In the 7th century, Buckingham, literally “meadow of Bucca’s people” is said to have been founded by Bucca, the leader of the first Anglo Saxon settlers. The first settlement was located around the top of a loop in the River Great Ouse, presently the Hunter Street campus of the University of Buckingham. Between the 7th century and the 11th century, the town of Buckingham regularly changed hands between the Saxons and the Danes, in particular, in 914 King Edward the Elder and a Saxon army encamped in Buckingham for four weeks forcing local Danish Viking leaders to surrender. Subsequently, a fort was constructed at the location of the present Buckingham parish church. Buckingham is mentioned in the Burghal Hidage, a document commonly ascribed to the early tenth century, but more probably of the period 878-9, which describes a system of forts set up by King Alfred (d.899) over the whole of the West Saxon kingdom. When King Edward encamped at Buckingham with his army in 914, he was therefore restoring a fort which had already existed for more than a generation. This tactical move was part of a putsch against the Danish Vikings who controlled what had been southern Mercia, and which involved the taking of control of Viking centres at Bedford, Northampton, Cambridge and eventually the whole of East Anglia by the end of 917.