The Anglo-Saxon chronicle reports Ulfcytel Snillingr raised an East Anglian fyrd to meet Sweyn Forkbeard in battle.
[2] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that the battle occurred after an attempt by Ulfcytel and the councillors in East Anglia to negotiate a truce with Sweyn in return for a financial settlement; the Danes broke the truce, and plundered Thetford anyway.
When returning to their ships however, they were met and engaged by a contingent of the East Anglian fyrd.
Two of the Chronicle manuscripts state that the Danes later "admitted that they had never met with harder hand-play [fighting] in England than Ulfcytel gave them".
The Danes suffered heavy losses, and were probably only saved from destruction because Ulfcytel's order to destroy their ships was not carried out.