Battle of Edington

After the Saxon loss at the Battle of Chippenham on January 878, King Alfred of Wessex and his men were chased from Chippenham by the Vikings. They were forced to retreat to the marshes of Athelnay, where they built fortifications to protect themselves.^[1]^[2]

In the first week of May 878, Alfred called a levy at Egbert's Stone. Men from neighbouring counties joined the king and his men. Guthrum, learning of the gathering of the militias readied his troops to intercept the enemy and moved to ancient fortifications south of Chippenham.^[1]

Battle[]

On 12 May 878, the two armies met in battle on the fields of Edington.^[1] The Saxons fought ferociously, forming a dense shield-wall against the Danes.^[3] In the end, victory was Alfred's, and the Anglo-Saxons routed the Vikings, smiting the fugitives, and pursuing them to their fortress. This defeat and Guthrum's retreat to Chippenham marked the end of his reign as a Viking chieftain.^[1]

Aftermath[]

The Danes sued for peace,^[3] and as a condition of the resulting Treaty of Wedmore, Guthrum had to convert into Christianity in order for his oath to Alfred be considered valid.^[4] Alfred chose himself to be Guthrum's godfather, creating ties of symbolic kinship between them.^[5] This would also give Guthrum the status of a respected Christian leader, and he was made the King of East Anglia,^[5] even though that region was not Alfred's to give.^[6] In the end, Alfred lost no territory by giving Guthrum land that was not his, but gained not only an ally to stabilize a region in turmoil since the death of Edmund the Martyr, but also a territorial buffer to prevent future Scandinavian raids into Wessex.^[6]

Appearances[]

Echoes of History (first mentioned) (indirect mention only)
Discovery Tour: Viking Age (mentioned only)

References[]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Discovery Tour: Viking Age – Learnings: The Battle of Edington
↑ Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Geirmund's Saga – Chapter 30
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Battle of Edington on Wikipedia
↑ Discovery Tour: Viking Age – Learnings: Trust and Oathkeeping
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 Discovery Tour: Viking Age – Learnings: Baptism and Victory
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 Discovery Tour: Viking Age – Learnings: The Gift of East Anglia

Timeline

Before Common Era

Prehistory	Isu Era (War of Unification • Human-Isu War • Toba catastrophe) • Assassin-Templar War (ongoing)

13th–6th centuries BCE	Battle of Kadesh • Siege of Dapur • Trojan War • Second Messenian War • Battle of the Champions

5th century BCE	Greco-Persian Wars (Battle of Marathon • Battle of Thermopylae • Battle of Salamis • Battle of Plataia • Battle of the Eurymedon) • Peloponnesian War (Battle of Potidaea • Blockade of Megaris • Mytilenean revolt • Battle of Boeotia • Battle of Megaris • Battle for the Silver Islands • Battle of Pylos • Battle of Sphakteria • Battle of Amphipolis • Sicilian Expedition) • Plague of Athens

4th-2nd centuries BCE	Battle of the Hydaspes

1st century BCE	Caesar's Civil War • Hunt for the Snake • Alexandrine Civil War (Siege of Alexandria • Battle of the Nile) • Assassination of Julius Caesar • Liberators' civil war (Battle of Philippi) • Last war of the Roman Republic

8th–13th centuries

8th century	Abbasid Revolution • Battle of Talas • An Lushan Rebellion (Fall of Luoyang • Battle of Changshan • Mawei Station mutiny • Fall of Chang'an)

9th century	Islamic Golden Age (Fourth Fitna • Anarchy at Samarra • Zanj Rebellion) • Viking expansion (Lindisfarne raid • Siege of Paris • Great Heathen Army • Viking Capture of York • Battle of Reading • Battle of Ashdown • Battle of Bedwyn • Battle of Meretun • Assault on Grantebridge • Assault on Tamworth Fortress • Assault on Burgh Castle • Assault on Caustow Castle • Assault on Cyne Belle Castle • Assault on Anecastre • Assault on Rouecistre Fortress • Siege of Portcestre • Assault on Magnis Fortress • Battle of Cynwit • Battle of Chippenham • Battle of Edington • Assault on Armagh • Assault on Cashelore • Siege of Paris) • Unification of Norway (Assault on Kjotve's Fortress • Battle of Hafrsfjord)

10th century	Battle of Fýrisvellir

11th century	First Crusade (Siege of Jerusalem)

12th century	Second Crusade • Siege of Masyaf • Battle of Hattin • Third Crusade (Assault on Masyaf • Siege of Acre • Quest for the Chalice • Defense of Masyaf • Hunt for the Nine • Battle of Arsuf • Retaking of Masyaf)

13th century	Fourth Crusade • First Barons' War • Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' • Assassination of Genghis Khan • Decline of the Levantine Assassins • Medieval Inquisition • Fall of Masyaf • Sack of Baghdad • Mongol conquest of China (Siege of Diaoyu Castle) • Battle of Legnica • First War of Scottish Independence (English invasion of Scotland • Sack of Berwick • Action at Lanark)

14th–17th centuries

14th century	Persecution of the Templars • Hundred Years' War (Battle of Agincourt • Siege of Orléans • Battle of the Herrings • Battle of Jargeau • Battle of Meung-sur-Loire • Battle of Beaugency • Battle of Patay • March to Reims • Siege of Paris • Trial of Jeanne d'Arc) • Black Death

15th century	Renaissance • 1402 Chinese Assassin purge • Battle of Anghiari • Fall of Constantinople • Defense of Monteriggioni • Assassination of Galeazzo Maria Sforza • Pazzi conspiracy • Reconquista (Mission to Aragon • Granada War) • Venetian conspiracy • Battle of Forlì • Age of Discovery • Italian Wars (Bonfire of the Vanities) • Ottoman–Venetian War • Confrontation in the Vatican

16th century	Siege of Monteriggioni • Liberation of Rome (Skirmish in the Campagna District) • Search for Cesare Borgia (Attack on Valencia • Siege of Viana) • Italian Wars (War of the League of Cambrai (Battle of Agnadello) • Assassination of Niccolò di Pitigliano) • Little Judgment Day • Prince of Anhua rebellion • Ottoman Civil War (Attack on Prince Suleiman) • Riot at the Harbor of Theodosius • Destruction of the Great Chain • Fight for the Masyaf Keys • Age of Discovery (Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (Night of Sorrows) • Battle of Mactan • Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire (Siege of Cuzco)) • Great Rites Controversy • 1526 Macau fires • Roman Inquisition • Battle of Gogunda • Sengoku period (Tenshō Iga War • Honnō-ji incident • Imjin War • Battle of Sekigahara)

17th century	Labourd witch-hunt of 1609 • Siege of Osaka • English Civil War • Battle of Lowestoft • Great Fire of London • Glorious Revolution • Salem witch trials • Great Recoinage of 1696

18th century

War of the Spanish Succession • Golden Age of Piracy (Sinking of the Treasure Fleet • Attacks on Tulum • Siege of Charles-Towne • Blockade of Nassau • Attack on Ocracoke) • 1720s Chinese Brotherhood purge • Shimazu clan civil war • 1725 Manila riot • Maroon Rebellion • French Geodesic Mission • 1745 Siege of Louisburg • 1751 Port-au-Prince earthquake • Seven Years' War (Albany Congress • Battle of Fort Necessity • Braddock Expedition • Siege of Fort William Henry • Siege of Louisbourg • Battle of Quiberon Bay • Battle of Labrador) • 1755 Lisbon earthquake • Colonial Assassin purge • Louisiana Rebellion • American Revolution (Boston Massacre • Boston Tea Party) and American Revolutionary War (Battles of Lexington and Concord • Siege of Boston • Battle of Bunker Hill • Great Fire of New York • Conway Cabal • Sullivan Expedition • Battle of Monmouth • Battle at Rhode Island • Battle of West Point • Battle of the Chesapeake • Attack on Fort George • Siege of Yorktown) • French Revolution (Estates-General of 1789 • Paris Commune (1789–1795) • Storming of the Bastille • Great Fear • Women's March on Versailles • Flight to Varennes • French Revolutionary Wars (Siege of Toulon) • 10 August • September Massacres • Execution of Louis XVI • Reign of Terror • Festival of the Supreme Being • Thermidorian Reaction • 13 Vendémiaire • Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise) • Haitian Revolution

19th–21st centuries

19th century	Napoleonic Wars (Battle of Ulm) • Trienio Liberal • First Anglo-Afghan War (1842 retreat from Kabul) • Mexican-American War • California Gold Rush • Great Exhibition • Assassination attempt on Franz Joseph I of Austria • Crimean War (Battle of Balaclava) • Orsini affair • American Civil War (1863 New York City draft riots) • Icarus affair • Boshin War (Battle of Toba–Fushimi • Battle of Aizu) • Liberation of London • Franco-Prussian War • Paris Commune (1871) • Assassination of Alexander II of Russia • Borki train disaster • Whitechapel murders

20th century	Modern times • Tunguska explosion • World War I (Christmas truce) • Russian Revolution (Execution of the Romanov family • Kazan Operation) • Irish War of Independence • Red Scare (Palmer Raids) • Shanghai massacre of 1927 • Invergordon Mutiny • Spanish Civil War • World War II (The Blitz • Operation Weserübung • Operation Silver Fox • Manhattan Project • Second Battle of El Alamein • Normandy landings • Japanese invasion of Burma • Battle of Tinian • Battle for Brest • Yalta Conference) • Philadelphia Project • Bretton Woods Conference • Cold War (1954 Guatemalan coup d'état • Vietnam War • Assassination of John F. Kennedy • Apollo 11 • 1973 Chilean coup d'état • Operation Gardel • Iranian Revolution • Dissolution of the Soviet Union)

21st century	Great Purge • War on Terror (Iraq War) • Beagle 2 launch • Deepwater Horizon oil spill • Egyptian revolution of 2011 • DIA satellite accident • Second Disaster • 2013 Egyptian coup d'état • Raids on the Aerie • Mission to Egypt • Resurrection Day • Brexit • COVID-19 pandemic

Battle of Edington

Contents

Prelude[]

Battle[]

Aftermath[]

Appearances[]

References[]

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