Thorkell's Danish army besieged and sacked Canterbury — one of the holiest cities in England — and captured Archbishop Alphege. Alphege refused to allow himself to be ransomed at the expense of his already-impoverished flock. The Danes, drunk at a feast in April 1012, pelted him with bones and ox-heads until a merciful Dane killed him with an axe-blow. His martyrdom shocked England and eventually drove Thorkell himself into English service.
Archbishop Alphege martyred; many citizens killed
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