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Alfred and the Danes
Alfred and the Danes; Part 2

Alfred and the Danes; Part 2

The year 789 saw the first Danish raid into England; on the eastern coasts fell the earliest gusts of the coming storm; since the Danes were heathen they had no scruple in sacking the rich monasteries of Lindisfarne and Wearmouth. As time went on the raids became more numerous, the raiders more daring. Egbert was beaten in 828, but in 837 he won a victory at Hengist's Down. Yet one victory was of little use. In the course of the next three years every summer brought a fresh horde of plunderers, and London, Rochester, and Canterbury were all pillaged.

The middle of the ninth century saw the Danish invasions passing from the first to the second stage. In 851 some Danes, instead of returning home, wintered in Sheppey. This example was soon followed. In 866 an army, greater than any of its predecessors, landed in East Anglia. The next year it ravaged Northumbria; then it advanced into Mercia; checked there, it returned to East Anglia, and slew King Edmund, whose name is commemorated in Bury St. Edmunds. The year 871 saw it again push southwards into Wessex. If Wessex fell, the Danes would be indeed masters of England. It was this crisis that Alfred had to face. His grandfather, Egbert, had died in 839, leaving a son, Ethelwulf, who had reigned till 858. He left behind him four sons, of whom Alfred was the youngest. By 866 the two elder ones had passed away, and the third, Ethelred, had succeeded to the throne. Aided by Alfred, he prepared to drive back the invaders.

This was no easy task. Men who had the daring to face the storms of the North Sea, and even to round the wild western coasts of Iceland in their low, undecked vessels driven by oars, were not likely to want courage on land. Further, the Danes, as soldiers, had great military and strategical advantages. The mail-shirt (byrnie) was common with them, but the levies of the English "fyrd" had no defensive armour. Being raiders, they had no towns, farms, wives, and children to protect. Their usual plan was to advance with their ships as far as possible up the rivers. When the ships could go no farther, they were drawn ashore and protected with a stockade. The main body of the force swept together all the horses they could get, and, once "a-horsed", travelled over the country, burning and plundering, so fast that the slow-moving "fyrd" could not come up with them (When the "fyrd" turned out in really large numbers it was almost certainly on foot. But there is good ground for thinking that in small bodies the fyrd moved "a-horsed", just as the Danes did. Neither side, of course, fought mounted). Plunder being their main object, the Danes avoided a battle when they could. They rarely made an attack, but when threatened drew into a stockade, and, standing shoulder to shoulder, formed the "shield wall", which was hard to break through. The heavy Danish axe, five feet long and wielded in both hands, was a terrible weapon at close quarters. And, finally, the Danes never knew when they were beaten. They were never more dangerous than when the day seemed lost. Thus in 868 they were driven headlong into York by Osbert and Ella, but rallied among the houses, and slew both kings. And this is no isolated example; the same rallying power was displayed over and over again.

Alfred and the Danes; Part 2

Chronology