Battle of Peonnum
Battle of Peonnum | |||||||
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Remains of the reconditioned Roman Fort north of Penselwood known as Kenwalch's Castle showing residual banks and ditches | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
West Saxons |
Britons | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Cenwalh |
The Battle of Peonnum was fought about AD 660 between the
Saxon conquest
The border between the
Relief for the Britons came when Cenwalh was exiled to East Anglia after a squabble with Penda of Mercia.[3] Some time after his return he renewed the attack on the British tribes and in 658 his army met the Britons for a climactic battle at Peonnum. The Saxons were victorious, and Cenwalh advanced west through the Polden Hills to the River Parrett, annexing eastern and central Somerset. The territory gained was modest in size; Geoffrey Ashe suggests that Cenwalh's ultimate goal may have been gaining control over the valuable Glastonbury Abbey within it.[4]
The border remained at the Parrett until 681–685, when Centwine of Wessex defeated King Cadwaladr of Gwynedd and his local allies, allowing them to occupy the rest of Somerset west and north to the Bristol Channel.[5] West Saxon rule was consolidated and extended into Devon by King Ina.[6]
Location
The battle is said to have happened æt peonnum, which means "at the penns". Penn is the
See also
- History of Somerset
- Timeline of the Anglo-Saxon invasion and takeover of Britain
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-415-24211-0p.47
- ^ a b Major, p. 44.
- ^ Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book III, chapter 7.
- ^ Ashe, p. 279
- ^ "War Tourist". British Battles. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
- ^ The Victoria History of the County of Somerset, Vol 1 (1906)
- ^ "The Head of Annwfn". The Mabinogion and the Mabinogi. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
- ^ Major, p. 45
- ^ Yorke, p. 53
- ^ Cooper, David: Badon and the Early Wars for Wessex, circa 500 to 710 (2018: Pen & Sword Books) pp. 200-206
References
- Ashe, Geoffrey, From Caesar to Arthur, University of Michigan, 1960.
- Major, Albany F., Early Wars of Wessex, Cassell Press, 1978
- Yorke, Barbara Wessex in the Early Middle Ages Leicester University Press (31 Aug 1995) ISBN 978-0-7185-1856-1