A HISTORY OF DORSET 



instituted by Alfred and relieve their beleaguered comrades in the western 

 capital. The relieving fleet was caught by a storm and driven into Swanage 

 Bay where 120 ships were wrecked. The Danes in Exeter thereupon 

 surrendered, one more illustration of the effects — if not of sea-power — of sea 

 affairs. 



The supreme tactical advantage possessed by the Danes, in being able to 

 seize a base wherever the sea broke upon a beach round England, was one 

 that the Saxons had themselves used centuries previously although they had 

 t'orgotten the lesson and lost their maritime aptitude. Even after the fifteen 

 years' war which ended with the peace of Wedmore, a war only possible for 

 the Danes because they held the sea, the fierce five years' fight between 893 

 and 897 was needed to make Alfred decide upon building ships in sufficient 

 number to have some chance of meeting the enemy with success afloat. These 

 ships, when in service, were manned largely by foreign mercenaries, which 

 shows that the counties contained but a small seafaring population. However, 

 the existence of a fleet ensured eventually the collection of a body of trained 

 seamen to man it or it could hardly have continued. Incidental references 

 indicate that Alfred's successors possessed fleets of some strength, while there 

 was a law in force during the reign of Edgar (959—75) that every three 

 hundreds, probably along the coast line, should provide a ship. This law 

 may have fallen into desuetude or have been found insufficient, for in 1008, 

 under the pressure of renewed Danish incursions, it was ordered that every 

 310 hides of land throughout the country should build and equip a ship. 

 Dorset was not among the leading maritime shires of early centuries, but 

 these laws, with the consequent necessity for serving at sea, must have tended 

 to bring the backward counties into line with those more advanced ; among 

 the former Dorset would have been helped forward in this way in the absence 

 of the stimulus of maritime commerce. 



After a long interval of comparative peace the Danish ravages recom- 

 menced towards the end of the tenth century. The beginning of the next 

 century showed signs of their preparation for the complete conquest of 

 England. Nearly the first breath of the storm swept over Dorset where a 

 pirate squadron appeared in 982 and ravaged Portland. It may be inferred 

 that they were new to their work or weak in numbers, for otherwise they 

 would surely have chosen some wealthier region. An invasion by Sweyn, 

 king of Denmark, took place in 994 ; he was repulsed from London, and 

 then ravaged the east and south coasts, but did not go further westward than 

 Southampton Water. The turn of Dorset came again in 998, when a force, 

 probably from Ireland, after harrying the west coast during the preceding 

 year, came soutli and sailed up Poole Harbour, from which ' they went up as 

 far as they would' into the interior of the county. Between 1003 and 

 I o 1 1 the Danes overran the eastern half of England from Norfolk to Wiltshire 

 and Hampshire, but Dorset seems to have escaped the main bodies of the enemy. 

 In 10 1 3 came another great invasion under Sweyn, and King Ethelred and 

 his family fled to Normandy. Sweyn died in 1014 ; Ethelred returned but had 

 to contend with Svv'eyn's son, Cnut, who arrived with a great fleet in loi 5 with 

 which he laid waste the coast from Kent westwards, finally harbouring in 

 the favourite covert of Poole from which he marched over Dorset, Wiltshire, 

 and Somerset. Cnut is said to have occupied Brownsea Island ; no doubt 



