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Here's the battles of the Viking and Norman era, first the "boring" ones.
The writers dazzle us with a new exciting formula: "they fought" + "great slaughter + "they gained/obtained vitory" or "become the masters of the battlefield".
The last phrase reflects perfectly the case which was true up to modern warfare: those was considered winners who took the battlefield, basically capturing it. This means the other side always fled, retreated or was dispersed.
A.D. 823. ... a battle was fought between the Welsh in Cornwall and the people of Devonshire, at Camelford; ... Egbert, king of the West-Saxons, and Bernwulf, King of Mercia, fought a battle at Wilton, in which Egbert gained the victory, but there was great slaughter on both sides.
A.D. 833. ... fought King Egbert with thirty-five pirates at Charmouth, where a great slaughter was made, and the Danes remained masters of the field.
A.D. 845. ... Alderman Eanwulf, with the men of Somersetshire, and Bishop Ealstan, and Alderman Osric, with the men of Dorsetshire, fought at the mouth of the Parret with the Danish army; and there, after making a great slaughter, obtained the victory.
A.D. 867. ... having collected a vast force, with which they fought the army at York; and breaking open the town, some of them entered in. Then was there an immense slaughter of the Northumbrians, some within and some without; and both the kings were slain on the spot.
A.D. 870. ... And in the winter King Edmund fought with them; but the Danes gained the victory, and slew the king;
A.D. 881. This year went the army higher up into Frankland, and the Franks fought with them; and there was the army horsed after the battle.
A.D. 887. ... But they held their dominion in great discord; fought two general battles, and frequently overran the country in partial encounters, displacing each other several times. ...
A.D. 905. ... Whereupon the army surrounded them, and there they fought. ... And there was on either hand much slaughter made; but of the Danes there were more slain, though they remained masters of the field.
A.D. 910. ... They slew many of the Danes, and remained in the country five weeks. This year the Angles and the Danes fought at Tootenhall; and the Angles had the victory.
A.D. 937. This year King Athelstan and Edmund his brother led a force to Brumby, and there fought against Anlaf; and, Christ helping, had the victory
A.D. 982. ... The same year went Otho, emperor of the Romans, into Greece; and there met he a great army of the Saracens, who came up from the sea, and would have proceeded forthwith to plunder the Christian folk; but the emperor fought with them. And there was much slaughter made on either side, but the emperor gained the field of battle. ...
More coming from the same in the next post.