A.D. 871.] BATTLE OF ASHDOWN. 201 Translation of the bishopric of Dommoc* to Helmham. In the same year died Weremund, bishop of Dommoc, after whom that see was transferred to Helmham; and instead of two bishops, one of whom had his see at Dommoc and the other at Helmham, one bishop only was ordained, named Wilred, whose successors in that place were Athulf, Alfric, Theodred, Ethclstan, Algar, Alwin, Alfric, Stigand, Ethelm, and Herstan. How the army of the Danes left East-Anglia and invaded Wessex.f In the year of our Lord 871, the aforesaid army of pagans left the East-Angles, and making for the kingdom of the West-Saxons, arrived at the royal vili of Reading, lying to the south of the river Thames in the county of Berks. On the third day after their arrival, two of their chiefs went forth with a vast multitude of armed men to plunder, while the rest made a trench between the two rivers, the Thames and the Kenet, on the right side of the vili. Athulf, earl of Berks, opposed them with his people in a place called Anglefield, or " the field of the Angles," where they fought fiercely on both sides, until one of the chiefs of the pagans being slain, with the greater part of his forces, the rest took to flight ; and so the Christians having gained the victory, king Ethelred and his brother Alfred four days afterwards came to Reading with an army they assembled, slaying all the pagans they found outside of their defences. A t last the pagans burst forth from all their gates in full strength and began a battle, in which, after a long and fierce fight, they slew earl Athulf and put the Christians to flight. Greatly moved by this calamity, the Christians, after four days, again assembled for fight at a place called Essesdune, or " the hill of the Ash," with all the force they could muster. But the pagans disposed themselves in two divisions, the one under their two kings Bascai and Haldene, and the other under their other chiefs ; which, when the Christians perceived, they in like manner divided themselves into two bodies, the one under the command of king Ethelred, the other under his brother Alfred. Now king Ethelred was hearing mass in his tent, and on being urged * Dunwich, see Bede's Eccles. Hist, page 99, (Holm's Ant. Lib.} t The account given in this section is taken from Asser's Life of Alfred.