Educational Thread about Educational Stuff.

[Emil]

The Great Heathen Army and the Invasion of England

Around 865, the Danish King Ragnar Loðbrók was captured by King Ælla, an English King of Northumbria. By legend, he was then thrown into Ællas pit of snakes and died. His sons were infuriated and in revenge, began assembling an army.

His sons are still legendary Vikings. Halfdan Ragnarrson, Sigurd Snake-In-The-Eye and Ivar the Boneless were all sons of Ragnar and they soon led the army.

There are different accounts of how large the army was, none of which has been confirmed but it is safe to say it was one of, if not the largest army of its kind.

In 865, the Army landed in East Anglia, where the King gave them horses in exchange to be left in peace. The army then wintered in East Anglia before marching onwards north, arriving and capturing Jórvík (York) in 866.
After that, the Army marched into Mercia, taking and staying over for the winter at Nottingham. The Mercians and Wessexians then started a siege of Nottingham but after some time of having a stalemate, both sides agreed to a treaty which allowed the Army to move back to Jórvík and waited the winter over, 869-870. They then marched back to East Anglia, which they quickly conquered. During the conquest, the King of East Anglia was also killed.

They then marched towards Wessex. The Wessexian King paid them to leave, and they then moved towards London, staying for the winter, before moving back to Northumbria and Jórvík. After this, they returned to Mercia, conquering it in 874 and staying at Repton for the winter. Only the Kingdom of Wessex was left by the end of 875, and soon the Army attacked Wessex again, where they were finally defeated by Alfred the Great at the Battle of Edington. This resulted in a treaty with the Vikings keeping control of most of the conquered lands, which was known as the Danelaw, owned and controlled by the Danish.