battle of Aclea

Aclea, battle of, 851. A major victory for King Æthelwulf of Wessex over Danish raiders. In 850, for the first time, the Danes wintered on Thanet in Kent. Men from 350 ships stormed Canterbury and London, driving the Mercians to flight, before facing the West Saxon king south of the Thames. The Wessex men made ‘the greatest slaughter of a heathen host’ heard of to that day.