870s
The Danes invade England (870) and conquer East Anglia. Several battles are fought with Wessex, but then peace is made (871). The Danes start the Danelaw in other parts of England. In 876, the Danes attack Wessex again, and in 878 king Alfred the Great of Wessex has to retreat to a single fort in the marshes of Somerset, but later that year he defeats the Danes, and England is divided in a Danish part in the northeast and a Wessex part in the south and west.