England in the Ninth Century the Crucible of Defeat

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England in the Ninth Century: The Crucible of Defeat

Author(s): N. P. BrooksSource: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Fifth Series, Vol. 29 (1979), pp. 1-20Published by: Royal Historical Society

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TRANSACTIONS OF THE

ROYALHISTORICAL SOCIETYENGLAND IN THE NINTH CENTURY:

THE CRUCIBLE OF DEFEAT

ByN. P. Brooks,M.A., D.Phil., F.R.Hist.S.

READ 3 FEBRUARY 1978

HISTORIANS, particularly edievalhistorians,re vulnerable othe harge hat hey oncentrateheir ttentionponsuccess-on thesuccessfulynasties,nstitutionsnd ideas-and thatthey herebymisrepresenthepast.Thus thepoliticalhistorianees theninth en-turyas the crucial periodin the evolutionof a unitaryEnglishkingdom. hefour owerfulnd ndependent nglo-Saxon ingdomsexistingn 8oo-Northumbria,Mercia,East Angliaand Wessex-had been reducedbythe endofthecenturyoone,Wessex.But thiswas achievednotthroughheassertion f West Saxonsupremacy-theoverlordshiphatEgbertwonin 829 lasted buta year-but bythe destructionftheotherkingdoms y Viking onquest nd theirpartial replacement ynewViking tates.Thoughit is clear to uswithhindsighthatAlfred's laim to be the ruler fall theEnglishnot underDanishrule'was thegermof theunificationfEnglandunderhisdescendants, oone can haveknown,whenAlfred ied in

899, hatnewViking rmieswerenotbeing aised n the candinavianhomelands o crush heremaining nglishkingdom.At thattime,formostEnglishmen,hedeepest mpressionmusthave been of thedefeat nd destructionf theEnglishpolity nd culture.

Butwe cannot xamine heEnglish eaction otheDanish nvasionsinthis ightbecause thedynastiesnd kingdomshatfailedhave eftus fewor no records.ndeedmostof theEast Angliankings f the

1Anglo-Saxonhronicle,.a. 886; Twoof he axonChroniclesarallel, d. J. Earle and

C. PlummerOxford, 892), i,pp.8o- .About he ametime heregnal tylenAlfred'scharterseems ohavechangedfromrex Saxonum'to rexAnglorumaxonum'orAngulsaxonum'.ee W. de GrayBirch,CartulariumaxonicumLondon, I885-I899)[hereafterited sB.C.S.] nos.564, 567-8,581,noneofwhichs of ertainuthenticity.These tylesre alsofoundn Asser's ife fAlfred,d.W. H. StevensonOxford, 904),whichwas writtenn893.The style exA. is alreadyfound n coins ofc. 875- c. 885.See Anglo-Saxonoins: tudiesresentedoF. M. Stenton,d. R. H. M. Dolley (London,1961), pp. 8o-i.

I







2 TRANSACTIONSOF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

ninthcentury re ust names to us, knownonlyfrom heir coins. Our

ignorancesrelievednly ythose etails f hegruesomemartyrdomofthe ast East

Anglianking, admund,t the hands of

the Danisharmyn869thathave beenpreservedmongstheelaborationsndmisunderstandingsf aterhagiographers.2omewhatmore sknownof the ninth-centuryortunes f the Northumbriannd Merciankingdoms,utwe arelargelygnorantf thefamilyelationships,etalonethepolicies ndgovernmentf heir ings. he evidence here-fore either llowsus tounderstand hy hey ailednorto makeanymeaningfulomparison ith he urvival fWessex.We cannotknowhowfar heWestSaxonmilitaryesponse ifferedrom hat fother

kingdoms, orwe are largely ependentuponWest Saxon sourceswhichwerenotconcerned o tellusthe detailsof theMercian,EastAnglian rNorthumbrianesistance.fweseek o control henaturalbias of the WestSaxon sources nd to test hetemperaturen themeltingpot of ninth-centuryngland, then we muststudytheVikingsand the Englishresponse o them n a wider Europeancontext.

To comprehendhe threat hat theVikingsposed,we mustfirst

establish,n sofar s possible, he size of thearmies hatterrorized,demoralized ndultimatelyonqueredmuchofninth-centuryng-land. n I962Professor. H. Sawyer laborated powerfulrgumentthathehadfirst enturedn 1958 o the ffecthat heViking rmieswere mall,numberingt most fewhundredmen'.3His argumentshavebeen echoedon thecontinentn relation oViking ctivityntheFrankish ingdoms ytheBelgianhistorian, . D'Haenens,* ndin Britain isviewshave beenwidely ccepted, venbyscholars uch

as Cameron,Fellows-Jensen,oynand Wallace-Hadrillwhohaverejected ther spectsofSawyer'sminimizingnterpretationf theimpactoftheVikings.5 ointingotheunreliabilityf the estimatesof he izeof rmies ndnumbersfcasualties ivenbycontemporarylate-medieval chroniclers,whose figures can sometimes bechecked gainstofficialecords, awyeranalysedthefigures ivenbytheAnglo-Saxonhronicleor hesize of theninth-centuryiking

2 D. Whitelock,Fact and fiction n thelegendof St Edmund',Proc.Sufolknst.Archaeol., xxi (1969), 217-33; A. P. Smyth,ScandinavianKings n theBritish sles, 850-88o (Oxford, 1977), pp. 201-i3.

3 P. H. Sawyer, 'The densityofthe Danish settlement n England', UniversityfBir-

mingham istoricalJournal,vi (I957), 1-17; Sawyer, The Age of the Vikings London,1962), pp. 117-28.

4 LesInvasionsormandesnBelgiqueu ixe siecleLouvain,1967),pp. 69-72.5 K. Cameron, candinavianettlementn theTerritoryfthe iveBoroughs:hePlace-

name videnceNottingham, 965),p. i; G. Fellows-Jensen,The VikingsnEngland:a review', Anglo-Saxon ngland, v (1975), 181-2o6; H. R. Loyn, Anglo-Saxon nglandand heNormanonquestLondon,1962),p. 54; J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, arlyMedievalHistoryOxford,1975),P. 219.







ENGLAND IN THE NINTH CENTURY 3

fleets.He noteda distinction etween mallfleets f between hreeand twenty-threehips,6whosenumbers ould be countedexactly,and argefleetsariouslystimatedtbetween ightynd350ships-figures hich recertainlyough stimatesnd in his viewareexag-gerated.Although eargued hatViking hips relikely o havehadcrews f hirtyothirty-twoen, s seems o havebeen ntended ortheGokstad hip,hepointed ut that hose ftheVikingfleet f892,which sputat200or250shipsbytheChronicle, rought orses,ndprobably lso theirwives nd children,cross he channel oApple-dore with them. Aftermaking allowance for the Chronicler'sexaggerationf he izeof his leet,awyer oncluded hat his rmy,

too,was well under 00ooo en'.7He reinforcedis casebyemphasiz-ing hedifficultiesffeedingndmaintainingarge rmiesnthefieldfor everalyears, nd he claimed thatwhat ittlewas known ftheplaceswhereVikings ookrefuge r established heirwinter-campssupported heargumenthatthe armiesweresmall.

Do these rgumentstandup to detailed xamination? he accu-racy fmedieval hroniclersnestimatingnemy orces epends pontheir ccess to reliable nformationnd upon theirmotivation.A

singlewritermaybe reliable n someplaces,wildly naccurate nothers. hus K. Hannestadhas shown hatProcopius,whowas secre-tary oBelisarius,ncludednhis ccount fByzantine arfaregainsttheOstrogothsn Italygross xaggerationsfthe ize ofOstrogothicarmies; nother arts fhisGothicWar,however, rocopius's iguresare consistentlyredible nd circumstantial.8nfortunatelye donotknow he dentityfthecompilers ftheninth-centuryectionsof the Anglo-Saxonhronicle.ut in the later ninthcentury heChronicle'sdominant nterestn the activities f the West Saxonkings,he inks etweent andthe Alfredian'ranslationfOrosius'sHistory,hepalaeographicalinks etween he ParkerChronicle ndWinchester,nd thenatureofthedisseminationf themanuscriptsof heChronicle-allsuggesthat he ompilers adsome ssociationswithAlfred's ourt ircle.9 ven iftheauthorswerenotthemselveseye-witnesses,hey robablyhad contactswithmen whofoughtheViking rmies,ndwere n a positionoreceive ccuratedescriptions

6Sawyer, ge fVikings2nd d.,London 971), p. 125-6.7 Ibid.p. 128.

8 'Lesforcesmilitairesd'apreisa guerre othique e Procope',Classica tMediaevalia,xxi (Ig60), 136-183. owe this eferenceothekindnessfProf.D. A. Bullough. eealso Wallace-Hadrill, arlyMedievalHistory,. 219.9D. Whitelock,TheProse fAlfred'seign', ontinuationsndBeginnings,d. E.G.StanleyLondon 966), .74, nd f. .97; TheAnglo-Saxonhronicle,d.D.White-lockLondon 961), p.xxii f.;M. B.Parkes,Thepalaeographyf he arker anu-script f heChronicle, aws and Sedulius, ndhistoriographytWinchester', nglo-Saxon England,v (1976), 149-71.







4 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

ofthem.Equally,however, hecompilers r their nformants ayhaveexaggeratednorder omagnifyictories r excusedefeats. utin this ontextwe shouldnotice hat the

Chronicle,which s so re-

markablynd consistentlyecular n its nterestsnd maythereforehavebeenwritten or secular udience,neither ellsus the sizeofVikingarmies nor claimsthat theWest Saxon forceswere out-numbered. here s a strikingontrast erewith omecontemporarycontinental onasticources,uch stheAnnalesuldensesndReginoofPrum,who estimate heVikingarmydefeatedby Louis III atthebattle f aucourt n881at9,000and8,000respectively,10rsuchas Abbo whoasserts hat Paris n 886was defended y 200 Franks

against 0,000robustVikings.11t mustbe held to the credit ftheAnglo-Saxonhroniclehat t s soreticentnd scontentwith he impleassertionhat hearmy hat rrived n EastAnglia ntheautumn f865was a large rmy micel ere, ycelcethenere); he ameadjectiveis used todescribe largesummer orce hatarrived n 871 (mycelsumorida)and,with hedefiniterticle, he arge rmy hatarrivedat Appledore n 892 (semicla ere).12

The Chronicle oesoccasionallyndicate henumbers fVikings

killed nbattle.Enemy asualty iguresrenotoriouslyhe mostun-reliable fwar-timetatistics,uthere gaintheChronicle s reticent.Twice we aregivenvagueestimates. t thebattleofAshdown, neofa series fnineengagementsoughtn 87 withthe WestSaxons,'manythousands' fDanes are said tohavebeenslain,presumablyin an attemptomagnifyhemain WestSaxonsuccess n a yearthatendedbadlywith heir efeat t Wilton nd theirmaking eace'withtheDanes,that spaying hem rotectionmoneyDanegeld) to move

to a differentingdom. imilarlyn894 manyhundreds' fVikingsare said tohave beenkilledbytheburhwaraf Chichester-a figurethat s lessprobably xaggerated,fequallyvague.Twice howevertheChronicle ives s moreprecise igures.n 878 a brotherf varrandHalfdan,eading fleet f wenty-threehips,was killed tCoun-

tisburyn Devon with8oo men' and '40(60) ofhisarmy'.13And in896,afterhedisbanding fthemain Danisharmy, ne ofa numberof small sea-bornebands fromEast Anglia or Northumbriawas

10 Annalesuldenses,d. F. Kurze (SS. Rer.Ger., Hannover, 891),p. 96; ReginonisAbbatisrumiensishronicon,d. F. Kurze (SS. Rer. Ger.,Hannover,1890), p. 120.The fullest ccount f theViking aidsof theninth enturyn the continent emainsW. Vogel,Die Normannennd as rankischeeichHeidelberg,19o6).

11Abbon, esiegeeParisparesnormands,d. H. Wacquet LesClassiques e l'histoirede Franceau moyen ge, Paris,1964),p. 24-

12Anglo-Saxonhronicle,.a. 866,871,893,ed. Earle and Plummer, p. 68, 72 and84-

13 bid.,pp. 74-6.The awkwardphrasingmay ndicate hat phraseor a passagehas beenomitted rom hearchetypef the Chronicle.








caughtbyAlfred's ewships;120 menfrom hreeDanishshipswerekilled,eavinghoweverjustnough f heir rews live from he hipsto be rowed waywith reatdifficulty.t issignificanthatboth hesefiguresndicatecomparable veragecasualtiesper ship--thirty-sixand fortymen killedper shiprespectively.t maybe that a countofthedead was made after hesebattles, or t is difficulto knowwhyelse theannalistwas precise n thesetwo nstances lone. Thefiguresmight uggesthat heseViking hipshad crews ffifty-sixtymen.A. L. Binnshasargued hat rews f hat ize are not mpossiblefor heScandinaviankarfi,14ut n viewof he ikelihood fexaggera-tionwe shouldnotrely n such an estimate.Certainlyt would be

dangerous o calculate the sizeof the argearmiesfrom hefiguresfor hefleetsndanysuchaveragefigureor he crews. or the argefleetsmayhavehad many mall vessels nd many hips aden withbootyor non-combatants.

But it is on theChronicle's stimates ftheVikingfleetswhichtransportedhemainDanisharmies hatour mpressionftheir izemustdepend.ForifSawyer s right hatnone oftheViking rmiesnumberedmore thana fewhundredmen,then theirfleetswould

never ave neededmore han wenty-thirtyhips f heGokstad ypetotransportoth hem nd their ooty;the Chronicle's igures ang-ingfromightyo350 shipswouldthenbe gross xaggerations.Wemayacceptthatestimatesffleets oo largeto be countedcontainanelementf xaggeration ithoutupposinghefigureso besohighthat ll informedaymenwouldhaverecognisedhem s absurd.Forthefigures ivenbycontemporaryrishand Frankish ources, ndbythe arliest ources or heMoslem panishreaction otheVikings,confirm hoseofthe Chronicle.Thus the Irishannals recordtwoseparatefleets fsixty hips n 836, a fleet f 140ships n 849 andone of I6o ships n 851, and 200 ships n 870.15There is certainlya degree f rtificialityn these igures,ut the ateKathleenHughesconvincinglyefended hereputation fthe Chronicle f Ireland'from hechargeofexaggeratingheVikingthreat.16 he FrankishAnnals f t Bertin ecord120ships n theattack n Paris n 845,6ooships n the attack nHamburg n the ameyear,252ships nFrisiain852,200

shipsnthe Seine n

86Iand another leet f

ixtyn the

14'The navigation fViking hipsroundtheBritishsles n Old English nd OldNorse ources',TheFifthVikingongress,d. B. Niclasen T6rshavn, 968),pp. 107-io8.

15AnnalsfUlsterd.W. M. Hennesy Rolls Series,1887),s.a. 836, 848,851, 870;Annalsf nisfallen,d. R. I. Best nd E. MacNeill (London, 933), s.a. 836,849, 852,871.

16K. Hughes,EarlyChristianreland:ntroductionothe ourcesLondon, 1972), pp.148-59-








sameyear, iftyhipsn865and ooshipsn the eine n876.17 rmen-tarius ives heprecisefigure fsixty-sevenhipsfor he fleet f the

armywhich ackedNantes n843and thendeveloped newVikingstrategy y establishing permanent ase on the island of Noir-moutier.'xThe sources orViking ctivitynSpain, though ot con-temporary, ive a similar mpression f numbers;theyspeak ofseventyhipsbeingburnt t Corufia n 844, ofeighty hipsthenattacking eville and a furtherhirtyhipsbeing ost n thebattleofTalayata; theexpedition f859-60 is said to havehad a fleet fsixty-twohips.'9The largest leet fall recordedby contemporarysourcess the700ships aidbyAbbo to have engaged n theVikingsiege fParis n886.20 utwe havealready eenAbbo tobe in a classofhisown as an exaggerator. n element f xaggeration ay ndeedbe presentn any,or all, theotherfigures,nd we maywellwishwithProfessor allace-Hadrill o ruleout ofcourt he600ships aidto have beeninvolvedn theattackon Hamburg which,however,was an expedition irected ythereigning anishking,Horic ).21But t is surely ignificanthat o manycontemporaryources romwidely eparated arts fEuropeall independentlyupposed hat he

fleetswhichcarried the main Vikingarmies,that is those thatremainedn thefield orong ampaigns ftenver everal ears, om-

prised between fiftynd 250 ships,and that fleetsof o100-200 shipswerebyno meansrare.

The agreementfthe sources s particularlymportantwhen werecall hat he ameViking rmies ftenmovedbetweenreland,Bri-tainand theFrankish ingdoms.hus one ofthe eaders fthe argeDanish host hat rrived nEastAnglia n865, varr O.E. Inwar),

returnedo Ireland n 871 presumably ithpartofthatarmy ndshared ommand f fleet f200shipswith heNorse eader,Olaf.22The Danisharmywhich ampaigned rom 79 to892 on theconti-nent ntheriver alleys rom heSeineto the Rhinewas led bytwokings,Godefridwhowas killed n 885 and Sigefridwhowas killedeithern887orat thebattle f heDyle n891.In 882Sigefrid arted

Annales eSaint-Bertin,d. F. Grat,J.Vieillard nd S. ClemencetParis, 1964),s.a. The precise igure f252 shipsfor heyear 852 is probably n error or250,byattractionfthe date which hescribehad written

mmediatelyefore.

18Ermentariiranslatio. Filiberti,d. O. Holder-EggerM.G.H. Scriptores,V(i),Hannover, 1887), p. 301.

19The Moslem ources, specially bn-Adhari, re convenientlyranslated yR.Dozy,Recherchesur 'histoiret a littiraturee 'Espagne,i (3rded.,Leyden1881),256-58, 279-80.

20 Le SiigedeParis, p. 14.21 Wallace-Hadrill, EarlyMedieval istory,. 219.22 Annals fUlster, .a. 870. For Ivarr's career, see Smyth,Scandinavian ings, specially

pp. 224-39.Dr Smythhas established very trong ase for dentifyingvarr withthe mharofthe rishannals.








fromhis felloweaderand is said to have led 200 ladenshipsawayfrom hebesieged amp at Asclohan theriverMeuse.23Ten yearslater his ame rmywastransportedcross heChannel oAppledorebya fleet stimated ytheAnglo-Saxonhroniclet 200 or 250 ships.24On the continentwe have contemporaryvidence that thisarmyhad been knownby all' as magnusxercitusrecisely ecausetherewere omany hips n itsfleet.25 hen t arrivedn England n 892it was also called semicla ere.

Another otableViking rmy n the continentn the secondhalfof the ninth enturywas theVikingforce ased on the riverLoire.But t snoteworthyhat he ources onsistentlyuggesthat hiswas

a smaller orce. ixty-sevenhipswere attributedo it on its arrivalin 843,and in the86os,whenwe hearof traiding arfrom tsbasecamp, tscasualtieswere not numberedn thousands utwere esti-mated t300and500,2whilst thearmy fLoireVikingswhichwonthebattleofBrissarthen866,after acking e Mans,was estimatedbyHincmar t400men.27rom866it wascommanded yHatsteinn(Hastingus,.E. Hesten)who editto the Somme n882 and toEng-land in892. It is thereforeo the Chronicle's redit hat tputsHits-

teinn's leet t eighty hips n 892, considerablyewer hanthe 200(250) shipsofthe largearmy'ofthatyear. t would seem thattheChronicle's iguresorViking leetsre neither andomnorwild;theyavoidtheobvious xaggerationsf esswell-placed r morecolourfulcontinentalources,ndtheymostlyit consistentatternfVikingactivityhat s credible nd circumstantial.

There areother easons or ccepting tenton's esitantonclusionthat the large'Danish armies f865 and 892 should be numbered

'in thousands ather han n hundreds'.2 hese armies, s English,Irish nd Frankish ources ll agree,were edbykings-likesomeofthegreatest rmies f the secondViking ge' in the ate-tenthndearly-eleventhenturies. hese kingswerenot menwhose titlede-rivedfrom stablishedettlementsnd kingdomsn theWest,but

23 Annalesuldenses,.a.882,p. 99.ForGodefrid'seath, eeibid., . o02; or igefrid,see ibid., .a. 891,p. 120, which houldbe preferredo thevaguestatementn AnnalesVedastini,d. B. de Simson SS. Rer.Ger., Hannover, go9), s.a. 887,p. 63.

24 Anglo-SaxonhronicleA', 'E', 'F': 250 ships; B', 'C', 'D': 200 ships, ed. Earle

and Plummer,, pp. 84-5-25 LibellusMiraculorum. Bertini,d. O. Holder-EggerM.G.H. Scriptores,V(i)]

(Hannover,1887),p. 511: 'ab illa classicaperplurima uae prosuinumerositate..magnus xercitus b omnibusdicebatur'.

26 Annales eS. Bertin,.a. 855, 865. For thesize of thefleet n 843, see above,p.6, and n. I8. It was probably argely he same LoireVikings nderBjorn nd His-teinnwhooperated n Spain and theMediterraneanrom 59 to 861, initiallywithsixty-twohips.See above,p. 6, and n. 19.

27Annalese S. Bertin,.a. 866, pp. 130-31.28 F. M. Stenton,Anglo-Saxonngland3rded., Oxford, 971),p. 243, n. I.








ratherwere eaderswhobelonged o theDanishstirps egia.Whetherthey ll possessed ometerritorialuthorityn someregions ftheDanishhomelandsuncertain.

Manyofthese

kings,uchas

Bagsecgand Guthrum,Oscetel and Anwend,recordedby theAnglo-SaxonChroniclemongst he eadersofthe large'Danisharmy n 87 and878, rejustnames o us.Others Ivarr,Halfdan,Ubbe andSigefrid)mayhavebeensons f Viking eader rememberednScandinaviansagaasRagnarrLothbr6k.29ftheseHalfdan ndSigefridmayhaveexercised omeroyalpowerwithin enmark, rpartof t,for n873twokings fthosenamesnegotiated eace separatelywithLouis theGerman.30 utin an age whenthe Danish territorieserenotyeta consolidatedkingdom nd whenScandinaviankings like otherpaganGermanic ulers)mayhave beenpolygamous,t snot urpris-ingthat hereweremanykings'whosought o make their ortunesand tofound heir areers n theWest.

Wearenot,however,ealingwith multiplicityfViking rinces,each operating ndependently iththeirpersonalwar-bands.Themicel eref865wasa co-ordinatednterprise.t is nota coincidencethat heyears rom 66 to879,when his arge rmywas in England,

wereyearsof ull and relative reedomromViking ctivity n thecontinent.t is clear thatthis large army'was the focus f DanishViking ctivityntheWest.When, fteren o fifteenears ampaign-ing,partsof t beganto settle n theconqueredregions fNorth-umbria,Mercia and EastAnglia, new Danish forcewas raised nthe homeland nd came to England n 879 to oin theremnant fthe rmy f865.31t was thisnew forcewhich perated n theconti-nentunder hecommand fkings rom 79to892, yearswhich aw

a correspondingull in Vikingactivityn Britain. t is of coursetruethatHitsteinn'soireVikingsmaintained separateexistencethroughouthe aterninth enturyntil hey oinedwith his largearmy' n thecampaignsn Englandfrom 92 to 896. But theLoire

Vikings eemto havebeen noriginNorwegians romVestfold,ndthismayexplainwhy hey olongmaintained hemselvespartfromthe main Danish' effort.32n the secondhalfof the ninth enturytheEnglish nd Frankish ings,herefore,adto face narmyedby

29 R. W. McTurk, 'Ragnarr Lothbrokn the Irish nnals', SeventhVikingCongress,ed. B. Almquist and D. Greene (Dublin, 1976), pp. 93- 124; Smyth,Scandinavian ings,

passim.30 AnnalesFuldenses, .a. 873, p. 78.31Anglo-Saxon hronicle,.a. 879.32 AnnalesEngolismenses,d. G. H. Pertz (M.G.H. Scriptores, VI, Hannover, 1859),

s.a. 843,p. 486: 'Nametis ivitas Westfaldingisapitur.'However heScandinavian

saga traditionuggests hatRagnarrLothbr6k nd his descendants lso had linksand connections ith heVestfoldrea in southern orway. ee Smyth, candinavian

Kings,pp. 17-35-







ENGLAND IN THE NINTH CENTURY 9menofroyalblood,whichretainedtscoherence nd its trategye-spitedeparturesfparticulareaderswithpartof the host.Had the

great rmyf865

numberednly

a fewhundredmen, t is difficultto understandhow Ivarr could have achieved the captureoftheStrathclyderitishtrongholdfDumbartonn870,and establishedhimselfs king f ll theNorsemennIrelandfrom71to873,whilstleaving ufficientroops ehindto continue o dominate heAnglo-Saxonkingdoms. hose forceswhichremainedn Englandwere n-deed reinforced,erhapsonlytemporarily,y the large summerforce' f87I ;33but the largearmy'was againdivided n 875whenHalfdan edpartof ttoNorthumbria.et thetroopswhoremained

south f heHumberwere ufficiento ettle alfMercia n877,whilstleavingenoughtobringAlfred'sWessexclose to submissionn 878and toestablishndsettle heDanishkingdomfEastAnglia n88o.We do not, f ourse, nowwhether ew recruits rom hehomelandjoined the largearmy'eachwinter, utagainst hatpossibility emust alance thecertaintyf ossesnbattle ndthroughllness.Hadthe largearmy' f865numbered nly fewhundredmen,thenby878 Guthrum ould scarcelyhave had more than one hundred

veteranseft. hat suchtiny rmies ould surviven enemy erritoryyear n and yearout defies elief.The army f865 introduced newtactictoVikingwarfare. or

abouta generation reviously ikingarmieson the continent ndin relandhad concentratedheirctivities na particular iver asinandhad used an island ite ff-shorerup-rivers a permanentase-campforwinteruartersnd for he afe-keepingfthe treasure ndbootygathered verseveral easons.But the865 army, ike ts suc-

cessor n thecontinent rom 79 to 892, moved each autumnto afresh ingdomrdistrict heretestablished newcampfor hefol-lowingyear.Moreover he largearmy'of865did not as a rulecon-struct ewfortifiedamps.The sites hosen ach autumnwere notisolated sland ites, utroyal ndadministrativeentres f heAnglo-Saxonkingdoms: ork n 866-7,Nottinghamn867-8,Yorkagainin 868-9,Thetfordn 869-70,Reading n 87o-1,Londonin 87 -2,

Torkseyn872-3,Repton n873-4,Cambridgen874-5,Warehamin875-6,Exetern876-7,Chippenhamn877-8and Cirencestern879-88o.3 Mostoftheseplaceswerechosenbythearmypreciselybecausethey lreadyhaddefences. hus n the utumn f867,when

33 SmythScandinavianings, p. 240-5) suggestshat his orcewas ledbyAnwend,Osceteland Guthrum,nd that t remainedn Englandthereafter.ut as Plummerargued Two SaxonChronicles,i, 88) thephrase summer orce' uggests distinctionin theChronicler'smindbetween rmies hatremained n Englandthroughoutheyearand those hat tayed nlyfor hesummer ampaigningeason.

34Anglo-Saxonhronicle,.a. 866-88o.







I TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

theDanisharmy ookup winter uartersn thefortressgeweorc)fNottingham,twas able to defy he combinedbesieging rmiesoftheMercian ndWest axonkings. n the utumn f875theVikingarmy vadedAlfred'srmy nd slipped nto'Wareham,whichs de-scribed yAsser s a castellum.36tmaybe that twasbeset here oo,for fter year's tay t madepeacewithAlfred,utthenstole way'bycoverofnight oestablish newwinter ase at Exeter.That itwas safe nWarehamfromnyarmywhichAlfred ouldraiseat atime fhis wnchoosingstablisheshat hemassive rimaryefencesofWareham,which hearchaeologistsaveonly hown o be post-Roman,7' were lreadynexistencen875-6.Someofthe therwinter

campsofthe largearmy'were lsoboroughs fAnglo-Saxon riginwhilst thers-York,London, Exeterand Cirencester-hadwallsdating rom oman times.Weshouldnotbesurprisedofind ortifiedboroughs lready n existencen the86os and 870s,for borough-work', he bligationobuildandrepair ortresses,ad been mposedintheMerciankingdomince hemid-eighthenturynd inWessexat east ince he850s.38 utReading ndChippenhamre notknownas burghal entres,nd each is described yAsser s a villaregis,

royalresidence r manor.Such centresmayhave had a degreeofprotection,ut t s instructivehatReading s the one winter ampwhich heDanish arge rmy f865 sknown ohave fortifiedenovo;forAsser escribes ow vallum asdugfromheThames to theKen-net, herebyrotectinghe amp n theroyal illfrom land attack.39

These Danishannualcampshad to be secure lacestoprotectheirtreasurend booty, heir ood upplies nd theirwoundedat timeswhen hebulkof he rmywas outforaging,urningnd terrorizing

orfightingnyforcewhich he ocal kingmight are to raise. Hadthemicel eref865beena force fonly fewhundredmen, t wouldoftenhave been unable tomaintain n effectiveuardon the2180

yards 1993 m.) oftherampartsat Wareham, or 2566 yards (2354 m.)ofRomanwall at Exeter, et alone thetwomilesorso (3200m.) oftheRoman defences fLondon.40 he size ofthefortifiedentres

35Anglo-SaxonChronicle,d. Earle and Plummer, i, 70-I.3' Life fAlfred,d. Stevenson, . 36.31 For the date of theprimary amparts,ee 'Wareham WestWalls', Mediaeval

Archaeology,ii (1959), 125-6, 130, 137,and D. Hinton,Alfred's ingdom:Wessex ndtheSouth8o-i50oo (London 1977), PP- 33-5-

*8N. P. Brooks,The Development fMilitaryObligationsn Eighth nd NinthCentury ngland',England eforeheConquest:tudiesresentedo D. Whitelock,d. P.Clemoesand K. Hughes Cambridge197i), pp. 69-84.

39Life fAlfred, d. Stevenson, . 27.40Forthe ength ftheramparts t Wareham, ee Anglo-Saxonharters,d. A. J.

RobertsonCambridge, 956), p. 495; forExeter, . Burrow,The Town DefencesofExeter',TransactionsftheDevonshiressociation,ix (1977), 13-40; forLondon,J. S. Wacher,The Towns fRoman ritainLondon, 1974), p. 94-







ENGLAND IN THE NINTH CENTURY I I

whichtheVikings hose as winter uarters nd as theirbases for

campaigningeasonwould be inexplicable nless he large'Danisharmieswere numberedn thousands ather hanhundreds.

There is herean instructiveontrast etween hestrategyf themicel erend that fHasteinn's oireVikings.n theautumn f872,abandoning tsusualstrategyf raidsfromNoirmoutier, asteinn'sarmy eizedthe townofAngers, et ts walls n order nd used t asa winter amp and as a base for hefollowingampaignseason. Itwasapparentlyryinghenew trategyf helarge rmy'nEngland.But n the ummer f873 Angerswas besiegedbyCharlestheBaldandthe rmywaseventuallyorced o surrendern terms hathalted

itsraiding or omenineyears.4'We have no reasontosupposethatCharles heBald wasa more ffectiveommanderhan heNorthum-briankings sberht nd/Elle,whoattacked he large'Danisharmyin York in 867, or Burgred fMercia and the West Saxon kingAEthelred,hobesieged heViking rmy tNottinghamn868.Wehave, however, eenreason to believe thatHatsteinn'sorce houldbe numberednhundreds ather hanthousands. t may,therefore,have beenthe arge izeofthearmyof865 thatenabled t to adopt

its newstrategy,nd indeed which ubsequentlymade possible heconquest nd initial ettlementfthreeEnglishkingdoms.

Historians ave oftenwonderedwhy heScandinavian ettlementsinEnglandprovedmore ffectivendlasting han herepeated stab-lishment fDanishforces n Frisia;42 artof theanswermaylie inthefact hat heEnglish onquestsnd nitial ettlementsere arriedoutby ignificantlyarger rmies. or twasnotonly he large'Dan-isharmy f865which ettledn England;themagnusxercitushich

dominatednorthernrankiafrom 79to892 onlydisbanded n 896when tsmembersettled n EastAnglia ndNorthumbria.he Dan-ishconquests nd colonies n Englandrepresented majorachieve-ment nd theymust lso have beena considerable train n Danishmanpower esources.Without laiming n unrealistic recisionndwithoutdenying hat severalimportantViking armiesprobablynumbered few undredmen, tthereforeeems easonable oacceptthat he large'Danisharmies f865and 892numbered few hou-sand. This

helpsoexplain

heshattering

ffect hichhey

chievedand thefact hat heywere o seldom ecisivelyefeated,venthoughtheir olicy f emainingnenemyerritoryearnandyear ut madethemmuchmorevulnerable hanthebriefhit and run' raidsoftheearlierninth-centuryiking rmies.43

41 Annales e StBertin,.a. 873,pp. 192-5.42 W. C. Braat,Les Vikings u paysde Frise',AnnaleseNormandie,v (0957), 219-

227.43Butnotethe imitationsfour sources or he earlierraids,belowp. I4, n.

55.










of lifethatwas nominally r partiallyChristian,49an distort urunderstandingf t leads us to minimize he Danish threat o Chris-

tianity.ftheEastAnglianbishopricsame toan end in a kingdomthat had a Christian anishking Guthrum/thelstan) s early s88o,wouldmonasteriesave survivednybetter?s it a coincidencethat n all thearea of northernnd easternEngland brought nderDanishrule here reonly ight hartersated before 00whichhaveanyclaimsto be based on authentic ocuments; newas preservedatChrist hurch, anterbury,nd theremainingevenform groupthatwerepreservedt Peterborough.sohe unique survival f thisarchivematerial rom hepreeminentouseofMedeshamstedend its

dependentmonasteryt Breedon-on-the-Hillervesto remindusofthetotalbreak n monastic ontinuitylsewheren the Danelaw.Dr. A. P. Smyth asrecentlyescued rom heobscurityf aga and

hagiographicalraditionhebrutaldismembermentftheChristiankings,Elle of Northumbriand Eadmund of East Anglia, n theform f he o-calledblood-eagle' acrificeo thepagangod,O6inn.51This examplewas doubtless ntendedpour encourageres autres'(that s Christian ings ikeBurgred fMercia and iEthelred nd

Alfred fWessex) estthey ontinue oresist;but tmust lso haveled many Englishmen o questionthe power of theirChristianGod.

Concern or he urvival fChristianitys evidentnthepopularitythroughoutheninth enturyf he lause nchartersywhich ightsweregrantedas longas the Christian aith hould ast n Britain'.52It isnotfancifuloseea similar oncernn thedecision-whosoeveritwas-to translate rosius'sHistoriarumdversusaganos ibri epteminto

English.For Orosius'shorrible

atalogueofthe miseries fthe

pagan pasthad been writtenn orderto dissuadeChristians romabandoningtheirfaithunder thepressure f the barbarianpaganassaultsuponthe ateRomanworld.ThoughtheEnglish ranslator

49D. Whitelock,The Conversion f the EasternDanelaw', Saga-Book ftheVikingSocietyorNorthernesearch,ii(i941), 159-76;D. M. WilsonThe VikingrelationshipwithChristianityn northernngland',Journalfthe ritish rchaeologicalssociation,3rdser.,xxx 1967), 437-47.

50 The Canterburyharters B.C.S., 414. The charters reservedt Peterborough

areB.C.S., 271, 454,84o-3 and RobertsonAnglo-Saxonharters,o. 7; theyweredis-cussedbyF. M. Stenton,Medeshamstedend itscolonies',HistoricalssaysnHonour

ofJamesait, d.J.G. Edwards,V. H. Galbraith nd E. F. Jacob Manchester, 933),PP. 313-26.

51ScandinavianKings,pp. 189-94 and 201-13.52 B.C.S., 272-3, 289, 351, 360, 396, 406, 428, 434, 454, 495, 518 and 519 which

covertheyears793x6-868.The argumenthat the clause precedestheViking n-cursions ependsuponthe purious .C.S., 231,and the uncertain .C.S., 236 oftheyear780.There are too few uthenticharters f Alfred's eign o attachanysignifi-cance to the absence of the clause after 68.








sometimes oftened rosius'srelentlessolemicaltheme nd cut itruthlessly,53ecould not remove t.The parallelbetweenOrosius'sworld and thesituation f

ninth-centurynglandwas limitedbut

obvious.Residualpagan practices mongtheAnglo-Saxons id nothave the amepullas theold Romanpaganism fOrosius'sday,butthethreat fbeingoverwhelmedypagan barbarianpeoples, ndthedanger hatChristians ouldadopt pagan practices nd beliefs,were hareddangers.ndeedPopeFormosus laimed hathehad de-cidedtoexcommunicateheEnglish ishops ecauseof their ailureto counter he revival fpaganritesntheir reas; he had onlybeendissuadedwhenheheardoftheworkofArchbishop legmund nd

hiscontemporaries.54The survival fChristianitynEnglanddependedupontheconti-

nuity fChristiannstitutionsnd,since cripturesnd serviceswerein Latin, ofChristian ducation.The decline n the standards fwritten atinwhichs so evidentn documentsf he ighthnd ninthcenturiesannot olely e attributedotheVikings ince hegrowingsecularizationfmonasteries ndoubtedly layeditspart too. SirFrank tenton ointed utthat hedecline nLatin wasalreadyvery

evident nCanterburyhartersfthethird ecadeof the ninth en-tury. utbythat imeKenthad in factbeensufferingiking ttacksfor generation,nd there sgoodreason obelieve hatViking rmieshad alreadybeenestablishinghemselvesn fortifiedamps,that s

theyhad alreadybeen carryingut prolonged ampaigns n Kentratherhanhit nd run'raids.55t ispossible hereforehat he ecu-larization f hemonasteries as tselfdvancedbytheVikingraids.

By he87osbasic iteracy asat risk.n a famous assage fhisPreface

tohisEnglish ersionfGregory's astoral are,Alfred ecorded hatat his accession 871) therewere, o far s hecouldrecall,veryfewmen south fthe Humber nd nonesouth ftheThameswho couldtranslate letter rom atin oEnglish reven omprehendnEnglishthemeaning f their Latin) services.56

Thisclear tatement aypaint oogloomy picture f he ituation

53There sa valuablediscussionf he ranslator's ethodsnd motivesn D. White-lock,Prose fAlfred's eign',pp. 89-93.On theproblem f he dentityf he ransla-

tor, ee J. M. Bately,KingAlfred nd theOld English ranslationfOrosius',Anglia,lxxxviii (1970), 433-60.

54B.C.S.,573.Thispapalletter asonly reservedmongstheCanterburyrimacyforgeries,utas Professor hitelock as argued Eng.Hist.Docs. , p. 820) theearlypartseemsto be acceptableas a letter f Formosus.

55 F. M. Stenton, atinChartersf heAnglo-SaxoneriodOxford, 955),p. 40, citingB.C.S., 370,of theyear822. Evidencefor heactivityf'pagans', that s VikingsnKent n the ate-eighthnd early-ninthenturies rawnfrom .C.S., 848, 332, 335,348 and 380, is discussedn Brooks,MilitaryObligations', p. 79-80.

56 ed. H. Sweet,p. 2; translatedn Eng.Hist.Docs. , p. 818.








in Mercia and especially t Worcester,utwewouldexpectAlfredtohave knownwhether herewere ny iteratemen nWessex tself.It isdifficultotesthisasssertioniventhescarcityfninth-centuryEnglish ooks nd thedifficultyfdating r ocating hem.But somefifty-twointh-centuryhartersurvivensingle heets fparchmentin whatappearto be contemporaryrnearly ontemporaryands.No less thanforty-fourf thesewere from he archivesof ChristChurch,Canterbury,57ndamongstheset spossible o dentifyhework fnineteen cribeswhomaybe attributedo theCanterburyscriptoriumyreason fthediplomatic, he cript rthe nternal vi-dence of thecharters. or the first orty earsof the ninth entury

manyChrist hurch cribesmastered superblyalligraphic arietyof the Englishpointedminuscule, nd theirLatin was at leastadequatefor henormallyormulaicontents f charter.n the85osand86os,however,lthough few cribes ontinued oproducegoodexamples f his cript, widespread ecline ecame pparent tCan-terbury. tthe ametime herewasa deteriorationnthegrammar,whilst hespelling f Latin wordswas invadedby the nfluence fvernacular ronunciationn anunprecedentedcale.Thesedevelop-

ments oincidedwith heappearanceofa scribewhose xtant ocu-mentspanned heyears rom55to87358 nd who soon becametheprincipal cribe f heCanterbury ritingffice.t is instructivehathe wasthefirst anterburycribewhosework an be identifiedfterthesack ofCanterburyn 85i bya partof the Danish armywhichhad establishedtself t Dorestad n thepreviousyear.59We do notknow hefate fthe cathedral t Canterbury,ut t musthavebeena maintarget f heViking orce. he charter vidence uggestshattheDanishraidhad made t

necessaryo ntroduce cribes otheCan-

terburyommunity howeredemonstrablyessadequatelytrainedin theLatin language, nd in spelling nd script, han their rede-cessors. ere,at least, t would eempossible o link heVikingswiththedeclineof earning.

The last charterwritten ythisCanterburycribebelongs o the

57The evidence n which his aragraphsbased waspresentednmyunpublishedOxford . Phil.thesis he re-conquesthartersfChristhurch,anterbury1969),chapter3. The charters from the Christ Church archives are B.C.S., 3o10, 312, 318-19, 321,

326, 332, 335, 341, 348, 353, 370, 373, 378, 380-81, 384, 400, 406, 421, 442, 448-9, 467,496-7, 507, 515-16, 519, 536, 539, 562 and 576; Harmer, SelectEnglishHistoricalDocu-

ments,os. 1-5, 7, 9-io; Robertson,Anglo-Saxonharters,os. 3 and 6. The chartersfromother archives are B.C.S., 152 (confirmationof c. 845), 339, 343, 416, 451, 480,502 and 50o6.

51This scribewrote hefollowingharters:- B.S.C., 467,496-7,507 and 536,andHarmer, elect nglish istoricalocuments,os. 4 (Lufu'sconfirmationnly)and 5.

59Anglo-Saxonhronicle,.a.; Annalese tBertin,.a.850,pp. 59-6o.But incePruden-tius herereportsheEnglishvictoryi.e. Acleah) ndertheyear 850, tmaybe thatthe wholeoftheAnglo-Saxonhronicle'snnalfor 51 belongs o theearlieryear.








year 73.60 Bythat imeheappears o have beentheonly cribe ctiveat Canterbury,nd thecharter s a remarkablend pathetic ocu-ment. he scribe's rammarsnotcapableofadapting heformulae

ofa royaldiploma nto a charterby whicharchbishop nd com-munitylienated neof heir states. herearenumerous orrectionsand nterlineationsy he cribe imself;hrasesrerepeated ymis-take, thers reomitted,ndfinallyhewitnessesfan earlier rans-action are written wicewhilst hoseof the873 grantare entirelyomitted venthoughntroducedn the text.The fact hat n873themetropolitanhurch fCanterburyad torely n a man,whose ightwas apparently ailing o that he could no longer ee whathe had

written,s a vivid estimonyo thedecline nthequality f nstructiontherend to the risis f iteracy.Wemaywellbelieve hat tCanter-bury herewas noonewho couldproperlynderstand Latin etteror even thedailyworship t thebeginningfAlfred's eign.

Such thenwas thethreat,militarynd cultural, hat theDanisharmies osed; t snot urprisinghatEnglish ingdomsnddynastiesfailed r submitted,hatyoungEnglishnobles nd freemenawnoattractionn anexposed, ulnerablend nadequatemonasticife nd

that hefuturef Christian elief ndworshipookeddark.To meetthe crisisrevolutionarymeasureswere necessary nd in Alfred'skingdom wo revolutionaryoliciescan be recognized-his edu-cationalprogrammendhisburghal olicy-policiesthatwerewith-outparallel n Europeand are notlikely o have been anticipatedin theotherEnglishkingdoms.

The revolutionaryuality fthedecision o translatentoEnglish(hithertohe anguage f peech ndof dministrativendephemeraldocuments ather hanof earned nd sacredworks) hosepastoral,philosophicalnd historical orks fthe Christian athers hatwere'mostnecessaryor ll mento know'haslongbeenappreciated. he

purposen the irstnstance,sProfessor hitelocknd Professorul-

loughhaverecentlymphasized,61as toprovide corpus f difyingEnglishworksvailableboth t Alfred's ourt nd atepiscopal entres

throughouthekingdom;heywere obe usedto nstilnyoung oblesandfreemenheability o readEnglishwell.With hese ranslationsavailabletherewasfor hefirstime motive or hepious nd serious-

mindedaity oacquirea readingknowledgefEnglish, foundationonwhich clergy roficientn Latinmight e built.Alfred'snthusi-asm was thatofa man who came late and withgreatdifficultyo

60 B.C.S., 536 (British Library, Stowe Ch. 19; W. B. Sanders, FacsimilesofAnglo-Saxon Manuscripts,ii [Ordnance Survey, Southampton, 1884], no. I9).

61 D. Whitelock,ProseofAlfred's eign',pp. 68-9; D. Bullough,The educationaltradition fromAlfred toAElfric:teaching utriusqueinguae',Settimane i studiodel Centro

italianodi studi ull'altomedioevo,ix (1972), 455-60.








scholarly ursuits;we cannotbe surehow effectiveisprogrammewas,butwe canrecognizet as an attempt ot ustto make urethattherewere

aymenwho couldreadhis aws or his will or hiswritten

orders, utalso that herewere aymenwho had someunderstandingofChristian ruthsnd some nterestnsupportingtheecclesiasticalorder'.

Equallyambitiouswas Alfred'surghal olicy.Asserwritesf itiesand towns civitatesturbes)whichAlfred ad restorednd ofothersthathe had built nfreshites;he tells s, too,of heking's ifficultiesin persuading isbishops, aldormen nd noblesto fulfil heking'sorders,nd offortscastella)whichwereunfinishedhentheDanish

attacks ame.62 he Chronicle reserves record f ucha half-builtfort ntheestuary ftheriver imen Rother)whenthe argearmyof892 arrived n East Kent. This was presumablyne ofthose nAsser'smindwhenhewaswritingn thefollowing ear.A crashbuild-ingprogrammeuring he centralyearsofAlfred's eign, heyearsof ull nViking ctivityrom79to892,was thereforeartofAlfred'swork.Butit is noteasyto identifyhe fortresseshat he built. Theneedfor ortifiedentres sa defencendrefuge gainstViking ttack

hadbeen wellunderstood,nparts fEnglandat least, incethe astyearsof theeighth entury. y thebeginning f Alfred's eign llestatesnmidland nd southern nglandhad longbeenrequired oprovidemen operformborough-work'.63e must hereforeewareattributingo Alfred orts hichhappento be first ecordedn hisreign r inthatof his son.Archaeological atingoftheWest Saxonboroughssseldom recise,ndtheresa dangerous endencyo abelfortss Alfredian' here, s atWareham,Wallingfordnd Lydford,

the archaeological evidence only establishesdefences as post-Roman.64Weshouldnotrule ut thepossibilityhat omeof heWestSaxonboroughshatwere nexistencentheearly enth entury ereofDarkAge origin, nd thatotherswerethework fAlfred'smme-diatepredecessors.

But thestrategyf theViking rmyof865 had invalidated hepolicyofbuildingfortifiedentres frefugeFluchtburgen);orthelargeDanisharmy ad seized hese oroughss t needed hem, eforethe ocal

populationould flee here.Alfred'solutionwas to instal

62 Life fAlfred,d. Stevenson, p. 77-8.63 Brooks,MilitaryObligations', 9-84-64 'Alfredian' atingfor hese ortss asserted yC. C. RaleghRadford,The later

pre-conquestoroughsnd their efences',Medieval rchaeology,iv (1970), 81-102,andbyD. M. Wilson,DefencentheViking ge',ProblemsnEconomicnd ocialArchaeo-logy,d. G. Sieveking,. H. Longworthnd K. E. Wilson, London, i976), pp. 439-40.But tLydfordhe nly erminusost uemsprovided y sherd f mportedmediter-raneanpotteryfthe sixth entury,nd at Wallingfordnd Warehambya handfulofbodysherds hatmayas well be DarkAgeas MiddleSaxon.








garrisonsntheWestSaxonboroughs. he record fDanishattacksonAlfred's ingdom rom 85onwards hows hat from hesiegeofRochestern thatyear t was no longerpossibleforDanish armies

to slip nto'theboroughs fWessex.Rochestern 885, Exeter nda fortnnorth evon (?Pilton) n 893, and Chichestern 894,werefoundto be defendedby burhwara,hat is by inhabitants f theboroughs.n 893,theChronicle ellsus,Alfred ad arranged hathalfhisarmy hould be alwaysat home and halfon serviceexceptfor hosewho had toguardtheboroughs' butan aemmonnumie aburga ealdancolden).5he implicationeems o be that heboroughgarrisons erepermanentnd did not hare heking'snewarrange-

mentforhistroops obe relieved yfresh nes. Be thatas itmay,by hatyear hegarrisons ere n importantewelementnthemili-tary ituation.Men from henearbyboroughshelpedto checktheDanishparties hatwenton sorties rom heir amps n Kent; andlater n893 an army fking's hegnswho werethen t home at thefortresses'et out from he boroughs f Somerset,Wiltshire ndEnglishMercia and besieged nddefeated heDanisharmy tButt-ington. t wouldappear thatbythis imeking's hegnshad homes

in theboroughs,hat s theyhad someform ffixed esidence here.Detailsofthearrangementsor hegarrisoningwaru) nd repair(wealstilling)ftheWestSaxon boroughs re containedn a famousdocumentof Edward the Elder's reignknownas the BurghalHidage.66Hereit sprovided hatoneman from veryhide of andwastogofor hedefence f ome hirtyWestSaxonboroughs,makinga totalgarrison f27,o7 I men. It has not been sufficientlyppreciatedwhat n amazingfigurehis s. We do notof ourseknow hepopula-tion fAlfredian essex. n

DomesdayBook herecorded ural

opu-lationofthe hires overed ytheBurghalHidage fortss 94,681. fwe acceptthemultiplierffiveforeach household,fwe includetenants-in-chiefnd sub-tenants,nd ifwe allow foromissionsndfor n urbanpopulation fc.50,000,we reach totalpopulation orthis reaof .56o,ooo n Io86.67Wemightxpect hat hepopulation

65 Anglo-Saxonhronicle,A' s.a. 894,ed. Earle and Plummer,, 84.66 Anglo-Saxonharters,d.Robertson,p.246-8.Thevariationsnthehidagefigures

attributedo differentoroughsn thedifferent anuscriptsre discussed n D. Hill,'The BurghalHidage: theestablishmentfa text',Medieval rchaeology,iii (i969),84-92.

67 My figures, hich nclude ll the hires outh fthe Thames (exceptKent) plusOxfordshirendBuckinghamshire,redrawn rom . C. Darbyand R. WelldonFinn,TheDomesdayeographyfSouth-WestnglandCambridge,1967), and H. C. Darbyand E. M. J.Campbell, TheDomesday eographyfSouth-Eastngland Cambridge,1962).For theproblemsfestimatingotalpopulations rom omesday vidence, eeH. C. Darby, Domesdayngland,Cambridge1977), pp. 87-91,and theworks herecited. M. Postan ( TheMedievalEconomyndSociety,London, 1972), pp. 27-9) has sug-








ofWessex adgrownubstantiallyuring hetenthnd eleventhen-turies. uteven fithad remainedtatic,heBurghalHidage garrisonswould

representlmost one in fiveofthe able-bodiedadult male

population.When we recallthat t sonlywithgeneral onscriptionand the two worldwars of thiscentury hat modern states haveachieved ucha proportionftheirmanpower nder rms,we maybegintoappreciate heheavyburden hatAlfredought oplaceonhissubjects.68

Suchfiguresmust, fcourse, e usedwithreserve. istoriansmayhave underestimatedhepopulation fEnglandrepresentedytheDomesday tatistics.he BurghalHidage does notstatewhether he

menwhowent from hehides to defend heboroughs ervedper-manentlyrmerely elped oprovide skeletonarrison. utmodernarchaeological nvestigationf theWest Saxon boroughs uggeststhatweshould ake eriouslyhehints fthe Chronicle hat he menwho held theboroughs'werepermanent esidents,nd thatking'sthegnswere ettledat home' ntheboroughs.Manyseasonsofout-standing ork t Winchesteraveestablished hat hat itywas trans-formedn the ateryearsoftheninth entury y the creation fa

new,elaborate ndmoreor lessregular treet-system.o thesingleexistingHighStreet'were ddedtwobackstreets, ore han ixteencross-streetsnd an intra-muraltreet unninground he entire ir-cuitof the walls. As Professor iddlehas convincinglyrgued,theeffortnvolved n laying8.6 kilometresfstreetwithabout 8,oootonnes fknappedflintss inconceivable nless he ntention as tosettle substantialopulationnthe own.69The installation f gar-risonof 2,400men-the Burghal Hidage figure or Winchester-

couldhaveprovided n occasionfor eplanninghetownon a scalethat Professor iddlehas shown o have takenplace, as well as themanpower o achieve t.

We do notyetknowwhetherWinchester,he argest f heBurghalHidage forts, as typical r exceptional. rregularitiesn the street-plansbothofWinchesternd of other argeWest Saxon boroughssuggesthatwe shouldhesitate efore ccepting hat hey reall theproduct fa deliberate reation, n exercisen militarynd urban

planning.None the lessthe

growingvidencefor

treet-plansith

gested hat ll these stimatesmay eriouslynderestimateheEnglish opulationnthe ate-eleventhentury.

61 Britisharmed forced in 1940 totalled 2,273,000 and rose to a peak of 5,098, Iooin 1945, .e. fromI in 5 to I in 2.5 of theable-bodied dult malepopulation. ee D.Butler and A. Sloman, British olitical Facts

1goo-1975 (4th ed., London, 1975), p. 371.69 M. Biddle ndD. Hill, Late Saxonplannedtowns',Antiquariesournal,i (1971),

70-85; M. Biddle, Towns', TheArchaeologyfAnglo-Saxonngland,d. D. M. Wilson(London, 1976), pp. 124-34-








elementskin to that of Winchesternd for heregular ay-out ftimber ouses nd ancillary uildings,makes t ncreasinglyifficultto resist he conclusion

utforward

yBiddleand Hill that Alfred

was attemptingo establish owns nd to create, n a fewyears, nurbantradition nd economy.70ertainly here s a greatcontrastbetween he izeofmany ftheWestSaxonboroughsnd the seriesof iny ircular ampsofrefuge,hecastellaecensfacta,rectednthe88os by Alfred's llies in Flandersas defences gainsttheVikingarmies. Much morearchaeologicalwork s needed n otherWestSaxon boroughs eforewe can be surethatAlfred an be creditedwith a major colonising nterprise, significantedistributionf

population romhe ountrysideoessentiallyewtowns. utalreadywe can see the remarkableizeoftheBurghalHidage garrisonsndof heWestSaxonboroughss a radicaland effectiveesponseothemilitaryroblemsresentedythelarge'Danisharmies f he econdhalf ftheninth entury.WestSaxonkingswould not have neededto bullyand persuade27,000men to commit hemselvesn somecapacity o layout,repair nd defend omethirty oroughs,fthelargestrmy hat heywouldeverneed to resist mounted o nomore

thana fewhundredmen.We mayconcludetherefore,hatthecontemporaryvidenceforthe scale ofViking rmies nd for heir mpacton Englishpoliticsandculture eeds obe taken eriously. fcoursenEngland s else-where, ontemporarieserecapable ofexaggeratingor heir wnpurposes; ndof course hey esortedo rough stimates hentheydid not have access to detailed nformation.ut wheretheycon-sistentlyistinguishedertainrmies s large nes,where he trategy

oftheselargearmies' tselfmplies argenumbers, here hey ara-lysed and overran ong-establishednd wealthy kingdoms ndthreatenedhe urvival fChristianity,e do no service ohistoricalunderstandingya blanketminimizingnterpretation.o do so istomisunderstandlfred's ask nd his achievement.

70 Biddle nd Hill, PlannedTowns',p. 82-5. There s a morerecent eview ftheevidence n Biddle, Towns' (see note69 above).

71H. vanWerweke,De oudste urchtenan de vlaamse n de zeeuwsekust',Mede-

delingen an de kon.vlaamseAcad. voor ett.enSchoneKunsten anBelgie (kl. Letteren), xvii

(1965), fasc.i; D'Haenens, InvasionsnormandesnBelgique, pp. 116-24.

Documents

England in the Ninth Century the Crucible of Defeat