King Harthacnut sent his fleet to Worcester to collect a tax. When the collectors were killed by townspeople, Harthacnut ordered Worcester sacked and the county devastated for five days. The Chronicle records that the city was burned and the surrounding countryside ravaged. It was one of the last acts of Viking-style intimidation by an English king — Harthacnut was half-Danish — and shocked the English population.
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 Worcestershire