Sweyn Forkbeard besieged Exeter in 1003, the city having been betrayed by the Norman reeve Hugh who opened the city gates. The Chronicle bitterly records the treachery. Exeter was sacked and burned, with the Danish army then ravaging across Wiltshire. The betrayal of Exeter highlighted the weakness of English local command structures and the vulnerability of English towns to internal treachery. The town was later rebuilt by Cnut.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
Research a location near Devon