An Onslaught of Spears

After more than 200 years of menacing Viking attacks, England finally fell under Danish control in 1016. While earlier kings of Wessex had pushed back the tide of Danish encroachment, wave after wave of incursions from powerful Scandinavian raiders – such as fierce Thorkill 'the tall', wily Olaf Tryggvason and the redoubtable Swein Forkbeard – caused Aethelred II's English forces to eventually buc...