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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. [25]
The Great Heathen Army of Vikings first arrived in 865 and within a decade they had conquered the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia and Northumberland. Shortly before Alfred the Great was named king in 871, the Vikings had also attacked Wessex where Alfred defeated them at the Battle of Ashdown. Despite this victory, Alfred was still ...
The Battle of Meretun (or Merton) between a West Saxon army led by King Æthelred and his brother, the future King Alfred the Great, and a Viking army took place on 22 March 871 at an unknown location in Wessex, probably in one of the modern counties of Dorset, Hampshire, or Wiltshire.
Alfred was a 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").
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. [9]
The king of Mercia requested help from the king of Wessex to help fight the Vikings. A combined army from Wessex and Mercia besieged the city of Nottingham with no clear result, so the Mercians settled on paying the Vikings off. The Vikings returned to Northumbria in autumn 868 and overwintered in York, staying there for most of 869.
The Vikings entered at Medway and attacked Rochester, but were unable to seize the town due to strong resistance. Alfred arrived with an army, which forced some of the Vikings to retreat back to their ships and sail for Francia , while another group of Vikings stayed behind and came to terms with the King.
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 ...