Reading, Berkshire from the "Readingas", an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means "Reada's People" in Old English, or less probably the Celtic "Rhydd-Inge", meaning "Ford over the River". In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex and set up camp at Reading. On 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences. The battle is described in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", and that account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when
Battle of Ringmere period the Danes wasted East Anglia, burning Thetford and Cambridge. Battle of Ringmere The Battle of Ringmere was fought on 5th May 1010. Norse sagas recorded a battle at "Hringmaraheior"; "Old English Hringmere-hūō", modern name Ringmere Heath. The sack of Thetford occurred in 1004. Sigvat records the victory of King Ethelred, allied with Saint Olaf, over the Danes under Sweyn Forkbeard during the latter's campaigns in England. The Battle site was located in lands under the control of Ulfcytel Snillingr, thegn of East Anglia, at a site once thought to be near Wretham, but now thought to be at Rymer