Editing Portsmouth (section)

=== Early history ===

The [[Roman Britain|Romans]] built [[Portus Adurni]] (now called [[Portchester Castle]]), a [[Castra|fort]], at nearby [[Portchester]] in the late third century.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Robert |last1=Amy |url=http://www.pompeymarkets.com/Historic%20Portsmouth.html |title=Classic Britannica – the home of the Roman Fleet |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417083255/http://www.pompeymarkets.com/historic%20portsmouth.html |archive-date=17 April 2009 |website=Pompeymarkets |publisher=PM Ltd |access-date=8 March 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The city's [[Old English]] Anglo-Saxon name, "'''Portesmuða'''", is derived from ''port'' (a haven) and ''muða'' (the mouth of a large river or estuary).<ref>{{cite web |title=Portsmouth name origin |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Hampshire/Portsmouth |website=Key to English Place-names |publisher=University of Nottingham |access-date=11 August 2016}}</ref> In the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', a warrior named Port and his two sons killed a noble Briton in Portsmouth in 501.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vortigern in the Sources: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle |url=http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/arthist/vortigernquotesasc.htm |website=VortigernStudies |publisher=Robert Vermaat |access-date=8 August 2016}}</ref> [[Winston Churchill]], in ''[[A History of the English-Speaking Peoples]]'', wrote that Port was a pirate who founded Portsmouth in 501.{{sfn|Churchill|2015|p=41}}<ref>{{cite news |title=See Portsmouth through history |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/commercial/holidaysthroughhistory/see-portsmouth-through-history-9309890.html |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |access-date=8 August 2016 |date=6 May 2014}}</ref>

England's southern coast was vulnerable to [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danish Viking]] invasions during the eighth and ninth centuries, and was conquered by Danish pirates in 787.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=26}} In 838, during the reign of [[Æthelwulf, King of Wessex]], a Danish fleet landed between Portsmouth and Southampton and plundered the region.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=27}} Æthelwulf sent Wulfherd and the governor of [[Dorset]]shire to confront the Danes at Portsmouth, where most of their ships were docked. Although the Danes were driven off, Wulfherd was killed.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=27}} The Danes returned in 1001 and pillaged Portsmouth and the surrounding area, threatening the English with extinction.{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=29}}{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=30}} They were massacred by the English survivors the following year; rebuilding began, although the town experienced further attacks until [[Battle of Stamford Bridge|1066]].{{sfn|Allen|2015|p=31}}