Brunanburh on the Fylde?

SASVA: notes on the Viking Age

Vikings

In Chapter Five of Strathclyde and the Anglo-Saxons in the Viking Age, I suggested that the battle of Brunanburh (AD 937) might have been fought somewhere in North Lancashire. I specifically highlighted Amounderness, the district between the rivers Lune and Ribble, as a possible ‘conflict zone’ containing the battlefield. Amounderness was a possession of the West Saxon king Athelstan, who granted it to the Archbishop of York in 934. Athelstan had previously purchased the territory for a considerable sum from landowners who were most likely of Viking stock.

I take the view that Amounderness was the most northwestern part of Athelstan’s ‘England’ at the time of the battle of Brunanburh. Beyond it lay Lonsdale – the valley of the Lune – and the future county of Westmorland (which I suspect was under the authority of Anglo-Scandinavian lords who answered to York rather than to Athelstan). Beyond Westmorland lay the…

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2 comments on “Brunanburh on the Fylde?

  1. Just got this book Tim, I live near Govan, been looking forward to reading it for a while, was nice to hear bits from the book as it was put together. Thanks Thomas

  2. Tim says:

    Thank you for buying the book, Thomas. I’ll be interested to hear what you think of it. The maps are designed to highlight Govan as a major centre of power in the tenth century.

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