Battle of Reading (871) a camp at Reading, defended by the Thames and Kennet rivers on two sides, and by a rampart on the western side. Three days after their arrival, a party of Danes rode out towards nearby Englefield, where a West Saxon force under the command of Æthelwulf, the Ealdorman of the shire, was waiting for them. In the ensuing Battle of Englefield many of the Danes were killed, and the rest driven back to Reading. Four days later, Æthelwulf had been joined by the main West Saxon army, led by King Æthelred and his brother, Alfred the Great. The entire Saxon
History of Berkshire the scene of frequent military operations. The earliest recorded historical fact relating to the county is the occupation of the district between Wallingford and Ashbury by Offa in 758. In the 9th and 10th centuries the county was greatly impoverished by the ravages of the Danes, and in 871 the invaders were defeated by Æthelwulf at Englefield and again at Reading. During the anarchy of Stephen's reign Wallingford was garrisoned for Matilda and was the scene of the final treaty in 1153. Meetings took place between King John and his barons in 1213 at Wallingford and at Reading, and in