England
Hastein crossed to England from Boulogne in 892 leading one of two great companies. His army, the smaller of the two, landed in 80 ships and occupied the royal village of Milton Regis near Sittingbourne in Kent, whilst his allies landed at Appledore with 250 ships. 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. The larger army attempted to reunite with Hastein after raiding Hampshire and Berkshire in the late spring of 893, but was defeated at Farnham by an army under Edward, Alfred's son. The survivors eventually reached Hastein's army at Mersea Island, after a combined Wessex and Mercian army failed to dislodge them from their fortress at Thorney.
As a result, Hastein combined his forces from Appledore and Milton and withdrew them to a fortified camp at Benfleet, Essex. He used this camp as a base to raid Mercia. However, while his main force was out raiding in 894, the fort was attacked by the bolstered militia of eastern Wessex, who defeated the garrison in the Battle of Benfleet. The entire fort, along with the Danes' families – including Hastein's wife and sons – was captured, along with their ships. Hastein re-established his combined force at a new fort, at Shoebury in eastern Essex, and sent for reinforcements from the Danish kingdoms of East Anglia and York. Shortly afterwards, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Hastein held talks with Alfred, possibly to discuss terms for the release of his family. Hastein had his two sons returned to him. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, this was because Hastein's sons had been baptised in early 893, with Alfred and his son-in-law Aethelred of Mercia as sponsors. Thus Alfred was godfather to one boy and Aethelred godfather to the other.
The negotiations apparently achieved little because, shortly afterwards, Hastein launched a second raid along the Thames valley and from there along the River Severn. Hastein was pursued all the way by Aethelred and a combined Mercian and Wessex army, reinforced by a contingent of warriors from the Welsh kingdoms. Eventually the Viking army was trapped at a place called Buttington—possibly the island by that name on the Severn, near Welshpool, Powys. At the subsequent Battle of Buttington, several weeks later, Hastein's forces fought their way out, with many casualties, and returned to the fortress at Shoebury. 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. But, when many thousands of pagans had been slain, and all the others had been put to flight, the Christians [English] were masters of the place of death. In that battle the most noble Ordheah and many of the king's thegns were killed ...
In mid-893, Hastein's forces moved their camp from East Anglia, to the ruined Roman fortress at Chester. Hastein apparently planned to rebuild the fortifications and use it as a base for raiding northern Mercia. 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.
In late 893, the besieged army left Chester, marching to South Wales and devastated the kingdoms of Brycheiniog, Gwent and Glywysing 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.
Moving to south-east England in late 894, Hastein's army towed their ships up the Thames to a fort they constructed on the River Lea. 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. There they stayed until early-mid 896, when Hastein's army dissolved. 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.
