A Viking force landed on Northey Island and defeated a Saxon army defending the Essex coastline, killing their leader Byrhtnoth.

A Viking victory over Saxon earls. King Harold II was forced to march north to deal with the threat in Yorkshire.

Harold II achieved a spectacular victory over a major Viking army to the east of York. While still in Yorkshire he learnt of the Norman invasion on the south coast.

The defeat and death of King Harold II paved the way for William of Normandy's conquest of England

An English army rallied by the Archbishop of York and helped by the effectiveness of the longbow, defeated a Scottish invasion force under King David I.

A decisive royalist victory over an army commanded by rebel English barons, resulting in high casualties amongst the rebel infantry.

After beaching near Largs, a Norse force was defeated by a Scottish army.

Simon de Montfort's defeat of Henry IIIs royalists established him as ruler of England for over a year

Described by one chronicler as 'the murder of Evesham' with rebel leader Simon de Montfort killed and his army defeated by a royal force on the hill north of the town,

Scots waited for an English advance across the bridge before cutting them off and slaughtering many.

Betrayal by Scottish nobles jealous of his power forced William Wallace to fight the English at Falkirk resulting in the destruction of his army.

An English army attempting to relieve the siege of Stirling Castle was defeated by a Scottish army under Robert the Bruce over two days.

An English militia army and clergy led by the Archbishop of York was defeated by a seasoned Scottish raiding party under two experienced commanders.

Edward II's rebel cousin was defeated and captured by a royalist force. This removed the main opposition in England to the king and his favourites.

Edward II's army was defeated by Scottish forces commanded by Robert the Bruce. Part of the First Scottish War of Independence.

The First Scottish War of Independence, which raged for 32 years and across all the kingdoms of Britain, was effectively ended in the village of Stanhope in Weardale.

A surprise English attack with a smaller force on the camp of a Scottish army led to battle and an English victory.

A failed Scottish attempt to relieve the siege of Berwick from the forces of Edward III.

Good choice of ground allowed the English to inflict a substantial defeat on a Scottish army and capture their king, enabling the subsequent occupation of much of Scotland south of the rivers Forth and Clyde.

A royalist army defeated a poorly armed and defended group of rebels which helped end the Peasants Revolt.

Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy pursued a Scottish raiding force under James, Earl Douglas and was defeated and captured despite the death of Douglas in battle.

A Scottish raiding army returning home was intercepted and defeated by Henry 'Hotspur' Percy and George Dunbar. Arguably the greatest victory for the longbow in battle.

The Percy rebellion crushed and Hotspur killed by a royal army on the rising ground close to the Whitchurch road north of Shrewsbury.

Royalists led by the Sheriff of Yorkshire defeated a rebel army under the first Earl of Northumberland, and the Lancastrian dynasty was secured on the throne.

An intense and close fought battle to defend Aberdeen from an attempt by the Lord of the Isles to strengthen his control of the Earldom of Ross.

A decisive, but short lived, Yorkist victory on open land east of Market Drayton

The Lancastrian army defeated in their fortified camp and King Henry VI captured after one of their commanders turned coat to the Yorkists during the battle.

Yorkist defeat of a Lancastrian army in the Welsh Marches, with an earlier parhelion seen by the victor, the future Edward IV, as a portent of success.

A victory for Edward IV over the main Lancastrian army established the House of York as the new royal dynasty in England.

A weakened Yorkist royal army eventually defeated after reinforcements arrive to save the rebel army.

Reputedly the last private battle in England between competing magnates which saw William Lord Berkeley defeat and kill Thomas Talbot, Viscount Lisle.

King Edward IV's Yorkist army defeated a Lancastrian force and killed its commander, the Earl of Warwick, as the first step to securing the crown following Edward IV's return from exile.

The destruction of Margaret of Anjou's Lancastrian army in the fields south of Tewkesbury Abbey by Edward IV's Yorkist army secured his kingship.

Two kings in one day as Richard III is killed and the Tudor era begins. Did treachery help Henry secure the crown?

The last battle of the Wars of the Roses, fought to put a Yorkist pretender on the throne and resulting in a royal victory.

An invading Scottish army was heavily defeated and the Scottish King James IV was killed. The last time a reigning British monarch was killed in battle.

Defeat of a large Scottish raiding force by a smaller English army near the border with Scotland north of Carlisle

English cavalry venturing too far forward of their main body and their Scottish allies turning coat led to an English defeat.

A battle fought as part of a failed English attempt to unite the Crowns of England and Scotland, with England victorious on the day but the Franco-Scottish alliance strengthened.

The forces of Charles I failed to prevent a Scottish Covenanter army from crossing the Tyne and occupying Newcastle. An important step on the path towards civil war.

A substantial cavalry skirmish fought at a bridge across the river Teme near Worcester which confirmed the superiority of the royalist horse at the start of the Civil War.

The first major battle of the Civil War with no decisive outcome, but created the opportunity for the royalists to continue their advance on London

A stiff parliamentarian defence delayed the royalist assault on the town west of London during peace negotiations.

A stand-off with, probably, the third largest numbers of soldiers on a Civil War battlefield but involving only some low-level skirmishing. Parliament nevertheless prevented the King from advancing closer to London.

Marching to York, a large royalist army defeated a small parliamentarian force defending the bridge at Piercebridge.

A small scale action resulting in the mortal wounding of the royalist commander, Guilford Slingsby.

An easy royalist victory over local parliamentarian forces, securing Cornwall for the King.

A royalist force brushed aside a much smaller parliamentarian contingent, allowing munitions to be delivered to York.

A hard fight in the enclosed fields around Modbury and within the town itself which resulted in an eventual parliamentarian victory, though this did little to alter the course of the war in the south-west.

An indecisive battle which saw the death of the royalist Earl of Northampton, but also the rout of the Parliamentarian cavalry and capture of their ordnance.

A royalist force attacked a parliamentarian army, which lacked sufficient cavalry support, and killed or captured most of their infantry.

Sir William Waller's army was badly mauled by a royalist force under Prince Maurice north of Ripple village with the parliamentarian rout continuing almost to Tewkesbury.

A surprise parliamentarian attack on Banbury was defeated in a small action east of the town by an unexpected royalist cavalry force.

Better tactics resulted in a hard-won royalist victory over a well positioned, prepared and numerically superior parliamentarian force.

A royalist raid into east Oxfordshire climaxed with the defeat of a pursuing parliamentarian cavalry and dragoon force north of the village of Chalgrove.

An unexpected parliamentarian defeat, after a royalist colonel launched a surprise attack during the battle, resulted in royalist control of all of Yorkshire except Hull.

An inconclusive battle that saw the royalists finally dislodge the parliamentarians from Lansdown Hill after suffering heavy losses.

A brigade of royalist cavalry from Oxford decisively defeated a parliamentarian army and rescued a beleaguered force in Devizes, opening-up the West for the King.

A short-lived parliamentarian victory leading to the death of Sir Charles Cavendish, an upcoming regional royalist commander, and where Oliver Cromwell demonstrated his early military and self-promotion capabilities.

Royalist blocking of the route back to London forced a parliamentarian army to hold-off the King's army in the enclosed fields south of Newbury.

In a battle lasting only 30 minutes Cromwell and Fairfax fight together for the first time and Cromwell was nearly killed.

A successful surprise attack by Sir William Waller’s army on an outnumbered Royalist garrison at Alton, which was commanded by the Earl of Crawford and Colonel Richard Bolles.

The defat of a royalist army to the north-west of Nantwich, which relieved the town and ended royalist dominance in Cheshire.

Tactical errors and confused command relationships resulted in a royalist defeat which placed the King on the back foot early in 1644.

A parliamentarian attempt to attack a royalist army in line of march north of Banbury backfired spectacularly.

The largest battle of the Civil War. Defeat by a combined Scottish and parliamentarian armies lost the royalists control of the north of England.

Two battles fought ten days apart over the hilly ground around and to the south of Lostwithiel led to Parliament's worst defeat of the Civil War.

A Scottish royalist force under the Marquis of Montrose defeated a larger Covenanter army as part of a wider campaign to lure the Army of the Covenant from England.

An ambitious parliamentarian plan to surround and defeat a royalist army north of Newbury failed due to poor timing and a tenacious defence.

Royalist troops turned a fighting retreat against a superior Covenanter force into battlefield victory, setting the stage for a future successful campaign.

Destruction of the royalist Oxford field army by Parliament's New Model Army marks the beginning of the end for the King's cause.

A Scottish royalist advance toward the Lowlands forced a Covenanter army, which had been depleted of troops transferred away by the government, to fight and lose a battle.

The vanquishing of a royalist army in the south-west by the New Model Army further reduced the King's military capabilities and hastened his ultimate defeat.

A Scottish royalist force advancing into the Lowlands destroyed the last Covenanter army in Scotland, forcing a return of Covenanter troops in England.

A surprise attack by veteran Covenanter cavalry on a Scottish royalist army caught them unaware and defeated them after a hard fight in enclosed ground.

A parliamentarian victory, reputedly watched by the King from Chester's city walls, which destroyed the remnants of the royalist Northern horse.

The last battle of the first Civil War which saw the defeat of a cobbled together royalist force by regional parliamentarian troops.

The last stand of the Anglo-Scottish army defeated at Preston a few days before and the best preserved second Civil War battlefield in England.

A daring early morning attack by an outnumbered but veteran New Model Army force destroyed a Scottish army by trapping it between a stream and a hill.

The last major battle of the Civil Wars in England which saw the destruction of an Anglo-Scottish royalist force in the fields south and east of Worcester by the New Model Army.

A limited action which saw a small government force defeated by a larger rebel one, emboldening the rebels to use military force again to challenge Charles II's religious non-conformity policies.

A rebel failure to hold Bothwell Bridge, despite a long fight, allowed government troops to cross the river and defeat them decisively, ending the 1679 uprising.

The Duke of Monmouth's attempt to overthrow king James II defeated by a small but experienced royal army.

A Jacobite victory which saw the death of their commander, Viscount Dundee, depriving the uprising of leadership which led to its end in 1690.

An indecisive battle which saw parts of both armies routed, with post battle Jacobite decision making losing them the strategic initiative and partly causing the uprising to fail.

The government forces defeated by a Jacobite army in a battle lasting only a few minutes on the coast east of Edinburgh, allowing the Jacobites to march into England.

A Jacobite victory which led to government forces changing tactics to deal with the Highland change, resulting in the success at Culloden three months later.

The last pitched battle fought on British soil which ended the 1745 jacobite uprising.