The Danish Invasion

Ethelred was the second son of King Edgar. He was ten years old when his brother Edward the Martyr was murdered in 978AD. The Chronicle says of Edward that “Men murdered him but God magnified him”. In keeping with its prophecies of doom that are usually written in times of turmoil, it goes on to say that “In the same year a bloody cloud was seen in the likeness of fire, most often manifested at midnight”. With the approaching millennium, the church was also forecasting “gathering darkness and natural disaster”.

Ethelred comes down to us in history as “the Unready” taken nowadays to mean ill prepared. It should be remembered however, that the nickname was first recorded in the 1180s, more than 150 years after his death and it unlikely that he was known by the name in his time.  He was clearly no warrior king and his reign is remembered for his constant “buying off” of the Norsemen and his inability to muster and direct his forces, which, if properly commanded, could have withstood and defeated them. Once these traits became known to the raiders, they raided at will throughout the country.

A better explanation of the title is “Unraed”, which in Old English means “ill advised” or “bad counsel” and refers to the bad feeling among some of the nobility over the continuing struggle between the gentry and the clergy over the gifts and allocations of land made by Edgar and later, Edward to the church. These nobles wanted Ethelred to return the lands to the original owners and felt that his clerical advisors in the Witan were preventing this. It was this questionable counsel from the Witan that led to Ethelred’s soubriquet of “ill advised”.

Furthermore, the suspicion of his involvement in the death of Edward did much to diminish the moral authority of the Crown at a time when strong leadership was sorely needed.

{loadposition thedanes}Nevertheless, when Ethelred was finally consecrated as king around 980AD, contemporary sources state that “there was great joy at his consecration,” and describes the young king as “elegant in manners, attractive in face and handsome appearance”. In 985AD he married Elgifu, daughter of Thored, Eoldorman of York with whom he was to have six sons and four daughters before her death in 1002AD. His reign was to be marked by the next wave of attacks in greater numbers from Scandinavia, this time by the Danish King Swein Forkbeard and his Norwegian vassal, Olaf Tryggvason.

The first warning of trouble with the Danes was when some small Danish raiding parties attacked Hampshire and Thanet. Ethelred, or more probably his advisors, compounded the problem by blaming locals for not resisting the attacks and in a fit of spiteful retaliation, sent his troops to ravage Rochester as a punishment for their lack of spirit. In 981AD further raids were made around Devon and Cornwall and more raids were made in Dorset one year later. Strangely, the raids ceased for the next six years until 988AD when a larger raid was carried out in Devon and the local thegns raised a force and drove them away.

The raids themselves, while being mostly minor, did create tension between the English court and Normandy. The Normans, no doubt remembering their Scandinavian origins, were favourably disposed to the Danish raiders who would often shelter in Norman ports following their raids. This led to much hostility between the Normans and the English, so much so that Pope John XV convened a meeting in 991AD between the two sides at Rouen where a treaty of mutual support was ratified, but with little change in the actual situation.

However, in the same year, a much larger Danish force, led, according to some sources, by the Norwegian subking, Olaf Tryggvason, and others by Sweyn Forkbeard himself, arrived off Folkestone and sailed around the south east coast to the River Blackwater and occupied Northey Island situated near Maldon where on the 10th of August 991AD he was confronted by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex and his troops. The size of his force is not known, but it is recorded that he was heavily outnumbered by the Danes who were reckoned to have between 2000 and 4000 men. The monks of Ely, writing of the battle in their Liber Eliensis, notes that Byrhtnoth “was neither shaken by the small number of his men, nor fearful of the multitude of the enemy”.

The island was connected to the mainland by a causeway which was only usable at low tide and Byrhtnoth stationed Wulfstan, “the war hardened warrior”, and two others on the landward end of the causeway. The arrogant Danes shouted insults at the force and demanded payment of tribute. As the tide ebbed, the Danes began to stream over the causeway, but it was so narrow that only a few could cross at a time and these were easily cut down by besiegers. In a rare glimpse of the attitude to war and honour of the time, the Danes called out asking to be allowed to cross the causeway unhindered and fight on equal terms. Surprisingly Byrhtnoth agreed to this, a move that even his admirers reckoned as “ofermode” or over courage. The Danes crossed and with their superior numbers began to overwhelm the Essex men. The battle ended when Byrhtnoth was cut down and his horse was grabbed by a Saxon named Godric who fled the field together with his brothers Godwine and Godwig.

The remaining Saxons, recognizing Byrhtnoth’s horse and thinking he was deserting them, tried to escape but were slaughtered as they ran, the only exception being the household troops of Byrhtnoth who, knowing that the battle was lost, bravely fought on the death to avenge their leader.

The defeat clearly shook Ethelred and a meeting of the Witan was hurriedly convened to decide what should be done. On the advice of Archbishop Sigeric it was agreed to “buy off” the Danes and a payment recorded by the Chronicle as Ten Thousand Pounds was made to the invaders.

When word reached Denmark of Ethelred’s willingness to pay Danegeld, even more raiders set sail to join those already harrying Britain’s coastline. The king’s response was to order all serviceable ships to be assembled in London and sent to destroy the invaders. An Ealdorman named Aelfric was given command of the fleet by the king, which turned out to be a poor choice because, as the Chronicle records, “Then Aelfric sent a command that the force (the Danes) be warned, and in the night he fled from his troops to his own great disgrace”.

It goes on to relate that the force then met the ships of East Anglia and London “and made much slaughter of them”. Ethelred, still seeking to appease the Danes, met with Olaf Tryggvason and his warlords and concluded a treaty whereby laws and regulations, settlements and disputes were to be enacted peaceably and, more importantly, that the ravaging and slaughter of the previous year be forgotten. The treaty also noted that 22,000 pounds of silver and gold had been paid to the Danes as the price of peace.

Despite the agreement, the year 993AD saw more raiding, this time in the north.  Olaf Tryggvason, together with Swein Forkbeard, king of Denmark and ruler of much of Norway, attacked and destroyed Bamburgh “seizing much plunder”. They sailed to the mouth of the Humber and ravaged throughout Northumbria, “doing much evil”. An army was gathered to oppose the raiders, but its appointed leaders, Fraena, Godwine and Frithegist clearly had no stomach for the fight and in the Chronicle’s words, “were the first to set the example of flight”.

The king’s indecision, plus the poor state of his armies made it easy for the Danes to roam almost at will. The attackers had also learned the advantage of cavalry which enabled them to travel great distances quickly as well as being able to break shield walls. The British were much slower in developing this form of warfare and suffered for it. Ethelred’s spite can further be seen in his ordering of the blinding of Aelfgar, the son of Aelfric in punishment for his father’s desertion earlier and perhaps also to stiffen his remaining officers.

The next year Olaf and Swein, with a force of ninety four ships, attacked London, but Ethelred had gathered his forces on London Bridge and drove the raiders off. The Danes retreated and began some savage raiding in Essex, before moving on to attack the coastline of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire. These raids were recorded as particularly vicious with contemporary writers noting that, “they wrought the most evil that any force had ever done and worked unspeakable evil”. Still Ethelred refused to confront the raiders; instead, after consulting with the Witan, he offered yet more tribute payment, plus provisions in return for an end to the raiding. The Danes agreed and took winter quarters in Southampton where, according to the Chronicle, “they were provisioned throughout the West Saxon kingdom” and given Danegeld of sixteen thousand pounds.

Some writers believe that Olaf was at last converted to Christianity and baptised by a hermit who had correctly predicted his future and go on to say that he never again attacked Christian England. Other versions state that he received baptism at Andover at a meeting with Ethelred and, although promising to keep the peace, was considered by the Chronicle to be as dangerous as ever.

As if these events were not enough to occupy Ethelred, in 995AD, the Scots, led by Kenneth and taking advantage of the troubles in England, launch an attempt to seize the North East. The monks of St Cuthbert fled the area to escape the Scots and settled for a time in Ripon. The Scots invasion was eventually defeated by Uhtred, Earl of Bamburgh who later provided labour to build a new church at Durham and also fortified the town.  The Chronicle recorded the appearance of a comet “a long haired star” in the heavens which is reckoned a bad omen.

The next five years saw yet more ravaging by the Danes who, it seems, were unstoppable. In 997AD they attacked Devon, Cornwall and Wales and then sailed south into the mouth of the Tamar where they slaughtered the inhabitants of Lydford and burned the town.

The following year they attacked Dorset and went inland “as widely as they pleased”. The Chronicle relates that troops were often gathered against them but, “ as soon as they should have come together, always in some way, flight was ordered”, which illustrates not only the poor and indecisive chain of command from Ethelred and the Witan, but also the lack of confidence of the local commanders.

The Danes by now where moving freely wherever they fancied and although attempts were made to stand against them, the lack of clear leadership and the shortage of trained troops made it easy for the invaders to ravage at will. Kentish troops were assembled at Rochester in 999AD to oppose the Danes with the promise of reinforcements by Ethelred to destroy the invaders. Indecision resulted in the non arrival of the reinforcements and the Kentish force was defeated. The Danes then roamed throughout West Kent burning and killing as they pleased.

The situation was now so serious that the king and his advisors feared a total Danish takeover of the country. A great plan was devised where combined land and sea forces would be brought together to destroy the invaders once and for all, but the same indecisions and delays become evident in the Chronicle’s comment that, “but when the ships were ready there was delay from day to day, which exasperated the wretched people who were waiting on the ships and always when things ought to have advanced, so they were the more delayed and always let the enemy’s numbers grow”.

In the year 1000AD, the Danes ceased their raiding and for a while and left for Normandy. This was probably due to Ethelred’s inability to continue paying vast sums in Danegeld.  He used this period of relative calm to punish some northern areas seen as being to pro Danish, such as Cumberland and Strathclyde which suffered much devastation at his hand.

Surprisingly, throughout the conflict, the Danes who had settled in England had remained staunchly loyal with many achieving high positions in the nobility. One such was Pallig Tokeson, Earl of Devonshire who, by 1001AD had become so disgusted at Ethelred’s inability to defend his lands that he defected to Swein Forkbeard.

Together they raided throughout the West Country with impunity until Kola, the king’s High Reeve managed to make a stand against them at Pinhoe. The Danes easily defeated the king’s small force and Kola was killed. Again, the king offered tribute to stop the fighting, reckoned by the Chronicle to be 24,000 Pounds, but to no avail. Realising that he was losing his grip on the land and fearing that the Norsemen who had settled in England were plotting to oust him, the king ordered, on the 13th of November 1002, (St Brice’s Day) that all Danish settlers must be wiped out.  

This massacre was a terrible event with men, women and children being burned alive in the churches where they had fled for shelter. Among the victims was Earl Pallig and, more importantly, the lady Gunnhild, sister of Swein and daughter of Harald I of Denmark. From being an opportunistic raider continually being bought off with Danegeld, Swein now became a mortal enemy resolving to destroy Ethelred and take over the country.

In 1002AD, Aethelred married again, this time to Emma of Normandy, daughter of Duke Richard the Fearless. By this alliance Ethelred hoped to gain support from the Normans in his fight against the Danes. The marriage produced two sons, Edward, later to be known as “the confesser” and Alfred the Atheling. They also had a daughter, Goda who later married Drogo, the Count of Vexin.

In 1003AD, the Danes. under Swein Forkbeard, were back and raiding in the West Country and a year later their ships were attacking the coast of Norfolk and went on to sack Norwich. An Anglian nobleman named Ulfcytel Snillingr raised a force to oppose the raiders and also planned to destroy the enemy ships while they were fighting inland, but those given the task failed to carry out his instructions. Ulfcytel fought the enemy in a battle near Thetford and almost defeated them, with the Chronicle recording that, “if they had been up to full strength the enemy would never have got back to their ships”.

The Danes won this particularly bloody battle but left England shortly afterwards, perhaps due to their heavy losses or, more likely, because of a great famine that afflicted Northern Europe and England in 1005AD. A year later the force was back, this time attacking Sandwich with their usual ferocity. The king, reacting at last to these attacks, called up the Fyrd from Wessex and Mercia who remained on military service throughout the autumn but, as the Chronicle relates, “it availed no more than it ever had”. The Fyrd disbanded for the winter and the Danes moved on to the Isle of Wight to sit out the winter with regular forays into Hampshire and Berkshire to provision themselves.

With English eyes on the south, the Scottish king Malcolm chose to invade Northern England but was again defeated by Ealdorman Uhtred at Durham. In celebration of the victory, the men of Durham beheaded the best looking Scottish captives and the local women were said to have washed the dead faces and combed their hair before displaying the heads around the city walls, for which work they were presented with a cow. In gratitude for his bravery, Ethelred appointed Uhtred Earl of York, making him the effective ruler of Northumbria.

The king called a meeting of the Witan to decide how to rid the country of the Danish presence, but predictably, it was again decided to buy the attackers off and a tribute of thirty thousand pounds was raised together with promise of provisions for the winter.

Continuing his policy of appointing whom he considered strong men to control parts of the troubled kingdom, Ethelred promoted Ealdorman Eadric Streona to become Earl of Mercia in 1007AD and gave his daughter Eadgyth to him in marriage. Despite these honours the treacherous earl was to turn his coat more than once in the coming years. In the same year the king ordered a huge shipbuilding programme to be started in an attempt to confront the Danes around the coast before they could land. The whole country was taxed and it was decreed that every three hundred and ten hides of land would pay for one warship.

Further, every eight hides must provide a helmet and byrnie. Never before had such a force been assembled and it seemed that Ethelred was at last taking the fight to the enemy. All the ships were ordered to gather at Sandwich and to be ready to attack the raiders. An argument broke out among the leaders when, before the king, Brihtric, brother of Earl Eadric accused a Saxon thane named Wulfnoth of some transgression. The king banished Wulfnoth who somehow escaped with twenty ships and promptly began to ravage the south coast in some form of revenge over his treatment.

Brihtric pursued him with a fleet of eighty ships, intending to recapture the stolen fleet, but a storm blew up and his ships were “blown in pieces and dashed onto the land”. Seizing his chance, Wulfnoth fell on the damaged fleet and burnt them all. When the king heard of this setback, the heart clearly went out of him and, in the words of the Chronicle “the king, ealdorman and counsellors went home. The people on the ships went with them back to London and abandoned all the nation’s work so lightly and thus; this threat to the Danes in which the whole nation had hoped, was nothing better than this”.

Wulfnoth was exiled and died in 1015AD. He is thought to be a sixth generation descendant of King Ethelred of Wessex. His son Godwin became Earl of Wessex and fathered Harold Godwinson, who was to meet his end at Hastings in 1066AD. King Ethelred’s son Athelstan, in his will dated 1014AD, wrote that Godwin “was to receive the estate at Compton which his father possessed”. This estate had been originally willed by King Alfred to provide for the descendants of his elder brother Athelred and would seem to confirm that Wulfnoth did indeed descend from royalty.

The Danes returned again in 1009AD with the largest force yet seen, led by Thorkell the Tall and his brother Henninge. They met with an English force led by Ulfcytel in early May at Ringmere Heath near Thetford and after heavy fighting the English were defeated. The Chronicle, referring to Thorkell states that, “he destroyed them, reddening Ringmere”.

By now the Danes were everywhere and apart from locally organised pockets of resistance, came and went, killing and burning as they pleased. Ethelred, still unable to organise a national resistance, continued to offer bribes to the invaders which they cynically accepted while not ceasing in there raids. In August 1013AD, Swein Forkbeard, King of Denmark and Norway, plus his son Cnut were back with a large force, landing at Sandwich and then moving to East Anglia, raiding and plundering at will. They sailed up the Humber  and Trent rivers to Gainsborough where Earl Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria bowed to them and gave hostages, an act that was swiftly followed by the surrounding regions until all the lands north of Watling Street were under their control.

It is thought that Uhtred and many other Earls welcomed Swein’s invasion having become disenchanted with Ethelred’s weak leadership. Moving south to Oxford and then to Winchester, all the local leaders submitted. Swein then moved towards London where Ethelred waited behind its walls with the Danish warrior Thorkil the Tall who was now in the king’s employ, a rather strange position as he is also thought to be Cnut’s foster father! Swein demanded London’s surrender, but the king refused and after a short siege, Swein marched westward to Bath where the remaining English Earls came to him and surrendered. He was now the de facto ruler of England and, with the acceptance of the Witan, London finally surrendered to him and Swein was declared king on Christmas Day 1013AD.  Swein demanded that his force be provisioned for the winter and Ethelred and his family fled to Normandy.

Swein set about consolidating his rule, but died on February the 3rd 1014 after a fall from his horse, although rumour had it that he had been slain in his sleep by the ghost of St Edmund, the East Anglian king slain by Ivar the Boneless. Swein’s eldest son Harald II was elected King of Denmark while his troops in England, loyal to Swein’s dying command, elected his son Cnut to rule in England. We can glean a picture of Cnut from the 13th century Knytlinga Saga which describes him thus, “Cnut was exceptionally tall and strong and the handsomest of men, all except for his nose, that was thin, high set and rather hooked. He had a fair complexion nonetheless and a fine strong head of hair. His eyes were better than those of other men, both the handsomer and the keener of their sight”.

The Witan, perhaps fearful of the damage that their vacillating had caused, called for the return of Ethelred “their natural lord”. Ever cautious, Ethelred sent his son Edward to “test out the water” and to give promises on the king’s behalf that he would rule justly and firmly and that everything that had been done or said against him was to be forgiven if the people promised to support him and declare every Danish king outlawed forever.

Thus assured, Ethelred returned with a supporting force of Normans and his Danish war leader Thorkil and proceded to re-establish his rule. Cnut, taken by surprise and fearing that he could not stand against a united enemy, abandoning his English allies to the vengeance of Aethelred, took to his ships in preparation for his return to Denmark and paused only at Sandwich to land the hostages that had been given to his father and to cruelly order that their hands and ears be cut off and their noses slit as a gesture of defiance.

Ethelred, finding no Danes to fight, vented his frustration by ravaging the province of Lindsey which had given support to Cnut by supplying him with horses and provisions for his raiding.

It did not take long for the king to settle in his old ways and now, with the help of the Normans, began to replace many nobles of Danish descent with English or Norman. Thorkil the Tall and his men suffered attacks by these anti Dane forces and during one such incident his brother Henninge was killed. Thorkil gathered his small fleet of nine ships, plus his followers and offered his services to Cnut. The Emcomium Memmae Reginae states that Thorkil “asked his lord’s mercy and with great difficulty, became reconciled to him”.

Thorkil had been Cnut’s mentor when he was young and gladly accepted him back in service. In September 1015AD, Cnut landed, with his forces in 160 ships, at Sandwich. The Encomium Mae Regina describes the landing and gives a real feel for the power of the invaders, “There were so many kinds of shields that you could have believed that troops of all nations were present. Gold shone on the prows and silver flashed on the ships, for who could look upon the lions of the foe, terrible with the brightness of gold without feeling any fear of the king of such a force. Furthermore, in this great expedition there was present no slave, no man freed from slavery, no low born man, all were noble and strong with the might of mature age, fit for any type of fighting, they scorned the speed of horsemen”.

Cnut sailed on to Poole where he established a base to ravage Wessex and force the magnates to accept him as king.

Ethelred’s eldest son Ethelstan had died in 1011AD and his next eldest, Edmund, later known as “Ironside” due to his courage in battle began to take over his father’s fight with the invaders. He fell out with his father in 1015AD when he married Aldgyth the widow of Siferth, a Danish thane against his father’s wishes. Siferth, together with his fellow thane Morcar, both powerful influences in the Danelaw, had been murdered, probably by Earl Eadric of Mercia on instruction from Ethelred who profited from the murders by immediately confiscating their estates and imprisoning Aldgyth at Malmesbury.

Edmund rescued Aldgyth and following his marriage he invaded the possessions of Siferth and Morcar, and, in the words of Florence of Worcester, “brought the inhabitants thereof under his own dominion”. He was thereafter accepted as ruler of the five boroughs of the Danelaw, being preferred as a stronger leader than his father. He led the fighting against Cnut after his landing in 1015AD, with the support it must be said, of many of the Norsemen living under the Danelaw, who had been left to their fate by Cnut who did nothing when Ethelred destroyed Lindsey, wanted neither of the two back in power.

Unlike his father however, he was a formidable fighter and did achieve some success in his struggle against the invaders. Ethelred fell sick and rested in Cosham while Edmund raised a force in Mercia and Earl Eadric gathered troops in the south. The plan was to link up the two armies and attack Cnut, but the treacherous Eadric attempted to betray Edmund, the Chronicle stating “but could not, whereupon the two forces separated without an engagement and sheered off from their enemies”. Shortly after, Eadric deserted Edmund and with over forty ships, went over to Cnut. The two joined forces, crossing the Thames at Cricklade and “plundered and slew all they met”. Edmund raised a large force in Mercia but his troops refused to fight unless they were joined by Ethelred and forces in London. This did not suit Ethelred and the Mercian force disbanded and went home.

Edmund again raised a force and again requested his father to join him and this time the king did raise a levee of troops and the forces united. Ethelred heard rumours that some of his force was plotting to betray him and, fearing for his safety, dismissed his forces and returned to London. Edmund took his force north and met up with Uhtred of Northumbria. Together they began raiding the territories of Eadric the traitor. Cnut also moved north into Northumbria and when Uhtred learned of this attack he rushed back to his Earldom.

Uhtred had survived thus far by carefully changing sides when necessary and now decided to make his peace with Cnut. He was promised safe conduct and went with forty retainers to Durham to meet Thurbrand, a vassal of Cnut, but once in Thurbrand’s hall, he and his party were ambushed by Thurbrand’s men who had been hiding behind a great tapestry. All were slain and Cnut appointed his brother in law Eric Kakonarson of Hlathir as Earl of Northumbria, Eric was a formidable ally for Cnut and it was largely through his support that Cnut gathered a force large enough to conquer England.

Despite this Edmund was not popular with the English nobles who thought him a rebel against his father and when Ethelred died in April 1016AD he was proclaimed king but only in London, the majority of the English churchmen and nobility preferring Cnut. They gathered at Southampton and swore fealty to Cnut who in turn promised to rule wisely and peacefully. Cnut sailed his forces up the Thames and established siege lines around the city. The Chronicle relates, “they dug a great channel on the south bank and dragged their ships to the west side and built earthworks outside the city so that none could get in or out”. Edmund escaped from London and managed to persuade the Wessex magnates to reverse their decision of Southampton and won them over to his side. His forces reconquered Wessex from the Danes, “being gladly welcomed by all”.

In late May or early June he moved his forces eastward and met Cnut’s army at Pensellwood, near Gillingham in Dorset in a battle whose outcome is described by chroniclers as indecisive. Moving on, the two forces met again at Sherston near Malmesbury, in a battle lasting two day and where “there was great slaughter on both sides”. Edmund’s force was gaining the upper hand until the traitor Earl Eadric arrived with fresh troops from the midlands to aid Cnut.

Edmund’s determination kept the balance of the fighting in his favour until Eadric cut off the head of one Osmear whose face and hair were much like Edmunds. In the words of Florence of Worcester, he shouted “oh ye Wessex men! Flee quickly, you have lost your leader”. Edmund’s troops were panicked, but rallied and continued the fight until dark when Cnut’s forces slipped away and headed back towards London. The battle is remembered locally in the legend of John Rattlebone, a local hero killed in the fight. The Sherston Rattlebone Inn is named in his memory.

Edmund also returned to the capital, having raised more shire levies and marched east, keeping to the north side of the Thames. He caught the Danes off guard and managed to break through their lines and relieve the garrison, driving the Danes back to their ships. A few days later Edward forded the river at Brentford and attacked the Danes encamped on the south bank where they are said to have “fought the host and put it to flight”.

The English however suffered a number of unnecessary casualties when some of the army, having gone ahead in search of plunder, somehow drowned in the river. Edward was again forced to retreat and returned to Wessex to raise a fresh army. The Danes returned to their entrenchments and, according to the Chronicle, “attacked London fiercely by land and water”, but after such a long siege, they were running out of supplies and Cnut was forced to withdraw his ships to his base in the Orwell estuary. Edmund knew that to defeat the Danes once and for all he would need more troops and “called up all the people of England”. Cnut sailed to the Medway to refit his fleet before beginning another assault, ordering the bulk of his force to march overland to join him. Edmund led his new army across the Thames in pursuit and met with the Danes at Otford. In the ensuing fight, the Danes were broken and fled to Sheppey, pursued by Edmund who “slew as many as he could overtake.”

His victory would have been even more complete if he had not agreed to meet with the cunning Eadric at Aylesford who, realising that Edmund was winning, asked for pardon and promised loyalty to him. Surprisingly Edmund accepted Eadric’s word. The Chronicle reports that “no greater error of judgement was ever made than this”. Cnut learned of his movements and marched after him and on October 18th 1016AD, surprised Edmund’s more numerous forces at Assandun or Ashdon in Essex.

The two sides met on level ground between their two camps according to the Encomium Emmae, at the hour after Matins, that is nine o’ clock in the morning. It goes on to relate the legend of Cnut’s war banner, normally of plain white silk, but on which, a black raven mysteriously appeared when victory grew imminent, snapping its beak and flapping its wings. The battle was fiercely fought and went on till darkness, a not uncommon practise in such evenly matched battles when, even if losing, it was better to stand and fight to the last rather than turn your back to the enemy when you would certainly be pursued and killed.  

Edmund again showed superior tactics and was gaining the advantage when Eadric, treacherous to the last, withdrew his forces leaving Edmund’s flank open to the enemy. Cnut’s army rallied and threw the English into confusion, killing many with the remainder managing to slip away in the darkness. Whether it was by prior arrangement or simply cowardice that made Eadric withdraw is not known, but given his track record, the former seems likely. The Chronicle says of Eadric,”he did as he had so often before: he and his forces were the first to set the example of flight and thus betrayed his royal lord and the nation”.

Edmund was forced to sign a treaty with Cnut, known as the The Compact of Olney, in which he was given control of Wessex with Cnut ruling the rest of the country. In addition, Edmund agreed to levy a Danegeld tax to support Cnut’s army. It is said that the two met on a small island on the Severn near Deerhurst, having crossed from opposite banks by rowing boat. The treaty also stated that, should either die, the other would inherit the entire kingdom. This might have seemed a good deal for Edmund but on the 30th of November he died, probably from wounds received at Ashton, although there are many other versions of his death.

From now on, England was to have a Danish king. It would be many years before the English line was restored.