Eleanor Parker discusses the Old English poem 'The Battle of Maldon'. The poem describes a battle that is also recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and which the Vikings won. Olaf Tryggvason may have been present at this battle, as some traditions…
A Viking Army under Olaf Trygvasson had been raiding the eastern and southern coast of England in the summer of 991AD unmolested until Byrhtnoth, with the men of Essex, cornered it on Northey Island, near Maldon in August. The two armies faced each…
Set in AD 991 at the mouth of the river Panta, the Earl Byrhtnoth deals battle to Viking raiders. Unfortunately the epic poem is a fragment; the opening lines and the end have been lost. It remains nonetheless a magnificent record of heroism and…