Battle of Ashdown
| date | January 8, 871 |
|---|---|
| place | Ashdown, Berkshire , England |
| output | Victory of the Anglo-Saxons Escape of the Danes |
| consequences | more battles |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Danish Vikings |
|
| Commander | |
|
King Bagsac |
|
| Troop strength | |
| 800-1000 | somewhat weaker |
| losses | |
|
high |
high |
The Battle of Ashdown took place on January 8, 871 near Ashdown, Berkshire , England .
Ashdown, derived from Old English Æscesdūn about Ashdune, means ash hill . The exact location is unknown to this day as the name was very common so only guesswork is possible.
prehistory
The Danes had invaded Wessex from East Anglia at the end of the year 870 to take over the last great Anglo-Saxon kingdom ( Northumbria , Mercien and East Anglia had already been conquered by the Danes). After the battles of Englefield and Reading had already taken place, King Æthelred and his brother Alfred regrouped their troops.
Course of the battle
On January 8, 871, the Anglo-Saxons met the Danes at Ashdown. Both armies split into two divisions and entrenched themselves. Soon Alfred and his troops advanced in a dense phalanx against the Danes on a hill, while King Æthelred was said to be listening to mass in his tent and praying for heavenly assistance. After the Danish King Bagsac and his Jarle Sidrac the Elder, Sidrac the Younger, Osborn, Frene and Harold fell with many men in a long and hard fight, the Danes had to flee. The Anglo-Saxons chased them all night and killed those who flew.
The many thousands of fallen Danes are just as exaggerated as ten thousand Anglo-Saxons. Symeon of Durham gives the number of dead on both sides with a total of 1,150 plus the many thousands killed on the run. The numbers of victims in the sources are generally not very reliable; however, the Anglo-Saxons evidently won a fairly clear victory, which Alfred's biographer Asser emphasized in order to emphasize Alfred.
Deviating from Asser, Symeon of Durham narrates that the Jarle Frana and Harald did not fall in the actual fight, but perished while fleeing. The name of the second Danish king, Halfdan, has only come down to us in one manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle .
swell
- Asser , Vita Alfredi
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
- Symeon of Durham , Historia regum Anglorum et Dacorum
literature
- Richard Abels: Alfred the Great. War, kingship and culture in Anglo-Saxon England . Longman, London 1998, p. 128ff.
Web links
- Life of King Alfred at The Northvegr Foundation
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in Project Gutenberg (English)
- 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.