Ælla agreed, and then Ivar cut an ox hide into such fine strands that he managed to cover the entire fortress at York, which was the capital of Northumbria. google_ad_height = 90; Their military alliance had been sealed fourteen years before when Burghred had married Athelred’s sister, and had given a Mercian wife to Athelred’s brother, Alfred. The laws of the earliest English kings. Ivar sent a messenger to the king with the usual request – a healthy bribe and acknowledgement by Edmund that he was now a client king. They spent the winter of 865–66 at Thetford, before marching north to capture York in November 866. Tyr will guide us into rightful victory From the shores we see the Saxon army Thinkin’ she... ... let the golden liquid drizzle into her tea. However, the intent of the Great Army was different. It was at York, that Ivar the Boneless first showed his cunning. Over the years it had repulsed numerous attempts to take it by storm since its garrison had access to a deep well and could therefore outlast most besieging forces. The kingship of East Anglia devolved to Edmund’s younger brother, Edwold, but he sensibly fled and became a hermit, ending the royal line. It isn’t clear where he died, but at least one legend claims that he wanted to be buried in England – a plausible enough story since it was the site of his most famous triumphs.64 His death left a leadership void, but there were plenty of able candidates. google_ad_slot = "6416241264"; Yet, this time, instead of an overwhelming victory, they suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of king Aethelwulf and his sons. Thanks to the Roman road, which was still in good repair despite the five centuries that had passed since its construction, Ubba made good time. //-->, This article will be permanently flagged as inappropriate and made unaccessible to everyone. The Vikings called it the “Blood Eagle“. Fortunately for Wessex – in the short term at least – the Vikings decided to target the other major state, Mercia which had absorbed most of its smaller neighbor Essex. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). This sword is now in Derby Museum. [46], The rampaging Viking army on the continent encouraged Alfred to protect his Kingdom of Wessex. This model is now in. In the British sources, he’s presented as a pagan demon sent from hell; in the Viking ones, he’s a living god with supernatural powers. The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Great Danish Army or the Great Viking Army, was a coalition of Norse Viking warriors (predominantly from Denmark, others from Norway and Sweden) which, led by Ragnarr Lodbrok's sons Halfdan Whiteshirt, Ivar the Boneless, and Ubbe Ragnarrsson, invaded Anglo-Saxon England in 865 AD to avenge Ragnar's cruel death at the hands of King Aella of Northumbria.