Battle of Corbridge

Battle of Corbridge
Part of Viking invasions of England
Date918[1][2][3]
Location
Corbridge, Northumberland, England
54°58′27″N 2°01′01″W / 54.974092°N 2.017064°W / 54.974092; -2.017064
Result
  • Indecisive
  • Viking Strategic Victory
  • Scots army retreat
  • Ragnall invades Northumbria.
Belligerents
Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Northumbria		 Kingdom of the Isles
Commanders and leaders
King Constantine II
Ealdred I of Bamburgh		 Ragnall ua Imair

The Battle of Corbridge took place on the banks of the River Tyne near the village of Corbridge in Northumberland in the year 918.

The battle was referenced in the Annals of Ulster and the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba. The battle was fought between Norse-Gael leader Ragnall ua Ímair and his allies against the forces of Constantín mac Áeda, King of Scotland together with those of Ealdred I of Bamburgh who had previously been driven from his lands by Ragnall. The Historia de Sancto Cuthberto adds that English fought alongside Norsemen. The Annals of Ulster informs us that the Norse army divided itself into four columns, in one of which may have been Jarl Ottir Iarla, a long-time ally of Ragnall.[4]

The Scots destroyed the first three columns, but were ambushed by the last. This unit had remained hidden behind a hill and was commanded by Ragnall. The Scots, however, managed to escape without disaster.[5] It seems that it was an indecisive engagement, although it did allow Ragnall to further establish himself in Northumbria. In 919, Ragnall descended on York where he took the city and had himself proclaimed king. The Bernicians remained under him, although Ealdred I of Bamburgh and Domnall I, king of Strathclyde, paid homage to the king of England.[6]

In 1950, F. T. Wainwright argued that there were two battles of Corbridge in 914 and 918, and his view was widely accepted for over fifty years, but since around 2006 historians have taken the view that there was only one battle in 918.[a]

  1. ^ Downham, Clare (2007). Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014. Dunedin Academic Press. pp. 92–93. ISBN 978-1-903765-89-0.
  2. ^ Woolf, Alex (2007). From Pictland to Alba: 789–1070. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 143–44. ISBN 978-0-7486-1233-8.
  3. ^ Clarkson, Tim (2014). Strathclyde and the Anglo-Saxons in the Viking Age. Edinburgh: John Donald, Birlinn Ltd. pp. 69–70, 179 n. 31. ISBN 978-1-906566-78-4.
  4. ^ "Ragnald of Corbridge". regia.org. 31 March 2003. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  5. ^ Howorth, Henry H. (January 1911). "Ragnall Ivarson and Jarl Otir". The English Historical Review. 26 (101): 1–19. doi:10.1093/ehr/xxvi.ci.1.
  6. ^ "The Rulers of Jorvik (York)". viking.no. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  7. ^ Saga book of the Viking Society, XIII, 1950, pp, 156-73; reprinted in Wainwright, F. T. (1975). Scandinavian England: Collected Papers. Chichester, UK: Phillimore. pp. 163–82. ISBN 0-900592-65-6.
  8. ^ Stenton, Frank (1971). Anglo-Saxon England (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5.
  9. ^ Smyth, Alfred P. (1987). Scandinavian York and Dublin. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 0-7165-2365-5.. Originally published in 2 volumes in 1975 and 1979. First battle, I, pp. 63-64, 96-99, 101-03, 107, II, p. 10; second battle, I, 68-69, 93-100, 108-09; II, pp. 22, 97
  10. ^ Higham, N. J. (1993). The Kingdom of Northumbria: AD 350–1100. Alan Sutton. p. 188. ISBN 0-86299-730-5.
  11. ^ O Corrain, Donnchadh (1997). "Ireland, Wales, Man and the Hebrides". In Sawyer, Peter (ed.). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Oxford, Uk: Oxford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-19-820526-0.
  12. ^ Costambeys, Marios (2004). "Æthelflæd [Ethelfleda] (d. 918), ruler of the Mercians". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8907. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 1 September 2016. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  13. ^ Hart, Cyril (2004). "Ragnall [Rægnald, Rögnvaldr] (d. 920/21), king of York". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49264. Retrieved 1 September 2016. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  14. ^ Downham, Clare (2007). Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014. Dunedin Academic Press. pp. 92–93. ISBN 978-1-903765-89-0.
  15. ^ Woolf, Alex (2007). From Pictland to Alba: 789–1070. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 143–44. ISBN 978-0-7486-1233-8.
  16. ^ Clarkson, Tim (2014). Strathclyde and the Anglo-Saxons in the Viking Age. Edinburgh: John Donald, Birlinn Ltd. pp. 69–70, 179 n. 31. ISBN 978-1-906566-78-4.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).