A.D. 1011. RAVAGES ΟΓ THE DANES. 89 camped with his army, and fought a severe battle with him on the third day before the nones of May. But while the battle was being hotly contested, the East Angles turned their backs, a certain thane of the king, a man of Danish origin, Turketel, surnamed Merenheauod, being the first to begin the flight ; but the men of Cambridgeshire, manfully fighting, made a stout resistance, till at last, being overpowered, they took to flight. In this battle fell Ethelstan, the king's son-in-law, Oswy, a noble thane, together with his son, Wulfric the son of Leofwin, Edwy, the son of Effuic, and many other noble thanes, and an innumerable multitude. The Danes being masters of the field of slaughter, gained possession of East Anglia ; and taking to horse, did not cease for three months ravaging the whole province, collecting booty, burning towns, and slaughtering men and animals; after which they laid waste Thetford and Grantebrige,32 and burned them ; having accomplished which, the foot on board ship, and the cavalry on horseback, returned again to the river Thames. After the lapse of a few days, they again sallied forth to plunder, and made straight for the province of Oxfordshire, and first ravaged it, and then the districts of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, burning the towns, and slaughtering the men and cattle, after which they returned to their ships with vast booty. After this, about the time of the festival of Saint Andrew the Apostle, they committed to the flames Northampton and its vicinity, as far as they pleased, and then crossed the river Thames and entered Wessex, where, having consigned to the flames Caning's-marsh,33 and the greater part of the province of Wiltshire, after their usual manner, they returned with great booty to their ships about the Nativity of our Lord. In the year 1011, on the northern side of the Thames, the provinces of East Anglia, Essex, Middlesex, Herefordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, Grantebrige-shire,34 the middle parts of Huntingdonshire, and the villages of a great part of Northamptonshire, were ravaged ; and on the southern side of the river Thames, the provinces of Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Southampton, Wiltshire, and Berkshire were laid waste by the above-mentioned army of the Danes, with fire and sword ; upon which Egelred, king of the English, and the 32 Cambridge. 33 A large tract of land in Wiltshire. 31 Cambridgeshire.