1010s in England

1010s in England:

Other decades

990s | 1000s | 1010s | 1020s | 1030s

Events from the 1010s in England.

Incumbents

Monarch - Æthelred the Unready (to December 1013), Sweyn Forkbeard (to 3 February 1014), Æthelred the Unready (to 23 April 1016), Edmund Ironside (to 30 November 1016), Canute

Events

• 1010
  • May 5 - Battle of Ringmere: Danish leader Thorkell the Tall defeats an English army under Ulfcytel Snillingr and ravages East Anglia and Mercia.
• 1011
  • 29 September - Danes capture Canterbury after a siege, taking Ælfheah, Archbishop of Canterbury, as a prisoner.
  • Byrhtferth of Ramsey Abbey writes his Manual (Enchiridion) on the divine order of the universe and time.
• 1012
  • Late 1011 or early 1012 (?) - Battle of Nýjamóđa ("Newmouth") near Orford, Suffolk, fought between English and Danes.
  • Heregeld tax is introduced to pay Anglo-Scandinavian mercenaries to fight the Danes.
  • April - King Æthelred the Unready pays £48,000 Danegeld.
  • 19 April - Danes kill Ælfheah of Canterbury, probably at Greenwich, before leaving the country.
• 1013
  • July - Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark, having invaded the country, is proclaimed as King within the Danelaw.
  • 25 December - Sweyn is proclaimed King of all England in London, forcing Æthelred to flee to Normandy.
  • Lyfing is appointed by Æthelred as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 1014
  • 3 February - Sweyn dies at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, and his son Cnut is proclaimed King of England by the Vikings.
  • March - Æthelred returns to reclaim his throne at the invitation of English nobles.
  • April - Cnut returns to Denmark to enforce his rule there.
  • Possible date - Olaf II Haraldsson of Norway perhaps attacks London in support of Æthelred.
  • Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York preaches his Latin homily Sermo Lupi ad Anglos ("Wulf's Address to the English"), describing the Danes as "God's judgement on England".
• 1015
  • Sigeferth and Morcar, chief thegns of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw, come to an assembly in Oxford where they are murdered by Eadric Streona. Æthelred orders that Sigeferth's widow, probably named Ealdgyth, be seized and brought to Malmesbury Abbey, but Æthelred's son, Edmund Ironside, seizes and marries her by mid-August.
  • August - Cnut launches an invasion of England.
• 1016
  • 23 April - King Æthelred dies, and is succeeded by his son Edmund Ironside.
  • May - Battle of Brentford: King Edmund defeats Cnut, who then besieges London.
  • 18 October - Battle of Ashingdon: Cnut defeats King Edmund, leaving the latter as king of Wessex only.
  • 30 November - King Edmund dies and Cnut takes control of the whole country.
• 1017
  • c. July - Cnut marries Æthelred's widow Emma of Normandy.
  • Cnut divides England into the four Earldoms of Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria controlled by himself, Eadric Streona, Thorkell the Tall, and Eric Haakonsson respectively.
  • Christmas - Cnut has Eadric killed and Leofric becomes Earl of Mercia.
• 1018
  • Cnut succeeds his brother Harald II of Denmark on the Danish throne.
  • Buckfast Abbey founded in Devon.
  • Cnut levies £10,500 to pay heregeld.
• 1019
  • Exeter monastery restored by Cnut.

Births

• 1015 or 1016
  • King Harold Harefoot (died 1040)
• c. 1018
  • King Harthacnut (died 1042)

Deaths

• 1010
  • Ælfric of Eynsham, abbot (born c. 955)
• 1012
  • 19 April - Archbishop Ælfheah of Canterbury (born 954)
• 1016
  • April 23 - King Æthelred the Unready (born c. 968)
  • November 30 - King Edmund Ironside
• 1017
  • December - Eadric Streona, ealdorman