On This Day In History: Battle Of Marton, Part Of Viking Invasions Of England Took Place – On Mar 22, 871

AncientPages.com - On March 22, 871, the Battle of Marton (or Meretun) was fought at a place recorded as Marton, possibly in Wiltshire or Dorset, England.

Miniature of Æthelred of Wessex in a royal genealogy of the fourteenth century. Image credit: Unknown author - Public Domain

Alfred the Great (849-899), King of Wessex, laid the foundation for a united Christian Anglo-Saxon kingdom. He grew up in Wessex, the central Saxon kingdom in southwestern England. After 865, Alfred was involved in several wars with pagan Danish invaders, who had conquered most northern and eastern England.

In 871, Alfred and his brother, King Ethelred, defeated the Danes at Ashdown, but it was not an easy victory.

On the other hand, the Battle of Marton against the Danes was the last of eight battles known to be fought by King Ethelred ("noble counsel") against the Danes that year, and the defeated King is reported to have died on April 15, 871.

Alfred the Great. Image credit: Author unknown - Digitized Manuscripts - Public Domain

Faced with an uncertain future because of the Danes, who still dominated the battles, the leading men of the kingdom chose Prince Alfred as their successor. He left behind two sons, Aethelhelm and Aethelwold, who were too young at the time to rule effectively. Whether he died in battle or due to wounds suffered in this battle is unclear.

The site of the battle is also unknown. Several possible locations have been suggested, such as Merton in Oxfordshire, Marden in Wiltshire, Martin in Dorset, and others.

King Ethelred was a very religious man. He was popularly regarded as a saint. Before the crucial Battle of Ashdown, despite the situation's urgency, he refused to rise from his knees or leave his tent until he had completed hearing the Mass. He said he would not serve man before God.

Ethelred is buried in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, where a Purbeck marble slab is believed to be a part of that which initially covered his grave. Such was his fame that a memorial brass was put in Wimborne Abbey in 1440, six hundred years after his birth - the only monumental brass of an English king.

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