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Guthorm or Guthrum d.890
Danish King of East Anglia

An opponent of King Alfred the Great, he led a major Viking invasion of Anglo-Saxon England in 871 (the 'Great Summer Army'), seized East Anglia, and conquered Northumbria and Mercia. He attacked Wessex (878) and drove Alfred into hiding in Somerset. Alfred recovered sufficiently to defeat the Danes at the crucial Battle of Edington, Wiltshire (878). In the ensuing treaty, Guthorm agreed to leave Wessex and accept baptism as a Christian, and he and his army settled down peacefully in East Anglia. He issued coinage modelled on Alfred's and there were substantial links between the English and Danes.