Alex / Thorgrim
Thorgrim Alriksson
|
 |
History
Thorgrim Alriksson was a Danish Bondi. Born on a farmstead near Hedeby in 839, his father was Alrik Eyjolfsson. As was expected for all boys he worked hard on the farm during his brief childhood, gaining many useful skills. He was a natural warrior and when he was thirteen started to eagerly join raids. Thorgrim went raiding every chance he could and was always away on expeditions, he would only come back to the farm when it was too dangerous to travel the sea. He distinguished himself as an exceptional warrior during Björn Ironside’s raid of Paris in 857, when he was eighteen. While he was in Francia a freeman’s daughter, Freydis, caught his eye, and he took her as his mistress.
After the raid on Paris Thorgrim’s word-fame and wealth grew substancially, He came into possesion of a small longship which he named “Wind-Raven”. He was with Bjorn Ironside’s raiding party which was active in Francia and the Mediterainian between 859 and 862. When he returned home Thorgrim heard rumors of an large force being assembled by Halfdan Ragnarsson and Ivar the Boneless. He sought out this “great army” and joined it just before the start of their campaign.
The army arrived in Britain in 865, landing in East Anglia. In 866 They captured York and subsquently conquered Northumbria, followed by East Anglia in 869. During the times of limited peace Thorgrim started to consolidate the lands that he had be given. He built a large Longhouse which dominated his lands. In 871 the army was reinforced by the”great summer army”, which included Guthrum. Mercia fell in 874, a year later the army had split up. Thorgrim went with Guthrum to Cambridge, instead of following Halfdan to York. In the winter of 878 Guthrum made a suprise attack on Wessex, pushing King Alfred to the marshes at Athelney.
Alfred rallied his forces and defeated the army, during the same year, at Edington. Thorgrim was slain during the battle. The defeat resulted in the Treaty of Wedmore, which forced the survivors to settle down in Danelaw. Thorgrim’s oldest son, Svart, took ownership of his lands in The Kingdom of York.
Activities of the Great Army, in England
