1002–1012
St Brice’s Day and Thorkell’s army
On 13 November 1002, St Brice’s Day, King Æthelred orders the killing of the Danes in England, told that they plan to take his life and his kingdom. Historians read it as aimed at recent settlers and at mercenaries who have gone over to the raiders. At Oxford the Danes take refuge in the church of St Frideswide, which burns when the townspeople try to drive them out. The skeletons of 37 young men found at St John’s College, Oxford, in 2008 are thought to be victims.
Runestone U 344 at Orkesta church in Uppland, raised for Ulf, who took three payments in England, from Tosti, from Thorkell and from CnutWikimedia Commons, Berig, CC BY 2.5 (U 344, Orkesta.JPG)
Sweyn Forkbeard returns in 1003, sacks Exeter and burns Wilton. In 1004 he burns Norwich and Thetford, and the East Anglians under Ulfcytel fight him so hard that the Danes say they never met worse fighting in England. A famine sends the army home in 1005, but a fleet comes back in 1006 and is paid 36,000 pounds to leave.
In August 1009 a Danish army under Thorkell the Tall and his brother Hemming lands at Sandwich. East Kent pays 3,000 pounds, and London beats off several attacks. In May 1010 Thorkell’s men land at Ipswich and meet Ulfcytel at Ringmere. The Chronicle says that the English break when Thurcytel Mare’s-head flees and only the men of Cambridgeshire stand, and the Danes go on to burn Thetford and Cambridge.
The memorial to Archbishop Ælfheah, killed on 19 April 1012, in the church of St Alfege at GreenwichWikimedia Commons, Doyle of London, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Memorial to Saint Alfege in the Church of Saint Alfege, Greenwich.jpg)
In September 1011 the army takes Canterbury after a siege of two weeks and carries off Archbishop Ælfheah. He refuses to be ransomed, and on 19 April 1012 drunken Vikings at Greenwich pelt him with bones and kill him, in spite of Thorkell’s attempt to stop them. The English pay 48,000 pounds, the army disperses, and Thorkell enters Æthelred’s service with 45 ships.
Sources
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, versions C, D and E, 1002 to 1012.
- Ian Howard, Swein Forkbeard’s Invasion and the Danish Conquest of England, 991–1017 (2003).
- Levi Roach, Æthelred the Unready (2016).
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