred and his
brother Alfred fought against the whole army at Ashdown; and the
Danes were in two divisions: in the one were the heathen kings Bagsecg
and Halfdan, and in the other were the earls. And then King AEthelred
fought against the kings’ troop, and King Bagsecg was slain there; and
AEthelred’s brother Alfred fought against the earls’ troop, and there
were slain Earl Sidroc the Old. and Earl Sidroc the Younger and Earl
Osbearn, Earl Frasria, and Earl Harold; and both enemy armies were put
to flight and many thousands were killed, and they continued fighting
until night...
Then [AEthelred’s] brother Alfred, the son of AEthelwulf,
succeeded to the kingdom of the West Saxons. And a month later King
Alfred fought with a small force against the whole army at Wilton and
put it to flight far on into the day; and the Danes had possession of the
battle-field. And during that year nine general engagements were
fought against the Danish army in the kingdom south of the Thames ...
And that year nine [Danish] earls were killed and one king...

878 - In this year in midwinter after twelfth night the enemy army came
stealthily to Chippenham and occupied the land of the West Saxons and
settled there, and drove a great part of the people across the sea, and
conquered most of the others; and the people submitted to them,
except King Alfred. He journeyed in difficulties through the woods and
fen-fastnesses with a small force.
And the same winter the brother of Ivar and Halfdan was in the
kingdom of the West Saxons [in Devon], with 23 ships. And he was killed
there and 840 men of his army with him. And there was captured the
banner which they called ”Raven”.
And afterwards at Easter, King Alfred with a small force made a
stronghold at Athelney, and he and the section of the people of
Somerset which was nearest to it proceeded to fight from that
stronghold against the enemy. Then in the seventh week after Easter he
rode to ”Egbert’s stone” east of Selwood, and there came to meet him
all the people of Somerset and of Wiltshire and of that part of
Hampshire which was on this side of the sea, and they rejoiced to see
him. And then after one night he went from the encampment to Iley,
and after another night to Edington, and there fought against the whole
army and put it to flight, and pursued it as far as the fortress, and
stayed there a fortnight. And then the enemy gave him preliminary
hostages and great oaths that they would leave his kingdom, and
promised also that their king should receive baptism, and they kept
their promise. Three weeks later King Guthrum with 30 of the men who
were the most important in the army came [to him] at Aller, which is
near Athelney and the king stood sponsor to him at his baptism there;
and the unbinding of the chrism took place at Wedmore. And he was
twelve days with the king, and he honoured him and his companions...
994 - In this year Olaf and Svein came to London on the Nativity of St
Mary with 94 ships, and they proceeded to attack the city stoutly and
wished also to set it on fire: but there they suffered more harm and
injury than they ever thought any citizens would do to them. But the
holy Mother of God showed her mercy to the citizens on that day and
saved them from their enemies. And these went away from there, and
did the greatest damage that ever any army could do, by burning,
ravaging, and slaying, everywhere along the coast, and in Essex, Kent,
Sussex, and Hampshire; and finally they seized horses and rode as
widely as they wished, and continued to do indescribable damage. Then
the king and his councillors determined to send to them and promise
them tribute and provisions, on condition that they should cease that
harrying. And they then accepted that, and the whole army came then
to Southampton and took winter quarters there; and they were
provisioned throughout all the West Saxon kingdom, and they were paid
16,000 pounds in money...

1011 - In this year the king and his councillors sent to the army and
asked for peace, and promised them tribute and provisions on
conditions that they should cease their ravaging. They had then
overrun: (i) East Anglia, (ii) Essex, (in) Middlesex, (iv) Oxfordshire, (v)
Cambridgeshire, (vi) Hertfordshire, (vii) Buckinghamshire, (viii)
Bedfordshire, (ix) half Huntingdonshire, (x) much of Northamptonshire;
and south of the Thames all Kent, Sussex. Hastings, Surrey, Berkshire,
Hampshire, and much of Wiltshire...
And then in this year, between the Nativity of St Mary and
Michaelmas, they besieged Canterbury, and they got inside by
treachery, for AElfmasr, whose life Archbishop AElfheah had saved,
betrayed it. Then they captured there Archbishop AElfheah ... He was
then a captive who had been head of the English people and of
Christendom. There could misery be seen where happiness was often
seen before, in that wretched city from which first came [to us]
Christianity and happiness in divine and secular things. And they kept
the archbishop with them till the time when they martyred him.

1012 - …Then on the Saturday the army became greatly incensed


against the bishop because he would not promise them any money, but
forbade that anything should be paid for him. They were also very
drunk, for wine from the south had been brought there. They seized the
bishop, and brought him to their assembly on the eve of the Sunday of
the octave of Easter, which was 19 April, and shamefully put him to
death there: they pelted him with bones and with ox-heads, and one of
them struck him on the head with the back of an axe. that hersank
down with the blow, and his holy blood fell on the ground.
1013 - In the year after the archbishop was martyred, the king
appointed Bishop Lyfing to
the archbishopric of Canterbury. And in this same year, before the
month of August, King Svein came with his fleet to Sandwich, and then
went very quickly round East Anglia into the mouth of the Humber and
so up along the Trent until he reached Gainsborough. And then at once
Earl Uhtrcd and all the Northumbrians submitted to him as did all the
people of Lindsey, and then all the people belonging to the district of
the Five Boroughs, and quickly afterwards all the Danish settlers north
of Walling Street, and hostages were given to him from every shire.
When he perceived that all the people had submitted to him, he gave
orders that his army should be provisioned and provided with horses,
and then he afterwards turned southward with his full forces and left the
ships and the hostages in charge of his son Cnut... He then turned
eastward to London, and many of his host were drowned in the Thames
because they did not trouble to find a bridge. When he came to the
borough the citizens would not yield, but resisted with full battle,
because King AEthelred was inside and Thorkel with him.
Then King Svein turned from there to Wallingford and so west
across the Thames
to Bath, where he stayed with his army. Then Ealdorman AEtheirmer
came there and with him the western thegns, and all submitted to
Svein, and they gave him hostages. When he had fared thus, he then
turned northward to his ships, and all the nation regarded him as full
king. And after that the citizens of London submitted and gave
hostages, for they were afraid that he would destroy them. Then Svein
demanded full payment and provisions for his army that winter, and
Thorkel demanded the same for the army which lay at Greenwich, and
in spite of it all they ravaged as often as they pleased. Nothing
therefore was of benefit to this nation, neither from the south nor from
the north ...
1014 - In this year Svein ended his days at Candlemass, on 2 February,
and then all the fleet
elected Cnut king

FIN DE LA COPIA

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