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War Fought Over a Bucket, and Other Medieval Warfare Facts

Khalid Elhassan November 11, 2024 34 min

Medieval - The wooden bucket over which a war was fought, on display in Modena's town hall — The wooden bucket over which a war was fought, on display in Modena's town hall. K-Pics

7. The Great Alfred

Medieval - Statue of Alfred the Great in Winchester — Statue of Alfred the Great in Winchester. Wikimedia

King Alfred’s reign had a rough start, with two defeats. The second defeat in particular, at Milton in May, 871, was a bad one, and it smashed all hopes of driving the Vikings from Wessex by force of arms. Alfred was thus forced to make peace with the invaders, and had to pay them a hefty sum to withdraw from his kingdom – which they did, by the autumn of 871. The Vikings returned in 876, and Alfred was forced to make a new peace with them, whose terms the invaders soon violated. In 878, a sudden Viking onslaught overran Wessex, and forced Alfred to flee to the marshes of Somerset. He led a guerrilla resistance, before he emerged in May, 878, to rally the surviving Wessex forces and lead them to a decisive victory at the Battle of Edington.

The victorious Alfred then pursued and besieged the Vikings at Chippenham. He starved them into surrender, and forced their leader, Guthrum, to convert to Christianity. In 885, Vikings from East Anglia attacked Kent, but Alfred defeated them, then launched a counteroffensive that captured London. That victory led all Anglo-Saxons not under Viking rule to accept Alfred as their king – a major step towards the unification of England. London acted as a springboard and base of operations for Alfred’s successor, his son Edward the Elder (reigned 899 – 924). By the end of his reign, Edward had decisively defeated the Vikings, and extended his authority over nearly all of today’s England.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.