Anglo-Saxon

  • 685: Battle of Dun Nechtain checks Northumbrian power

    On 20 May 685, a Pictish force led by Bridei defeated a Northumbrian army led by King Ecgfrith at the Battle of Dun Nechtain, also known as Nechtansmere. Ecgfrith was killed in the fighting. That made the battle more than a failed expedition. Northumbria was one of the strongest kingdoms in northern Britain, and Ecgfrith’s…

  • 735: Bede dies at Jarrow

    Bede died at the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in 735, with 26 May commonly used as the date. The date matters because Bede had already completed work that became central to the written record of early English Christianity. He lived and worked in a Northumbrian monastery, not at a royal court or on campaign. His authority…

  • 925: Æthelstan is crowned at Kingston upon Thames

    Æthelstan was crowned King of the Anglo-Saxons at Kingston upon Thames on 4 September 925. The ceremony formally established the authority of a king whose succession had been less straightforward than the coronation might suggest. His father, Edward the Elder, had died in July 924. Æthelstan was accepted as king in Mercia, where he had…

  • 946: Edmund I is killed at Pucklechurch

    Edmund I was killed at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire on 26 May 946. His death was sudden. The usual account says he was killed during a confrontation at a feast or court gathering, after trying to intervene against a man with a violent reputation. That makes it different from the more familiar royal deaths in battle,…

  • 959: King Eadwig Dies

    King Eadwig died on 1 October 959, ending a reign that had begun less than four years earlier. He was only about eighteen or nineteen years old. Eadwig was the elder son of King Edmund I and succeeded his uncle Eadred in 955, when he was about fifteen. His reign was marked by disputes with…

  • 1043: Edward the Confessor is crowned at Winchester

    Edward the Confessor was crowned king at Winchester on 3 April 1043. The ceremony made the kingship public. It did not remove every difficulty. Edward had already been king for months when he was crowned at Winchester on Easter Day, 3 April 1043. Harthacnut, his half-brother, had died in 1042, and Edward had succeeded him…

  • 1066: Harald Hardrada wins the Battle of Fulford

    On 20 September 1066, a Norwegian army led by King Harald Hardrada defeated the English earls Edwin of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria at Fulford, just outside York. The battle came during the struggle for the English crown after Edward the Confessor died in January. Harold Godwinson became king, but both Harald Hardrada and William,…

  • 1066: Harold Defeats the Norwegian Invasion at Stamford Bridge

    King Harold II defeated a Norwegian invasion of England at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25 September 1066. The Norwegian king Harald Hardrada and Harold’s brother Tostig Godwinson were both killed. The invasion followed Edward the Confessor’s death in January 1066. Harold Godwinson became king, but his claim to the English throne was challenged.…