Battle of the Winwaed
Battle of the Winwaed | |||||||
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Stained glass window from the cloister of Worcester Cathedral showing the death of Penda of Mercia | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Northumbrian Kingdom of Bernicia |
Kingdom of Mercia Kingdom of East Anglia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
King Oswiu of Bernicia |
King Penda of Mercia † King Æthelhere † | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
800 Bernician Forces |
1,400 Mercian Forces 800 East Anglian Forces | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
500 Killed | 450 Killed in battle, 500 Drowned |
The Battle of the Winwaed (
Background
The roots of the battle lay in Penda's success in dominating
Toponymy, location, and date
Since the nineteenth century, winwœd or winwæd was interpreted as an
Although the battle is said to be the most important between the early northern and southern divisions of the
After his account of the battle and the monastic endowments made by Oswiu in thanks to God for his victory, Bede says that
King Oswiu brought the campaign to a close in the district of Loidis (Leeds) on 15 November in the thirteenth year of his reign, to the great benefit of both peoples; for he freed his own subjects from the hostile devastations of the heathen people and converted the Mercians and the neighbouring kingdoms to a state of grace in the Christian faith, having destroyed their heathen ruler.[15]
This has traditionally been seen as evidence that the Battle of the Winwæd itself took place on 15 November 655, but Philip Dunshea has argued that Bede's phrasing makes it possible that the battle could have happened some time—even years—before Oswiu 'brought the campaign to a close', and that its location could have been far from Leeds.[16]
Battle
Penda, after gathering allies from East Anglia and Wales, marched with a force led by "thirty warlords".[17] Oswiu, who was Oswald's brother but had succeeded him only in Bernicia, the northern part of Northumbria, was besieged by Penda's forces at a place called Urbs Iudeu (which has been identified, perhaps dubiously, with Stirling[18]) in the north of his kingdom. Iedeu appears as a historic name for Jedburgh, also located in the north of the kingdom.[19] Apparently Oswiu was desperate enough to offer a great deal of treasure to Penda in exchange for peace. Although the sources are unclear, it is likely that some sort of agreement was reached at Iudeu: although Bede says that Oswiu's offers of treasure were rejected by Penda, who, Bede says, was determined to destroy Oswiu's people "from the highest to the lowest", he does mention that Oswiu's young son Ecgfrith was being held hostage by the Mercians, perhaps as part of a deal.
The Historia Brittonum contradicts Bede regarding the treasure, saying that Penda distributed it among his British allies, which would presumably mean that he accepted it.[20] The recorded events may be interpreted to mean that Penda and his army then began marching home, but for some reason the two armies met and fought at a place called the River Winwaed. Breeze argues that Penda and his army would have been in a difficult strategic location along the Went during their withdrawal, giving Oswiu a good opportunity to attack.[11]
It is almost certain that the small (perparvus, according to Bede) Northumbrian forces were considerably outnumbered by the Mercians and their allies. According to Bede, before the battle Oswiu prayed to God and promised to make his daughter a nun and grant twelve estates for the construction of monasteries if he was victorious.[20]
Penda's army was apparently weakened by desertions. According to the Historia Brittonum, Penda's ally
Aftermath
The battle had a substantial effect on the relative positions of Northumbria and Mercia. Mercia's position of dominance, established after the battle of Maserfield, was destroyed, and Northumbrian dominance was restored; Mercia itself was divided, with the northern part being taken by Oswiu outright and the southern part going to Penda's Christian son Peada, who had married into the Bernician royal line (although Peada survived only until his murder in 656). Northumbrian authority over Mercia was overthrown within a few years, however.[24]
Significantly, the battle marked the effective demise of Anglo-Saxon paganism; Charles Plummer, in 1896, described it as "decisive as to the religious destiny of the English".[25] Penda had continued in his traditional paganism despite the widespread conversions of Anglo-Saxon monarchs to Christianity, and a number of Christian kings had suffered death in defeat against him; after Penda's death, Mercia was converted, and all the kings who ruled thereafter (including Penda's sons Peada, Wulfhere and Æthelred) were Christian.[26]
Notes
- ^ Manuscript A of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives the year as 655. Bede also gives the year as 655 and specifies a date, 15 November. R. L. Poole (Studies in Chronology and History, 1934) put forward the theory that Bede began his year in September, and consequently November 655 would actually fall in 654; Frank Stenton also dated events accordingly in his Anglo-Saxon England (1943).[2] Others have accepted Bede's given dates as meaning what they appear to mean, considering Bede's year to have begun on 25 December or 1 January.[3] The historian D. P. Kirby suggested the year 656 as a possibility, alongside 655, in case the dates given by Bede are off by one year.[4] The Annales Cambriae gives the year as 657.[5]
References
- ^ Annales Cambriae [B], p. 8.
- ISBN 0-415-92129-5.
- ^ S. Wood, "Bede's Northumbrian dates again", The English Historical Review, Vol. 98, No. 387, April 1983, pages 280–296
- ^ D. P. Kirby, "Bede and Northumbrian Chronology", The English Historical Review, Vol. 78, No. 308, July 1963, pages 514–27
- ^ Annales Cambriae at Fordham University
- ^ Selwood, Dominic (15 November 2016). "On this day: Britain's last great pagan king is struck down by Christians at the Battle of the Winwaed". The Telegraph. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
- OCLC 6754767.
- ^ "A Brief History of the Fairburn Area". Web.onetel.net.uk. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
- ^ Archaeologia Aeliana, or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity by Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne Published by Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1857 Item notes: ns.1. Original from Oxford University. Digitized 24 January 2007
- .
- ^ .
- OCLC 4567990.
- ISBN 978-0-244-17711-9.
- ^ Anglo-Saxon West Yorkshire:The historical background, West Yorkshire Joint Services, archived from the original on 28 July 2011, retrieved 19 August 2011
- ISBN 978-0-19-283866-7, III.24.
- .
- ^ duces regnii XXX, qui ad auxilium uenerant in Bede, book III, ch. 24.
- ^ Bede, the Firth of Forth, and the Location of Urbs Iudeu James E Fraser in Scottish Historical Review Vol 87, 2008
- ^ www.jedburgh.org.uk/history, archived from the original on 12 October 2015, retrieved 6 September 2015
- ^ OCLC 468856605.
- ISBN 1-84415-424-6.
- , restores to Penda Bede's phrase auctor ipse belli, the "author of the conflict himself", which some scholars had applied to Aethelhere.
- ^ Noted by Prestwich (1968), p. 91.
- OCLC 933719465.
- ^ Venerabilis Baedae Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, ed. Charles Plummer, Oxford, 1896; p. 184.
- ISBN 1-85648-003-8.
Further reading
- Breeze, Andrew (2004), "The Battle of the Uinued and the River Went, Yorkshire", Northern History, 41 (2): 377–383, S2CID 161538750