As The Last Crown Fell: Alternate Battle of Edington TL

"No man knew how many men died that day, how many swords painted with blood, or how many carriages that will clean up the battlefield as a maid cleans up her king's meal. However, when Alfred, last true king of Wessex was dragged on his knees before Guthrum, the hell-sworn Danish usurper, his single swing will end an era, a land ruled by true nobility turned to a land where Lindisfarne's cries would be heard til the next age arrives." - Asser (biographer of King Alfred)

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King Alfred of Wessex

1. The Fall of Alfred (878 - 879 AD)
When Guthrum dethroned King Alfred of Wessex on January 878 AD, Alfred and his followers took to the Sommerset marshes for hiding. As time pasted, the nobility soon began approving Guthrum's claim. However, loyal soldiers of Alfred's army constantly attacked nobles who saw coin more valuable than their king, and before that, they were raiding camps for supplies. Guthrum was still facing issues unifying the entire Wessex territory, but when news came around that Alfred was assembling an army at Egbert's Stone, Guthrum leaped for the chance to crush the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, to end an era and to secure his conquered realm.
- - -
The armies of Guthrum and Alfred approached one another, meeting at Edington. A man howled an insult about Alfred and "his crown of the mud". His comrades laughed. Then another insult from the other side, calling the men of Denmark sons of fish. Both sides flared, but a pair of soldiers in the fourth row fighting for Guthrum begin speaking to one another.

"Oh Eiríkr, hasn't Odin given us such honorable battle to join Valhalla?" Rolf said next to his brother, Eiríkr. Rolf had always been most like their father, ever since he was born, eager to die in battle and enter Valhalla, not attached to this world and waiting for the next.

"Of course Rolf, today shall be glory no matter our fate my brother," Eiríkr replied, javelin in hand before he faced the front lines. His helmet shined to perfection, always having an urge to clean the blood off my weapons and armor, which was why most of his comrades gave him the title "Cleansteel".

"Shields up! Shields up!" a soldier howled before being cut down by a javelin to the belly. Instinct took over, and in a few moments, the two brothers could feel the bumping of thunder hitting their round shields. Guthrum's army returned the gift with their own, even prying the javelins from their shields when running out. As men marched forward, so did the brothers. Eiríkr turned his head to see Rolf still in the action. He sighed with relief.

However, before the thump of war could be heard before them, the army halted. Eiríkr tapped the man in front of him and motioned what was going on, I remembered his name. "Gunnar."

"Some wildy commander of Alfred's wasn't taught discipline," the man across from Gunnar grumbled. "This battle is already won, I can already see much of Alfred's marsh army following the fool. So far, they look like a line of twigs."

"Bet the other commanders' orders are being flooded out by the cries of glory," Gunnar joked, striking his shield with his axe.

"Shieldwall!"

The brothers took two strides forward, as the men of Guthrum readied their shield wall. A final wave of javelins before the first wave of men came in, and they became the horde with no need of numbers. The enemy clumped up so much at the battle-line that no matter where our front line hit, it hit. The first man of Guthrum's men fell to the ground, Harald. He was to have his second child soon after May ended.

Then, the brothers waited. For nearly an hour, as Rolf's and Eiríkr columns stood strong, men began to fall every bunch of moments. Rolf was already in the fighting, and it soon became Gunnar's turn on the front line. Then after Gunnar, it was Eiríkr.

Much time passed as the two sides hacked down the other, with many Danes dying to gain a favorable position. Then, a opening laid in front of Eiríkr. Men swarmed inside splitting Alfred's army into two, and as rumors sprung on the other side that Alfred had abandoned them, it was soon where the remaining army of Alfred broke.

As the victorious army swarmed the enemy cutting them down. Eiríkr did not see Rolf. He looked left and right, then down to his feet. Soon, Eiríkr found him laying on the ground, a spear lodged into his neck. Silent grief filled him. "See you in Valhalla brother."
- - -
With a premature attack made by one of Alfred's commanders, the army of Alfred was defeated and scattered, but not without a cost. The king himself was caught by Guthrum's men as he was fleeing, brought before Guthrum, and was killed, with Alfred likely cut down by Guthrum. With the former king of Wessex dead, eastern lords submitted to Guthrum's rule. Guthrum would travel to East Anglia to assert his conquered claims, and eastern Wessex dependencies swore fealty to Guthrum in exchange for autonomy, which Guthrum agreed to. Many Danes found this idiotic for Guthrum to agree to, wishing to just replace the Anglo-Saxon rulers with Danish ones.

Either way soon afterwards, Guthrum is proclaimed King of the Kingdom of Guthrum, later to be known as the Kingdom of Wessex & East Anglia after his death. The north of his realm would stretch from the coast of East Anglia to Chippenham, having a chunk of eastern Wessex under his control as well. For the lands of west Wessex, they would fall into multiple duchies and petty kingdoms, their fate looking grim as the Danish kingdoms corner them.

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The Kingdom of Guthrum (Kingdom of Wessex & East Anglia)
Sources:
The Danelaw - Alfred vs Guthrum - Extra History - #1 (by Extra Credits)
Battle of Edington |Summary (by Simon Adams, Britannica)
WI: Guthrum beat Alfred The Great at the Battle of Edington? (thanks to all the cool people who helped out!)
 
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Looking forward to see your opinion on this! As for the flag, I deeply apologize for my level one Paint MS skills :winkytongue:
Don't worry about your skills, they'll improve.
But I was more "moaning" that the flag is essentially based on post 1100 attributed flags. Specific flags weren't really used at that time.

(I hope that didn't sound condescending or anything - still drinking my morning coffee!)
 
Don't worry about your skills, they'll improve.
But I was more "moaning" that the flag is essentially based on post 1100 attributed flags. Specific flags weren't really used at that time.

(I hope that didn't sound condescending or anything - still drinking my morning coffee!)
I see, thank you for that bit of info! I'll be sure to adjust for further posts.
 
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Map of England 879 AD

2. The Shattered Kingdom (879-883 AD)
As the Kingdom of Wessex falls to Guthrum, multiple successor states run along western Wessex. The first that came to be was the Kingdom of Æthelwold. Nephew to Alfred, he remained in Wessex to try to rebuild, while his family fled to the Kingdom of the Franks to gain support for Edward, son of Alfred, but soon, Æthelhelm, elder brother of Æthelwold, started to campaign to become King of Wessex himself. Æthelwold had controlled much of the remaining Anglo-Saxon land, until Cornish nobles rebelled, taking a huge chunk of Æthelwold's kingdom, forming the Kingdom of Cornwall and electing a nobleman by the name of Oswallt as the King of Cornwall. As the Duchies of Wilton, Wareham, & Somerset organized, led by William of Wilton, Charles of Wareham, and Egbert The Young respectively, settlements across the Bristol Channel formed an alliance with one another to keep their autonomy, forming the Bristol Confederation near the end of 879.

As the year 880 came, King Guthrum began a campaign on the remaining Anglo-Saxon territories. He planned to take the Duchies of Wilton and Wareham, and eventually invade the rest. However, the process was arduous and costly, as much of the land, excluding the kingdoms of Æthelwold & Cornwall, allied with one another to preserve independence. In addition, Anglo-Saxon revolts within the Kingdom of Guthrum occurred, forcing Guthrum's army to keep much of his soldiers in his realm to deter revolts, eventually stopping. At the end, Guthrum was unable to push through into Anglo-Saxon lands and ended his campaign on July 881 around the same time Guthrum's son, Sigurd, was born.

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Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians

On March 882, a new threat was discovered. For some months, a warlord by the name of Æthelred controlled Mercia after the death of Ceowulf, a puppet king to the Danes. It was assumed that the new ruler was still a puppet under the Danish. However, when he began to invade the Welsh kingdoms, King Halfdan of Northumbria feared another Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the midst of Danish England. King Halfdan sent a messenger to the warlord to swear fealty to Northumbria, in hopes to ensure Mercian obedience. Æthelred becomes unresponsive for sometime, and Halfdan begins to think that Æthelred had killed the messenger and seeks to move his troops from Wales to Northumbria. So, Halfdan gathers an army and begins to march into Mercia.

The messenger was dead, that was certain. However, Æthelred did not kill him. As the courier entered the lands of Mercia, it was said that a bandit gang, likely soldiers of Halfdan's army that weren't awarded lands, tried to kidnap him thinking he was a minor noble with some wealth, but was killed in the struggle. This incident would would begin the conflict between Mercia and Northumbria. The Northumbrian army would go for the settlement of Chester. Chester would make attempts to inform Æthelred, but Halfdan would not have it. Any witnesses of the siege would be hunted down. Eventually Halfdan takes the settlement, but with much resistance from the garrison. Finally, Æthelred would be informed of the Danish invasion and would withdraw from his campaign in Wales to meet Halfdan's army.

The two armies met at the River Dee near what is now Churton. Both armies were toughened by war, but the Danes had more of an advantage, having more experience from their years of conquest. The armies would exchange spears. Then, a pause. Neither side wanted to cross the river, knowing it would give them the disadvantage. So, Halfdan order his army to pull back from the river. Æthelred, after two days without contact from Halfdan, began crossing the river in pursuit of Halfdan. As around half of the army crossed, the trap was sprung. Halfdan's men had traveled north from the army of Æthelred and camped in the forests that laid north. When they were ready, the attack begun. Disorganized and fractured, the army of Æthelred was decimated and the warlord himself killed, with a popular theory saying that he was crossing the river when the battle began and that he fell and drowned from his men who where trying to flee. With the death of Æthelred at the Battle of Redriver as it became called, Mercia became under the control of Northumbria as a tributary, being split into West & East Mercia, hoping to diminish the threat of Mercian uprising.

Near the end of 882, Æthelhelm was able to gain the support of a few Frankish noblemen, and after the mysterious disappearance of Edward, son of Alfred, the few nobles supporting Edward's cause joined Æthelhelm's. On February 883, Æthelhold would set sail for the Kingdom of Æthelwold, in hopes that his brother would submit his crown to him. When he landed, Æthelwold would do no such thing. With the support of Frankish nobles, Æthelwold would be forced into exile. With a coastalfront, Æthelhelm set his sights on the King of Cornwall. On land their forces were quite evened, but with the help of the Frankish navies of his supporters, Cornwall fell to Æthelhelm on April. On the same month, the Duchy of Somerset was invaded easily and an ultimatum was sent to the Bristol Confederation to surrender their lands, which they accepted. However, before Æthelhelm could start his campaign against the Duchies of Wilton and Wareham on May, King Guthrum would invade first on April, and even when Æthelhelm prematurely joined in, the Kingdom of Guthrum would take the majority of the lands. Then on May 883, Guthrum would invade the lands of Æthelhelm.

Okay, part 2 is done! Now I just want to say that I know the map isn't a hundred percent accurate with island looking completely differently and some successor nations stretching to territory they shouldn't, but I did my best with the editing skills I have. The Battle of Redriver might not be entirely accurate as well, as I don't 100% know if the forests were north of where the battle was, if they were naturally growing as time passed or if they were man-planted after the battle takes place. Either way I hope you guys enjoyed reading and have a nice day ;lp
 
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