Difficulty: Medium
Google allowed?: Yes
Roland took the class to the shores of the River Blackwater.
"Alright class. 991. AD, that is -- Battle of Maldon. A bunch of Vikings stormed the beach here, as one of the many raids on the Britons at that time.
That statue is of Earl Brythnoth, and he was a real idiot. Don't let the Tolkein story, or the old poem, tell you differently -- he was a right wanker.
We -- that's the Vikings, that is -- told him that if they paid us off, we could avoid combat. He said no, but let us land and get ready for battle. Yeah, that didn't work out to well for him. The poem shows him dieing heroically and praising God and all that, but let me tell you, there was more screaming and bleeding and begging and things like that. Good times.
Anyway, so, we got drunk, as you do, and I was assigned to basically run the surrender negotiations, right? I was a bit pissed and was feeling, y'know, fairly confident, so I offered them a deal.
See, we weren't trying to get land -- just tribute and all that. Pillaging, you know? Good times. So, drunk as I was, I offered a bet.
That there? That's Northey Island, right in the middle of River Blackwater. And THAT is Osea Island There are a couple bridges, as you can see, leading from here to the islands, and from the islands to the other shore.
I had their leader -- oh, I can't remember his name now -- strip nude and run along those bridges, while we mocked him alongside. He had to cross every single bridge one time. If he tried to cross a bridge a second time, our archers would shoot him. If he tried to swim across the river, our archers would shoot him. If he succeeded, however, King Æthelred the Unready -- that's 'Æ-t-h-e-l-r-e-d', remember that, thatll be on the test -- would only have to pay us 5,000 pounds of silver, rather than 10,000.
So, my question to you -- what happened? And why?
I'll be in my office. Have fun, kids."
