July 11th - August 883
Erikr arrives to Winchester with the grave news of Wulfhere's injury. Guthrum is enraged and calls upon the nobleman of the realm for a decision of what to do with the issue of Guthred's raid into Vestdanir. The gathering of the noblemen is called a Thing, based off of council-like system in their native Scandinavia. The Thing spanned over a week with the decision of an ultimatum to Guthred for reparations or a declaration of war. Within a short amount of time, Guthred had denied the ultimatum and prepared for war. Ubba and Sigurdr Snake-In-The-Eye were called in against Guthrum and the war became a magnet for aspiring Vikings. Guthrum had begun organizing local militias and gathering them in Lundunir (London). Somewhere In July he had set foot to Nottingham with Odda and 2 Danish chieftains who were beneath him.
August 883 - January 884
Guthrum encounters Guthred's army in Fall, demanding they surrender now or the war shall continue. But as being the cocky king he was, Guthred stubbornly refused the offer of peace and retreated back to Nottingham. Guthrum goes on a guerrilla campaign to slow down Guthred's retreat but were quickly repelled after the arrival of Ubba's forces. Guthrum has to make a decision, act now and risk trying to crush Ubba and Guthred's forces, making it easier to destroy Sigurdr's approaching army, or go on defense and hope that his forces can fight better on a secured position. He chose the former. By the dawn of the next year and a successful raid on Leicester, Guthrum had reached outside of Nottingham by late January. After a brutal fight Guthrum had been able to take the palace by maneuvering his men on Guthred's best men and taking the city for himself. Guthred was a slave once more.
Painting of Ubba (left) from Harley MS 2278, depicting him ravaging the countryside.
884 - 885
Ubba stalls Guthrum's advance at the Battle of Djuraby in which his evenly matched force almost destroys a quarter of Guthrum's men. The war turns into a stale mate as Guthrum retreats back to Lundunir where Sigurdr is decisively defeated on the coast of Anglia but Ubba recaptures Nottingham, freeing Guthred. Neither side can make gains and the only battles are minor or end up in a draw. The factions come to a negotiation in Fall of 884 agreeing to the terms of Guthred converting back to Norse and a continuation of the borders at the time. The Treaty of Djuraby had shaped the borders of Danish England for years to come.
885 - 892
The famous warlord Hrolfr is defeated in France due to lack of reinforcements from Britain. With his defeat in France, Hrolfr sails to Ireland (with the warlords Sinric and Sigefrid) with hopes that he'll gain local support from the King of Dubhlinn. Due to Ireland's weak defenses and it's disunity, the warlords are able to establish a foothold in Ireland unlike in France. Meanwhile in England, Guthrum sets his sights on Wales to loot and plunder. His endeavors bring him to the walls of Aberffraw before being repelled by King Anarawd, where the two agreed upon Anarawd's surrender of coin but Guthrum's withdrawal from Wales. This agreement marked a period of relative peace in England. With this, Britain had become a stalemate. Celtic versus Norse versus the oppressed Saxons, the future of the islands were unknown.
The island of Ireland shortly after the arrival of the Norse warlords.