Battlefields Trust London & South East

Introduction
After a period of relative stability, a wealthy but poorly defended England was subject to Danish raids of increasing ferocity from 980 onwards. In 991, the Danes ransacked Ipswich and threatened Maldon, prompting Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex to seek a decisive battle.

Location
The battle occurred on the mainland side of the 200-yard long causeway to Northey Island, south-east of Maldon. E Laborde’s interpretation of The Battle of Maldon established the site of the battle in 1925, since the topographical detail in the poem suggests familiarity with the battlefield. The causeway’s width in 991 satisfies the poem’s condition that it was within both bowshot and earshot and as mentioned in the poem, the Danes would have crossed in a westerly direction. Several nearby place names suggest the woodland mentioned in the poem.

The precise site is conjectural but the English logically occupied the higher ground west of South House Farm.

Landscape Interpretation
A geological survey by G and S Petty in 1973 concluded that the sea level had risen by approximately six feet since 991. The resulting flooding led land being reclaimed by the construction of the sea wall in 1822. The mudflats that now extend 100 yards across previously solid ground on the mainland end of the causeway mean that the length of the present causeway is twice that of 991. The high ground north-west of the causeway is a reclaimed landfill site.

Historical Background
During the mid-Ninth Century, England did not exist in its modern form, being an assortment of kingdoms, notably Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia and Wessex. The region’s political weakness and material wealth subjected it to Danish raids of increasing size, which eventually sought conquest. By 875, only Wessex remained intact and was saved by its king, Alfred the Great.

In the early Tenth Century, as Alfred’s successors gradually liberated the other kingdoms, Edward the Elder constructed defences at Maldon, from which he attacked the Danish city of Colchester and decisively withstood a siege. Edward’s successor Athelstan gained a decisive victory at the Battle of Brunanburgh in 937, which effectively made him the first king of England. After a Danish renaissance of several years, English dominance was reasserted by Edgar (959-975). After Edgar’s successor Edward was murdered in 978, the latter’s young half-brother Ethelred inherited an unstable throne. This led to a series of increasingly daring and frequent Danish raids from 980 onwards, in which mercenary forces plundered a wealthy, complacent, poorly defended England.

Contemporary Sources
The most detailed contemporary source is the anonymous The Battle of Maldon, the earliest recorded epic Anglo-Saxon poem, of which 325 lines survive. The poem stresses the exploits of individual Englishmen and uses artistic license in attributing heroic speeches to them. This and the other accounts such as the five versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Life of St Oswald were written from an English perspective and therefore give little detail on the Danes.

The Vita Oswaldi, written around 1000 at Ramsey Abbey, records Byrhtnoth’s height, white hair and position at the front of the army, the flight of his men when he died and the heavy casualties sustained by the Danes.

The abbey calendars of Ramsey and Winchester records Byrhtnoth’s death on 11 August, but Ely, which he had endowed, decisively records the previous day. The Liber Eliensis, a compilation of Ely chronicles contains unique, unsupportable details, except the possibility that Byhrtnoth was beheaded.

The Campaign
In 991, the Danes sailed with 93 ships under the Norwegian pirate Olaf Tryggvason. They raided Sandwich and Ipswich, before sailing up the River Blackwater to Northey Island, which was linked to the mainland by a narrow causeway, accessible only at low tide. The Danes aimed to use the island as a base from which to attack nearby Maldon, site of a royal mint. The defence of the town fell to Byrhtnoth, the senior soldier in England, a member of the ruling council and Ealdorman (alderman, governor or leader) of Essex, a satellite of East Anglia.

Byrhtnoth assembled a local force on the mainland side of the causeway and obtained traditional oaths of allegiance from his men. After dispersing their horses, the English then deployed on the bank with Byrhtnoth’s household in the centre and the fyrd on the flanks.

As the armies waited for the causeway to emerge, a Dane shouted across, demanding money to sail away. Byrhtnoth scornfully refused, trying to provoke the raiders into a decisive battle.

The Battle
When the causeway emerged, three men, Aelfhere, Maccus and Wulfstan successfully defended it against a lone Dane. The Danes replaced insults by flattery and appealed for a safe passage across the causeway to enable a battle to be fought on fair terms. Aiming to defeat the Danes before they could do further damage, Byrhtnoth agreed.

The English formed their traditional shield wall to withstand a Danish attack in a tight wedge-shaped formation called ‘svinfylka,’ with the elite at the point. After a brief exchange of shouts and missiles, vicious close quarter combat ensued as the armies clashed. The English successfully counter attacked.

The conspicuous Byrhtnoth was slightly wounded in defending himself before being weakened by a javelin and immoblised and supported by two warriors, Aelfnoth and Wulmaer, until all three fell, whereupon Byrhtnoth was surrounded by Danes and beheaded.

The then Godric fled and rode off on Byrhtnoth’s horse, causing many to desert on the assumption that their leader was gone. The remaining outnumbered English, including Byrhtnoth’s loyal household warriors, launched a suicidal counter attack, inflicting heavy casualties as they fought to the death.

Aftermath
Byrhtnoth’s headless body was taken for burial by the monks of Ely Abbey, now the Cathedral, with a wax ball replacing his head. In 1769, a tall headless corpse was found in what was reputedly his tomb, which was then destroyed.

Although mauled, the Danes went to London and demanded to be bought off. The English, fatally weakened and demoralised by the loss of their most formidable politician and soldier, agreed to pay a tribute of £10,000 in order to prevent further Danish attacks. Further money was raised to fund futile defence schemes, resulting in more payments to Denmark in 994, 1002, 1007 and 1012. English resentment grew, to the extent that Danish settlers were massacred by order of King Ethelred on St Brice’s Day in 1002. £250,000 was paid over fifty years. The payment of 1012 included a new tax later known as Danegeld, which aimed to develop an army fit to challenge the Danes. Lacking the support of the nobility, however, Ethelred failed.

Consequences
The Danish raids became even more formidable on coming under the leadership of Sweyn Forkbeard, son of King Harald Bluetooth. Using merceneraies assembled in forts, Sweyn invaded England in 1013 and was accepted as king in London, forcing Ethelred to flee to Normandy with his family, including his son Edward, later known as the Confessor. Now King of Denmark, Sweyn died the following year before consolidating his English throne.

Sweyn’s son initially Cnut concentrated on securing Denmark, leaving Ethelred to reclaim the throne. Cnut returned in 1015 to find Ethelred dead and a more formidable rival in his son Edmund Ironside. After an inconclusive war, the Treaty of Alney gave Wessex to Edmund and the rest of the country to Cnut in 1016. When Edmund died later that year, Cnut, better known in England as Canute, became King of England.
Conclusion

The Battle of Maldon was the decisive moment of the largest Danish raid on England since hostilities resumed in 980. Byrhtnoth was the most formidable military and political figure in England and his defeat and death at Maldon resulted in the collapse of English resistance. 25 years of increasing Danish domination followed, including payments of the protection money known as the Danegeld.

With the country on its knees, Sweyn Forkbeard took the inevitable step of seeking the throne and although he died before the claim was consolidated, his son Cnut was accepted as King of England in 1016, beginning a period of Danish rule lasting until 1042.

The unparalleled detail in The Battle of Maldon makes the encounter of the same name the best documented of the numerous battles fought between the English and the Danes over two hundred years. It is therefore the earliest battle included by English Heritage on the Battlefields Register.

References
A Burne, The Battlefields of England (Greenhill Books, 1996)
S Pollington, The Warrior’s Way (Blandford Press, 1989)
M Rayner, The Battle of Maldon, AD 991 (Battlefield Volume 8 Issue 2, 2002)
Battlefield Report: Maldon 991 (English Heritage, 1995)