871 Harsh battle between Danes and Wessex

England
In January the battles began in the borderlands of Wessex. The defense of Wessex was led by Aethelred and his brother, who later became known as Alfred the great and on the the 8th January the English won their first victory over the vikings at Asdown.
The vikings was not shaken by the defeat and when Alfred the great became king when Aethelred died in April, king Alfred the great had to pay a large sum of money to secure a peace treaty.
The sons of Ragnar Lothbrok managed to capture London and hold it for several years, here Halfdan began to mint coins.
9 battles were fought between the Danes and king Alfred the great of Wessex. Some of them the place and date are not recorded, the others are:
January 4 – Reading : Viking leader Bagsecg won a great victory at the Battle of Reading inflicting heavy losses on Alfred's army.
January 8 – Ashdown : probably North Wessex Downs in Berkshire. The Vikings leaders were Bagsecg and Halfdan and five more Danish earls. The Viking army itself was outnumbered in comparison to the West Saxons led by Alfred the great. This battle would determine the fate of Wessex and its king. Alfred's elder brother King Æthelred of Wessex was busy praying in a church, and refused to fight until his other army arrived. This left Alfred in command, and the West Saxon and Viking armies met, the battle itself lasting the whole day.
Bagsecg was killed along with his five earls. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Bagsecg was slain by a sword while Halfdan fled from the battlefield with the rest of the army back to Reading
January 22 – Basing
March 22 – Merton
May – Wilton
After the battle at Wilton, peace was made, with the Danes and Alfred splitting England.
The viking army captured Toksey in Lindsey and Reading. Danelaw established

Ireland
Irish Annals record that Óláf Cuaran and Ívar Boneless returned to Dublin after their raids against the Strathclyde Welsh, Albans, and West Saxons with 200 hundred ships and English, Welsh, and Pictish captives to be sold into slavery. Ivar Boneless ruled as king of Dublin 871-873
Norway

Tønsberg was founded.

Comments

954 - Eric Bloodaxe killed in ambush

England Eric Bloodaxe was expelled from York and he was killed in an ambush. According to English sources, Eric died a death on the road, “treacherously killed by Earl Maccus”. But Scandinavian sources tell another tale: Eric met his enemies as the leader of an outnumbered army and there on the high, wind-scoured pass, he died the glorious death. A poem paid for by his wife told that Eric arrivied at Valhalla, welcomed by Valkyries, to feast by Odin’s side. Erik Rex - Bloodaxe coin Eric Bloodaxe was the son of Harald Fairhair and the Danish royal daughter Ragnhild and he succeeded his father on the Norwegian throne, but because of his cruel and atrocious rule he was driven out of Norway and his younger brother Haakon chosen as king of Norway. Stainmore After the murder on Eric Bloodaxe, Northumbria was again brought back to Edred the Anglo-Saxon king and England was united. The widow of Eric Bloodaxe, Gunhild sailed to Denmark with her sons. They received a warm we...

825 - Grímur Kamban arrived at Faroe islands

Faroe islands Grímur Kamban arrived at Faroe islands, he had Irish slaves with him, and did not come from Norway, Kamban is a Celtic name. On these island the only inhabitants he found was sheep and birds, he chose to settle at Funningur at Eysturoy. Irish monk Dicuil wrote that it took 2 days sail there from Ireland, and that the islands had been inhabited by Irish hermits for hundreds of years, but that Norwegian Vikings had forced them out. Thirty years before this was written, Norse ships arrived among the islands. The hermits chose to leave the islands as the solitude they sought was lost. On the outskirts of Torshavn free men of Faroe Islands would meet once a year at Tinganes, 6 local courts, "thingsteads" met each spring. Faroe Island viking settlement England Kingdom of Sussex and Essex was absorbed by Wessex Germany In Aachen a new peace treaty was signed by Franks and Danes. Denmark Danish coinage in Hedeby began, the coins were copies of Frank...

789 and before the infamous Lindisfarne raid

150 A comb found in Vimose, Denmark, features runes on a bone comb, which was the man's name Harja. The name is thus the oldest Norse name.Archaeologists in Denmark have discovered a small knife inscribed with the country’s oldest runic inscription, hirila, meaning ‘Little Sword’ 400 Oldest runestone in Øverby,SE Norway. 500 Radiocarbon dating reveals that the first walls of Dannevirke was build around 480-500 and some older walls were from around 400. In September 2021 a treasurehunter found a 1 kilo gold treasure of coins and jewels buried outside Jelling. 512 The Greek Procopios a secretary at the Byzantine general Belisarius told that emperor Anastasius Dicorus gave permission to Heruli to settle in Illyria, because the Longobards had driven them out from the area between Donau and Dniester. Here they killed their king Onchon and sent some of their people back to Thule to recruit a new king among their fellow tribesmen. They had free passage through the land of the ...

Viking history

Search This Blog