London Bridge
Bridge whose collapse during Olaf Haraldson's campaign scattered the Danish defenders of London.
London Bridge is attested in the Heimskringla as the site of a dramatic military engagement during the campaigns of Olaf Haraldson and King Ethelred against the Danes in England. The Danes had fortified the bridge, but when its supporting piles were loosened, the overloaded structure collapsed, sending many armed men into the river and causing the rest to flee either to the castle or to Southwark (Heimskringla, 12. The Sixth Battle).
The Heimskringla provides the sole attestation for London Bridge in this context, placing it within the broader narrative of the Norse-English alliance against Danish occupation. The account emphasizes the physical destruction of the bridge rather than the tactics used to bring it about — the piles "being loosened and broken, the bridge gave way" — and dwells on the consequences: armed men falling into the river, defenders scattering in two directions (Heimskringla, 12. The Sixth Battle). The passage treats the collapse as a decisive turning point in the sixth battle for London.
Appears in: Beings, Cross-Source Entities, Entities in Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx, Celtic Tradition
On trail: Genealogies