Vanished Polity of the Day: Angelcynn

Today marks the 1004th anniversary of the St. Brice's Day massacre, when the sadly named Ethelred ("good counsel" in Old English) the Unready ordered the slaughter of every man, woman and child of Danish descent in England. This was, of course, to rid the land of the Danelaw, that strip of Mercia and Northumberland under Scandinavian control. A few Danes were eventually knocked off, including a notable noblewoman, but "what goes around comes around." Angered by the death of his sister Gunhilde, Sweyn I of Denmark launched one of the largest assaults upon the emerald isle in over a century.

The protracted struggle that followed the St. Brice's Day massacre led to the eventual depletion of English strength through the 11th century, allowing in 1066 the arrival of William of Normandy, and the elimination forever of Anglo-Saxon dominion over the land they so shaped.