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13th December 902: Æthelwold's revolt against Edward the Elder defeated at the Battle of the Holme

3,123 views · Published 13 December 2018 · 2:40 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: HistoryPod · 2018 · Education

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Æthelwold was the youngest son of Æthelred I, King of Wessex, who had been killed in battle and was succeeded by his brother, Alfred the Great. When Alfred died in 899 the throne passed to his son Edward, who soon faced opposition from his cousin.

Æthelwold had prepared to oppose Edward at Wimborne in Dorset, but after being unable to raise an army he fled north where he secured support from the Danes in Northumbria. They sailed together to Essex in 901, and quickly established an alliance with the East Anglian Danes. The following year Æthelwold’s new forces began to raid deep into neighbouring Mercia, and even crossed into the northern reaches of Edward’s Wessex.

Edward retaliated by launching his own raids into East Anglia, prompting the Danes to return before their territory was completely ravaged. Rather than engage in battle, Edward called for his forces to withdraw. However, the men of Kent were slow to fall back and met Æthelwold and the returning Danes at the Battle of the Holme on 13 December 902.

Although details of the battle are scarce, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that the Danes suffered numerous losses while defending their territory. Æthelwold himself was killed, along with several Danish nobles.

This removed the threat to Edward’s crown and, in 906, he made peace with the East Angles and Northumbrians at Tiddingford in modern Bedfordshire. Nevertheless, Edward’s armies continued to harass the Danes and, in partnership with his sister Æthelflæd who ruled Mercia following the death of her husband, Edward continued to expand Anglo-Saxon dominance.

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