The battle of Maldon is remarkable in the history of Anglo-Saxon and Viking warfare, indeed in the history of Dark Age battles, because we are so well informed about it. We have several sources which have come down to us, especially an anonymous poem which survives almost complete and which must have been written close to the events of the battle. This fragmentary poem, known unsurprisingly as The Battle of Maldon, is the best source we have on shieldwall warfare in the entire period. By using the poem judiciously, we can tell a great deal about what happened on the shores of the River Blackwater that August afternoon in AD 991.

Of course, there are those who consider the poem an exaggerated account of what happened during the battle (some even maintain it is a fictional account complete with speeches, heroes and villains). The details of the poem, where we can corroborate them, however, are remarkably accurate and if we have no reason to reject the other details, we should not be quick to reject them as ‘mere poetry’. The speeches, too, may well reflect the tenor of some of what was actually said on the day, if not the actual words, and they evoke the battle, the mindset of the participants and contemporary feelings in the kingdom in a remarkable way. 

This episode was written by Murray Dahm.

Murray is an ancient and medieval military historian from New Zealand, living in Australia. He has written more than 100 articles on various aspects of ancient and medieval military history and other historical topics from all periods. He is the author of Macedonian Phalangite vs Persian Warrior, Athenian Hoplite vs Spartan Hoplite and Leuctra 371 BC, all from Osprey Publishing. He is a regular on the Ancient Warfare Podcast.