Great Heathen Army Anglia and spent the winter of 869–70 at Thetford. There was no peace agreement between the East Anglians and the Vikings this time. When the local king Edmund fought against the invaders, he was captured and killed. In 871, the Great Summer Army arrived from Scandinavia, led by Bagsecg. The reinforced Viking army turned its attention to Wessex, but the West Saxons, led by King Æthelred's brother Alfred, defeated them on 8 January 871 at the Battle of Ashdown, slaying Bagsecg in the process. Three months later, Æthelred died and was succeeded by Alfred (later known as Alfred the Great),
Battle of Reading (871) Battle of Reading (871) The first Battle of Reading was a battle on 4 January 871 at Reading in what is now the English county of Berkshire. It was one of a series of battles, with honours to both sides, that took place following an invasion of the then kingdom of Wessex by an army of Danes led by Bagsecg and Halfdan Ragnarsson in an attempt to conquer Wessex. Both battle and campaign are described in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", and this account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of the town of Reading. The Danes had established