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 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:Æthelweard's version of the Chronicle, known as the Chronicon Æthelweardi, a Latin translation of a lost version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, goes into more detail:
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 Anglo-Saxon original, there is nothing to suggest that the name is incorrect.