Ingimund's invasion

The 'Annals of Ulster' note that, in 902:

"The heathens were driven from Ireland, i.e. from the fortress of Áth Cliath [Dublin] ... and they abandoned a good number of their ships, and escaped half dead after they had been wounded and broken."

The story is picked up by another Irish source, often referred to as the 'Three Fragments', however, whereas the 'Annals of Ulster' are held in high regard, the 'Fragments' tend to be looked upon with suspicion.

In his paper 'Ingimund's Invasion', F.T. Wainwright admits that the story, as told by the 'Fragments', "... does not readily command the confidence of scholars, and it is not generally regarded as either ancient or trustworthy." He goes on, however, to make a strong case that this particular tale does have a genuine historical basis: "... the chief events as recorded by the Ingimund tradition correspond with fact too closely to be rejected offhand as fiction."

The 'Three Fragments' say:

"Now the Norwegians left Ireland, as we said, and their leader was Ingimund, and they went then to the island of Britain. The son of Cadell son of Rhodri was king of the Britons at that time. The Britons assembled against them, and gave them hard and strong battle, and they were driven by force out of British territory....

Ingimund's landing, on the island of Anglesey, is recorded by the 'Annales Cambriae'. Actually, at the time of these events, Cadell himself was still very much alive. It was the brother of Cadell, Anarawd, who ruled Gwynedd (Anglesey was the traditional island stronghold of Gwynedd). The year after Ingimund's arrival, Merfyn, brother of Cadell and Anarawd, was killed by Vikings. How long Ingimund remained in Wales is not recorded, so it is quite possible that it was his band who were responsible for Merfyn's death.

.... After that Ingimund with his troops came to Aethelflaed, Queen of the Saxons; for her husband, Aethelred, was sick at that time. (Let no one reproach me, though I have related the death of Aethelred above, because this was prior to Aethelred's death and it was of this very sickness that Aethelred died, but I did not wish to leave unwritten what the Norwegians did after leaving Ireland)....

Æthelred was not king of Mercia, though his position seems to have been greater than that of ealdorman. He died in 911, and his wife, Æthelflæd ('Lady of the Mercians'), stepped into his shoes. Æthelflæd was the sister of Edward, king of Wessex. Incidentally, the record of Æthelred's death, referred to by the author of the 'Fragments', does not exist.

.... Now Ingimund was asking the Queen for lands in which he would settle, and on which he would build barns and dwellings, for he was tired of war at that time. Aethelflaed gave him lands near Chester, and he stayed there for a time.

What resulted was that when he saw the wealthy city, and the choice lands around it, he yearned to possess them. Ingimund came then to the chieftains of the Norwegians and Danes; he was complaining bitterly before them, and said that they were not well off unless they had good lands, and that they all ought to go and seize Chester and possess it with its wealth and lands. From that there resulted many great battles and wars. What he said was, "Let us entreat and implore them ourselves first, and if we do not get them good lands willingly like that, let us fight for them by force." All the chieftains of the Norwegians and Danes consented to that.

Ingimund returned home after that, having arranged for a hosting to follow him. Although they held that council secretly, the Queen learned of it. The Queen then gathered a large army about her from the adjoining regions, and filled the city of Chester with her troops."

An entry in the, so called, 'Mercian Register' of the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle', notes that , in 907, "Chester was rebuilt." The derelict, walled, Roman city of Chester was refurbished by the Mercians.

F.T. Wainwright, in his paper 'North-West Mercia', writes: "Perhaps more important is the inference, from the Three Fragments, that before 907 the number of Norse settlements in Wirral was formidable. It will have been noticed that when Ingimund coveted Chester he made contact with other leaders and explained their common position... It might be argued that this consultation was held in Ireland and that Ingimund had returned for reinforcements. The wording of the passage makes it very clear that the meeting took place in England: efforts were made to keep the gathering secret, an unnecessary precaution if it had been held in Ireland ... It is obvious that these leaders and their followers were already settled in England."

"The armies of the Danes and the Norwegians mustered to attack Chester, and since they did not get their terms accepted through request or entreaty, they proclaimed battle on a certain day. They came to attack the city on that day, and there was a great army with many freemen in the city to meet them. When the troops who were in the city saw, from the city wall, the many hosts of the Danes and Norwegians coming to attack them, they sent messengers to the King of the Saxons, who was sick and on the verge of death at that time, to ask his advice and the advice of the Queen. What he advised was that they do battle outside, near the city, with the gate of the city open, and that they choose a troop of horsemen to be concealed on the inside; and those of the people of the city who would be strongest in battle should flee back into the city as if defeated, and when most of the army of the Norwegians had come in through the gate of the city, the troop that was in hiding beyond should close the gate after that horde, and without pretending any more they should attack the throng that had come into the city and kill them all.

Everything was done accordingly, and the Danes and Norwegians were frightfully slaughtered in that way. Great as that massacre was, however, the Norwegians did not abandon the city, for they were hard and savage; but they all said that they would make many hurdles, and place props under them, and that they would make a hole in the wall underneath them. This was not delayed; the hurdles were made, and the hosts were under them making a hole in the wall, because they wanted to take the city, and avenge their people.

It was then that the King (who was on the verge of death) and the Queen sent messengers to the Irish who were among the pagans (for the pagans had many Irish fosterlings), to say to the Irishmen, "Life and health to you from the King of the Saxons, who is ill, and from the Queen, who holds all authority over the Saxons, and they are certain that you are true and trustworthy friends to them. Therefore you should take their side: for they have given no greater honour to any Saxon warrior or cleric than they have given to each warrior or cleric who has come to them from Ireland, for this inimical race of pagans is equally hostile to you also. You must, then, since you are faithful friends, help them on this occasion." This was the same as saying to them, "Since we have come from faithful friends of yours to converse with you, you should ask the Danes what gifts in lands and property they would give to the people who would betray the city to them. If they will make terms for that, bring them to swear an oath in a place where it would be convenient to kill them, and when they are taking the oath on their swords and their shields, as is their custom, they will put aside all their good shooting weapons."

All was done accordingly, and they set aside their arms. And the reason why those Irish acted against the Danes was because they were less friends to them than the Norwegians. Then many of them were killed in that way, for huge rocks and beams were hurled onto their heads. Another great number were killed by spears and by arrows, and by every means of killing men.

However, the other army, the Norwegians, was under the hurdles, making a hole in the wall. What the Saxons and the Irish who were among them did was to hurl down huge boulders, so that they crushed the hurdles on their heads. What they did to prevent that was to put great columns under the hurdles. What the Saxons did was to put the ale and water they found in the town into the towns cauldrons, and to boil it and throw it over the people who were under the hurdles, so that their skin peeled off them. The Norwegians response to that was to spread hides on top of the hurdles. The Saxons then scattered all the beehives there were in the town on top of the besiegers, which prevented them from moving their feet and hands because of the number of bees stinging them. After that they gave up the city, and left it. Not long afterwards there was fighting again ..."

The fragment ends at this point.

F.T. Wainwright ('Ingimund's Invasion'): "The account of the attack upon Chester would make good entertainment for any audience, but the whole story centres in Æthelflæd and it is not easy to see how any Irishman outside the tenth century would have hit upon this incident for elaboration unless he were following some earlier authority. It is probable that the story of Ingimund as it now stands contains both explanatory interpolations and literary additions, but the basic facts can scarcely have been conceived by a writer drawing mainly upon imagination and living in an age remote from the early tenth century. Whatever may have happened to the story in the centuries before 1643, it is difficult to believe that the original version was either late or legendary."