More information : Primary sources:
'A' manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
885 . 'Her to daelde se foresprecena here on tu, other dael east, other dael to Hrofes ceastre, and ymb saeton tha ceastre, and worhton other faesten ymb hie selfe, and hie thea tha ceastre awereden oththaet Aelfred com utan, mid fierde. Tha eode se here to hiera scipum, and forlet that geweorc, and hie wurden thaer behorsude and sona thy ilcan sumere ofer sae gewiton.
'And thy ilcan geare sende Aelfred cyning sciphere on East Engle, sona swa hie comon on Stufe muthan. Tha metton hie xvi scipu wicenga and with tha gefuhton and tha scipo alle geraehton, and tha men ofslogon. Tha hie tha hamweard wendon mid thaere here hythe. Tha metton hie micelne sciphere wicenga, and tha with tha gefuhton thy ilcan daege, and tha Deniscan ahton sige.' (1)
'E' manuscript of Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
885. 'Her to daelde se forsprecena here on twa. Other east, other dael to Hrofeceastre and ymb saeton tha ceastre and wrohton other faesten ymb hi sylfe, and hi theah tha ceastre aweredan oththaet Aelfred cyng com uton mid fyrde. Tha eode se here to heora scipum, and forleton thet geweorc, and hi wurden thaer behorsade, and sona tha ilcan sumera eft ofer se gewiton.
'Thy ilcan geare saende Aelfred cyng scip here of Caent on East Engle. Sona swa hi comon on Sture muthan tha ge maetton hi xvi scipa wicinga, and with tha ge fuhton, and tha scipa ealle ge raehton and tha men ofslogen. Tha hi tha ham weard waeron mid thaere here huthe tha ge metton hi mycelne sciphere wicinga and with tha ge fuhton thy ilcan daege, and tha Deniscan ahton sige.' (1)
885. (886 'C' manuscript) 'In this year the aforesaid army divided into two [one part going east] [1] the other part to Rochester, where they besieged the city and made other fortifications round themselves.[2] And nevertheless the English defended the city until King Alfred came up with his army.[3] Then the enemy went to their ships and abandoned their fortifications, and they were deprived of their horses there, and immediately that same summer they went back across the sea.[4]
'That same year King Alfred sent a naval force from Kent[5] into East Anglia. Immediately they came into the mouth of the Stour[6] they encountered 16 ships of Vikings and fought against them, and seized all the ships and killed the men. When they turned homeward with the booty, they met a large naval force of Vikings[7] and fought against them on the same day, and the Danes had the victory.' (2)
Footnotes in original text, following original numbering:
[1]: 'From 'A', 'D', 'E'. Aethelweard says that they went to Louvain.'
[2] 'The last clause is omitted by 'D', 'E'.'
[3] 'Asser's account is fuller and sounds genuine. "And then the pagans left their fortifications and abandoned all the horses which they had brought with them from the Frankish empire, and also the greater number of their prisoners in the fort, for the king had come there suddenly; and they fled instantly to the ships, and the Saxons at once seized the prisoners and the horses abandoned by the pagans."
[4] 'Aethelweard's account of this year is extremely important. See F M Stenton, in Essays Presented to T F Tout, pp20-21.' This footnote summarises the movements of the Vikings as described by Aethelweard including a return to East Anglia of Vikings who had gone overseas, which 'explains Alfred's attack on East Anglia'.
[5] 'A' omits 'from Kent'.
[6] 'Erroneously written "Stufe" for "Sture" by 'A', 'B', 'C' and Aethelweard. The correct form is in 'D', 'E', and Asser.
[7] 'Asser adds that it [i.e. the naval force] was collected by the pagans inhabiting East Anglia. (2)
66. 'Anno Dominicae Incarnationis DCCCLXXXIV, nativitatis autem Aelfredi regis trigesimo sexto, praefatus exercitus in duas se turmas divisit: una etenim turma in Orientalem Franciam perrexit, et altera ad Britanniam veniens, Cantiam adiit, civitatemque, quae Hrofesceastre Saxonice dicitur, in orientali ripa fluminis Medwaeg sitam, obsedit. Ante huius portam pagani castellum sibimet firmum subito fabricaverunt; nec tamen illam civitatem expugnare potuerunt, quia cives illi se viriliter defenderunt, quousque Aelfred rex, cum magno exercitu adiutorium illis conferens, supervenit. Et tunc pagani, relicta arce sua, et omnibus equis, quos de Francia secum adduxerant, derelictis, maxima parte necnon captivorum suorum in arce dimissa, adveniente subito rege, ad naves suas confestim confugiunt, et Saxones statim derelictos a paganis captivos et equos diripiunt. Pagani itaque, magna necessitate compulsi, eadem aestate iterum Franciam adierunt.
67. 'Eodem anno Aelfred, Angulsaxonum rex, classem suam de Cantia, plenam bellatoribus, in Orientales Anglos dirigens, praedandi causa, transmisit. Cumque ad ostium Sture fluminis advenissent, confestim tredecim naves paganorum, paratae ad bellum, obviaverunt eis, initoque navali proelio, hinc inde acriter pugnantes, pagani omnes occisi et omnes naves cum omni pecunia eorum captae sunt. Cumque inde victrix regia classis dormiret, pagani, qui Orientalium Anglorum regionem habitabant, congregatis undecunque navibus, eidem regiae classi in ostio eiusdem fluminis in mari obviaverunt, consertoque navali proelio, pagani victoriam habuerunt. (3)
Translation:
'In the year of our Lord's incarnation 884, which was the thirty- sixth of king Alfred's life, the aforesaid army divided into two parts; one body of them went into East France, and the other coming to Britain entered Kent, where they besieged a city called in Saxon Rochester, and situated on the eastern bank of the river Medway. Before the gate of the town the pagans suddenly erected a strong fortress, but yet they were unable to take the city, because the citizens defended themselves bravely, until king Alfred came up to help them with a large army. Then the pagans abandoned their fortress, and all their horses which they had brought with them out of France, and leaving behind them in the fortress the greater part of their prisoners, on the arrival of the king, fled immediately to their ships, and the Saxons immediately seized on the prisoners and horses left by the pagans; and so the pagans, compelled by stern necessity, returned the same summer to France.
'In the same year Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, led his fleet, full of fighting men, out of Kent to the country of the East-Angles, for the sake of plunder; and, when they had arrived at the mouth of the river Stour,* immediately thirteen ships of the pagans met them, prepared for battle; a fierce fight ensued, and all the pagans, after a brave resistance, were slain; all the ships, with all their money, were taken. After this, while the royal fleet were reposing, the pagans, who lived in the eastern part of England, assembled their ships, met the same royal fleet at sea in the mouth of the same river, and, after a naval battle, the pagans gained the victory.' (4)
*footnoted in this source as identifiable with the Essex rather than Kent Stour, and noted that 'Lambard fixes the battle at Harwich Haven.' (4)
Secondary sources:
'During the first twenty years of his reign (871-899) Alfred was almost continually at war, but almost all that warfare was on land. His naval activity seems to have been on a small scale . . . In 885 a squadron not commanded by the king in person was sent after Danish ships escaping from a defeat in Kent. They intercepted and took sixteen enemy ships at the mouth of the Stour in Essex, but were then themselves defeated by a larger Danish squadron.' (5)
Ninth century warships were little different from their mercantile counterparts, and similarly battle at sea differed little from that on land:
'As the enemy fleets approached one another, the crews would exchange volleys of arrows and other missles. This was the prelude to the real work, which began when ships drew side by side and were lashed together so the warriors could board and kill at will. A battle was won when the enemy surrendered or had too few men left to row away. Fighting of this sort could only take place in calm waters . . . ' (8)
The peace between Alfred and Guthrum was fragile and Alfred was determined to assert his authority over the Danes of East Anglia:
'Alfred sent a naval force from Kent to harry and plunder East Anglia. As soon as it entered the mouth of the Stour, Alfred's fleet encountered sixteen Viking ships. In the savage fighting that ensued, the Kentishmen captured all the enemy ships, killed their crews, and seized their booty. The victory proved transitory . . .' (8)
Interpretation of the Battle and its Location:
There is some date discrepancy, with Asser stating the year as 884, five out of the six Anglo-Saxon Chronicles stating the year as 885, and one as 886.
It seems clear from the context of the original sources that the battle took place off the mouth of the Essex Stour and that the Kentish Stour is not in question, despite the Viking presence at Rochester, and the despatch of Alfred's fleet from Kent. All manuscripts of the Chronicle and Asser state that the Saxon fleet was sent to 'East Anglia.'
The interpretation that the Danish ships were escaping from a defeat in Kent in (5) does not appear quite correct on examination of the primary sources, since, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle the Vikings at Rochester 'went back across the sea' and according to Asser 'returned the same summer to France'.
It would appear, instead, that having despatched the Vikings besieging Rochester, Alfred decided to pursue those who had 'gone east'. Asser suggests that they went to eastern France, as had been the case earlier in the 880s, but there had also been Vikings in East Anglia at the same period. The battle of 882 (1578089) suggests a possible precedent either way: meeting forces on the opposite coast to the Viking incursions into continental Europe, or in pursuing Vikings who had perhaps joined their compatriots in the East Anglian area, since Asser also refers to reinforcements coming from those living in East Anglia who forced the second battle.
The following is discussed in relation to the modern coastline only, and further information as to the shoreline in the Saxon period may alter this interpretation. At Harwich two rivers meet and find their outlet to the North Sea, the Stour and the Orwell (6), so it is difficult to be precise about the location, since both rivers could equally well be said to have their mouth at Harwich. It is unlikely that the battle took place out on the open sea or the approaches to Harwich, since that was not the battle strategy of the period, and the mouth of the Stour is expressly specified in all sources.
It seems most likely that the battle took place in the location of the present-day Harwich Harbour, which lies east of the promontory of Harwich, the Stour proper running north and west of the promontory, since it is said in the primary sources that the battle took place immediately the Saxon forces entered the mouth of the river. (The Orwell runs due north.) The Viking objective would have been to prevent the Saxons running further upriver and inland, so it seems likely that battle would have been joined towards the outlet to the sea to prevent this happening.
An alternative possibility could be that the battle took place within the Stour proper before it meets the Orwell, east of Harwich Harbour, between Shotley Point to the north and Bath Side, Harwich, to the south, yet, tactically, this appears a less good location with less room for manoeuvre and would imply that the Saxons were not 'immediately' met by the Vikings as they entered what is today Harwich Harbour. The present day southern bank of the Stour at this point runs into a muddy bay, which lies in the inter-tidal zone, and if a similar situation existed at the period in question, would run the risk for both parties of running aground.
Thus the co-ordinates chosen for the location of the battle lie inside the modern-day pier and within the environs of the present-day Harwich Harbour. They have been chosen to represent a battle area consistent with the Vikings 'immediately' meeting the Saxons, with room for manoeuvre and without risk of grounding, yet close to the shoreline, since early medieval and medieval battle strategy relied on fighting close inshore. It seems that the Saxons turned for home shortly afterwards, as battle was joined again later that day, making it unlikely that the Saxons had sailed very far up the river in pressing home their victory.
It should be noted that the precise location is arbitrary and for representational purposes only, and is not necessarily conclusive. (7)
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