Beaduheard was an Anglo-Saxon reeve who was based in Dorchester in Dorset, who in 789 became the first known person killed by a Viking raid in England. [1] [2]
Nothing is known of Beaduheard's early life, including where he was born or who his parents were. However, his name (Beaduheard means "battle-hard") [3] and position suggests that his family were of relatively high rank, from a martial background, and that he was over the age of 31, which is regarded as middle aged for the time. [4] He was reeve during the reign of Beorhtric of Wessex, king of Wessex from 786 to 802.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for AD 789 reports:
Æthelweard's version of the Chronicle, known as the Chronicon Æthelweardi , a Latin translation of a lost version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, goes into more detail:
Æthelweard was writing nearly 200 years after the event, sometime after 975 and probably before 983. [7] His account is the first to name Beaduheard; however, as his work was a Latin translation of a (now lost) Anglo-Saxon original, there is nothing to suggest that the name is incorrect.
Four years later, in 793, a major Viking raid took place on the monastery of Lindisfarne in the kingdom of Northumberland. This has commonly been regarded as the start of the Viking raids on Britain.
The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886.
Year 789 (DCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 789 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Æthelred I was King of Wessex from 865 until his death in 871. He was the fourth of five sons of King Æthelwulf of Wessex, four of whom in turn became king. Æthelred succeeded his elder brother Æthelberht and was followed by his youngest brother, Alfred the Great. Æthelred had two sons, Æthelhelm and Æthelwold, who were passed over for the kingship on their father's death because they were still infants. Alfred was succeeded by his son, Edward the Elder, and Æthelwold unsuccessfully disputed the throne with him.
Ecgberht, also spelled Egbert, Ecgbert, Ecgbriht, Ecgbeorht, and Ecbert, was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was King Ealhmund of Kent. In the 780s, Ecgberht was forced into exile to Charlemagne's court in the Frankish Empire by the kings Offa of Mercia and Beorhtric of Wessex, but on Beorhtric's death in 802, Ecgberht returned and took the throne.
At the Battle of Edington, an army of the kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great defeated the Great Heathen Army led by the Dane Guthrum sometime between 6 and 12 May 878, resulting in the Treaty of Wedmore later the same year. Primary sources locate the battle at "Eðandun". Until a scholarly consensus linked the battle site with the present-day village of Edington in Wiltshire, it was known as the Battle of Ethandun. This name continues to be used.
Scandinavian York or Viking York is a term used by historians for what is now Yorkshire during the period of Scandinavian domination from late 9th century until it was annexed and integrated into England after the Norman Conquest; in particular, it is used to refer to York, the city controlled by these kings and earls. The Kingdom of Jórvíc was closely associated with the longer-lived Kingdom of Dublin throughout this period.
A fyrd was a type of early Anglo-Saxon army that was mobilised from freemen or paid men to defend their Shire's lords estate, or from selected representatives to join a royal expedition. Service in the fyrd was usually of short duration and participants were expected to provide their own arms and provisions.
Beorhtric was the King of Wessex from 786 to 802, succeeding Cynewulf. During his rule, however, his wife and father-in-law had most of the power.
Eadburh, also spelled Eadburg, was the daughter of King Offa of Mercia and Queen Cynethryth. She was the wife of King Beorhtric of Wessex, and according to Asser's Life of Alfred the Great she killed her husband by poison while attempting to poison another. She fled to Francia, where she is said to have been offered the chance of marrying Charlemagne, but ruined the opportunity. Instead she was appointed as the abbess of a convent. Here she is said to have fornicated with an English exile. As a result, she was eventually expelled from the monastery and ended her days begging in the streets of Pavia.
Æthelwold or Æthelwald was the younger of two known sons of Æthelred I, King of Wessex from 865 to 871. Æthelwold and his brother Æthelhelm were still infants when their father the king died while fighting a Danish Viking invasion. The throne passed to the king's younger brother Alfred the Great, who carried on the war against the Vikings and won a crucial victory at the Battle of Edington in 878.
The Battle of Tettenhall took place, according to the chronicler Æthelweard, near Tettenhall on 5 August 910. The allied forces of Mercia and Wessex met an army of Northumbrian Vikings in Mercia.
The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Viking Great Army, was a coalition of Scandinavian warriors who invaded England in AD 865. Since the late 8th century, the Vikings had been engaging in raids on centres of wealth, such as monasteries. The Great Heathen Army was much larger and aimed to conquer and occupy the four kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex.
The Battle of Brentford was fought in 1016 between invading forces of the Kingdom of Denmark under Cnut and the defending forces of the Kingdom of England led by Edmund Ironside. The battle was fought as part of a campaign by Cnut to conquer England. The battle was a victory for the English, who nevertheless lost a large number of men.
Edward the Elder was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æthelwold, who had a strong claim to the throne as the son of Alfred's elder brother and predecessor, Æthelred I.
Events from the 10th century in the Kingdom of England.
Eowils and Halfdan (Healfdan) were kings in Danish (Viking) ruled Northumbria in the early tenth century.
Events from the 8th century in England.
Viking activity in the British Isles occurred during the Early Middle Ages, the 8th to the 11th centuries CE, when Scandinavians travelled to the British Isles to raid, conquer, settle and trade. They are generally referred to as Vikings, but some scholars debate whether the term Viking represented all Scandinavian settlers or just those who used violence.
The Battle of Buttington was fought in 893 between a Viking army and an alliance of Anglo-Saxons and Welsh.
Ingwær was a Norse King of Northumbria. According to Æthelweard's Chronicon he was a co-king of Northumbria along with his brothers Eowils and Halfdan, though the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle does not mention him. By Æthelweard's account he died at the Battle of Tettenhall alongside his brothers in 910.