Early medieval Europe (500–1000)Wars and battles

Great Heathen Army in England

A coalition of Danish and other Scandinavian warriors invaded England and in thirteen years conquered Northumbria, East Anglia and much of Mercia, laying the foundations of the Danelaw; only Wessex held out.

Date: 865–878year known · duration: ≈ 13 years
Place: York (Eoforwic, Jórvík)today: York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom · Western and Central Europe
Route: Thetford (East Anglia) → York (Eoforwic, Jórvík) → Nottingham → Thetford → Reading → London → Torksey → Repton → Cambridge → Wareham → Exeter → Chippenham
Participants: Vikings, Ivar the Boneless, Guthrum, Kingdom of Wessex, Alfred the Great
Threads: Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
Also known as: Great Danish Army; Viking Great Army; Великая армия; Danelaw; Область датского права

Unlike earlier raiders, the “great heathen army” of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle came to conquer. Led according to tradition by Ivar the Boneless, Halfdan and Ubba, it wintered in East Anglia in 865–866 and in November 866 took York, the capital of Northumbria. In 869 it killed King Edmund of East Anglia (later St Edmund the Martyr). Reinforced by a “great summer army” in 871, it fought a series of battles against Wessex, whose new king Alfred bought peace; the army then wintered in London, Torksey and Repton and drove the king of Mercia into exile (874).

The army then divided: Halfdan settled his men in Northumbria (876), while Guthrum turned against Wessex. In January 878 he surprised Alfred at Chippenham, but in May Alfred defeated him at Edington. Guthrum accepted baptism and withdrew to East Anglia; the lands of Scandinavian settlement in the north and east became the Danelaw.

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