A Viking invasion is met on the English coast by an Anglo-saxon army
In 991, a marauding Viking army came up against fierce Anglo-saxon resistance
According to the Anglo-saxon Chronicle entry for the year 991, that summer, Olaf Tryggvason (later king of Norway) sailed with a fleet of 93 ships and raided the English coast. He began in Kent, raiding Folkestone and then Sandwich, and then moved on to Ipswich in Suffolk. After overrunning Ipswich, the fleet moved onwards to Maldon in Essex, sailing up the River Blackwater and establishing a base at the island of Northey in early August.
Northey was only accessible to the mainland via a tidal causeway and so was a safe harbour for the Vikings. Not that they needed to be overly wary: no one had opposed their raids so far. At Maldon, however, they faced opposition in the form of the Ealdorman of Essex, Byrhtnoth, who gathered there with his retinue of huscarls (his heorthwerod or hearth-warriors) and the fyrd, the muster of able-bodied men of Essex required to serve in the army when called. Byrhtnoth brought this force together on the shore opposite the tidal causeway to Northey.
The Battle of Maldon is remarkable in the history of Anglo-saxon and Viking warfare, indeed in the history of the Dark Ages, because we know so much about it. We have several sources that have come down to us, in particular an anonymous poem that survives almost complete and that must have been written close to the events of the battle. This fragmentary poem, known unsurprisingly as The
Battle Of Maldon, is the best source we have on shieldwall warfare in the entire period. By reading the poem closely we can tell a great
“RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF ESSEX, IF BYRHTNOTH DID NOT FACE THE VIKING THREAT AT MALDON HE WOULD NEED TO SHADOW THEM AND CONFRONT THEM ELSEWHERE”
deal about what happened on the shores of the River Blackwater that August afternoon in 991. Of course, there are those who consider it to be a poetic exaggeration of the battle, and some even maintain it’s a fictional account complete with speeches, heroes and villains. But the details of the poem, where we can corroborate them, are remarkably accurate and if we have no reason to reject the other details, we should not be so quick to reject the work as ‘mere poetry’. The speeches may well reflect some of what was actually said on the day and add to the evocation of the battle, the mindset of the participants and contemporary feelings in the kingdom. The poem also includes several names of the warriors who fell in the battle, as well as criticism of the policy that was enacted soon after the battle by King Aethelred II of paying the Vikings not to ravage Anglo-saxon lands. (These payments became known as Danegeld). In The Battle Of Maldon, a Viking demand for payment is met with scorn by Byrhtnoth before the battle is joined.
In the past, there has been much debate on the location of the battle and its other details, but the island of Northey, with its tidal causeway that perfectly fits the details of the poem, is where it took place. There has also been debate about Byrhtnoth’s decision to fight. He could, of course, have allowed the Vikings to ravage Maldon (it was the site of a royal mint) and depart. Byrhtnoth is also criticised for actually fighting (the poem claims he was “tricked” by the Vikings into fighting). It is entirely possible that Byrhtnoth was outnumbered and so, the critics contend, what did he hope to achieve? Putting all that aside, the army had been mustered (a process that must have been begun some time before the Vikings reached Northey) and the decision to fight taken. Whatever its merits, Byrhtnoth followed that decision through to its terrible end. Byrhtnoth, as Ealdorman of Essex, was one of the most senior and important men in Aethelred’s kingdom. He was approaching 60 and so could be counted as one of the king’s senior advisers. Responsible for all of Essex, if he did not face the Viking threat at Maldon he would need to shadow them and confront them elsewhere.
“THE VIKINGS HAD IN EXCESS OF 3,500 MEN, ALL OF THEM EXPERIENCED, WELL-EQUIPPED AND BATTLE-HARDENED”
The army that Byrhtnoth brought together consisted of his own huscarl retinue of perhaps a few hundred warriors, all of whom would have been experienced and battle-hardened. Added to these were the fyrd of Essex (we also have evidence of men from as far afield as Northumbria in the army). These men would have been of varying quality and experience.
The fyrd required that a certain number of men per area of land were obliged to fight. A hide was between 60 and 120 acres (15-30 modern acres), depending on the quality of the land, and if one man was provided by each hide this would have given Byrhtnoth 2,750 men (550 if there was only one man per five hides). We should not assume that Byrhtnoth had a general fyrd where every able-bodied man served. Facing them at Northey were the crews of the 93 Viking ships. If we assume an average crew of 40 men per ship, the Vikings had in excess of 3,500 men, all of them experienced, well-equipped and battle-hardened. Byrhtnoth dismounted and placed himself in the centre with his retinue. His horse was to be held close behind the Anglo-saxon line. Most battles of this era were infantry-only affairs and men dismounted to fight; cavalry was used to pursue fleeing enemies or to ride to battle.
Byrhtnoth marched his army to the landward bank of the causeway to Northey, which in 991 was approximately 110 metres across (the distance is double that today). It still follows the path it did a millennia ago and it remains so narrow that only three men abreast can cross it. The deep muddy banks on either side are extremely treacherous and impassable. What’s more, the path is completely submerged at high tide. Reconstructions of tidal patterns allow us to estimate that the battle was fought from approximately 4.30 in the afternoon of 10 August. When the two armies first faced one another, the tide was high. A Viking messenger came forward and demanded payment to make the Vikings go away. Byrhtnoth rejected this idea utterly and replied that the two sides would meet in battle. “We must decide between point and edge, grim war,” he says in The Battle Of
Maldon. Byrhtnoth’s defiant words are taken as criticism of paying Danegeld, which was the policy that was followed soon after the battle. Byrhtnoth brought his army to the water’s edge and there was an exchange of archery (something that’s rarely emphasised in accounts of Viking-era warfare).
As the tide began to ebb, the Vikings started to cross the causeway. Byrhtnoth sent three men forward (named as Alfhere, Maccus and Wulfstan) to defend the causeway. Some historians are suspicious of this detail (it has echoes of Horatius and the bridge from Roman history), but looking at the causeway today it’s easy to see how three determined men could prevent a much larger force from crossing.
At this point, the Vikings broke off and called out asking for safe passage across the water so they could cross over and face the men of Essex in a fair fight. The poet says that this was a trick (‘lytegian’ in Old English) by the Vikings. Byrhtnoth decided to grant their request and allowed them to cross. This was the critical decision of the battle and the result (and fate of England) hung on it. Byrhtnoth’s choice is criticised by the poet (and has been by many historians since). The word the poet uses to explain Byrhtnoth’s decision is ‘ofermode’, usually translated as ‘overweening pride’. This is a stinging rebuke – the only other figure in
Old English literature guilty of ofermode is the devil. As we have seen, however, the decision to fight the Vikings at Maldon had already been taken – the army was mustered and allowing the Vikings to cross and fight would settle the issue. If that decision was not taken they would sail away and the fight would be delayed until another day. Byrhtnoth must have thought he had a reasonable chance of success in a battle with the Vikings and this implies that the numbers on each side must have been close; perhaps the fleet had lost some ships, which had returned to Scandinavia.
The Anglo-saxon army would have withdrawn from the water’s edge to allow the Vikings to march across and form up, and the Anglosaxons didn’t attack the Vikings before they were fully assembled. When the two armies were ready, the battle began. Both sides made their war-cries and advanced towards each other, each man’s shield touching his neighbour’s to make a wall of shields. Javelins were thrown and archers were busy behind the front lines, loosing their arrows into the enemy’s ranks. In this initial encounter both sides were evenly matched. There followed a lull in the contact between the shieldwalls, and challenges for single combat were issued and accepted on each side. Byrhtnoth himself accepted a challenge and advanced towards
07 BATTLE IS JOINED
The two sides clash and in the initial part of the fighting the combat seems to be even. After a time, the shieldwalls separate and a series of challenges for single combat are issued and accepted. Byrhtnoth himself engages in a single-combat and is slain. As soon as he falls, some men jump on to his horse (kept just behind the Anglosaxon lines) and flee.
08 FIGHT OR FLIGHT
The majority of the Anglo-saxon army witness someone fleeing on Byrhtnoth’s horse and assume that it’s Byrhtnoth. A rout of the Anglo-saxon army follows as most men flee the battlefield. All those who are left are either Byrhtnoth’s huscarl bodyguard or those who saw him fall and know he didn’t flee.
09 HEARTS MUST BE HARDER
The remainder of the Anglosaxon army is now vastly outnumbered by the Vikings. Nonetheless, they maintain their formation and withstand the Viking attacks.
The Battle of Maldon describes how the Anglo-saxons who remain fight to avenge the death of their lord and lay down their lives for him. The Anglo-saxons are whittled down until none remain alive.
10 A VICTORY OF SORTS
The battle lasts several hours and ends in near-darkness. The Vikings don’t pursue the Anglo-saxons who had fled back to Maldon. It’s possible that the Vikings had sustained too many casualties to pursue their foe and so return to their ships. First, perhaps out of spite, they decapitate the body of Byrhtnoth. Soon after, the Vikings again demand payment to leave England’s shores and are given £10,000 to depart.