850

851

852

853

854

855

856

857

858

859

860

861

862

863

864

865

866

867

868

869

870

871

872

873

874

875

876

877

878

879

880

881

882

883

884

885

886

887

888

889

890

891

892

893

894

895

896

897

898

899

 
British Isles © History Bookshop.com                 British Isles                 British Isles                 British Isles                 British Isles                   < back
A Danish force of 350 ships overwinters for the first time in Thanet, Kent. Danish attacks on Canterbury and London put the Mercian king to flight. The Danes are then defeated by Aethelwulf of Wessex at a place the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers to as Aclea.
In the first naval battle in recorded English history, Aethelstan, the Kentish under-king, defeats a Danish naval force off Sandwich, seizing nine ships.
  Burgred, King of Mercia, asks for and receives King Aethelwulf of Wessex's help to subject the Welsh. Burgred marries Aethelwulf's daughter.
Once again a Danish force overwinters in Kent, this time in Sheppey.
Olaf the White is recognised as overlord by the Vikings and Danes in Ireland and establishes his capital in Dublin.
  Aethelwulf goes to Rome taking his young son Alfred with him. Another son, Aethelbald, governs in his absence.
Edmund becomes king of East Anglia.
On Aethelwulf's return from Rome he visits the court of Charles the Bald, the king of the West Franks. On Oct 1, Aethelwulf marries Charles's 13 year old daughter Judith, at Verberie-sur-Oise. When Aethelwulf arrives back in England he learns that his son Aethelbald and some of the Wessex nobility do not want to receive him as king. Rather than fight a civil war he divides his kingdom, giving Wessex to his son and taking Kent and SE England for himself. 13 Jan: Aethelwulf, former king of Wessex, dies and Kent and SE England pass to his son Aethelberht. Aethelbald, Aethelwulf's eldest surviving son and King of Wessex, marries his father's widow.
Kenneth MacAlpin, 'first King of Scotland', dies. He is succeeded by his brother, Donald I.
  King Aethelbald dies and the West Saxon kingdom of Wessex, Kent and other parts of SE England, is reunited under Aethelberht.
A Danish force destroys Winchester, but is repulsed by Earl Osric.
  Constantine I becomes king of Scotland, succeeding Donald I.
St Swithin, the bishop of Winchester, dies.
Aed Finnliath becomes the high king of Ireland.
   A great Danish army arrives in East Anglia, not to raid, but to occupy. They stay in East Anglia for 12 months, strengthening their base and gathering supplies.
King Aethelberht of Wessex dies and Aethelred, his brother, becomes king.
1 Nov: the Danish army moves north and takes York. The civil-warring Northumbrians, finally unite to attack the Danes in York. The two rivals for the kingdom are killed, along with eight earldormen. A peace is bought, but it doesn't prevent much of the north from savage destruction by the Danes. Libraries, schools and churches are destroyed and along with many manuscripts.
Scotland too is ravaged by Danes from Ireland under Olaf the White.
The Danish force, now in Nottingham, is faced by a united army of Mercians, led by Burgred, and West-Saxons, led by Aethelred and his brother Alfred. The Danes decide not to engage and Mercia buys a peace.
Battle of Killineery: Aed Finnliath, high king of Ireland, defeats the Irish Danes and Norwegians.
The Danes move back to East Anglia and set up a base in Thetford. They defeat Edmund, king of East Anglia, at Hoxne in Suffolk. 20 Nov: Edmund is killed, apparently shot through with Danish arrows while tied to a tree. His memory becomes a cult and his place of burial (Bury St. Edmunds) a shrine.
Olaf the White, the Danish king of Dublin, attacks the British kingdom of Strathclyde capturing Dumbarton and forcing King Artgal to flee.
Jan: Battle of Ashdown; a notable English victory which forces the Danes back to their camp in Reading. Two weeks later the English are defeated at Basing.
April: King Aethelred dies and his brother Alfred becomes king of the West Saxons.
May: King Alfred is defeated at Wilton.
The Danish army over-winters in London.
   The Danes gain control of Mercia, forcing its king, Burgred, into exile in Rome and appointing one of his thegns, Ceowulf, as their client in his place.
After campaigning as a unit since 865 the Danish force divides into two: the kings Guthrum,Oscytel and Anund lead one section and Halfdan the other.
Halfdan settles some of his men permanently in the area around York.
Guthrum,Oscytel and Anund attack Wessex.
The Norse earldom of Orkney is founded by Harold Haarfager.
Battle of Dollar (about this time): King of Scots Constantine I is defeated by Halfdan, the Danish ruler of York, and all of northern Scotland falls under Norse control.
After a year of campaigning against Wessex the Danish force withdraws to Mercia, which it partitions (877), leaving only a third in the hands of Ceowulf and retaining direct control of the rest. They begin to make permanent settlement there. (or 876) Battle of Forgan: Constantine I is defeated by Norsemen and is succeeded by Aed, his brother, as the Scottish king. Guthrum attacks Chippenham, where Alfred's army is celebrating Christmas. Alfred retreats, leaving much of Wessex in Danish hands. From the Isle of Athelney he continues to harry the Danes.
Battle of Edington, near Chippenham: Alfred wins a decisive victory. By The Peace of Wedmore Guthrum leaves Wessex and is baptised.
Aed, king of Scots, is killed in battle with rivals at Strathallan.
The Danes under Guthrum move into East Anglia with the intention of permanent settlement.
Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia now have permanent Danish settlements and the Danes form the most powerful community in these kingdoms. Only Wessex has remained independent and outside this territory known as Danelaw.
Rhodri the Great dies. He was king of Powys, Gwynedd and Seisyllwg.     June: Most of the Viking force in France moves on to England.   London, a Mercian town occupied by a Danish garrison, is taken by King Alfred. It becomes a symbol of resistance to Danish rule and Alfred is recognised as overlord of all the English, even those beyond of Wessex.
A treaty between Alfred and Guthrum defines the land under Danish control and the legal standing of the English within it.
   Battle of Dundurn: Donald II becomes the first king to be known by contemporaries as king of Scotland (ri Alban) after defeating and killing Giric I and reuniting the Picts and Scots in one kingdom. However, the kingdom was only a small part of modern-day Scotland.    A large Danish army under Hæsten, having been driven from the Low Countries, lands in Kent and receives support from the Danish populations of Northumbria and East Anglia. It attacks Wessex but is unable to break the defenses of the kingdom.
Alfred begins his translations of Latin works into Old English.
Hæsten is defeated at Farnham and Bemfleet. Asser writes the Life of King Alfred. Alfred traps and captures the Danish fleet on the River Lea north of London, forcing the Danes to retreat from the London area. The Danish army which had landed in 892 disperses, much of it to Northumbria.    26 Oct: King Alfred dies. His son, Edward the Elder, becomes king.  
Europe                 Europe                 Europe                 Europe                 Europe                   < back
  Danish forces attack Aquitaine, Rouen and elsewhere in France. 28 May: the Saracen, Masar, is executed by Louis II: Sicilian Saracens take revenge by occupying Calabria.   Guthrum defeats Horik in Denmark, leading to the disintegration of Horik's kingdom.   Vikings sail up the Seine and establish a camp from which to raid into France.
28 Dec: Vikings burn Paris.
   The Saracens complete their conquest of Sicily. A Viking attack on Constantinople is beaten off. 28 May: Paris is again burnt by Viking raiders.
Pisa is captured by Vikings.
The cathedral at Rheims is dedicated. Count Baldwin I is given a 'march' to hold against the Vikings; it becomes Flanders.   Constantinople is laid siege to by Vikings coming from Russia.
The Khazar peoples convert to Judaism about this time.
Louis II leads his third campaign against the Saracens of Sicily.   The Byzantine Empire now includes all the Balkans. Saracen forces conquer Malta.       12 Aug: Louis II, Frankish Emperor, dies   Charles the Bald pays off the Danes who still occupy land around the River Seine.
  The double cathedral at Santiago de Compostela is begun.   3rd Aug: a Viking force is defeated at Saucourt by Louis III.
Vikings attack many towns along the Rhine.
A Viking force moves into eastern France, having been bought off in Germany by Charles the Fat.    A Viking force besieges Paris. Resistance is led by Count Odo. Charles the Fat buys them off and they move into Burgundy.    13 Jan: death of Charles the Fat. His empire is split up. Odo becomes king of the West Franks.      28 Jan: Odo is overthrown( but lives on) and Charles the Simple is crowned King of the West Franks.     Odo regains the French throne, pardoning Charles the Simple. 1 Jan: Odo dies and is succeeded by Charles the Simple. King Arnulf of Germany dies.  
Rest of World                 Rest of World                 Rest of World                 Rest of World                 Rest of World                   < back
                    The oldest surviving printed work, a Chinese translation of a Buddhist text, dates from this time.   Al-Hakam, writes a history of the Muslim conquest of Egypt, N Africa and Spain.         Nepal becomes independent of Tibet.
Foreign traders in Canton are killed.
           Taketori Monogatari: The Story of the Bamboo Gatherer; a narrative written in Japanese.           
 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 879 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899