Treaty of Wedmore
Categories: Anglo-Saxon England | Viking Age | Treaties
The Treaty of Wedmore or Treaty of Chippenham, signed at Wedmore in Somerset, was the result of the Battle of Edington (OE. Ethandun) in 878 AD, in which Alfred the Great defeated the Viking forces of the Dane, Guthrum.
The Treaty's effect
The Treaty established and set the boundaries of the geographical area of Britain which was to be controlled by the Danes, the Danelaw. Under the terms of the Treaty, the Danes were obliged to give up areas of Wessex which they had occupied and to withdraw to a line north and east of Watling Street, the old Roman road.
Subsequent developments
The map shows the Danelaw's extent at the conclusion of the treaty, including the Norwegian Viking settlement in Lancashire. Almost immediately, first Alfred, then when Alfred died in 899, Edward the Elder, his son began re-taking the Danelaw by slices and from the south. Earl Aethelred of Mercia began the same process eastwards from English Mercia. When he died, in 911, his wife, Edward's sister, Æthelflæd, the Lady of the Mercians continued the process.
When she died in 918 the process had taken the Danelaw's border back to the outer ring of the Five Boroughs. It was then for example, that Edward established the English Borough at Stamford; across the river and facing the Danish Borough and she took Derby.