Early medieval Europe (500–1000)Wars and battles

Battle of Edington

Alfred of Wessex, who had rallied his forces after hiding in the Somerset marshes, decisively defeated Guthrum’s Danes; Guthrum accepted baptism, and Wessex survived as the core of a future English kingdom.

Date: May 878month known
Place: Edington (Ethandun)approximate locationtoday: Edington, Wiltshire, United Kingdom · Western and Central Europe
Participants: Kingdom of Wessex, Alfred the Great, Vikings, Guthrum
Threads: Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
Also known as: Battle of Ethandun; Битва при Этандуне; Treaty of Wedmore; Уэдморский договор

After Guthrum’s surprise attack on Chippenham in January 878, Alfred took refuge with a small band in the marshes of Athelney, from where he harried the Danes. In the seventh week after Easter — in May 878 — he summoned the men of Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire to Egbert’s Stone and attacked the Danish army at Ethandun, probably Edington in Wiltshire. After the victory he besieged the Danes in their stronghold for two weeks until they surrendered.

Three weeks later Guthrum and thirty of his leaders were baptized at Aller, with Alfred as godfather, and the ceremony was completed at Wedmore; the Danes withdrew to East Anglia. A later treaty between Alfred and Guthrum fixed the frontier with the Danelaw. Both the location of Ethandun and the terms agreed at Wedmore are known only from the brief accounts of Asser and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

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