alternatehistory.com

Per the title, and because I know Hastings WIs have been done to death around here :p Historically, the Danish king Canute solidified his progress towards the conquest of all of England by defeating the English under Edmund Ironside, the last king from the House of Wessex (the Cerdicing dynasty, if you will) until his half-brother Edward the Confessor succeeded in 1042 due to Canute's line being extinguished, at the Battle of Ashingdon/Assandun on October 18, 1016. The battle was apparently a pretty close affair, and Canute only gained a decisive advantage when Eadric Streona, the ealdorman of Mercia, betrayed Edmund by pulling his troops off the battlefield. All of England save Wessex was given up to Canute as a result, and the two kings agreed that whoever died first would inherit the other's lands; conveniently for Canute, Edmund was murdered a month after his defeat, completing the absorption of England into his realm. As king of Denmark, England & Norway and overlord of some other territories, Canute's dominion was called the 'North Sea Empire', although it didn't survive for long past his death.

So - what if all of that doesn't happen? Streona either changes his mind and sticks by the English, or his treachery is uncovered and Edmund relieves him of his head before the battle commences, or his horse just gets freaked out by a thunderbolt and throws him to his death on October 17 1016. The important thing is that the Mercians never betray the rest of the Saxon host: thus, Edmund Ironside proceeds to mop the floor with the Danes and possibly even kills Canute, who at this point has only two infant sons to succeed him. The House of Wessex therefore regains its hold on England once more, and the Danes are left in no condition to try a second invasion any time soon. Edmund is never assassinated on the privy in November 1016, and presumably lives a reasonably long life (say to the 1030s or '40s) on the English throne since he appears to have been a strong leader in good health.

How does a Saxon England that is never taken over by the Danes fare? With the Danish threat neutralized and Streona either dead or cowed into submission in the immediate aftermath of Ashingdon, will Edmund or his heirs dare to strike into Scotland (Lothian was part of Northumbria at this time), Wales and/or Ireland (where several Viking settlements exist and the Viking Kingdom of Dublin has been taking a beating from the native Irish in recent decades, culminating in their most recent crippling defeat by Brian Boru at Clontarf, 1014)? Or would they look to the continent and target Normandy, which used to harbor Viking raiders fresh from English shores during the reign of Edmund's father Ethelred the Unready?

Would English culture & language still gravitate towards Scandinavia (ex. replacing the ealdormen with earls), orient towards the continent, or remain insular (more Celtic influence?) without the influence of Canute's North Sea Empire?

Edmund's son Edward (historically Edward the Exile, father of Edgar Atheling), along with his little brother (also named Edmund), was historically sent to Kievan Rus' to save his life from Canute's plotting following his father's defeat. That presumably would not happen if Ironside prevails, since with Canute down for the count he'll have no reason to punt his sons to the other side of Europe. Does Edward the Not-Exiled still marry an Eastern European woman, and what kind of king would he have been should he succeed his father?

What, if anything, happens to the House of Godwin? By the time Ashingdon happened Godwin's a teenager and his father, a wealthy thane from Sussex named Wulfnoth Cild who had some run-ins with Ethelred the Unready, has been dead for two years. He historically profited greatly from his association with the Danes, betrayed Edmund Ironside's other brother Alfred when he tried to challenge Canute and married Canute's sister-in-law (I think) Gytha Thorkilsdottir; what are his chances of advancement under the continued reign of the House of Wessex?

Would the Norse (not necessarily the Danes, although they could conceivably try again once they've recovered) try invading England again? And for that matter, Canute's survival or death post-Ashingdon would also have major effects on Scandinavia, as he historically knocked Olaf II off the Norwegian throne in the 1020s and asserted his power over chunks of Sweden. If he's dead none of that happens obviously, but if he survives, will he try to go for round 2 against Ironside as soon as he can or would he rather concentrate on taking over the rest of Scandinavia, and does he have any shot at creating the Kalmar Union 300+ years early?

And for that matter, would the Normans try pushing their luck against the House of Wessex in the future? (by this point, Ethelred the Unready has already married Emma of Normandy, who gave birth to Edmund's half-brother Edward the Confessor thirteen years before Ashingdon)
Top