{"slug": "great-heathen-army", "label": "Great Heathen Army", "wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Heathen_Army", "wikidata": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1419965", "qid": "Q1419965", "description": "coalition of Norse warriors that invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms", "entries": 14, "years": 14, "span": [865, 880], "span_label": ["865 CE", "880 CE"], "topics": [{"title": "Conflict & Security", "count": 12}, {"title": "Exploration & Expansion", "count": 2}], "related": [{"slug": "denmark", "label": "Denmark", "shared": 5}, {"slug": "vikings", "label": "Vikings", "shared": 5}, {"slug": "kingdom-of-northumbria", "label": "Kingdom of Northumbria", "shared": 4}, {"slug": "halfdan-ragnarsson", "label": "Halfdan Ragnarsson", "shared": 4}, {"slug": "guthrum", "label": "Guthrum", "shared": 4}, {"slug": "alfred-the-great", "label": "Alfred the Great", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "kingdom-of-east-anglia", "label": "Kingdom of East Anglia", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "york", "label": "York", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "wessex", "label": "Wessex", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "exeter", "label": "Exeter", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "mercia", "label": "Mercia", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "nottingham", "label": "Nottingham", "shared": 1}], "items": [{"year": 865, "year_label": "865 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Great Heathen Army (probably no more than 1,000 men) of Vikings, led by Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson, invades East Anglia. King Edmund of East Anglia buys peace with a supply of horses.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1341129586#Britain", "title": "865", "revid": 1341129586, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 866, "year_label": "866 CE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "The Great Heathen Army of the Vikings rides north to Northumbria. The Northumbrians are preoccupied with a civil war, and the Danes enter York unopposed.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1341129580#Britain", "title": "866", "revid": 1341129580, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 867, "year_label": "867 CE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "Vikings or \"Danes\" (the two terms were often used interchangeably at the time), comprising the Great Heathen Army, advance northward from bases in the Kingdom of East Anglia, into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1366655299#Britain", "title": "867", "revid": 1366655299, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 868, "year_label": "868 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "King Burgred of Mercia appeals to Æthelred I for help in resisting the Great Heathen Army. The Danes occupy Nottingham, and stay through the winter without any serious opposition.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1358169430#Britain", "title": "868", "revid": 1358169430, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 869, "year_label": "869 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Autumn –The Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar the Boneless and Ubba, invades the Kingdom of East Anglia and plunders Peterborough. The Vikings take up winter quarters at Thetford.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369351830#Britain", "title": "869", "revid": 1369351830, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 870, "year_label": "870 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Autumn – The Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar the Boneless and Ubba, invades East Anglia and plunders Peterborough. King Edmund the Martyr is captured, tortured, beaten and used for archery practice (or 869).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1341129562#Britain", "title": "870", "revid": 1341129562, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 871, "year_label": "871 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The English retreat onto the Berkshire Downs. The Great Heathen Army, led by the Danish Viking kings Halfdan and Bagsecg, march out after the Saxons. Six pitched battles are fought between the Danes and Wessex. Of two of them the place and date are not recorded, the others are:", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1341129558#Europe", "title": "871", "revid": 1341129558, "section": "Events › By place › Europe"}}, {"year": 872, "year_label": "872 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Autumn – The Great Heathen Army returns to Northumbria, to put down a rebellion at York. King Ecgberht I and his archbishop, Wulfhere, are expelled by the Northumbrians and flee to Mercia.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1267071842#Britain", "title": "872", "revid": 1267071842, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 873, "year_label": "873 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Danish Great Heathen Army, led by the Viking leaders Halfdan and Guthrum, attack Mercia and capture the royal centre at Repton (Derbyshire). The Vikings establish an encampment with a U-shape ditch, on the south bank of the River Trent and spend the winter there.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1267072669#Britain", "title": "873", "revid": 1267072669, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 874, "year_label": "874 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Autumn – The Great Heathen Army splits into two bands; Halfdan returns with his forces to Northumbria, along with his brother Ubba, where he establishes a new base on the River Tyne.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1347164206#Britain", "title": "874", "revid": 1347164206, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 875, "year_label": "875 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "June", "text": "June – The Great Heathen Army, led by Guthrum, moves on Cambridge. He later returns to Wessex, to establish a winter quarter. King Alfred the Great fights the Danes in a naval engagement.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1352180718#Britain", "title": "875", "revid": 1352180718, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 876, "year_label": "876 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Great Heathen Army, led by Guthrum, captures the fortress of Wareham (Dorset), and is met by a Viking army (3,500 men) from the sea, which lands at Poole Harbour. King Alfred the Great traps the Vikings, and demands hostages in return for a peace agreement. The Danes divide their forces; half flees to Exeter, where they besiege the town while the other half escape in their ships, but are lost in a storm near Swanage.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1267070562#Britain", "title": "876", "revid": 1267070562, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 877, "year_label": "877 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Autumn – King Alfred the Great raises a large force, and marches on the Viking camp at the city of Exeter. His army besieges the Great Summer Army, led by Guthrum, and forces the Vikings to surrender. They flee north to Gloucester, and settle in the Five Boroughs (modern East Midlands).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1267071400#Britain", "title": "877", "revid": 1267071400, "section": "Events › By place › Britain"}}, {"year": 880, "year_label": "880 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "February 2", "text": "February 2 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath. The Saxons are routed in a snowstorm; many drown in the river or are captured during the retreat.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1372561483#Europe", "title": "880", "revid": 1372561483, "section": "Events › By place › Europe"}}]}