Alfred the Great: Ashdown, Viking Invasions

In the chaos of the Viking invasions, the kingdom of Wessex, sitting in the southwest corner of England, became the only Saxon realm to put up serious resistance to the new threat. This was partly thanks to geography; the Wessex coast was spared the worst of the Viking sea raids, and their territory lay furthest from the Great Heathen Army’s advance. Furthermore, Wessex had proven its ability to defeat the Vikings in the field and had swallowed up the old kingdoms of Sussex and Kent, as well as superseding Mercia, its historical rival. It was also led by a competent king, Aethelred, and his younger brother Alfred, destined to succeed and surpass him. 

The advancing Vikings first struck Reading, a town just across the border, lying on the south bank of the River Thames. Here, the local earl was able to resist the first assault, and the Vikings retreated to a fortified camp 19 mi (30.5 km) to the southeast at Englefield. The ball was in the Wessex brothers’ court. They took the initiative and attacked.  Although they almost breached the fortifications, the Vikings fought “like wolves” and drove the Saxons back.

Aethelred and Alfred retreated east in good order to the Berkshire Downs, an area of rolling chalk hills to the east of Reading. Bagsecg’s Viking army followed them, taking the Ridgeway, an ancient road that led straight over the top of the Downs into the heartland of Wessex. If their kingdom was to survive, the brothers needed to stop the invasion here, at a battleground that would be known later as Ashdown. 

No-one knows exactly where the battle took place, but a good contender is between the Blewburton and Kingstanding Hills. At the top of Blewburton Hill is Blewburton Camp, an Iron Age hillfort with massive earthwork ramparts and ditches that still make a strong fortress. It’s believed that Aethelred camped his forces there, whilst Alfred camped at Kingstanding Hill, which may have provided him with a commanding view over the Norse army coming up the Ridgeway, and an opportunity to cut them off in a pincer movement as they advanced towards Aethelred’s shieldwall.

Asser tells us that on the day of the battle, the Viking Army formed into two divisions: one led by Bagsecg, the Viking king who had brought over the Great Summer Army, and the other by his jarls. The Wessex forces, enjoying a slight numerical advantage, copied them and drew their forces into shieldwalls. Alfred was to attack the earls, Aethelred the king.

The first part of the battle started in confusion - Aethelred refused to bring his forces to battle until he heard Mass in his tent, telling his frantic advisors that he was ‘not disposed to abandon the service of God for that of men’. But the Vikings were advancing and Alfred realised that he could not wait any longer. He charged the enemy ‘with the rush of a wild boar’.

Just as Alfred’s soldiers crashed into the Viking shieldwall, Aethelred’s banners appeared on the other side of the hill. The two forces met, ‘the one side bent on evil, the other on fighting for life, and dear ones, and fatherland’. Again, they fought fiercely, and the Saxons came out on top. Bagsecg, along with most of his jarls, was slain on the battlefield. 

The Saxons pursued the enemy to Basing, hoping to end the invasion once and for all, but the Vikings won the fight and drove the Saxons back to Reading. That winter, another contingent of reinforcements arrived from Scandinavia, and the opportunity was lost. Despite their defeat at Ashdown, the Vikings still had the advantage.

A few months later, Aethelred, after a turbulent and certainly stressful five years on the throne, died. The Saxon tradition (loosely followed) was that brothers succeed brothers to the throne, and so Alfred was acclaimed king by the people of Wessex on 23 April 871. Now the young man, just 21 years old, will face his greatest test, as the Viking hordes turn their attention to the northwest and invade Mercia. In just a couple of months, the Mercian king flees to Rome, and the Vikings conquer the country. Wessex stands alone, and the Great Heathen Army is massing on its borders.