002: The Battle of Maldon, 991

When we last left the marshes outside Maldon, Essex, England, in 991, the ealdorman, Byrhtnoth, held his fyrd, or militia, at bay while he surveyed the scene: a band of Viking raiders who had already terrorized the southern coasts of Kent, presumably under the leadership of the future king of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason, was amassed on Northey Island, a small patch of barely visible land right smack in the middle of the mouth of River Blackwater. Byrhtnoth was undermanned, but he had a plan. A brilliant one, in fact. The question is: Will it work? Will it alone be enough to send these Vikings packing once and for all.