Description

He was a leader of the “Great Heathen Army” which invaded East Anglia in 865. By 871 the army had conquered both the kingdoms of East Anglia and of Northumbria. The kingdom of Mercia fell in 874 with the aid of reinforcements from Scandinavia.
Then Halfdan Ragnarsson, Ubbe’s brother, decided to move north to deal with the Picts. Ubbe, however, remained in the south to fight with Guthrum, one of the reinforcing war leaders, in the campaign to crush the kingdom of Wessex.
They had many early victories, but none decisive. The campaign continued until 878. Early in the year Ubbe assembled a force of 23 ships and 1200 men to make a strong raid against northern Wessex.
They landed near Combwich where they found that some West Saxon leaders and their men, under the command of the Ealdorman Odda of Devon, had taken refuge in the fort of Cynwit.
Ubbe and his men laid and settled into a siege of the fort. Ubbe believed that the Saxons would surrender due to the lack of fresh water in the fort.
The Saxons however, sallied out of the fort, caught the Vikings by surprise and won a significant victory. Ubbe was killed and his Raven banner was captured, the only such trophy to be mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.
A few months later, in May, Guthrum was defeated by Alfred the Great, king of the West Saxons, and forced into a treaty which ensured peace for Wessex for over a decade.