A Chronological History of Britain
Learn about the rise of England, Scotland, and Wales in episodes of the British History Podcast that cover the so-called Dark Ages.
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I’ll be talking in broad strokes today, but I want to give you a forest view of what we’ve been talking about over the last couple seasons.
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The Battle of the Winwaed is over and Penda is dead along with 30 noble warleaders who had joined him in battle… with them was King Anna’s brother, King AEthelhere of East Anglia… and as for King AEthelwald of Deira… well, I’m not sure what happened to him. But he isn’t in the histories any longer, so perhaps siding with Penda against his Uncle Oswiu didn’t end well for him.
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So when we last left off, things were going crazy in the North and in the Midlands. But the very last thing I mentioned was that Honorius, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had died. Well, his seat remained vacant for about six months until March 26, 654 (or maybe 655) when a new Archbishop was ordained. Archbishop Deusdedit… and since Deus means god in Latin, I can only assume that Deusdedit translates to God Did It.
Ok all joking aside, Deusdedit ALMOST means god did it… his name actually translates to God Has Given.
But what I’m getting at is that his name was… you know… humble.
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So where were we?
Oswiu had arranged for the murder of his cousin, which is awkward in itself… but the slain King Oswine was also related to Eanflaed, Oswiu’s wife. So… even if Oswiu wasn’t fussed about kinslaying, chances are that dinner still had suddenly become a lot more awkward following that rather underhanded victory. So perhaps to appease Eanflaed, or maybe to keep the Deirans happy… Oswiu built a monastery at the location of Oswine’s murder at Gilling.
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When we left off Cenwalh of Wessex had left his wife, irritated Penda (since his wife was Penda’s sister), and gained a fancy new wife but lost his kingdom when Penda arrived to have a little chat with him. So he did what many nobles of the time seemed to do… he fled into exile. In the case of Cenwalh (and presumably his wife) he legged it to East Anglia and the court of King Anna.
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Oswald was the King of Northumbria and son of AEthelfrith who was killed by Penda at Maserfield.
Oswiu was his brother
Osric of Deira was the King of Deira, and nephew of Edwin, who was killed by Cadwallon.
and Oswine was the son of Osric…
So to recap… Oswald and Oswiu are brothers and Bernician. Osric and Oswine are father and son, and are Deiran.
Isn’t this fun?
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It’s been about 2 years and 100 episodes since I did a recap episode to remind you where we were, what the flow of history was, and give you a forest view of the whole thing.
Seriously, 100 episodes!
And since then, we have gotten to know the Anglo Saxons and their culture really well. Even though our sources are limited, we still are getting a sense for what makes them tick. And we are also learning about the events were occurring in their political lives that shaped their home lives.
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Edwin, Osric, Eanfrith, Eadfrith, Cadwallon, Sigeberht, Ecgric… Following Hatfield Chase, we have seen a blood letting of the aristocracy of Anglo Saxon Britain of epic proportions. And we are only hearing about the very highest echelons… but how many Thegns, AEthlings, and minor nobles have also lost their lives in these power struggles? If the life of Edwin is indicative of how these power struggles tended to go, it wouldn’t have just been the Kings and their warbands who died in the struggle. Their entire dynasty could find themselves in danger if a victor was feeling particularly ruthless. And that seems to have been rather common since even Oswald, who is portrayed as Saintly by Bede, was a bit ruthless and dangerous to rival dynasties, if we read between the lines.
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This is going to be one of those episodes that has a lot of moving parts and you might want to listen to it twice. Just a heads up.
Alright, so things have gotten pretty exciting. We’ve had the downfall of Cadwallon of Gwynedd and the rise of Oswald of Northumbria and the return of Christianity to the North as well as the spread of it throughout the south with only a few holdouts, like Mercia and the Isle of Wight staying Pagan. This is an enormous time of change. And as you might imagine, those changes were getting mixed reactions.
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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.