Battle of Maldon 991
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Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary. Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 991 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | England | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Viking activity in the British Isles | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of England, Vikings | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 51.7153, 0.7008 | Wikidata P625 |
| Official record | Historic England list entry 1000019 | OGL v3 |
| Registered area | 42.0 ha | OGL v3 |
About the battle
The Battle of Maldon took place on 10 or 11 August 991 AD near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex, England, during the reign of Æthelred the Unready. Earl Byrhtnoth and his thegns led the English against a Viking invasion. The battle ended in an Anglo-Saxon defeat. After the battle Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury and the aldermen of the south-western provinces advised King Æthelred to buy off the Vikings rather than continue the armed struggle. They were paid 10,000 pounds to leave England.
An account of the battle, embellished with many speeches attributed to the warriors and with other details, is related in an Old English poem which is usually named The Battle of Maldon.
One manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that a certain Olaf, possibly the Norwegian Olaf Tryggvason, led the Viking forces, these estimated to have been between 2,000 and 4,000 fighting men. A source from the 12th-century Liber Eliensis, written by the monks at Ely, suggests that Byrhtnoth had only a few men to command: "he was neither shaken by the small number of his men, nor fearful of the multitude of the enemy". Not all sources indicate such a disparity in numbers.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Maldon (revision 1370268885), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Battlefield boundary © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See also this battlefield on Battlefields of Britain.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Assandun 1016 · 13 km
- Battle of Benfleet 894 · 21 km
- Siege of Colchester 1648 · 24 km
- Boudican revolt · 24 km
- First Battle of St Albans 1455 · 25 km
- Battle of the Medway AD 43 · 31 km
Other battles of the Viking activity in the British Isles
- Battle of Tettenhall 910
- Battle of Tempsford 917
- Battle of Corbridge 918
- Battle of Brunanburh 937
- Battle of Stainmore 954
- Battle of Assandun 1016
- Battle of Brentford (1016) 1016
- Battle of Fulford 1066
- Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066
- Battle of Edgcote 1469
All 20 battles of the Viking activity in the British Isles →
Browse more: battles in England · Europe · Medieval battles