Battle of Cynuit

Cynwits hill fort and place of battle

The Battle of Cynuit , also known as the Battle of Cannington , took place near the hill fort in Cynwit in 878 . The place is now called Cannington Hill and is located near Bridgwater in Devonshire , Somerset , England .

A Danish troop led by Ubba Ragnarsson , the brother of Ivar and Halfdan Ragnarsson , landed with 23 ships and a total of 1,200 men on the coast near Combwich . Several Anglo-Saxon thegn or subjects , who were most likely under the leadership of Ealdorman Odda, had meanwhile holed up with their men in the hill fort of Cynuit. The fort was well protected on all sides, except on the east side, but there were no wells inside the fort. Ubba then besieged the fort with his men in the hope that the English would surrender due to lack of water. The English chose to attack instead of dying of thirst on the hill, and surprised and defeated the Danes with an attack at dawn. Ubba Ragnarsson fell in battle. Geffrei Gaimar mentions in his "Estorie des Engles" (written around 1140) that Ubba was buried by the Danes in a very large hill in Devonshire called Ubbelawe. Furthermore, the Anglo-Saxon troops succeeded in getting a Danish war banner with the name "Hrefn" (raven) into their possession.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle writes about the battle:

" And in the winter of this same year [878] the brother of Ívarr and Hálfdan landed in Wessex, in Devonshire, with 23 ships, and there was he slain, and 800 men with him, and 40 of his army. There also was taken the war-flag (guðfani), which they called "Raven". "
(German:" And in the winter of the same year [878] the brother of Ívarr and Hálfdan landed with 23 ships in Devonshire, Wessex, where he and with him 800 Men and 40 of his army were killed. In addition, the banner (guðfani), which they called "ravens", was stolen. ").

The Battle of Cynuit is specially treated in two novels:

In The Marsh King , a historical novel by C. Walter Hodges about Alfred the Great , in which the place of the battle is called "Kynwit", the author describes the battle, but the description may not be very precise.
Furthermore, the battle is described in the novel The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell - Cornwell postponed the killing of Ubbas and thus the battle, however, by a year and ascribed it to his fictional hero Uhtred.

literature

Unknown: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , oO oD
Asser : Life of King Alfred , oO oD
Aethelweard : The Latin Chronicle. oO oD
CF Keary: The Vikings in Western Christendom. T. Fisher Unwin, London 1891
Alfred P. Smyth: King Alfred the Great. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1995
Symeon von Durham , Translator: J. Stevenson: The Historical Works of Simeon of Durham . In: Church Historians of England, volume III, part II . Seeley's. 1855. Retrieved October 3, 2009.

Individual evidence

↑ vikinganswerlady.com: http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/banners.shtml from the "Estorie des Engles" (to be found in the section "Literary Accounts Describing the Raven Banner")
↑ vikinganswerlady.com: http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/banners.shtml Quotation from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (to be found in the section "Literary Accounts Describing the Raven Banner")

51.158611111111 -3.0783333333333Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 31 " N , 3 ° 4 ′ 42" W

[vikinganswerlady2-1] vikinganswerlady.com: http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/banners.shtml from the "Estorie des Engles" (to be found in the section "Literary Accounts Describing the Raven Banner")

[vikinganswerlady1-2] vikinganswerlady.com: http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/banners.shtml Quotation from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (to be found in the section "Literary Accounts Describing the Raven Banner")