The year 914 stands as an unusual moment in the long saga of Viking incursions into the British Isles. While the Viking Age is often associated with the great fleets from Scandinavia, the attack on England in 914 was different: the raiders came not directly from Denmark or Norway, but from Brittany, a region in northwestern France that had itself become a Norse stronghold. Significantly, the response from the Anglo-Saxons defenders was more effective than was usual.
Brittany: A Norse Stronghold
By the early 10th century, Brittany had become a patchwork of conflict and occupation. The region, known as Armorica in Roman times, had long resisted Frankish and later Carolingian control. The Bretons, a Celtic people closely related to the Welsh and Cornish, had carved out their own kingdom, but their independence was under constant threat from both their Frankish neighbors and the growing menace of Viking raiders.
The Norse had first appeared in Brittany in the early 840s, sacking Nantes in 843 and establishing intermittent bases along the Loire and the coastal islands. Over the next decades, their presence waxed and waned, but by 914, the situation had changed dramatically. Following the death of Alan the Great, Duke of Brittany, in 907, the region was plunged into chaos. Alan had been a formidable opponent of the Vikings, but his passing left a power vacuum. Factional strife among the Bretons weakened their resistance, and the Norse seized their chance.
By 914, the Norse, led by chieftains such as Rognvaldr and Hastein, had established themselves as rulers of Upper Brittany, with Nantes as their capital. The Chronicle of Nantes paints a vivid picture of the devastation:
“The evil race of Normans, a most cruel and perverse people, sailed across the ocean with a huge fleet of ships and laid waste to all of Brittany. Frightened counts and viscounts and machiterns fled in panic before them, scattering to Francia, Burgundy and Aquitaine. Only poor Bretons tilling the soil stayed under the domination of the barbarians, without leaders or defenders.”
It was from this embattled land, now a Norse enclave, that the 914 raiding fleet would set sail for England.
The Viking Leaders: Ohtor and Hroald
The 914 expedition was led by two jarls, Ohtor and Hroald, whose names echo through the chronicles of the period. These men were not newcomers to raiding: they were part of a wider Norse diaspora that stretched from the Irish Sea to the Loire, from Dublin to Brittany.
The chronicler John of Worcester, writing centuries later but drawing on earlier sources, records:
“The Pagan pirates, who nearly nineteen years before had crossed over to France, returned to England from the province called Lydwiccum (Brittany), under two chiefs: Ochter and Hroald, and sailing round the coast of Wessex and Cornwall at length entered the mouth of the river Severn. Without any loss of time they fell upon the country of the Northern Britons, and carried off almost every thing they could find on the banks of the river.”
This succinct account captures the essence of the Viking strategy: mobility, surprise, and ruthless exploitation of divided enemies.
The Voyage and the Severn Raid
The Norse fleet, likely composed of longships capable of both open-sea and riverine navigation, sailed from Brittany, hugging the coasts of Wessex and Cornwall before entering the Severn estuary. Their arrival was swift and devastating.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the principal English source for the period, records:
“…a great raiding ship-army came over here from the south from Brittany, and with them 2 jarls, Ohtor and Hroald, and then went around west until they got into the mouth of the Severn and raided in Wales everywhere along the banks where it suited them, and took Cameleac, bishop in Archenfield, and led him to ship with them; and then King Edward ransomed him back for 40 pounds.”
The region of Archenfield, in the southwest of Herefordshire, was a borderland between the Anglo-Saxons and the Welsh. The Vikings ravaged the countryside, plundering settlements and seizing Cameleac (or Cymelgeac), the local bishop, as a high-value hostage. King Edward the Elder, son of Alfred the Great, was forced to pay a hefty ransom of forty pounds of silver for his release – a sum that underscores both the bishop’s importance and the Vikings’ audacity.
The English Response and the Battle
The Vikings, emboldened by their initial success, pressed deeper into the countryside. Their aim was clear: to extract as much wealth as possible before the local forces could organize an effective resistance. However, the Anglo-Saxon system of fortified burhs (towns) and the rapid mobilization of local levies proved decisive.
The Chronicle continues:
“Then after that the whole raiding-army went up and wanted to go on a raid against Archenfield; then they were met by [the men] from Hereford and from Gloucester and from the nearest strongholds, and fought against them and put them to flight, and killed the jarl Hroald and the other jarl Ohtor’s brother and a great part of the raiding-army, and drove them into an enclosure and besieged them there until they gave them hostages…”
The battle was fierce. The combined forces of Hereford, Gloucester, and neighboring towns, likely summoned by beacon and messenger, confronted the Vikings as they attempted to raid further inland. In the ensuing clash, Jarl Hroald and Ohtor’s brother were slain, along with many of their followers. The survivors were driven into a defensive position – perhaps a hastily fortified camp or a natural enclosure – where they were besieged by the Anglo-Saxons until they surrendered hostages as a guarantee of their withdrawal.
Desperate Measures and Further Raids
The defeat at Archenfield did not spell immediate disaster for the Viking fleet. Those who escaped regrouped and continued their predatory campaign along the coast. According to John of Worcester:
“But leaving their ships on the shore, they prowled by night about the country, plundering it to the eastward of Weced (Watchet), and another time at a place called Porlock. However, on both occasions, the king’s troops slew all of them except such as made a disgraceful retreat to their ships. The latter, dispirited by their defeat, took refuge in an island called Reoric (Flat Holm), where they harboured till many of them perished from hunger, and, driven by necessity, the survivors sailed first to Deomed…”
The Vikings, cut off from their ships and supplies, were forced to take refuge on Flat Holm, a small island in the Bristol Channel. There, beset by hunger and disease, many perished. The survivors eventually abandoned their campaign, sailing away in defeat.
The Anglo-Saxon Victory and Its Legacy
For King Edward the Elder and his subjects, the repulse of the Breton Vikings in 914 was a significant victory. It demonstrated the effectiveness of the burh system that he had invested so heavily in and the readiness of local forces to respond to sudden threats. The ransom of Bishop Cameleac, though costly, was a small price to pay compared to the devastation that might have ensued had the Vikings not been checked.
The events of 914 also underscored the interconnectedness of the Viking world. The same Norsemen who raided the Loire and occupied Brittany could, within weeks, launch an assault on the English coast. Their mobility and adaptability were both their greatest strengths and, ultimately, their undoing when confronted by well-organized resistance.
Conclusion: The Enduring Impact of 914
The Viking attack on England in 914, launched from Brittany, was a dramatic episode in the twilight of the great Viking raids on the British Isles. It was a testament to the reach and resilience of the Norse world, but also to the growing strength and coordination of the Anglo-Saxon response. The defeat of Ohtor and Hroald’s fleet marked not just a military victory, but a turning point in the struggle for control of the western seaways.
For Brittany, the Norse occupation would continue for another generation, shaping the region’s history and identity. For England, the events of 914 were a harbinger of both the dangers and the possibilities of the age – a time when kingdoms rose and fell on the strength of their walls, their warriors, and their will to resist the tide of the North.
