Christmas series
Part 4 - King Alfred and Chippenham
We’re in 2024 now, but we’re still within the 12 Days of Christmas. This traditionally lasts from Christmas Day to the 6th of January.
In Anglo-Saxon times, Christmas was celebrated for the duration of the 12 days, ending on Twelfth Night.
A notable event that occurred on 12th Night was the Battle of Chippenham, where King Alfred of Wessex retreated from the Norse, to recoup and rebuild at the Athelney Marshes.
Alfred became king in 871 AD. He succeeded his brother, Athelred, who had died after the battle of Merton. Whilst Athelred had a son, Athelwold, he was deemed unsuitable to rule due to being a boy. Thus, as the surviving son of King Athelwulf of Wessex, Alfred was made king.
The first seven years of his rule saw other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms slowly succumb to Norse dominion. East Anglia, Northumbria, and Mercia had all fallen, and all that was left was Wessex.
The concerted push to capture Wessex was led by Guthrum, who secured an army at Cambridge and embarked on a campaign to take the southernmost kingdom.
By 878 AD, things had become bleaker for Wessex. An army had landed to the west, to take Alfred from two sides. This, however, was defeated by Ealdorman Odda at Cynwit in Devon, which laid a severe blow to the Norse’s attempts at taking the kingdom.
Despite this victory, Alfred’s position was still insecure.
Guthrum’s army was still at large, and knowing Christian festivals he gambled that Alfred would least be prepared for an attack around the time of a major festival.
So, with the knowledge that Alfred was present at Chippenham on 12th Night, he attacked with a force to subdue Alfred, and consequently Wessex.
Alfred was greatly unprepared for this and barely escaped with a handful of retainers and followers.
With his Chippenham stronghold in Norse hands, and with the Norse occupying much of his kingdom in kind, he had no choice but to retreat to the Somerset marshes.
Today, the Somerset marshes are low-lying fields and agricultural lands. Akin to the Fens of Eastern England, they were largely drained and turned into productive lands in the early modern period. In Anglo-Saxon times, however, they were a mix of reed beds, islands, shallow lakes and rivers, bogs and marshes. These likely formed a hunting ground for the Wessex kings, and Alfred via frequent trips there would have known the various landforms well.
From Athelney, King Alfred was able to form a base, most likely living off the produce and animals from the surrounding marshes.
He then used some kind of clandestine messaging, possibly by defeating local Norse forces and sending priests to connect with other churches and communities. Over several weeks and months, he was able to send word to various forces in his kingdom and launch a successful attack at Edington, which curbed the Norse in their tracks.
So as we can see, the Chippenham battle at Christmas time was a major part of King Alfred’s defence of Wessex, ultimately securing Wessex as the “last kingdom” in defiance of the Norse. And then of course, via his grandchildren, forming the Kingdom of England.