After successful raids by Danish Vikings, significant parts of northeastern England, formerly Northumbria, were under their control.
Edward was allied with the Mercians under his sister Æthelflæd, and their combined forces were formidable.
They raided as far as the Avon near Bristol, and then harried along the Severn until they reached the Bridgnorth area.
They now moved east, followed by a joint Mercian and West Saxon army, which caught up with the Vikings near Tettenhall.
[1] With the Northern Danes subdued, the forces of Wessex and Mercia could be focused against the Vikings who had settled further south, and there was no further incursion from the north for a generation.