After London, the West Country port of Bristol was the second greatest trading town in England during the 15th Century. Whilst the merchants of the Capital profited from trade with the Baltic, Holland, Flanders and Northern France, it was Bristol that held claim to the Atlantic Ocean. On the Bristol waterfront ships of all types and sizes moored whilst busy carters scurried back and forth between the Wharves and the cavernous warehouses that were piled high with cloth to be exported and hogsheads of wine brought by sea from the Mediterranean. It was here that common Sailors and labourers would rub shoulders with wealthy ship owners, merchants and traders, and Tavern keepers and Chandlers grew rich from the profitable community.There was one place however, far out in the great ocean that was proving to be a particularly difficult place to commence trade-The island of Iceland. The Danish settlers there seldom saw a ship, not even the six per year that had been promised by the Norwegian Government, but the King of Denmark had issued a proclamation prohibiting any Englishman the right to visit this distant island without his special permit.Never-the-less there were some English fishermen and merchants, undaunted, that sailed out into the fearsome seas, with or without the King of Denmark's license, to spend the summer fishing off of the Icelandic coast. Often these ships' crews would go ashore where, much to the dismay of the Danish Officials they did exactly as they pleased, building houses, erecting tents and digging up the ground.Occasionally the English landed in 'full martial array with trumpets blowing and banners whipping the air'. The Danish officials protested loudly at these piratical incursions, accusing the English sailors of murder, pillage, rapine and even the kidnapping of children. However the King of Denmark was far from popular with the native Inhabitants, and when on one occasion the Danish Governor, himself, was abducted very few Icelanders felt any sorrow at his departure.When in 1467 a new Danish Governor, Bj?rn Thorleifsson, arrived at R? with a strong escort he found many English merchants and fishermen carrying on a lively business. Before the new Governor could attempt to enforce his King's prohibitions, he and his men were set upon by a mob of armed Englishmen and killed. The mob then went on a rampage, looting the Governor's house and seizing his son for ransom.When Bj?rn's wife, back in Denmark, heard what had occurred to her husband and son she vowed that there would be no mourning until her husband's murder had been avenged. In true Viking fashion she personnally donned a shirt of mail, placing over it a woman's dress for seemliness, before embarking with her followers aboard vessels bound for Iceland.On arrival, Bj?rn's widow and her angry companions fell upon, and slew every Englishman that they could find. There was just one Englishman that managed to escape with his life. He was a cook, spared by the vengeful Danes on the grounds that he had shown great kindness to Bj?rn's kidnapped son during the period of the boy's captivity.