Beaduheard

Beaduheard was an Anglo-Saxon reeve who was based in Dorchester in Dorset, who in 789 became the first known person killed by a Viking raid in England.

Early life Nothing is known of Beaduheard's early life, including where he was born or who his parents were. However, his name (Beaduheard means "battle-hard") and position suggests that his family were of relatively high rank, from a martial background, and that he was over the age of 31, which is regarded as middle aged for the time. He was reeve during the reign of Beorhtric of Wessex, king of Wessex from 786 to 802.

Death The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for AD 789 reports:

787 (Historians believe that the dates written in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are two years too early for the actual events at this time.)

Æthelweard was writing nearly 200 years after the event, sometime after 975 and probably before 983. His account is the first to name Beaduheard; however, as his work was a Latin translation of a (now lost) Anglo-Saxon original, there is nothing to suggest that the name is incorrect.

Aftermath Four years later, in 793, a major Viking raid took place on the monastery of Lindisfarne in the kingdom of Northumberland. This has commonly been regarded as the start of the Viking raids on Britain.