Battles Behind the Songs
Lady Ailith Bystoune

At The Battle of Maldon by Rosalind Jehanne

Battle of Maldon
August 10, 991 near the town of Maldon in Essex, England. Based on the epic Old English poem The Battle of Maldon.

After years of intermittent raids on the English coast, a Danish fleet (vikings!) attacked Kent and made its way up the River Blackwater toward Maldon. About 2KM from Maldon, they met Byrhtnoth, the Eoldorman of Essex, and his army. The Danes sent a messenger to Byrhtnoth ordering him to pay them tribute, but Byrhtnoth refused. Byrhtnoth is depicted as having “swan-white hair” and being an older, well-respected leader who had led his men to victories against the Danes in the past. The poem claims that he may have been overly assured of victory, allowing the Danish forces to gain too much ground prior to the start of the battle. The Anglo-Saxons were defeated after Byrhtnoth was killed early in the battle. Byrhtnoth’s thegns knew that they had lost the battle, and a few of them retreated, but many stayed and threw themselves against their foes taking down as many as they could before they died. The song is a very faithful retelling of the speeches given by Byrhtnoth’s thegns before they went into the fray and died. 

After the Anglo-Saxon defeat at Maldon, King Aethelred the Unready began to pay tribute to the Danes though raids continued on the English coasts on and off throughout his reign. In 1016, the Danish Canute (AKA Cnut the Great, whose crown Harald Hadrada wants to claim in Song of the Shield Wall) conquered most of England defeating Aetheldred at London and then defeating Edmund, Aethelred’s son, at the Battle of Ashington. By the end of the year, Canute was king of England. 

Neat Stuff
The alliteration in this song mimics the Anglo-Saxon style of the original poem. Anglo-Saxon poetry was often written in coupled lines that tied together with alliteration (e.g. the ‘H’ in “Here must we hold/So hearken to my council”). Since most Anglo-Saxon poetry was shared orally (and not always written down), the alliteration probably made it easier to remember the poems and definitely makes it easier to remember the next line in the song!