Hastein

Hastein(Old Norse:Hásteinn,also recorded asHastingus,Anstign,Haesten,Hæsten,HæstennorHæsting^[1]^[2]and aliasAlsting^[3]) was aVikingchieftain of the late 9th century who made several raiding voyages.

Early life

Little is known of Hastein's early life. He is described as aDanein theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Hastein is credited with being involved with various raids on theFrankish Empire.He led a great raid into the Mediterranean in 859.^[1]

For indeed the Frankish nation, which was crushed by the avenger Anstign [Hastein], was very full of filthy uncleanness. Treasonous and oath-breaking, they were deservedly condemned; unbelievers and faithless, they were justly punished...Dudo of St. Quentin's. Gesta Normannorum. Book 1. Chapter 3.

Spain and the Mediterranean

During 859–862, Hastein jointly led an expedition withBjörn Ironside.A fleet of 62 ships sailed from theLoireto raid countries in the Mediterranean.^[4]

At first the raiding did not go well, with Hastein being defeated by theAsturiansand later the Muslims of the Umayyademirate of CórdobaatNieblain 859. Success followed with the sacking ofAlgeciras,where the mosque was burned, and then the ravaging of Mazimma in theIdrisid Caliphateon the north coast of Africa, followed by further raids into the Umayyad Caliphate atOrihuela,theBalearic IslandsandRoussillon.They occupiedNekorfor 8 days.

Hastein and Björn wintered atCamargueisland on the mouth of theRhonebefore ravagingNarbonne,NîmesandArles,then as far north asValence,before moving onto Italy. There they attacked the city ofLuna.Believing it to be Rome, Hastein had his men carry him to the gate and tell the guards he was dying and wished to convert to Christianity. Once inside, he was taken to the town's church where he received the sacraments, before jumping from his stretcher and leading his men in a sack of the town. Another account has him claiming to want to convert before he died, and feigning death on the following day. Luna allowed his body and 50 of his men clad in robes enter for his burial. Hastein's men had concealed swords under their robes, and once inside Hastein leaped from his coffin, decapitated the priest and sacked the city. However, the veracity of this is much debated. He sailed down the coast and sackedPisaand, sailing on the RiverArno,ravagedFiesole.The fleet then possibly raided theByzantine Empire's territories in the eastern Mediterranean.

On the way back to the Loire, he stopped off in North Africa where he bought several African slaves (known to the Vikings as 'blámenn',blue men,possiblySoussiansorTuaregs) whom he sold in Ireland. They were presumed to have lost 40 ships in a storm, and lost two more at theStraits of Gibraltaron their way home, nearMedina-Sidonia,but still managed to ravagePamplonabefore returning home to the Loire with 20 ships.

Loire and Seine

Settled back in Brittany, Hastein allied himself withSalomon, King of Brittanyagainst the Franks in 866, and as part of a Viking-Bretonarmy he killedRobert the Strongat theBattle of BrissarthenearChâteauneuf-sur-Sarthe.^[5]In 867 he went on to ravageBourgesand a year later attackedOrléans.Peace lasted until spring 872 when the Viking fleet sailed up theMaineand occupiedAngers,which led to a siege by the Frankish kingCharles the Baldand a peace being agreed in October 873.

Hastein remained in the Loire country until 882, when he was finally expelled by Charles and relocated his army north to the Seine. There he stayed until theFranksbesieged Paris and his territory in thePicardywas threatened. It was at this point he became one of many experienced Vikings to look to England for riches and plunder.^[3]

England

Hastein crossed to England fromBoulognein 892 leading one of two great companies. His army, the smaller of the two, landed in 80 ships and occupied the royal village ofMilton RegisnearSittingbourneinKent,whilst his allies landed atAppledorewith 250 ships.^[6]Alfred the Greatpositioned aWessexarmy between them to keep them from uniting, the result of which was that Hastein agreed terms, including allowing his two sons to be baptised, and left Kent forEssex.The larger army attempted to reunite with Hastein after raiding Hampshire and Berkshire in the late spring of 893, but was defeated atFarnhamby an army underEdward,Alfred's son. The survivors eventually reached Hastein's army atMersea Island,after a combined Wessex andMercianarmy failed to dislodge them from their fortress atThorney.^[7]

As a result, Hastein combined his forces from Appledore and Milton and withdrew them to afortified campatBenfleet,Essex. He used this camp as a base to raid Mercia. However, while his main force was out raiding those left in the fort were defeated by thebolstered militiaof eastern Wessex. The entire fort, along with the Danes' families – including Hastein's wife and sons – was captured, along with their ships.^[8]Hastein re-established his combined force at a new fort, at Shoebury in eastern Essex,^[6]and sent for reinforcements from the Danish kingdoms ofEast AngliaandYork.Shortly afterwards, according to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle,Hastein held talks with Alfred, possibly to discuss terms for the release of his family.^[9]Hastein had his two sons returned to him. According to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle,this was because Hastein's sons had been baptised in early 893, with Alfred and his son-in-lawAethelred of Merciaas sponsors. Thus Alfred was godfather to one boy and Aethelred godfather to the other.^[10]

The negotiations apparently achieved little because, shortly afterwards, Hastein launched a second raid along theThames valleyand from there along theRiver Severn.Hastein was pursued all the way by Aethelred and a combined Mercian and Wessex army, reinforced by a contingent of warriors from the Welsh kingdoms. Eventually the Viking army was trapped at a place called Buttington—possibly the island by that name on the Severn, nearWelshpool,Powys.^[11]At the subsequentBattle of Buttington,several weeks later, Hastein's forces fought their way out, with many casualties, and returned to the fortress at Shoebury.^[9]According to the annals:

after many weeks had passed, some of the heathen [Vikings] died of hunger, but some, having by then eaten their horses, broke out of the fortress, and joined battle with those who were on the east bank of the river. But, when many thousands of pagans had been slain, and all the others had been put to flight, the Christians [English] were masters of the place of death. In that battle the most noble Ordheah and many of the king's thegns were killed...^[12]

In mid-893, Hastein's forces moved their camp from East Anglia, to the ruined Roman fortress atChester.Hastein apparently planned to rebuild the fortifications and use it as a base for raiding northern Mercia. However, the Mercians had other ideas, they laid siege to the fortress and attempted to starve the Danes out by removing or retrieving any livestock and destroying any crops in the area.^[12]

In late 893, the besieged army left Chester, marching to South Wales and devastated the kingdoms ofBrycheiniog,GwentandGlywysing^[6]over several months. In mid-894, they left, possibly by sea, since they returned to the Chester area, in a circuitous route encompassing the Danish strongholds ofNorthumbria,theFive Burghs,andEast Anglia,before reaching their fort at Mersea Island.

Moving to south-east England in late 894, Hastein's army towed their ships up the Thames to a fort they constructed on theRiver Lea.However, in mid-895, a Wessex army arrived, led by Alfred, and built a pair of forts on both sides of the Lea, blocking Hastein's access to the Thames and the sea. The Danes abandoned their camp, returned their families to East Anglia and made another great march, across the West Midlands, to a site on the Severn (whereBridgnorthnow stands), followed all the way by hostile forces. There they stayed until early-mid 896, when Hastein's army dissolved. Its former members retreated to East Anglia and Northumbria, except – according to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle– those that were penniless, who found ships and set out to raidAustrasiavia the Seine.^[13]^[14]

Legacy

Hastein disappeared from history in around 896, by then an old man having already been described as "the lusty and terrifying old warrior of the Loire and the Somme",^[6]when he arrived in England several years earlier. He was one of the most notorious and successful Vikings of all time, having raided dozens of cities across many kingdoms in Europe and North Africa.

The Picard monkDudo of Saint-Quentinwas very critical of Hastein:

This was a man accursed: fierce, mightily cruel, and savage, pestilent, hostile, sombre, truculent, given to outrage, pestilent and untrustworthy, insolent, fickle and lawless. Death-dealing, uncouth, fertile in ruses, warmonger-general, traitor, fomenter of evil, and double-dyed dissimulator...Dudo of St. Quentin's. Gesta Normannorum. Book 1. Chapter 3.^[15]

He is identified with theJarlHasting who held theChannel Islandsfor a while.^{[clarification needed]}

Some scholars have suggested that theHastings area of SussexinEnglandmay have been founded by a forebear of Hastein.^[16]

References

^^a ^bUllidtz, Pers (19 May 2014).1016 the Danish Conquest of England.Books On Demand. pp. 162–165.ISBN 978-87-7145-720-9.
^Hæsten 1atProsopography of Anglo-Saxon England.Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
^^a ^bJones, Aled (2003).Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Sixth SeriesCambridge University PressISBN 0-521-83076-1p24
^Haywood, John (1995).The Penguin Historical Atlas of the VikingPenguin BooksISBN 0-14-051328-0p 58–59
^Kendrick T.D (1930).A History of the VikingsNew York Charles Scribner's Sons
^^a ^b ^c ^dStenton, F. M.(1971).Anglo-Saxon EnglandThird Edition Oxford: Oxford University PressISBN 978-0-19-280139-5
^Kendrick T.D (1930).A History of the VikingsNew York Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 242
^Walker, Ian W (2000).Mercia and the Making of EnglandSuttonISBN 0-7509-2131-5
^^a ^bHorspool, David(2006).Why Alfred Burned the Cakes.London: Profile Books. pp. 104–110.ISBN 978-1-86197-786-1.
^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle893 /Anglo-Saxon Chronicle894 – English translation atproject Gutenberg.Retrieved 3 August 2015
^"Buttington, Possible site of battle near Welshpool".Royal Commission on Historic Sites in Wales. Archived fromthe originalon 5 October 2020.Retrieved13 July2015.
^^a ^bAnglo-Saxon Chronicle893. English translation atProject GutenbergRetrieved 13 July 2015
^Sawyer, Peter (1989).Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe, A.D. 700–1100.London: Routledge. p. 92.ISBN 0-415-04590-8.
^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle897- English translation atProject Gutenberg.Retrieved 3 August 2015
^Christiansen, Eric, ed. (1998).Dudo of St Quentin. History of the Normans. Translation with Introduction and Notes.Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. p. 16.ISBN 978-0-85115-552-4.
^Chevalier, C.T. (2021)."The Frankish origin of the Hastings tribe".Sussex Archaeological Collections.104:56–62.doi:10.5284/1085790.

External links

[ull162-1] Ullidtz, Pers (19 May 2014).1016 the Danish Conquest of England.Books On Demand. pp. 162–165.ISBN 978-87-7145-720-9.

[2] Hæsten 1atProsopography of Anglo-Saxon England.Retrieved on 2008-01-19.

[AJ-3] Jones, Aled (2003).Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Sixth SeriesCambridge University PressISBN 0-521-83076-1p24

[4] Haywood, John (1995).The Penguin Historical Atlas of the VikingPenguin BooksISBN 0-14-051328-0p 58–59

[TK-5] Kendrick T.D (1930).A History of the VikingsNew York Charles Scribner's Sons

[FS-6] Stenton, F. M.(1971).Anglo-Saxon EnglandThird Edition Oxford: Oxford University PressISBN 978-0-19-280139-5

[TK242-7] Kendrick T.D (1930).A History of the VikingsNew York Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 242

[IW-8] Walker, Ian W (2000).Mercia and the Making of EnglandSuttonISBN 0-7509-2131-5

[horspool104-9] Horspool, David(2006).Why Alfred Burned the Cakes.London: Profile Books. pp. 104–110.ISBN 978-1-86197-786-1.

[asc892-10] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle893 /Anglo-Saxon Chronicle894 – English translation atproject Gutenberg.Retrieved 3 August 2015

[wp-11] "Buttington, Possible site of battle near Welshpool".Royal Commission on Historic Sites in Wales. Archived fromthe originalon 5 October 2020.Retrieved13 July2015.

[asc893-12] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle893. English translation atProject GutenbergRetrieved 13 July 2015

[sawyer92-13] Sawyer, Peter (1989).Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe, A.D. 700–1100.London: Routledge. p. 92.ISBN 0-415-04590-8.

[asc897-14] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle897- English translation atProject Gutenberg.Retrieved 3 August 2015

[15] Christiansen, Eric, ed. (1998).Dudo of St Quentin. History of the Normans. Translation with Introduction and Notes.Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. p. 16.ISBN 978-0-85115-552-4.

[chevalier56-16] Chevalier, C.T. (2021)."The Frankish origin of the Hastings tribe".Sussex Archaeological Collections.104:56–62.doi:10.5284/1085790.

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