History

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The battle at Ashingdon, 18th of October, 1016

King Knud of Denmark had all summer fought against the young, new English king Edmund Ironside. The Danes were beaten in battle after battle and soon put to flight. The last and decisive battle was at Ashingdon the 18 October 1016. (Ashingdon is situated 60 kms east of London. Saxon, who wrote in neo-Latin, mentioned that the battle took place at Assandum. This was wrongly translated to Ashdown, which is in the south of England and it was not until late 1900 century that the mistake was discovered.) Several other historians have written about this battle, which lasted longer and was more cruel than previous battles had been. The English army consisted of three deployments. The one in the middle was in command of Eadric Streona, who had shortly before the battle deserted from king Knud and who had restored to favour by Edmond. Streona fled all of a sudden with his men and the English army’s middle deployment collapsed. Beforehand, the Danish army’s main sign (=banner) had been defeated and major confusion ruled. A man called Timme (or Thymme), according to Saxo, who came from Zealand, took his lance and attached to it branches with leaves and re-assembled the remains of the Danish army. The English fled and the war-weary kings decided after the battle to make peace and share England between them. A lot has been written about this, about Eadric Streona and Knud’s possible participation of Edmond’s death 30th November 1016 . We may never know the truth. My interest in all of this is something else, namely Timme Själlandsfar. He was after the battle appointed commander in the army. This man is believed to be the first ancestor to the Danish noble family of Banner and the Swedish noble family Banér. It cannot be proved but on the other hand it is impossible to disregard ancient traditions.

Timme Själlandsfar (Thymme) and Toste Jarl (Torstig)

According to another ancient saga Timme Själlandsfar was supposed to have been killed by Toste Jarl in Northumberland. (Toste Jarl or Torstig, from now on I will write Torstig)

Torstig

All I know about Torstig is that he was a brother to the English king Harold Godwinson, who was England’s king for about 8 months in 1066. Torstig became exiled, since he tried to take control over his brother. Torstig sought for help in Norway at king Harald Hårdråde, who disembarked in Northumberland with an large army and took York. (Since there are two kings named Harald fighting each other, I from now on call the English king Harold and the Norwegian kind Harald.) Harold hurried to offer his brother (Torstig) peace and "a third of England to rule". Torstig is supposed to have asked what king Harald would have obtained. "Seven feet of England" was the answer. Torstig rejected the offer and the battle at Stanford Bridge the 25 of September 1066 was a fact.. King Harald died after a terrible battle. Harold offered Torstig peace again but Torstig rejected and died later on that same day. New problems arose for Harold. Only three days after the victory William the Conqueror disembarked with an army of 60.000 men near Hastings. The decisive battle was fought the 14th of October 1066. King Harold died and William became the king of England.

Did Timme Själlandsfar participate in the Norwegian army at Stanford Bridge?

If there is something written about this, I would be most grateful to know all there is to know.

Is there anything written about Timme Själlandsfar?

General and contemporary history

As a rule you start with general, but I am for the time being mostly concerned with the above written.

I am a fan of Herman Lindqvist, Swedish history author. I have read all of his books. Herman Lindqvist is also a collector of encyclopaedias. This is an interest I share with him as well, even though I cannot afford nor find the place for a collection of my own. An encyclopaedia is a very valuable "time document". It is always the best resources used when putting together such an piece of art. Word, picture, graphic and printing are mile stones in time.

Contemporary books as "När Var Hur" (Eng "When Where How") and Bra Böcker’s (a Swedish publishing house) Yearbook are other types of documents, which I appreciate as well. The reason for my interest is mainly that it helps me to remember to events when they are presented in a chronological order.