A Chronological History of Britain
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It’s January of 871, still…
A tremendous amount has happened in the last fortnight, and the year had barely even begun. People tend to compress the past… especially periods they are unfamiliar with… into short blurbs. It’s why many people are completely willing to accept minute by minute accounts of World War II, but balk at the idea of spending more than an episode per decade during the Anglo Saxon era.
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“God, in his goodness and justice so much offended by our sins, had thus worn down the lands and kingdoms of the Christians.”
That’s a quote from Prudentius of Troyes, who was struggling to explain why the Franks met abysmal failure every time they fought the Scandinavians. While that quote came from from across the channel, and was written years before the disaster at the Battle of Reading, it gives us the lens that the Christians of Western Europe used to view these events. It’s surprising how many writers from this period, when looking at these events, look to the Bible for an explanation and see things in terms of divine retribution or divine intervention. That Biblical perspective is something I want you to keep in mind when you hear the story I’m going to tell you today.
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When we left off, the Danes had occupied Reading, fortified it for several days, and then sent a detachment West along the river Kennet… In response, Ealdorman AEthelwulf of Berkshire had raised the local Fyrd, killed one of the Danish lords, and for the first time in a very long time, at Englefield, the West Saxons defeated the Danes in the field of battle.
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When we left off the Great Heathen Army had conquered East Anglia, established their dominion, and then a good portion of it returned to their territory of Jorvik. However, not everyone returned north or stayed in East Anglia. Their leaders, Ivarr and Ubbe… brothers in battle and sons of Ragnarr, departed. Some accounts state that Ivarr died, though records seem to indicate he actually returned to his lands in Ireland and continued the fight there. As for Ubbe… it’s hard to say what happened there. In fact, the experts aren’t even 100% sure that he was involved in the defeat of East Anglia… he might have left before long before the battle even started. The tale of Ubbe for us, stops here. We never learned what happened to him, some later sources mention another army that was campaigning in the West and in Devon in the late 870s… and some make the argument that the western Danish force was being lead by Ubbe… however, that is anything but a firm fact. It’s genuinely difficult to know exactly what became of Ubbe.