October 18, 1016 · Essex, England Theater
October 18, 1016
The final battle of Cnut's conquest of England was a brutal engagement at Ashingdon in Essex between Cnut's Danish army and Edmund Ironside's English forces. Edmund had fought Cnut to a standstill through a remarkable series of battles in 1016, recovering much of England from Danish control. At Ashingdon, the English position collapsed when Eadric Streona, the Ealdorman of Mercia — one of the most reviled figures in Anglo-Saxon history — defected with his forces mid-battle. The English were routed; most of their nobility was killed. Edmund survived, and the two kings agreed to divide England between them at the Treaty of Olney. Edmund died shortly afterward, almost certainly of wounds or illness, though medieval sources suspected murder. Cnut became King of all England.
Commanders