The Battle of Lüneburg Heath (also called the Battle of Ebstorf) was a conflict between the army of King Louis the Younger and the

Norse Norse is a demonym for Norsemen, a medieval North Germanic ethnolinguistic group ancestral to modern Scandinavians, defined as speakers of Old Norse from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. Norse may also refer to: Culture and religion * Nor ...

Great Heathen Army fought on 2 February 880 AD, at

Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (german: Lüneburger Heide) is a large area of heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen a ...

in today's Lower Saxony. Lüneburger Heide 109

Following defeat by

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...

at the Battle of Edington, the

Great Heathen Army moved from England to

pillage Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

the Duchy of Saxony. The army of Louis met the Norsemen at

. The Saxons were routed in a snowstorm, with the army being destroyed or captured. Known combatants include Marquard of Hildesheim, Theodoric of Minden, Lothar I, Count of Stade, an unidentified count named "Bardonum" and Bruno, Duke of

East Saxony East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

who, according to the chronicles Annales Fuldenses and the

Gesta Francorum The ''Gesta Francorum'' (Deeds of the Franks), or ''Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum'' (Deeds of the Franks and the other pilgrims to Jerusalem), is a Latin chronicle of the First Crusade by an anonymous author connected with Bohemon ...

,Bruno, son of Liudolf, died in one of two battles (one at the river Scheldt and one in Saxony) which are reported separately in the '' Annales Fuldenses''. The ''

'' lists "Bardonum...alterum Bardonum ttertium Bardonum" as three of the twelve counts who were killed fighting the Danes in 880 20 The other two counts named "Bardo" or "Bruno" have not been identified. drowned in a river during the Saxon retreat. Those killed were recognized by the Catholic Church as the Martyrs of Ebsdorf, whose feast day is 2 February. The Norse army was subsequently defeated at the Battle of Thimeon later that month and finally checked at the

Battle of Saucourt The Battle of Saucourt was part of the Viking invasions of West Francia and occurred between forces of Vikings and the troops of Kings of West Francia, Louis III of France and his brother Carloman II, on 3 August 881 at Saucourt-en-Vimeu. Back ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luneburg Heath, Battle of Battles involving France Battles involving the Vikings 880s conflicts Battles in Lower Saxony 880 9th century in East Francia