The Battle of Maldon was fought between the armies of Normandy and the Anglo-Saxon earldom of Huntingdonshire near Maldon, Essex, England in 1066 during the Norman conquest of England. The Norman nobleman Robert Curthose defeated an Anglo-Saxon counterattack into Essex in a decisive battle fought immediately outside of the town of Maldon, which had been the site of a more famous battle against the Vikings in 991 AD.
Background[]
In late 1066, Duke William the Conqueror began a campaign to conquer the Anglo-Saxon lands south of the River Thames in the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings and before his march on London. William and his chief lieutenant William FitzOsbern marched west and subdued southern and South West England, respectively, and the Norman invaders - initially slowed and starved by severe food shortages caused by Saxon raiding and the inability of the Normans to sustain such a large army - soon recovered from their initial woes after acquiring additional territory which they could tax and obtain food from. This also allowed for Robert Curthose's army - which had idled in Rochester while suffering from attrition - to replenish its ranks and embark on a cross-Thames Estuary invasion of Essex, capturing Tilbury, Maldon, Chelmsford, and Colchester before moving into Suffolk and capturing Ipswich and Rendlesham. At the same time, however, the Anglo-Saxons planned a counterattack against the Normans, having been previously distracted by a Welsh invasion which penetrated deep into England and towards East Anglia (reaching North Elmham). Ealdorman Aethelred of Huntingdonshire led a large army southeast from Northampton to recapture East Anglia and Essex, and his army camped at Haverhill near the River Stour. Curthose rode out of Colchester to confront the Saxons to the northwest, but Aethelred withdrew to Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire, beyond the reach of Curthose's army. As Curthose's army encamped, Aethelred outmaneuvered him and marched towards Witham, Essex, where he was pursued by Curthose; meanwhile, the Anglo-Saxon army of Essex (based in Norwich) marched south and captured Domuc (Dunwich) and Ipswich, bypassing the fortress of Rendlesham. Curthose's army gave chase, forcing Aethelred to flee southeast to the village of Goldhanger (2 miles east of Maldon). There, Curthose cornered Aethelred's exhausted army, meeting them in a decisive battle.
Battle[]
The Norman and Saxon armies meeting at Maldon
Curthose's 1,761-strong army included spearmen, swordsmen, axemen, bowmen, mounted knights, and cavalry skirmishers. He deployed his cavalry on either flank of his army, with his skirmishers forming the front line of his army. He marched his army into battle with the Saxons, forming a defensive line as the Saxon army left its positions to close in for combat. The Normans proceeded to outflank the Saxons on both sides, taking advantage of their numerical superiority to bypass the Saxon army. The Saxon army was attacked from all sides and destroyed, with the Norman cavalry pursuing the fleeing Anglo-Saxons and massacring them. The Normans suffered just 192 losses, while the remnants of the Saxon army, led by Aelnoth, fled to Tollesbury along the River Blackwater. The 122-strong Saxon army was pursued and destroyed by Curthose's Norman army shortly after, with Curthose's force losing 7 men.
Gallery[]
