More information : Primary Sources:
894 (895 C, D manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle):
'Then that same year in early winter the Danes who were encamped on Mersea rowed their ships up the Thames and up the Lea . . . '
895 (896 C, D manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle):
'And in the same year the aforesaid army made a fortress by the Lea, 20 miles above London. Then afterwards in the summer a great part of the citizens and also of other people marched until they arrived at the fortress of the Danes, and there they were put to flight and four king's thegns were slain. Then later, in the autumn, the king encamped in the vicinity of the borough while they were reaping their corn, and examined where the river could be obstructed, so that they could not bring the ships out. And then this was carried out: two fortresses were made on the two sides of the river. When they had just begun that work . . . the enemy perceived that they could not bring the ships out. Then they abandoned the ships and went overland . . . Then the English army rode after the enemy, and the men from London fetched the ships, and broke up all which they could not bring away, and brought to London those which were serviceable.' (3)
Secondary Sources:
The site of the Battle of River Lea is located in Hertford in Hertfordshire. The battle was fought in 895 AD between the English and an invading force of Danes. The Danish force took their ships up the River Lea in 894 from Mersea Island and the River Thames. A site near Hertford on the River Lea was fortified by the Danes and the English attacked this in 895 where they were driven away. (1)
The National Grid Reference for the site of the battle is: TL32531 12692. (2)
Alfred may have been inspired by Frankish military tactics in his engagement with the Danes. He 'looked for a place downstream of the Danes where he could most easily block the river and thereby entrap their ships.' This is envisaged as earthworks on each banks: ditches and fortified ramparts for burhs. The double burh would thereby have trapped the Danes. (4)
Location and Interpretation of the Battle:
Source (2) states a grid reference which is arbitrary and for representational purposes only, but which lies on the western bank of the Lea at Hertford and 20 miles north of London. It is not known how or where Alfred 'obstructed' the river, perhaps by damming or by fortifying the two banks such that the Danes could not move without risking attack as suggested in (4), or by a ship blockade. The latter seems a likely move, whether in isolation or in addition to the earthworks suggested in (4), since sailors would have been required to move the captured ships to London, as described in (2).
The location in (2) appears to have been chosen with regard to the modern topography and course of the river which accords well with a strategic location for Alfred to blockade the river. It is in the centre of a single stream running through Hertford, whereas the watercourse bifurcates some 55m to the north-east and again some 155m to the south-west (5) which would have offered four means of escape.
The ships thus captured at the Battle of the River Lea are likely to have inspired the 'long ships' of Alfred's new force which were built the following year and which were deployed at the battle on the south coast against the Danes in 896 (1578969). (6) |