|
•Donald
II of Scotland dies fighting the Norse; he is succeeded by Constantine II.
•
Aethelwold, son of former king Aethelred, challenges King
Edward the Elder's position by occupying the royal estates of Wimbourne
and Christchurch. His stand fails and he escapes to the Danish kingdom of
Northumbria. |
|
•Aethelwold
returns with a Danish fleet to press his claims to rule Wessex. |
|
•Aethelwold,
having ravaged parts of English Mercia
and Wessex is
killed in the Battle of Holme (site unknown), between his Danish allies,
including an army from East Anglia, and
Edward the Elder. |
| | |
•
Constantine II, king of the Scots, defeats the Danes at Strathearn. The
victory stems the advance of the Norse in Scotland. |
| | | | | | | | |
•
The war between the English and the Danish settlers begins again when a
combined army of West Saxons and Mercians attacks Danish Northumbria. |
|
•5
Aug: Battle of Tettenhall, Staffordshire; Edward
the Elder defeats Northumbrian Danes who had been raiding in Mercia.
Halfdan, King of York, is killed. The reduction of Danish Northumbria allows
Edward
to expand his power into East Anglia and the Danish midlands. |
|
•Aethelred
of Mercia dies. His widow Aethelfleda, daughter of Alfred
and sister of Edward
the Elder, governs the kingdom, becoming known as ‘the Lady of the Mercians’.
She extends the system of fortifying key towns and vantage points adopted
by her father.
•
Edward
occupies the Mercian towns of London and Oxford. |
|
•Edward
builds forts along the Mercian border with Danish East Anglia and increases
the fortifications of London. |
| | |
•Oct:
Edward
the Elder moves against Danelaw.
|
|
•
Edward
continues his campaign against the Danes in the midlands, taking Bedford.
|
| | |
•The
Mercian army captures Derby, one of the five Danish boroughs.
•Battle
of Tempsford: Edward
and Aethelfleda launch a combined attack against the Danes, storming the
fortified camp of Tempsford (nr Bedford) and killing Guthrum II, the king
of East Anglia. His armies continue their resistance, despite defeats including
a battle at Maldon, before submitting to Edward.
East Anglia falls to him. |
|
•Aethelfleda
of Mercia takes Leicester but dies soon after. Edward
allows her daughter to take her place, as nominal ruler of Mercia.
•
The kings of Gwynedd and Dyfed also submit to Edward.
•
The remaining towns of the five boroughs, Nottingham and Lincoln, fall to
Edward.
|
|
•
Ragnald, a Viking from Ireland, takes advantage of Northumbrian weakness
in capturing York, becoming King of Northumbria.
•
Edward
takes control of Mercia himself, ending its independence. |
|
•King
Edward receives the submissions of Ragnald of York, the kings of the
Scots and Welsh, and of all English and Danish peoples. |
|
•Ragnald,
the Norse king of York, dies and his kingdom passes to his cousin, Sihtric. |
| | | | |
•17
July: Edward
the Elder dies. Athelstan,
his son, is recognised as his successor in Wessex
and Mercia. |
|
•
4 Sept: Athelstan
is crowned at Kingston. |
|
•
30 Jan:Sihtric, king of York, marries a sister of Athelstan's,
thus allying the kingdoms of Wessex
and Northumbria.
•
Athelstan marries another sister to Hugh, duke of the Franks.
| |
•12
July: Penrith Cumberland; Athelstan
is recognised as overlord by the Kings of Scotland and Strathclyde.
•
Athelstan
takes advantage of the death of Sihtric to capture York and bring the Northumbrian
kingdom under his own control. He becomes the first king of Wessex
to rule so large a kingdom. |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
•Battle
of Brunanburgh: Athelstan
defeats a coalition of Scots, Strathclyde Welsh and Irish Norse, confirming
his position as the dominant ruler in Britain. |
| | |
•Athelstan
assembles a fleet to assist Louis of the West Franks, the first time an
English king has helped a continental ally in this way. The fleet is not
active in the campaign which follows.
•
27 Oct: King
Athelstan dies, to be succeeded by his brother Edmund.
•
Olaf Guthfrithson, the Norse King of Dublin who had failed in his campaign
of 937, captures York. |
|
•Olaf
Guthfrithson, raids throughout the midlands. King
Edmund agrees a treaty, brokered by the Archbishops of York and Canterbury,
by which Olaf is given much of the Danelaw
territories.
•Dunstan
becomes Abbot of Glastonbury. |
|
•
Olaf Guthfrithson dies and his kingdom passes to Olaf Sihtricson. |
|
•Edmund
regains the land lost to Olaf Guthfrithson in 940. A contemporary poem by
a Dane of the region celebrates release from Norse domination. |
|
•
Constantine II, king of Scots, abdicates to retire to a monastic life and
is succeeded by his cousin Malcolm I. |
|
•
Edmund
captures York and Northumbria. |
|
•Attempting
to extend his power northwards, Edmund
conquers Strathclyde (including Cumberland and Westmorland) and grants it
to his ally, Malcolm of Scotland. |
|
•
26 May: King
Edmund is killed at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire while defending
one of his servants from Leofa, an exiled thief. He is succeeded by his
brother Eadred. |
|
•Northumbrian
secessionists led by Wulfstan, Archbishop of York, choose Eric Bloodaxe,
the deposed king of Norway and son of King Harold Fairhair, as their leader. |
|
•Eadred
forces the Northumbrians to end their support for Eric Bloodaxe. |
|
•(or
950) Hywel the Good, King of Deheubarth, Gwynned, Powys and Seisyllwg, dies.
His kingdom now collapses. |
| |
