The Battle of Reading was a victory for a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Viking army over a West Saxon force on about 4 January 871 at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

in Berkshire. The

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...

were led by

Bagsecg Bagsecg (born: 830-died: 8 January, 871), also known as Bacgsecg, was a viking and a leader of the Great Army, which invaded England. According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Bagsecg and Healfdene ( Norse ''Hálfdan'') were joint commande ...

and

Halfdan Ragnarsson Halfdan Ragnarsson ( non, Hálfdan; oe, Halfdene or ''Healfdene''; sga, Albann; died 877) was a Viking leader and a commander of the Great Heathen Army which invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England, starting in 865. One of six sons of R ...

and the West Saxons by King Æthelred and his brother, the future King Alfred the Great. It was the second of a series of battles that took place following an invasion of Wessex by the Danish army in December 870.

Prelude

By 870, the Vikings had conquered two of the four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms,

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

and East Anglia. At the end of 870 they launched an attempt to conquer Wessex and marched from East Anglia to Reading, arriving on about 28 December. The town was between the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

and

Kennet Kennet may refer to: Places in the United Kingdom *Kennet, Clackmannanshire, Scotland People *Baron Kennet, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom * D. Mark Kennet (born 1957), American economist *Josh Kennet (born 1987), English-Israel ...

rivers and they set about building a ditch and rampart on the southern side between the two rivers. Three days after their arrival they sent out a large foraging party, which was defeated by an army of local levies under the command of Æthelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, at the

Battle of Englefield The Battle of Englefield was a West Saxon victory against a Danish Viking army on about 31 December 870 at Englefield, near Reading in Berkshire. It was the first of a series of battles that took place following an invasion of Wessex by the Dani ...

Battle

After another four days, on about 4 January 871, Æthelred and Alfred brought up the main West Saxon army and joined Æthelwulf's forces for an attack on the Danes. The West Saxons fought their way to the town, slaughtering all the Danes they found outside, but when they reached the town gate the Vikings burst out and defeated the West Saxons with a successful counter-attack. Among the dead was Æthelwulf, whose body was secretly carried off to be buried in his native

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

. According to a late source, Æthelred and Alfred only escaped due their better knowledge of the local terrain, which allowed them to lose their pursuers by fording the

River Loddon The River Loddon is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises at Basingstoke in Hampshire and flows northwards for to meet the Thames at Wargrave in Berkshire. Together, the Loddon and its tributaries drain an area of . Th ...

Aftermath

Their surviving forces regrouped at

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

and four days later Æthelred and Alfred were victorious at the

Battle of Ashdown The Battle of Ashdown, was a West Saxon victory over a Danish Viking army on about 8 January 871. The location of Ashdown is not known, but may be Kingstanding Hill in Berkshire. Other writers place the battle near Starveall, a short distance n ...

, but they were then defeated again at the battles of Basing and Meretun. Soon after Easter, which fell on 15 April in that year, Æthelred died and was succeeded by Alfred. The Battle of Reading can be dated because Bishop

Heahmund __NOTOC__ Heahmund was a medieval Bishop of Sherborne. Heahmund was consecrated in 867 or 868.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 222 He died at the Battle of Meretun in 871. As his death is assigned to 22 March in the English ca ...

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. ...

died in the Battle of Meretun, and it is known that he died on 22 March 871. The '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' records that the Battle of Basing was two months earlier, dating it to 22 January, Ashdown fourteen days before that on 8 January, Reading four days earlier on 4 January, Englefield another four days earlier on 31 December 870 and the arrival of the Vikings in Reading three days earlier on 28 December. However, as the two-month interval between Meretun and Basing is probably not exact, the earlier dates are approximate.

References

{{Authority control Reading 871 Reading 0871 Reading 0871 Reading 0871 Military history of Reading, Berkshire Reading 871 871 9th century in England