Scandinavian-Britain

78 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINand Kent ;and the fourth, an attack on London andRochester, after which the Danes drew off to Cwentawic(Staples), and soon after sacked Rouen andNantes, in 845 besieging Paris. They returned to theattack on England at Charmouth (Dorset) where./Ethelwulf himself, engaging the crews of thirty-fiveDanish ships, was beaten. But the Danes then didnot follow up their success. At the mouth of theParret they were repulsed by the levies of Somersetand Dorset, and again at " Wicganbeorh " in Dorsetin 851.But by this time more serious efforts at conquestwere in preparation. In 850 a party landed on Thanet(or on Sheppey) and wintered there, the first winteringon English ground, and early next year a great fleetof 350 ships sailed into the Thames; Canterbury andLondon were sacked ;Beorhtwulf of Mercia was putto flight and died, perhaps of his wounds. Mr. Keary(The Vikings in Western Christendom , p. 273) thinksthat this fleet was commanded by Rorik, one of thefamily then ruling in Denmark. Rorik, if he was theleader, hoped to found a kingdom of his own as otherleaders had done in Ireland : but there was moreresistance to be met with in the Saxons than in theCelts. King ^Ethelwulf ofWessex fought the invadersat Ockley in Surrey, and defeated them with great loss,while his son JEthelstan, king of Kent, put out tosea the first indication of naval efforts on the part ofthe Saxons and won a battle off Sandwich, takingnine ships and putting the rest to flight.For a time the Danes fell back on the easier con-