SOME EXCERPTS FROM THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE

993:

Þa gegaderede man swiþe micle fyrde, and þa hi togædere gan sceoldan, þa onstealdan þa heretogan ærest þone fleam, þæt wæs Fræna and Godwine and Fryþegyst.

Then a very large English army was collected, and when they should have joined battle, the leaders, namely Fræna, Godwine and Fryþegyst, first started the flight.

998:

And man oft fyrde ongean hi gaderede, ac sona swa hi togædere gan sceoldan, þonne wearþ þære ðuruh sum þing fleam astiht, and æfre hi æt ende sige ahton.

And the English army was often assembled against them, but as soon as they were to have joined battle, a flight was always instigated by some means, and always the enemy had the victory in the end.

999:

Ac wala þæt hi to raðe bugon and flugon! And þa Deniscan ahton wælstowe geweald.

but, alas! they too soon turned and fled, and the Danes had control of the field.

1001:

And sona swa hi togædere coman, þa beah þæt folc, and hi þær mycel wæll ofslogan

And as soon as they joined battle the people [or English army] gave way and the Danes made a great slaughter there.

1006:

And þa ofer þone midne sumor com þa se micla flota to Sandwic, and dydon eal swa hi ær gewuna wæron, heregodon and bærndon and slogon swa swa hi ferdon. ...Ac hit naht ne beheold þe ma ðe hit oftor ær dide, ac for eallum þissum se here ferde swa he sylf wolde, and seo fyrding dyde þære landleode ælcne hearm, þæt him naðer dohte ne inghere ne uthere.

Then after midsummer the great fleet came to Sandwich, and did just as they were accustomed, ravaged, burnt and slew as they went…[the English army is levied by the king], yet it availed no whit more than it had often done before; for in spite of it all, the Danish army went about as it pleased, and the English levy caused the people of the country every sort of harm, so that they profited neither from the native army nor the foreign army.

1010:

Æt nextan næs nan heafodman þæt fyrde gaderian wolde, ac ælc fleah swa he mæst mihte; ne furðon nan Scir nolde oþre gelæstan æt nextan.

Finally there was no leader who would collect an army, but each fled as best he could, and in the end no shire would even help the next.

1010:

Her on ðissum geare com se foresprecena here ofer Eastron to Eastenglum, and wendon up æt Gypeswic, and eodon anreces þær hi geascodon Ulfcytel mid his fyrde (þis wæs on þam dæge Prima Ascensio Dni.), and þa sona flugon Eastengle. Þa stod Grantabricscir fæstlice ongean. Þær wæs ofslagen Æþelstan þæs cynges aþum, and Oswig and his sunu, and Wulfric Leofwines sunu, and Eadwig Æfices broþor, and feala oþera godra þegna and folces ungerim. Þone fleam ærest astealde Þurcytel myranheafod. And þa Denan ahton wælstowe geweald.

In this year the afore-mentioned army came to East Anglia after Easter and landed at Ipswich, and went straightway to where they had heard that Ulfcetel was with his army. That was on Ascension day, and at once the East Angles fled. The men of Cambridgeshire stood firm against them. The king's son-in-law Athelstan was killed there, and Oswig and his son, and Wulfric, Leofwine's son, and Eadwig, Æfic's brother, and many other good thegns and a countless number of the people. It was Thurcetel Mare's Head who first started that flight. The Danes had control of the field.