This battle took place near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex, during the reign of Ethelred the Unready. The Anglo-Saxons, led by Ealdorman Byrhtnoth of Essex and his thegns, fought against a Viking invasion, a conflict that ended in the death of Byrhtnoth and utter defeat for the Anglo-Saxons.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that the Viking fleet was led by a Norwegian, Olaf Trygvasson, and the Viking force is estimated to have been between 2,000 and 4,000 fighting men. A 12th-century source, Liber Eliensis, written by the monks at Ely in Cambridgeshire, suggests that Byrhtnoth had only a few men to command: 'He was neither shaken by the small number of his men, nor fearful of the multitude of the enemy.'
The story of the battle, embellished with many speeches attributed to the warriors and other details, is given in the Anglo-Saxon poem The Battle of Maldon, which is responsible for its continued fame. It is generally believed to have been written shortly after the fighting ended, and provides the only account of an Anglo-Saxon army in battle.
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 The Battle of Maldon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_M
aldon
A short account of the battle and a synopsis of the content of the Anglo-Saxon poem. Includes a discussion of the motivations of both Byrhtnoth and the Vikings.
Old English at the University of Virginia
http://faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/
Website that features the Old English Aerobics anthology of texts and online exercises. In the 'Introduction to Old English' section is a link to 'The Old English Aerobics Anthology'. Included in these readings is the original Battle of Maldon poem in Old English.
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The Battle of Maldon: Fiction and fact edited by Janet Cooper (Hambledon & London, 1993)
A collection of specially commissioned essays by leading literary, archaeological and historical scholars, which aims to provide a rounded and detailed account of the battle.
Get this book
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 Northey Island, Essex
About 2 miles south-east of Maldon
Before the battle in 991, the Vikings sailed up to a small island at the mouth of the River Blackwater. According to the poem, at low tide, the river left a land bridge from this island to the shore. It is known that, at that time, there was a similar causeway between Northey Island and the shore, and thus it is thought that this is the site of the battle, with the Anglo-Saxons first defending the causeway and then misguidedly allowing the Vikings on to the shore.
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