Hastein

Hastein (Old Norse: Hásteinn, also recorded as Hastingus, Anstign, Haesten, Hæsten, Hæstenn or Hæsting[1][2] and alias Alsting[3]) was a Viking chieftain of the late 9th century who made several raiding voyages.

According to the 11th-century chronicler Raoul Glaber, Hasting may have been born in the Pays de Troyes in modern-day France, a claim at odds with sources identifying him as Scandinavian.

[4] Historian Michel Dillange suggests these views may be reconcilable: around 800, Charlemagne relocated many Saxons and Danes to Christian lands to prevent rebellion in Saxony.

Hastein and Björn wintered at Camargue island on the mouth of the Rhone before ravaging Narbonne, Nîmes and Arles, then as far north as Valence, before moving onto Italy.

On the way back to the Loire, he stopped off in North Africa where he bought several African slaves (known to the Vikings as 'blámenn', blue men, possibly Soussians or Tuaregs) whom he sold in Ireland.

[8] Alfred the Great positioned a Wessex army between them to keep them from uniting, the result of which was that Hastein agreed terms, including allowing his two sons to be baptised, and left Kent for Essex.

[10] Hastein re-established his combined force at a new fort, at Shoebury in eastern Essex,[8] and sent for reinforcements from the Danish kingdoms of East Anglia and York.

[11] According to the annals: after many weeks had passed, some of the heathen [Vikings] died of hunger, but some, having by then eaten their horses, broke out of the fortress, and joined battle with those who were on the east bank of the river.

In that battle the most noble Ordheah and many of the king's thegns were killed ...[14]In mid-893, Hastein's forces moved their camp from East Anglia, to the ruined Roman fortress at Chester.

However, the Mercians had other ideas, they laid siege to the fortress and attempted to starve the Danes out by removing or retrieving any livestock and destroying any crops in the area.

[14] In late 893, the besieged army left Chester, marching to South Wales and devastated the kingdoms of Brycheiniog, Gwent and Glywysing[8] over several months.

In mid-894, they left, possibly by sea, since they returned to the Chester area, in a circuitous route encompassing the Danish strongholds of Northumbria, the Five Burghs, and East Anglia, before reaching their fort at Mersea Island.

However, in mid-895, a Wessex army arrived, led by Alfred, and built a pair of forts on both sides of the Lea, blocking Hastein's access to the Thames and the sea.

The Danes abandoned their camp, returned their families to East Anglia and made another great march, across the West Midlands, to a site on the Severn (where Bridgnorth now stands), followed all the way by hostile forces.

Its former members retreated to East Anglia and Northumbria, except – according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – those that were penniless, who found ships and set out to raid Austrasia via the Seine.