Baptism of Guthrum at Aller, 878
History & Significance
Guthrum (Old English: Guðrum, c. 835 – c. 890) was King of East Anglia in the late 9th century. Originally a native of Denmark, he was one of the leaders of the "Great Summer Army" that arrived in Reading during April 871 to join forces with the Great Heathen Army, whose intentions were to conquer the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England. The combined armies were successful in conquering the kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, and parts of Mercia and overran Alfred the Great's Wessex but were ultimately defeated by Alfred at the Battle of Edington in 878. The Danes retreated to their stronghold, where Alfred laid siege and eventually Guthrum surrendered.
Under the terms of his surrender, Guthrum was obliged to be baptised as a Christian to endorse the agreement and then leave Wessex. The subsequent Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum set out the boundaries between Alfred and Guthrum's territories, as well as agreements on peaceful trade and the weregild value of its people. The treaty is seen as the foundation of the Danelaw. Guthrum ruled East Anglia under his baptismal name of Æthelstan until his death.
"This year king Bertric took to wife Eadburga, king Offa's daughter; and in his days first came three ships of Northmen, out of Hæretha-land [Denmark]. And then the reve rode to the place, and would have driven them to the king's town, because he knew not who they were: and they there slew him. These were the first ships of Danishmen which sought the land of the English nation."
Small-scale raiding of the English kingdoms continued on and off until 865, when a much larger army landed in East Anglia with the intention of invading and conquering it. The initial army was reinforced in 871 by the Great Summer Army (Old English: mycel sumorlida).
Guthrum, a nephew of Horik II of Denmark and a failed candidate for a share of the Danish throne, was one of the leaders of the Great Summer Army, which in April 871 joined forces with the "Great Danish Army" based at Reading. The combined army had several military engagements with the West Saxons before wintering in London in 871–872. Coins minted in London during this period bear the name Halfdan, identifying him as its leader.
In the autumn of 872, the Great Army returned to Northumbria to quell a revolt against its puppet-regent Ecgberht I of Northumbria. The Army overwintered at Torksey, and was then reported as being in the Repton district a year later. It conquered Mercia in 874, with Burgred of Mercia being deposed and replaced by a Danish puppet-regent, Ceolwulf.
Following this victory, the Great Army split in two – one half under Halfdan heading north to fight against the Picts and Britons of Strathclyde, and the other half under Guthrum heading south to continue fighting against Wessex.
The ground they fought on
The site of Baptism of Guthrum at Aller, 878 lies on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.
The striking element is that Alfred stood as godfather to the very enemy he had just crushed. Guthrum, who had led the Danish army that nearly overran Wessex, knelt at the font at Aller and rose bearing a Christian name, Athelstan, the name of Alfred's own dead elder brother, making him in ritual terms a member of the West Saxon royal house. From Aller the party moved to Wedmore for the unbinding of the chrism, and there the defeated Viking king spent twelve nights as Alfred's honoured guest, feasted and given gifts, before being sent home to rule East Anglia.
Not a military engagement. Guthrum came to Aller accompanied by thirty of the most honoured men of his army.
- None; this was a baptism and peace ceremony, not a military engagement.
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- Guthrum · Wikipedia
- Battle of Edington · Wikipedia
- Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum · Wikipedia