297:Ælfheah was held captive for seven months. The Vikings held Ælfheah for ransom and demanded 3,000 pounds of silver for his release. Ælfheah refused to be ransomed or have his people pay the invaders. This eventually culminated in the archbishop's murder where he was pelted with the bones of cattle before being finished off with a blow from the butt of an axe. Thorkell was seemingly against this, and was said to have tried his best to prevent the death of the archbishop, offering the attackers everything he possessed to stop the killing, save for his ship. Either out of disgust of this act or sensing the loss of control of his own men, Thorkell and a group of loyalists defected to serve the English king
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was also said to have joined
Thorkell in the raid. After three weeks of fighting, the Vikings finally managed to break through into the city. Christian sources cite this as being due to the actions of a traitor named Ælfmaer, whose life had been previously saved by
261:, the archbishop of Canterbury. Thorkell and his men laid siege to Canterbury and took several hostages of importance, including the archbishop himself.
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By 8 September 1011, the army returned and laid siege to
Canterbury, with the Anglo-Saxon forces relentlessly defending the city. Fellow Viking
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defenders. The details of the siege are largely unknown, and most of the known events were recorded in the
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were installed in the 12th century and tell the tale of the siege and the kidnap and murder of Ælfheah.
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by the people of Kent to sway the army from attacking. Instead, the army went on to raid the rest of
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In August 1009, a large Viking army led by
Thorkell the Tall landed on the shores of
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that occurred between 8 and 29 September 1011, fought between a Viking army led by
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was plundered and burned by the
Vikings following Ælfheah's capture.
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301:as mercenaries, taking 45 Viking ships with them.
365:. London: Oxford University Press. p. 75.
277:Ælfweard, were captured also, but the abbot of
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363:The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings
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458:. Cambridge University Press. p. 190.
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273:(abbess of St Mildrith's), and the king's
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198:was a major Viking raid on the city of
520:. Cambridge University Press. p.
487:. Cambridge University Press. p.
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439:Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons
404:. Greenwood Press. p. 142.
170:
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400:Gabriel Turville-Petre (1976).
340:. Greenwood Press. p. 55.
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402:The Heroic Age of Scandinavia
16:Viking raid in September 1011
336:Christopher Wright (1975).
578:
390:The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
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135:
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106:Kidnapping of Archbishop
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35:The "Ælfheah windows" of
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516:A History of the Vikings
483:A History of the Vikings
426:English Church 1000–1066
184:Location within England
338:Kent through the years
136:Commanders and leaders
454:Angelo Forte (2005).
361:Peter Sawyer (2023).
285:, managed to escape.
213:Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
147:Ælfheah of Canterbury
108:Ælfheah of Canterbury
299:Æthelred the Unready
287:Canterbury Cathedral
279:St Augustine's Abbey
181:class=notpageimage|
37:Canterbury Cathedral
512:Gwyn Jones (2023).
479:Gwyn Jones (2023).
267:Bishop of Rochester
196:siege of Canterbury
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51:8–29 September 1011
24:Siege of Canterbury
562:Conflicts in 1011
531:978-0-19-280134-0
498:978-0-19-280134-0
372:978-0-19-285434-6
319:"Alphege Windows"
204:Thorkell the Tall
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130:Anglo-Saxons
118:Belligerents
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428:pp. 209–210
208:Anglo-Saxon
87:51.28; 1.08
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557:Canterbury
546:Categories
305:References
220:Background
200:Canterbury
61:Canterbury
293:Aftermath
248:The siege
437:Hindley
238:danegeld
226:Sandwich
206:and the
56:Location
552:Vikings
424:Barlow
271:Leofrun
263:Godwine
259:Ælfheah
126:raiders
104:victory
70:51°17′N
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441:p. 301
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283:Ælfmær
234:silver
230:pounds
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124:Viking
102:Viking
98:Result
73:1°05′E
275:reeve
526:ISBN
493:ISBN
460:ISBN
406:ISBN
367:ISBN
342:ISBN
194:The
48:Date
522:367
489:367
269:),
236:in
232:of
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
