Viking Age by a Viking leader called Bagsecg and his five earls. Aided by the Great Heathen Army (which had already overrun much of England from its base in Jorvik), Bagsecg's forces, and Halfdan's forces (through an alliance), the combined Viking forces raided much of England until 871, when they planned an invasion of Wessex. On 8 January 871, Bagsecg was killed at the Battle of Ashdown along with his earls. As a result, many of the Vikings returned to northern England, where Jorvic had become the centre of the Viking kingdom, but Alfred of Wessex managed to keep them out of
Bagsecg Bagsecg Bagsecg (died 8 January 871), also known as Bacgsecg, was a ninth-century Viking, and one of the first to be recorded by the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle". Both he and Healfdene were the two commanding Viking kings of the Great Army that set up camp at Reading, and invaded the Kingdom of Wessex in the winter of 870/871. The Great Army is recorded to have combated the West Saxons in several engagements in 871. One of these was the Battle of Ashdown, in which Bagsecg and five Viking earls were slain against the forces Æthelred, King of Wessex. After Bagsecg's death,