The British History Podcast

114 – Oswald and Sigeberht: The Softer Side of Rule

This one is pretty tough... but I believe in you! :)

This one is pretty tough... but I believe in you! :)

When we last left off, Oswald son of AEthelfrith and Acha, defeated and killed Cadwallon of Gwynedd at the battle of Heavenfield. The defeat was a serious blow for the Northern Welsh kingdom. In fact, in the praise poem written about Cadwallon, we see the first use of the term which would become the modern name for the Wales… Cymru. The land of the western Cumbrogi…or comrades. I love the fact that the term appears at this point in the story. And after such an incredible advance, and then suffering a terrible blow, why wouldn’t you use a term that would emphasize a sense of communal bonds? But it was a terrible defeat, and the line of Ida was once again ruling the North. But where was Cadwallon’s ally, Penda of Mercia, in all of this? Well, it looks like he was back down in Mercia with his prisoner, Eadfrith, the last son of Edwin. However, with the death of Cadwallon and the rise of Oswald (the son of Edwin’s enemy) Eadfrith had suddenly lost all market value. He wouldn’t be useful as a hostage, and as for creating some sort of marital alliance through the line of Edwin… that was unlikely to happen since both Oswald and Oswiu could trace their lines to the royal houses of both Deira and Bernicia. So why keep Eadfrith around at all? Well, it looks like Penda wondered the same thing. Because soon after Oswald took Northumbria, Eadfrith was killed at the court of Penda. Edwin’s line was all but extinguished. All that was left that we know of is Eanflaed, the daughter of Edwin. For all intents and purposes, the House of Deira, with no male heirs, was gone. And with it, went the Northumbria hegemony. Edwin had made incredible strides, but in the end he lost everything. Had he been successful, though, we might have seen the rise of a unified English kingdom in the Seventh century.

113 – Religious Ambitions: The Rise of Oswald (and Others)

When we last left off, Oswald son of AEthelfrith and Acha, defeated and killed Cadwallon of Gwynedd at the battle of Heavenfield. The defeat was a serious blow for the Northern Welsh kingdom. In fact, in the praise poem written about Cadwallon, we see the first use of the term which would become the modern name for the Wales… Cymru. The land of the western Cumbrogi…or comrades. Support the Show

112 – The Battle of Heavenfield

The year was 633 or 634, and the tide was turning against Northumbria for the first time in as long as anyone could probably remember. AEthelfrith’s victory at the Battle of Chester was not just a problem for the Welsh, it was also a problem for Mercia because it further established Northumbria domination. And while AEthelfrith was later killed by Raedwald in battle, the balance of power didn’t shift. The North remained dominant, and we can see that evidenced by the fact that Edwin immediately took the throne and attacked Elmet and forced them into submission… and then went on something of a rampage dominating his neighbors, including the Mercians. Support the Show

Edwin was dead... Eanfrith was dead... Only Osric, Oswald, and Oswiu were left to stand against King Cadwallon and his Welsh army. Everything was coming to a head... and at the Battle of Heavenfield, the future of Northumbria would be decided. ---- The year was 633 or 634, and the tide was turning against Northumbria for the first time in as long as anyone could probably remember. AEthelfrith’s victory at the Battle of Chester was not just a problem for the Welsh, it was also a problem for Mercia because it further established Northumbria domination. And while AEthelfrith was later killed by Raedwald in battle, the balance of power didn’t shift. The North remained dominant, and we can see that evidenced by the fact that Edwin immediately took the throne and attacked Elmet and forced them into submission… and then went on something of a rampage dominating his neighbors, including the Mercians. T And now, that balance was swinging in the other direction. Edwin was dead. Cadwallon was marching through Northumbria with his warbands. The males of Edwin’s line were dwindling fast, with only Eadfrith alive… and only barely, considering he was a prisoner of Penda. Eanfrith (son of AEthelfrith) was dead due to an overestimation of his own importance. All that was really left for the North to rally around was Osric, the son of the old king of Deira. Sure, there were AEthelfrith’s other sons, Oswald and Oswiu, but they were up in the region that would eventually become Scotland. So basically, once Osric and his warriors were dealt with, Northumbria would be entirely dealt with. For the Welsh, who had so long struggled with their Germanic neighbors and watched as more and more of the island slowly came under their control… this moment of success and the chance to seize the initiative must have been an exhilarating moment. But, they weren’t alone in Northumbria, and like I said, Osric was active.

That’s something I’ve heard my entire life. When I was younger and picked on at school my father would sometimes say “Don’t worry, Jamie, what goes around comes around.” The problem with that bit of advice is that it requires a sense of fairness in the world that isn’t always there… not to mention a tremendous amount of patience that is short supply when you’re a small awkward kid being picked on and simply want some sort of justice. But sometimes it does happen… sometimes what goes around does come around. Ok, so why am I talking about this? Well… let’s have a very quick review of what has happened with Edwin. Support the Show

That’s something I’ve heard my entire life. When I was younger and picked on at school my father would sometimes say “Don’t worry, Jamie, what goes around comes around.” The problem with that bit of advice is that it requires a sense of fairness in the world that isn’t always there… not to mention a tremendous amount of patience that is short supply when you’re a small awkward kid being picked on and simply want some sort of justice. But sometimes it does happen… sometimes what goes around does come around. Ok, so why am I talking about this? Well… let’s have a very quick review of what has happened with Edwin. True, he had a rough start, since he first appeared in our story while he was on the run because AEthelfrith of Bernicia had nicked the throne of Deira and was hunting down Edwin and his family. Now the sources are silent on his involvement on AEthelfrith’s conquest of Deira, and some have suggested that Edwin might have been complicit in a coup… and basically it didn’t go the way he hoped. But whatever the case, Edwin was on the run when he appeared in our story and spent his early years going from kingdom to kingdom, seeking refuge while his family was being wiped out, and the kingdoms that offered him shelter found themselves embroiled in war. While on the run, he married Cwenburg, the princess of Mercia, and had two sons with her. He also was sheltered by the King of Gwynedd (and probably was the foster brother of Cadwallon of Gwynedd, who was about his same age)... and as you already know, war followed him and eventually he ended up in East Anglia where King Raedwald killed AEthelfrith (after the great king lost his own son in that battle) and then he put Edwin on the throne of Northumbria. And following that moment, Edwin seems to have gone about getting some strike back and we’re told that he killed the king of the neighboring kingdom of Elmet, probably for poisoning Edwin’s nephew. He also started dominating his neighboring kingdoms, for example he controlled much of eastern Mercia, and being that he held an absurdly powerful kingdom and had the support of the only other serious military power in the Anglo Saxon region at the time, East Anglia, it wasn’t like there was much that his neighbors could do to stop him. And where he couldn’t directly challenge the power of a kingdom, such as with the Kingdom of Kent who were powerful in their own right and also had extremely powerful Frankish allies, he found other ways to secure his position. In the case of Kent, it was through marriage to Princess AEthelburh. And with the princess came the introduction of Christianity (though as you know, Edwin wasn’t immediately convinced), and the marriage also brought four more children… Eanflæd, Ethelhun, Wuscfrea and Edwen.

111 – Edwin: What Goes Around Comes Around

Ok, last episode, we jumped forward a little to take the story of East Anglia to the point where Sigebehrt took the throne… but lets go back about 3 years… to 628 (ish)… and look at what is going on in Mercia. Mercia, the Midland kingdom, has been a bit of a backwater in our story so far but it’s about to get more important very soon. So we really should chat a bit about it. Support the Show

Ok, last episode, we jumped forward a little to take the story of East Anglia to the point where Sigebehrt took the throne… but lets go back about 3 years… to 628 (ish)… and look at what is going on in Mercia. Mercia, the Midland kingdom, has been a bit of a backwater in our story so far but it’s about to get more important very soon. So we really should chat a bit about it. So Mercia… what exactly are we talking about here? Some of you might be already familiar with the old Kingdom of Mercia through the Staffordshire Hoard episodes… or maybe you know about Offa’s Dyke… but lets cover what we know about this Kingdom and give a rough outline of where it came from. Part of what makes so interesting is how mysterious it is. It’s beginnings are hazy and semi-mythical, even when looked at in comparison with the other Anglo Saxon kingdoms. We know about Wessex due to Alfred and his scribes… we know about Northumbria due to the efforts of Bede. But Mercia? There really weren’t any scribes writing the story of Mercia, from the Mercian perspective… at least not like some of the other kingdoms had. Basically, Mercia lacked an Apologist. Sorry, Bede, but in some respects that is what you were… for example, look at the free pass you gave AEthelfrith after that business with the monks. So yeah, no apologist, and really not much of a written record at all. There’s the Hidage, which we’ll get to, but overall there isn’t a ton. So lets start with Mercia at it’s most basic level, the name itself is a latinized term for the Old English kingdom that roughly translates to the Border People. What were they bordering. The assumption is that they were bordering the Welsh, given that their dynasty would claim to be Anglian… decendants of Icel. But as you have learned in earlier episodes, this stuff often tends to be at least partially mythological and backgrounds tend to be a great deal more complex than that. What with Ethnogenesis and all. But was that really who they were bordering? Their capital was Tamworth… that’s surprisingly close to Wales, if they were an Anglian kingdom bordering the Welsh. So rather than just assuming things, lets have a bit of a look at the evidence.

110 – Mercia: A New Contender Enters the Ring