The Sack of Rochester occurred in 875 AD when an allied army and fleet of Vikings from Ravensthorpe and East Engle and a force of disguised Mercian soldiers assaulted and sacked the West Saxon fortress of Rochester in Kent.
Background[]
In 875 AD, Abbot Cynebert of St. Hadrian's Priory in Kent contacted the acting Jarl of Ravensthorpe, Eivor Styrbjornsson, through his Hidden Ones ally Basim ibn Ishaq and offered him assistance in tracking down his enemy, the heretic Fulke (who had kidnapped Eivor's brother Sigurd Styrbjornson), in exchange for his help with ingratiating him with his new ealdorman, Tedmund. They initially planned for Eivor and Basim to kidnap Tedmund and allow for Abbot Cynebert to "rescue" Tedmund, thus making Cynebert the hero of the day and a close ally of the new ealdorman. This plan failed when they accidentally kidnapped his body double Shergar at the logging village of Beamasfield, and they were then forced to plan an assault on the "impregnable" fortress of Rochester to capture Tedemund the hard way. Eivor and Basim rescued Runa Egilsdottir and her crew of captive Vikings from their bandit camp, which had been overrun by the West Saxons; Runa agreed to contribute her warband and ships to the venture, but argued that the Vikings would not have the strength to take the city. Basim then had Eivor call in the debt owed to him by the Ealdorman of Oxfordshire, Geadric, who - like most Mercians - had a strong hatred for Wessex. Eivor persuaded Runa to let the Mercians use her men's uniforms to disguise their identities, making it look as if the whole besieging force consisted of raiding Danes.
Siege[]
The battle on the ramparts
The Vikings assaulted the city from both land and sea, as Eivor had disabled the blockade chain set up by Tedmund to deter Danish attacks. The Vikings and Mercians breached the first gate with a battering ram, and Eivor went on to destroy the four oil cauldron traps in between the first and second gates by shooting his arrows at the oil jars next to them. The Kentish garrison was easily cut apart, and Eivor shot the links holding up the second drawbridge and caused it to crash down. The Vikings and Mercians then brought up their second batteirng ram, braving arrow fire and burning oil. Eivor and Geadric both manned the ram, with Geadric taking an arrow through the shoulder, but surviving his wounds. With the second gate breached, the Danes and Mercians poured into the keep, and Eivor wounded and captured Tedmund in a duel atop the keep tower. With Tedmund captured, the battle was over, as the fortress fell to the attackers.
Aftermath[]
Shortly after the fall of the fortress, Abbot Cynebert arrived with a rescue force, and Eivor and Basim - going along with the plan - brought the captive Tedmund to the gate. However, before Tedmund could be handed over, Tedmund collapsed and died, having secretly taken poison to avoid being rescued. This left Cynebert's plans frustrated and forced him to return to his abbey empty-handed; there, he was murdered by Fulke, who was waiting in ambush. Eivor then released Geadric from his oath in gratitude for his participation in the assault, and Geadric told Eivor that he was honored that he was the first person who came to mind when Eivor was considering who could aid him with an assault on Wessex.