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Anthony Brown-Hovelt's avatar

Sarum and Wilton were both sacked by Sven Forkbeard, father of Cnut, in revenge for the St Brice Day massacre at Oxford, where his sister was one of those killed on the orders of Earthed (the Ill-advised). Wilton was one of the Towns that had a Royal Mint (located on Silver Street!) Also, the Bayeux Tapestry, commissioned by Bishop Roger was made a Wilton Abby not Canterbury as is often thought. The Normans didn't like the fact they couldn't get rid of the Saxon Clergy immediately after the invasion; so certainly wouldn't have given the work to a religious and political enemy at least a week's travel away. The Bishop could easily keep tabs on his project by having it made locally. Patricia Stevens, an expert in medieval sowing and tapestries wrote a definitive work on the subject shortly before she passed away.

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Roland Millward's avatar

Thank you, Michael. Before the Normans the Vikings were the invaders plus England was made up of many kingdoms and was not a united country. In the 9th century, Alfred defeated the Vikings and became the dominant king. He was the King of Wessex (south west England today). His victory in 878 at the Battle of Edington (close to where I live) brought together what we know as England today.

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