One of the most famous battles in English history, commemorated in the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon. Ealdorman Byrhtnoth of Essex allowed the Danish army to cross the causeway to the mainland to fight on equal terms — an act of chivalric excess the poem calls ofermod (pride). He was killed and the battle lost. The defeat led directly to the first national Danegeld payment and set the precedent of buying off Viking armies rather than defeating them.
Byrhtnoth and most of his household killed
This battlefield is listed on the Register of Historic Battlefields — a national designation identifying Britain's most significant battle sites for protection and further research. Reference: ENG 47.
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