Battle of Assandun (Ashingdon)
Who Fought
English army of West-Saxon troops and men from southern England under King Edmund Ironside; Danish army under King Cnut,; supported by Eirikr Hakonarson and Thorkell the Tall.
History & Significance
The Battle of Assandun (or Ashingdon) was fought between Danish and English armies on 18 October 1016. There is disagreement whether Assandun may be Ashdon near Saffron Walden in north Essex, England, or, as long supposed, Ashingdon near Rochford in south-east Essex. It ended in victory for the Danes, led by King Cnut, who triumphed over an English army led by King Edmund Ironside. The battle was followed by a treaty dividing England between Cnut and Edmund, but Edmund died shortly afterwards and Cnut then became undisputed king as had been agreed.
On 23 April 1016, King Æthelred the Unready died from an illness that he had been suffering from since the previous year. Two opposing assemblies gathered to name his successor; an assembly of London citizens declared Edmund king and the larger Witan at Southampton declared Cnut as king. During the autumn of 1016, King Edmund raised an army consisting of West-Saxon troops as well as men from Southern England to defeat a Danish force led by King Cnut that had sailed across the Thames into Essex.
On 18 October, as the Danes returned to their ships, the two forces finally engaged with each other at a place called Assandun, the exact location being disputed. Edmund formed his men into three lines and fought amongst the front lines to encourage his men, while Cnut, more of a strategist than a warrior, did not fight amongst his ranks. During the battle, Eadric Streona the ealdorman of Mercia left the battle allowing the Scandinavians to break through the English lines and win a decisive victory. The version in the Encomium Emmae Reginae says that Eadric urged his men to flee before the battle began, saying "Let us flee and snatch our lives from imminent death, or else we will fall forthwith, for I know the hardihood of the Danes". However, it also implies that this statement is a deception by Eadric: "And according to some, it was afterwards evident that he did this not out of fear but in guile; and what many assert is that he had promised this secretly to the Danes in return for some favour." Seeing a good chunk of his army leave the field, Edmund was undeterred. He told his warriors that they were better off without the craven men who deserted them, and he advanced into the midst of the enemy, cutting down the Danes on all sides. Eadric Streona had previously defected to Cnut when he landed in England but after Cnut's defeat at the Battle of Otford he came back to the English. However, this was a trick, as he again betrayed the English at Assandun.
During the course of the battle, Eadnoth the Younger, Bishop of Dorchester on Thames, was killed by Cnut's men whilst in the act of saying mass on behalf of Edmund Ironside's men. According to the Liber Eliensis, Eadnoth's hand was first cut off for a ring, and then his body cut to pieces. The leading thegn Ulfcytel also died in the battle.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Assandun (Ashingdon) lies on Thames Group, bedrock that formed in the Eocene. The rock here is clay, silt, sand and gravel.
The treachery of Eadric Streona proved decisive at Assandun: having previously defected to Cnut and then feigned a return to the English cause after Cnut's defeat at the Battle of Otford, Eadric abandoned the field at the critical moment, and the Encomium Emmae Reginae records his cry that the men should flee to snatch their lives from imminent death, adding that many afterwards believed he had secretly promised this service to the Danes in return for some favour. Even so, Edmund Ironside was undeterred, telling his remaining warriors they were better off without those who had deserted them before advancing into the midst of the enemy and cutting down Danes on all sides, though the breach in the English lines proved impossible to repair and Cnut carried the day.
- English dead included Eadnoth the Younger, Bishop of Dorchester on Thames, and the leading thegn Ulfcytel; losses on both sides otherwise unrecorded in the sources.
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