High Middle Ages · Europe · War

1016

Battle of Assandun

October 18, 1016

Cnut the Dane met Edmund Ironside on Essex downland, and after a day of hacking at shield walls, treachery by the ealdorman Eadric Streona broke the English line. Edmund fled; the two kings later met at Alney and partitioned England between them. Edmund would be dead within six weeks, and suspicion of foul play followed Cnut's rapid consolidation of the entire kingdom.