Battle of Ashdown Battle of Ashdown The Battle of Ashdown, in Berkshire (possibly the part now in Oxfordshire), took place on 8 January 871. Alfred the Great, then a prince of only 22, led the army of his brother, King Ethelred of Wessex, in a victorious battle against the invading Danes. Accounts of the battle are based to a large extent on Asser's "Life of Alfred", however there is some dispute about whether this is an authentic account. By the year 871 AD, most of England was no longer ruled by the English (that is Anglo-Saxons), and for years, Danish Viking invaders had
They Were Defeated They Were Defeated They Were Defeated is a historical novel by Rose Macaulay, first published in 1932. It was published in the USA under the title "The Shadow Flies". It was through the publication of the American edition that Macaulay got back in touch with her cousin, the Rev. John Hamilton Cowper Johnson, and thus began a correspondence that lasted until her death. The historian C V Wedgwood wrote the preface to a 1960 edition of the book, in which she reveals that the novel was written partly at the instigation of Macaulay's publisher, John Murray, who had asked for