In 991 Athelred landed in England to claim his grand-father's kingdom. A protracted war against king Athelmar saw opportunist princes of the neighbouring countries move in on the border territories. The King of Gwynedd took control of large parts of western Mercia, and the Danish King established himself as ruler of the Danelaw.
By 993 Athelred managed to defeat Athelmar, and succeeded to the throne of a greatly reduced England. An uneasy peace between Athelred and Sveinn followed for 20 years. During this time the Danes would often raid the English coast, and as time went by Athelred's situation became less and less tenable. Athelred created an alliance with some of the Welsh kings, and in 1011 they staged a joint invasion of Sveinn's territories.
This tournament will be 1v1, single elimination on the map of England. The first two rounds will be single games, after that the quarter finals will be best of three, semi finals best of five and finals best of seven.
When signing up please state which side you are on. (If you don't claim support for anyone I will put you down as supporting Sveinn). If you know of any other personalities from the era that you feel could enter in to the story, you are very welcome to play for them (like for instance, an invasion by the Scottish king. Though, please leave the chinese emperors out of it...).