battle of Tettenhall

The Battle of Tettenhall was a major battle of 5 August 910, near the end of the Anglo-Saxon period of English history. The allied forces of Mercia and Wessex met an army of Northumbrian Vikings at Tettenhall in Mercia, where they defeated the Vikings. This was the last major Viking army sent to ravage England.

Background

The so-called 'Great Raiding Army' of Vikings had broken up into two main factions, the smaller of which settled in Northumbria. Some years later the military alliance of Mercia and Wessex, opposing the Vikings, had proven strong and successful enough to consider moving from defensive to offensive warfare. Towards this end, they launched an exploratory five-week attack on Lindsey in Northumbria in 909, and successfully captured the relics of Saint Oswald of Northumbria.

In 910 the Northumbrian Vikings retaliated for the Lindsey incursion by sailing an army up the River Severn into the heart of Mercia. There they ravaged the land and collected large amounts of valuable plunder.

The battle

Seeking to reach their escape route at Bridgnorth on the River Severn, the Vikings hoped to escape Mercia before the army of Edward of Wessex could come to the aid of the Mercians. They knew King Edward was away, collecting a fleet of ships in Kent. To their surprise, they found their way to Bridgnorth was barred somewhere in the vicinity of Tettenhall (Teotta's Halh) by the large allied Mercia/Wessex army of Aethelred of Mercia and Edward of Wessex. Viking armies generally were notoriously hard to bring to an open battle: they were fast-moving since they had no cumbersome supplies-train and lived off the land; when faced with an army they would often flee and then split into small highly-mobile warbands, or else retreat into a large fortified stockade and then squat there for months. Unable to reach their exit route to the sea, and with a hostile Mercia all around, they were forced to choose battle at Tettenhall. The victory of the English was decisive, with the Viking kings Eowils and Halfdan killed, and ten of the main Viking war-leaders dead.

Consequences

The battle had several important consequences. Firstly; Lord Aethelred died the following year, possibly from wounds sustained at Tettenhall - as a result of his death, his wife Lady Aethelflaed first came to prominence in Mercia. Secondly; the Mercia/Wessex alliance finally developed a new offensive strategy, one aimed at permanently regaining Mercian territory. Thirdly; Vikings understood the new risks involved in sending armies into England. The force defeated at Tettenhall was the last major Viking army to ravage England.

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