Battle of Reading (871)

For the later Battle of Reading, see Battle of Reading (1688).

Battle of Reading
Part of the Viking invasions of England
Datec. 4 January 871
Location
Reading, Berkshire
Result Viking victory
Belligerents
West Saxons Danish Vikings
Commanders and leaders
Æthelred
Alfred		 Bagsecg
Halfdan Ragnarsson
A depiction of Alfred the Great

The Battle of Reading was a victory for a Danish Viking army over a West Saxon force on about 4 January 871 at Reading in Berkshire. The Vikings were led by Bagsecg and Halfdan Ragnarsson and the West Saxons by King Æthelred and his brother, the future King Alfred the Great. It was the second of a series of battles that took place following an invasion of Wessex by the Danish army in December 870.[1]

  1. ^ Abels, Richard (1998). Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England. Harlow, UK: Longman. pp. 126–34. ISBN 0-582-04047-7.