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The Battle of Buttington was fought, in 893, between a Viking army and an alliance of Anglo-Saxons and Welsh. The annals, for 893, reported that a large Viking army had landed in the Lympne Estuary, Kent and a smaller force had landed in the Thames estuary under the command of Danish king Hastein. These were reinforced by ships from the settled Danes of East Anglia and Northumbria, some of this contingent sailed round the coast to besiege a fortified place (known as a burh) and Exeter both in Devon. The English king Alfred the Great, on hearing of Exeter's demise led all his mounted men to relieve the city. He left his thegns Æthelred, Æthelhelm, Æthelnoth, and others in charge of defending various towns and cities from the rest of the Viking army. The king's thegns managed to assemble a great army consisting of both Saxons and Welsh. The combined army laid siege to the Vikings who had built a fortification at Buttington. After several weeks the starving Vikings broke out of their fortification only to be beaten by the combined English and Welsh army with many of the Vikings being put to flight. ==Background== Viking raids began in England in the late 8th century.〔Sawyer. The Oxford Illustrated History of Vikings. pp. 2–3〕〔ASC 793 – English translation at (project Gutenberg ). Retrieved 4 August 2014〕 The raiding continued on and off until the 860s, when instead of raiding the Viking changed their tactics and sent a great army to invade England. This army was described by the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' as a "Great Heathen Army".〔ASC 865 – English translation at (project Gutenberg ). Retrieved 4 August 2014〕〔Oliver. Vikings. A History. p. 169〕 Alfred defeated the Great Heathen Army at the Battle of Edington in 878. A treaty followed whereby Alfred ceded an enlarged East Anglia to the Danes. After Edington, Alfred reorganised the defences of Wessex, he built a navy and a standing army. He also built a series of fortified towns, known as ''burhs'' that ringed Wessex. To maintain the burhs, and the standing army, he set up a taxation system known as the Burghal Hidage. Viking raids still continued but his defences made it difficult for the Vikings to make progress. As the political system in Francia (part of modern day France) was in turmoil the Vikings concentrated their efforts there as the raiding was more profitable.〔P. H. Sawyer, Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe, A.D. 700-1100 (London: Routledge, 1989),p. 91, http://www.questia.com/read/105571409〕〔Horspool. Why Alfred Burnt the Cakes. pp. 104-110〕〔ASC 896, ASC 897. English translation at (Project Gutenberg ) Retrieved 4 August 2014〕 By late 892 the leadership in Francia had become more stable and the Vikings were finding it difficult to make progress there too, so they again attempted a conquest of England.〔ASC 892 – English translation at (project Gutenberg ). Retrieved 4 August 2014〕 In 893 two hundred and fifty ships landed an army in the Lympne Estuary in Kent where they built a fortification at Appledore. A smaller force of eighty ships under Hastein, landed in the Thames estuary before entrenching themselves at Milton, also in Kent.〔 The invaders brought their wives and children with them, indicating a meaningful attempt at conquest and colonisation. Alfred took up a position from which he could observe both of the Viking armies.〔Merkle. The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great. p. 220〕 The Vikings were further reinforced with 240 ships, that were provided by the Danes of East Anglia and Northumbria who had settled there after the wars of the 860s and 870s. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' saying that they did it ''contrary to () pledges.'' 〔ASC 893 – English translation at (project Gutenberg ). Retrieved 4 August 2014〕〔John of Worcester, The Chronicle of John of Worcester, ed. R. R. Darlington and P. McGurk, trans. Jennifer Bray (New York: Clarendon Press, 1995), p. 345, http://www.questia.com/read/98726313.〕 At some point Alfred's army captured Hasteins family.〔 The annals report that Alfred was in talks with Hastein, but do not say why. Horspool speculates that it may well be to do with Hastein's family, however while the talks were going on, the Danes at Appledore broke out and struck northwestwards.〔〔 They were overtaken by Alfred's eldest son, Edward, and were defeated in a general engagement at Farnham in Surrey. They took refuge on an island at Thorney, on Hertfordshire's River Colne, where they were blockaded and were ultimately forced to submit.〔 The force fell back on Essex and, after suffering another defeat at Benfleet, joined Hastein's army at Shoebury.〔〔 Alfred had been on his way to relieve his son at Thorney when he heard that the Northumbrian and East Anglian Danes were besieging Exeter and an unnamed burh on the North Devon shore. Alfred at once hurried westward and when he arrived at Exeter, the Danes took to their ships. The siege of Exeter was lifted but the fate of the unnamed North Devon burh is not recorded. Meanwhile, the force under Hastein set out to march up the Thames Valley, possibly with the idea of assisting their friends in the west. But they were met by the Western army that consisted of West Saxons, Mercians and some Welsh, it was led by three eldermen namely Æthelred the Lord of the Mercians, Æthelhelm the Ealdorman of Wiltshire and Æthelnoth the Ealdorman of Somerset. The chronicle says that they "were drawn from every burh east of the Parret; both west and east of Selwood, also north of the Thames and west of the Severn as well as some part of the Welsh people".〔 Ethelred although a Mercian was married to Alfred's daughter and thus as his son in law was able to cross the borders of Wessex in pursuit of Vikings. The combined Anglo-Saxon and Welsh army forced the Vikings to the northwest, where they were finally overtaken and besieged at Buttington.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Buttington」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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