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The Battle of Rochester [1] [2] was an armed conflict between the Anglo-Saxons, under the command of Alfred the Great, and the Norse Viking invaders. The Vikings entered at Medway and attacked Rochester, but were unable to seize the town due to strong resistance.
Alfred was the youngest son of Æthelwulf, king of Wessex, and his wife Osburh. [5] According to his biographer, Asser, writing in 893, "In the year of our Lord's Incarnation 849 Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons", was born at the royal estate called Wantage, in the district known as Berkshire [a] ("which is so called from Berroc Wood, where the box tree grows very abundantly").
A 1722 copy of part of Asser's Life of King Alfred. The primary sources for the location of the battle are Asser's Life of King Alfred, which names the place as "Ethandun" and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which has Eðandun. The chronicle was compiled during the reign of Alfred the Great and is thus a contemporary record. [24]
[7] While Alfred's negotiations with Haestan were ongoing the Vikings out of Appledore in the spring of 893 began raiding across Wessex until they were intercepted by Edward, Alfred's son, and routed at the battle of Farnham. [8] [9] These Vikings then retreated to, and fortified Thorney Island, situated in the braided River Colne south of Iver ...
Although both the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser emphasise Alfred's role in the victory, in the view of Richard Abels it was the attack by Æthelred when he joined the battle which was decisive and he might have intended all along to take the Vikings unawares. They suffered heavy losses, including King Bagsecg and five earls, Sidroc the Old ...
With the fyrd not assembled Alfred was forced to flee and the Vikings were able to take Chippenham. [4] [6] Guthrum's onslaught occurred when the Saxon soldiers were celebrating Epiphany and completely wrecked Alfred's army, killing many warriors and scattering the rest. Some of the survivors fled across the English Channel to France. [1]
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that the Battle of Basing was two months earlier, dating it to 22 January, Ashdown fourteen days before that on 8 January, Reading four days earlier on 4 January, Englefield another four days earlier on 31 December 870, and the arrival of the Vikings in Reading three days earlier on 28 December. However, as the ...
A depiction of Alfred the Great. The Battle of Reading was a victory for a Danish Viking army over a West Saxon force on about 4 January 871 at Reading in Berkshire. The Vikings were led by Bagsecg and Halfdan Ragnarsson and the West Saxons by King Æthelred and his brother, the future King Alfred the Great. It was the second of a series of ...